FORT RAE 



75 



wrong, about the route, we crossed the portage of a hundred 

 yards, on the right of the rapids, and launched the canoes upon 

 Prospect Lake. The Yellow Knife River is simply a chain of 

 lakes connected by rapids and falls. The lakes are usually long 

 and narrow, their general direction being north and south or 

 northeast and southwest. 



We followed the rugged cliffs on our left for half a mile, 

 then turned to the left through a broad channel into the north- 

 ern arm of the lake. We camped upon a small bay on the west 

 shore near the site of another "old fort." The lake terminates 

 in two bays. We entered the wrong one the next morning and 

 had to turn back, finding that the stream entered the western- 

 most by a narrow oblique channel, not visible a hundred yards 

 from the entranc j. We soon reached a series of cascades about 

 a mile in length. The portage trail of more than a thousand 

 paces leads from the east bank of the basin at the foot of the 

 last chute to Fishing Lake, at a point some distance south of 

 the river channel. This was our longest portage and I fully 

 realized the advantage of having a light canoe by the time I 

 had carried mine across. 



We were unable to form any estimate of the extent of Fish- 

 ing Lake as a wooded peninsula shut out the eastern arm from 

 view. A mile and a half northward, we entered the river, 

 where a ledge of rocks compelled us to portage half our load. 

 Crossing a small lake we reached a cascade with a portage of 

 fifty yards on the left. We were now upon the Nine Lakes, a 

 long irregular body of water containing many islands. We 

 crossed to the left through a narrow bay, then turned eastward. 

 We searched for two hours in a bay to the left for a por- 

 tage, which Andrew said he had been told existed there, and 

 finally gave it up and entered the bay on the right, through 

 which we passed without portaging. Passing a small colony of 

 ring-billed gulls, we camped on the north shore where a cas- 

 cade came tumbling from a picturesque little chain of lakes 

 above us. 



In the morning we chose the southernmost of three bays, 

 before us and found a chute about fifteen feet in height, which 

 we passed by a portage of fifty yards on the left. On our 

 return trip we heard the roar of rapids in the direction of 

 the northern bay, indicating the presence of a tributary of con- 



