144 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii.. 



Yukon). Of the minerals in this quarter little can be said ; 

 but from the name of one of the rivers before mentioned, and 

 from report, we may be justified in believing that rich deposits 

 of copper, at least, exist. The Esquimaux occupy the whole 

 sea-board. 



The Portage a la Loche, or Methy Portage. (Methy = 

 Loche = Fresh Water Cod = Gadus barbatula f) is on the 

 dividing ridge between the waters flowing to Hudson's Bay by 

 the valley of the Missinipi, and those tributary to the Macken- 

 zie through the Athabasca. The summit of this portage, which 

 is elevated very considerably above the general level, has an 

 altitude above the sea, as given by Mr. G. M. Dawson on the 

 authority of Dr. Richardson, of 1566 feet ; but this estimate 

 strikes me as somewhat underrated. The length of the portage 

 is thirteen miles, over a level sandy plateau, stony in parts, and 

 wooded with the Banksian Pine, the Spruce, and other trees. 

 The northern side is a steep escarpment, descending by eight 

 successive stages, all more or less precipitous, to the borders of 

 the Clear-water, which flows by a course of some eighty miles, 

 through a charming valley of mingled plain and forest, to the 

 Athabaska, the breadth of the united stream being about three- 

 fourths of a mile at the point of the union, called " The Forks." 

 It is by this route, and the Portage de la Traite on the opposite 

 side of the Missinipi Valley, that the transport is effected 

 between Athabasba and Lake Winnipeg via the Saskatchewan. 

 This last portage has its name from the circumstance that Mr. 

 Frobisher, the pioneer trader from Canada, here intercepted a 

 large party of Indians on their way to Churchill in 1774, and 

 secured their hunts. By the Crees this portage, from an old 

 tradition, is called Athikesi-picMgan Portage — i. e. Portage of 

 the Stretched Frog-Skin. Hence, I presume, the name applied 

 to it in some recent maps " Frog Portage" — but it is better 

 known by the name given above. 



Saskatchewan. — The general features of the tract drained by 

 this river and the other tributaries to Lake Winnipeg are so well 

 known that any attempt at description would be superfluous. 

 The total area so drained, and discharged through the Nelson 

 River, I compute at 376,000 English square miles : the length, 

 including windings, from the mouth of the Nelson to the heads 

 of the Saskatchewan, about 1,500 miles. The descent for a 

 certain distance from Lake Winnipeg towards the sea,by the series 



