-t\.i 



i 



RUNNING THE RAPIDS. 47 



discovery of some straight spruce saplings, we landed 

 as night approached, and a number of our men were 

 sent to select a few for the purpose of making good 

 tent-poles, to take the place of the rough ones we had 

 been using. Besides spruce and other varieties of 

 timber, balsam trees, the last seen on the northward 

 journey, were found at this camp. 



On the morning of the 16th, though the weather con- 

 tinued showery and a strong head wind had set in, we 

 were early on our way, for we were anxious to reach 

 Chippewyan a day or two before the return of the 

 Grahame, that we might rate our chronometer and 

 make all necessary preparations for a good-bye to the 

 outermost borders of civilization. In descending the 

 Athabasca we were making no survey of the course, nor 

 y continuous examination of the geological features 

 f the district, but were chiefly concerned in getting 

 own to Chippewyan, where we were to receive our full 

 loads of supplies, and from which place our work was 

 really to begin. Despite the unpleasantness of the 

 weather, therefore, our canoes were kept in the stream 

 and all hands at the paddles, and by nightfall another 

 stretch of about sixty miles w^as covered. We had now 

 reached the low flat country at the delta of the river, 

 where its waters break into many channels, but still a 

 strong current was running, and this we were glad to 

 find continued until within a distance of six or eight 

 miles from the lake. Some parts of the river were much 

 obstructed by driftwood grounded upon shoals ; the 

 banks, too, were low and marshy, and landing-places 

 difficult to find. Several flocks of wild geese were seen, 

 but none secured. 



