THE BED RIVER EXPEDITION. 315 



Fort Alexander, where some half-breed fanners have 

 established themselves. There is also a very fine farm 

 belonging to the post in a good state of cultivation. 

 The land is very rich for about half a mile or a mile 

 back from the river, beyond that being a succession 

 of swamps impassable during the summer, but travelled 

 over when frozen in winter. The Fort is like the others 

 already described, but is on a larger scale, and has a 

 less decayed air about it. It stands on the left bank, 

 which is about twenty feet above the water, and is two 

 miles from the mouth of the river. There is a Protes- 

 tant mission here, and much good is done by its 

 schools, in which English is taught. The 21st of 

 August being Sunday, there was a parade for divine 

 service in the morning, at which the servants of the 

 Hudson Bay Company, and the few half-breed farmers 

 in the neighbourhood, joined us in prayers for the 

 success of the operation we were about to undertake. 

 The afternoon was lovely, with a bright warm sun 

 shining down upon us as our fleet of fifty boats hoisted 

 their sails, and started with a light wind from the 

 S."\V. It was a very pretty sight, and a subject well 

 worthy of an artist. As we rounded the point of Elk 

 Island, eighteen miles N.W. from Fort Alexander, 

 evening was falling fast ; so we halted for the night 

 in a bay with a wide sandy beach between the water 

 and the high overhanging bank, which wa^s covered 

 with timber, chiefly birch. The boats drew up in a 

 long line, side by side, with their bows on the beach. 



