^06 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vii. 



ton, and thus averaging considerably more than thirty miles per 

 •day, the time we were actually travelling being only eleven and a 

 half days On arriving at Carlton, we found that a tull-sized 

 l>atteau, well equipped and manned by five experienced half breed 

 and Indian voyageurs, had just arrived with ^pieces ', i. e. goods, 

 from Cumberland House, and would be starting on the return 

 voyage on the following afternoon. I at once arranged with Mr. 

 Olarke, the Hudson's Bay officer in charge at Carlton, to allow 

 our party to proceed down the river in the boat. The same 

 boat, but with three different crews, subsequently carried us the 

 whole way to Fort Garry, a distance by Lake Winnipeg and Red 

 Kiver of about eight hundred miles, and the termination of our 

 journey, which by land and water had extended over about 2,400 

 miles, performed in eighty-two days of actual travel, or, includ- 

 ing stoppages and detentions, in ninety-three days, without the 

 ^id of stages, steamboats or railroads. 



Once during the voyage we narrowly escaped encountering an 

 accident, which would certainly have been exceedingly unplea- 

 sant, and might even have endangered the lives of the party. 

 "This occurred during our traverse of Lake Winnipeg, on the 

 evening of the 17th of October, when a violent gale overtook us 

 while we were running for a group of islands far out on the lake. 

 We did not succeed in reaching: these till Ions: after dark, and as 

 they were quite unknown to any of our crew, the landing on 

 them in safety in a dark night with a heavy gale blow- 

 ing and a corresponding sea, became a somewhat difficult and 

 liazardous undertaking; but it had to be attempted, so running 

 between two of them we neared the shore of the one which looked 

 most promising, and rounding a stony point on which the breakers 

 were dashing with tremendous force, we fortunately succeeded 

 in gaining a small sheltered cove with a sandy beach of only a 

 few yards in extent. Had we missed this cove and been blown 

 off the shore, we must almost certainly have gone upon the rocks, 

 and our boat been dashed to pieces. 



Starting from Rocky Mountain House, lat. 52° 20' north, and 

 long. 115° 10' west, the North Saskatchewan River runs in a gene- 

 ral north-easterly direction till it reaches a point about 90 miles 

 below Edmonton in lat. 54° 10' north, long. 111° 30' west ; it then 

 sweeps gradually round to the south-east, on which course it 

 runs with many minor bends, till it reaches " The Elhow,^^ lat. 

 52° 20' north, and longitude 107° west. At this point, as the 



