SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 183 



themselves at our encampments in setting fire to the ever- 

 green trees; the long and thick moss which hangs from 

 one bough to another, communicated the fire instantane- 

 ously to the top of the tree, and the brisk blaze which it 

 occasioned produced a fine but awful spectacle. The gum 

 was seen exuding plentifully through everj^ pore of the tree. 



There was a heavy fall of snow on the morning of the 

 20th, but the wind having lulled, we resumed our journey, 

 and continued all day with a fine sailing breeze; we pass- 

 ed a bay, into which a small river discharges itself, and 

 saw at a distance a trading house of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company ; but as it would have detained us much to go 

 thither, we proceeded on the journey without stopping. 

 This establishment is called the Peek, which is an abbre- 

 viation of the term P^katek, used by the Indians. We en- 

 camped beyond this bay on a rock, which appeared to be 

 formed of a talcose-slate, subordinate to the great sienitic 

 formation. As we advanced the evergreens became more 

 rare, and were replaced by large birch, both yellow and 

 white, and by the aspen. 



On the morning of the 21st, as we were preparing to 

 start, one of the men was reported to be missing. His 

 name was Daniel Brown ; he was at first supposed to have 

 strayed a little from camp, and a few guns were fired to 

 bring him back ; these failing in their object, some uneasi- 

 ness was felt on his account, as he had expressed himself 

 unwell the evening before, and had been seen up before 

 day -light ; but on loading the canoes a few of the articles 

 were observed to be missing ; a closer inspection proved 

 that a number of things had been removed ; not only the 

 public stores had been pilfered, but even the baggage of 

 some of the gentlemen, and the knapsacks of the soldiers 

 had been opened and robbed. The disappearance of all 



