206 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



patches of open country, and the timber smaller, 

 clusterino" in the swells of the low undulations. At 

 noon we reached a large lake, and travelled along 

 its banks for the remainder of that day. It appeared 

 to be well stocked wdth Avild fowl and fish, the latter 

 lying basking in the shallows, hardly moving away 

 as our horses approached along the shore. The 

 mosquitoes were exceedingly troublesome, obliging 

 us to put up the Indian lodge we carried with us, 

 and w^e were frequently compelled to get up in the 

 night to light a fire, in order to smoke them out 

 before we were able to sleep. 



On the 11th of June we struck the Pembina 

 E-iver, a, clear, shallow stream flowing to the N.E., 

 over a pebbly bed, between perpendicular banks of 

 some eighty feet high. These showed the section of 

 a magnificent coal-bed, from fifteen to tw^enty feet in 

 thickness. We easily crossed the river by fording, and 

 on the further bank met a couple of half-breeds, who 

 were returning to St. Ann's from trapping beaver. 

 We stayed an hour or two examining the coal, and 

 prospecting the sand of the river for gold. 



The coal was not of first-rate quality, ha^dng 

 an earthy fracture, and burning with dull flame and 

 much smoke, yielding a quantity of yellowish-grey 

 ash. The piece we examined was not, however, a 

 fair specimen, being one we picked up from the 

 bed of the river, which was strewn with blocks and 

 fras'ments. Coal has also been discovered on the 

 McLeod, Athabasca, Smoky, Peace, and Mackenzie 

 Eivers to the north ; and on the Saskatchewan, Battle, 



