TORONTO TO ATHABASCA LANDING. 17 



After passing through some miles of these woods 

 we again emerged into more open country, wooded 

 alternately in places by poplar, spruce and jack-pine. 

 About nine o'clock that evening, when half-way to the 

 Landing, we reached the Height of Land between the 

 two great valleys of the Saskatchewan and Athabasca 

 rivers. Here, upon a grassy spot, we pitched our first 

 camp. As the night was clear no tents were put up, 

 but, after partaking of some refreshment, each man 

 rolled up in his blanket and lay down to sleep beneath 

 the starry sky. We rested well, although our slumbers 

 were somewhat broken by the fiendish yells of prairie 

 wolves from the surrounding scrub, and the scarcely 

 less diabolical screams of loons sporting on a pond close 

 by. An effort was made to have the latter nuisance 

 removed, but any one who has ever tried to shoot loons 

 at night will better understand than I can describe the 

 immensity of the undertaking. 



About nine o'clock on the evening of the 30th of May 

 we arrived at Athabasca Landing, only a few hours 

 after the loads of supplies, which we were glad to find 

 had all come through safely. 



