340 Our North Land. 



is conducted in the Church of England style, and a goodly number 

 of the worshippers use the service book printed in their own lan- 

 guage. After the service they generally spend the remainder of the 

 day (Sunday) in games and foot-races. 



From Chemahawin, the traveller enters Cedar Lake, which is 

 remarkable for the scarcity of cedar and the presence of spruce and 

 tamarac. However, the lake at the mouth of the river, with its 

 evergreen islands, presents a picturesque appearance. The shores of 

 the lake are rugged and rocky, but nowhere more than twelve feet 

 in height. The whole country round is still flat and low. It is 

 wooded', but the soil is shallow. 



The lake is sometimes very rough, westerly winds prevail, and 

 the water is often lashed into such fury that the steamers cannot 

 cross. The prettiest scenery on the whole Saskatchewan route is in 

 the channel connecting Cedar Lake with Cross Lake. It is equal to 

 the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, and much the same. At 

 the head of Cross Lake are the Demi-Charge Rapids, so named 

 from the fact that York boats, in being towed through them, carry 

 only half of a cargo. Adjoining the rapids is Calico Island, so called 

 because the first steamer plying on the river, the Saskatchewan, 

 that attempted to ascend the rapids, was sunk, and thousands of 

 yards of calico were hung up on the island to dry. 



Cross Lake is about four miles wide, has many deep bays and 

 some beautiful islands. From the east side of Cross Lake the Sas- 

 katchewan River resumes its course, with an increased current, 

 passes over the Cross Lake Rapids, then the Roche Rouge Rapids, 

 and finally over the roaring Grand Rapids, over three miles long, 

 into Lake Winnipeg. 



A little above the head of Grand Rapids is the west end of the 

 " pioneer railway," or tramway, over which freights are transported 

 from steamers on Lake Winnipeg to steamers on the Saskatchewan, 

 and which ascend the river from the head of the rapids to Edmonton, 

 on the North Branch. The limestone formation of the banks of the 

 river along the rapids rises twenty feet almost vertically. At the 

 west end of the rapids, on the north side of the river, the steamboat 

 company's offices are located. The Hudson's Bay Company also 



