228 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



with pine, spruce, and poplar, resembling those of the 

 McLeod. The river- valley of the Athabasca is, how- 

 ever, deeper and wider, and its waters turbid, deep, 

 and rapid. At this time it was tremendously swollen 

 — at the height of the summer flood — and formed a 



striking contrast to the clear, shallow stream we had 

 crossed before. Full to the overflowing of the present 

 banks, the stream, some 200 yards in breadth, rushed 

 along, swelling in great waves over the huge boulders 

 in its bed, and bearing along large pine-trees of five 

 or six feet in diameter, which played about like 

 straws in the powerful current. This river is called 

 by the Indians Mistahay Shakow Seepee, or the 

 " Great Eiver of the Woods," in distinction to the 

 Saskatchewan, the Mistahay Paskwow Seepee, or 

 " Great Eiver of the Plains." We viewed it in some 

 dismay, for there seemed little hope of rafting across 

 it in safety in its present condition. We were 

 relieved, however, by finding that the track still fol- 

 lowed the bank of the river, and from a little bare 

 and rounded knoll we had our first view of the Rocky 

 Mountains. The prospect was a glorious one, and 

 most exhilarating to us, who had lived so long in 

 level country, and for the last three weeks had been 

 buried in dense forest, which shut out every prospect, 

 and almost the light of day. 



Ranges of pine-clad hills, running nearly north and 

 south, rise in higher and higher succession towards the 

 west, and in the further distance we could see parallel 

 to them a range of rugged, rocky peaks, backed by 

 the snow-clad summits of some giants which towered 



