260 PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 



and confidence placed them so completely in my 

 power. 



All the streams and lakes swarm with fish. The 

 gravelly-bottomed, rock-margined rivers are admir- 

 ably suited for the residence and reproduction of 

 SalmonidaB ; and the temperature, from the elevation 

 of the region, can scarcely ever be so high as to heat 

 the waters, and thus force the residents of these 

 mountain brooks from their favourite river-haunts to 

 the frigid springs feeding the lakes, as it does in the 

 less elevated country further to the east. 



My stay here was not long, a few days sufficing 

 to gratify my curiosity ; and as I was desirous of 

 starting for civilisation as soon as possible, at day- 

 break, on a dismal, threatening morning, I directed 

 my steps to the south, the weather improving and 

 becoming brighter as I advanced. This I welcomed as 

 ominous of a favourable journey, raising my spirits, 

 and giving such additional vigour to my limbs that 

 in three days I was again among my temporary 

 companions. 



Camp was now all bustle and confusion, the 

 order and regularity that had hitherto prevailed, 

 being completely disregarded, for arms, accoutre- 

 ments, and packs lay scattered around on every hand. 



One of the hunters, on this the last day of our 

 stay in camp, informed the old man that two years 

 since he, with several companions, came from the east 

 by the very course we propose taking ; and that 

 when they left Moose River, a branch of the Saskat- 



