146 THKOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



The left bank of the river now exhibited, for a long dis- 

 tance, a wilderness swept by fire, but covered with " ram- 

 pikes " and fallen timber. The other side seemed to have 

 partially escaped destruction. The tracking was good, and 

 we passed the " Twenty Mile Rock " before dinner, camping 

 about fifteen miles from the Landing. -Next morning we 

 passed through a like burnt country on both sides, giving the 

 region a desolate and forlorn look, which placed it in sinister 

 contrast with the same river to the north. 



Farther up, the right bank rose bare to the sky-line with 

 a mere sprinkling of small aspens, indicating what the 

 appearance of the " rampike " country would be if again set 

 ablaze, and converted from a burnt-wood region to a bare 

 one. The banks revealed a clay soil, in some places mixed 

 with boulders, but evidently there was good land lying back 

 from the river. 



In the morning bets were made as to the hour of arrival 

 at the Landing. Mr. P. said four p.m., the writer five, the 

 Major six, and Mr. C. eight. At three p.m. we rounded the 

 last point but one, and reached the wharf at six-thirty, the 

 Major taking the pool. 



We had now nothing before us but the journey to Edmon- 

 ton. At night a couple of dances took place in adjacent 

 boarding-houses, which banished sleep until a great uproar 

 arose, ending in the partisans of one house cleaning out the 

 occupants of the other, thus reducing things to silence. We 

 knew then that we had returned to earth. We had dropped, 

 as it were, from another planet, and would soon, too soon, 

 be treading the flinty city streets, and, divorced from Nature, 

 become once more the bond-slaves of civilization. 



