30 E. Petitot on the Athabasca District 



Head Pass. I do not know the exact length of the Athabasca 

 from its source, but it cannot be less than 500 or 600 miles. 

 There are 240 miles of its Slave River course from Fort Chipe- 

 wyan to Fort Resolution on the Great Slave Lake, and the 

 Mackenzie is reckoned as 1045 miles ; this would give nearly 

 2000 miles for the entire river-system. 



From its source to the confluence of the Clear-water ("Washe- 

 Kamaw " in the Cree dialect, but more commonly called 

 " Sipisis " or Little River) the general direction of the Athabasca 

 is from south-west to north-east ; from that point, after two very 

 abrupt angles to the east and south-east, it goes almost straight 

 north to the Athabasca Lake. 



For my purpose, we are only interested in the river after its 

 receiving the drainage of the Lesser Slave Lake, at which point 

 it enters the district of Athabasca. Before that point it receives 

 five small rivers, the Miette, Bonhomme, Baptiste, Macleod, and 

 Pembina. This last name, or rather " Nipi-mina, " is a Cree 

 word for elk-berries (the fruit of a guelder rose, Viburnum edule, 

 which grows there). 



I should observe that the name Elk River, applied to the 

 Athabasca, is not only unknown in the north-west, even to 

 British settlers, but is incorrect, since it refers to the elk (moose) 

 or ''original" (Alces americanus) , whilst the Athabasca bears 

 the name of the "cerfbossu" of Canada (the wapiti),* called 

 "biche " by the Canadians (the name of the female). The Crees 

 call the wapiti " Wawaskisieu" and the Chipewyans " The-zil, " or 

 Pteindeer of the Rocks, both tribes also applying these names to 

 the great water-system of which I am treating, and which should 

 therefore be called the Great Red-deer River. 



A little below the outlet of the drainage of the Lesser Slave 

 Lake, the Athabasca receives the waters of another river, also 

 called La Biche, which drains the pretty lake of the same name. 

 Still lower, on the right bank, are the confluences of the Crying 

 River (" Kitou Sipi ") and Wide River (" Kaministi Kweya "), 

 and on the left bank the Pelican River (" Tsatsakin Sipi "), and 

 Lake Wabasca. The right bank also receives the House's River 

 (" Waskaigan Sipi ") ; then, before reaching the turbulent 



* It is a common error in North America to call the wapiti by the name 

 of elk. 



