220 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



than any we had yet encountered, the ground ver}^ 

 boggy, and the pines closely set. The trail is merely 

 cut of sufficient width to allow of one horse w^ith his 

 pack to pass, and this is encumbered with roots and 

 fallen trees, for the travellers in this region never delay 

 to remove any obstructions a horse can possibly be 

 forced to jump or scramble over. The mossy crust 

 having been broken through by repeated tramplings, 

 the horses sink up to their hocks in the boggy sub- 

 stratum, while the thick wall of timber on either 

 side prevents any escape to firmer ground. A day's 

 jom-ney on the road to Jasper House generally con- 

 sists of floundering through bogs, varied b}^ jumps and 

 plunges over the timber which lies strewn, piled, and 

 interlaced across the path and on eveiy side. The 

 horses stick fast in the mire, tumble crashing amongst 

 the logs, or, driven to desperation, plunge amongst 

 the thickly-growing trees at the side, w^here they are 

 generally quickly brought up by the wedging of their 

 packs in some narrow passage betw^een contiguous 

 trunks. 



On the 16th we reached a point where the river 

 makes a great bend to the south, and the trail turns off 

 at right angles to avoid it. Here a small river enters 

 the McLeod, and the hills are seen swelling higher 

 towards the w^est. In the smaller stream we observed 

 some fish rising at the fly, and on the banks fresh 

 beaver " sisrn," with here and there tracks of moose 

 and bear. As the horses had had little food for two 

 or three days, and some burnt ground offered better 

 pasturage than usual, we decided to rest for a day, 



