10 CROSSING THE SASKATCHAWAN. 



could generally be found round their edges, and you now and 

 then put up a few swans, affording splendid sport, and making 

 a very pleasant change from everlasting ham, which was 

 the only kind of preserved meat which we could get at Fort 

 Garry. 



Wolves were very common, one or more being generally in 

 sight, and we had many chases after them with the blood- 

 hound, but, as he was young, he never did anything. When 

 after the wolves one day, I had a very nasty fall. I was going 

 down a hill at full speed, when my pony put his foot in a hole, 

 and over we went, describing, as it seemed to me, at least three 

 summersaults, and, as I was carrying a heavy ten-bore gun by a 

 strap on my back, each time I turned over the gun hit me on 

 the back of the head, raising a bump as big as an egg, and 

 obliging me to sit some minutes before I could take in the 

 situation and find out which way to ride home again. 



We saw no big game, except wolves, till near Fort Carlton, 

 when we made out a band of antelope with a glass, and one elk, 

 which was, however, on the other side of the Saskatchawan, at 

 a place where we could not cross. 



Our first trouble was crossing the south fork of this river, 

 the stream being swift and deep and about eighty yards wide. 

 The carts being constructed entirely of wood formed a good 

 raft, and as they were loosely made, we had only to remove the 

 bottom boards and arrange them as a platform on the sides, 

 and towing this over with a long rope, everything was got over 

 safely ; but when it came to the horses, we had some trouble, 

 most of them refusing to enter the water ; so that we had to 

 drag them down and push them in, keeping them from landing 

 again by pelting them with stones, and in this manner we 



