North-West Continent of America. 215 



title of a lake. The road was good, and our next course, 

 which was West by South, brought us onward ten miles, 

 where we encamped, fatigued and wet, it having rained 

 three parts of the day. This river abounds with fish, and 

 must fall into the greater river, further down than we had 

 extended our voyage. 



Tuesday 9 f A heavy and continued rain fell through 

 great part of the night, and as we were in some measure 

 exposed to it, time was required to dry our clothes; so 

 that it was half past seven in the morning before we were 

 ready to set out. As we found the country so destitute of 

 game, and foreseeing the difficulty of procuring provisions 

 for our return, I thought it prudent to conceal half a bag 

 of pemmican : having sent off the Indians, and all my peo- 

 ple except two, we buried it under the fire place, as we 

 had done on a former occasion. We soon overtook our 

 party, and continued our route along the river or lake. 

 About twelve I had an altitude, but it was inaccurate from 

 the cloudiness of the weather. We continued our pro- 

 gress till five in the afternoon, when the water began to 

 narrow, and in about half an hour we came to a ferry, 

 where we found a small raft. At this time it began to 

 thunder, and torrents of rain soon followed, which termi- 

 nated our journey for the day. Our course was about 

 South, twenty-one miles from the lake already mentioned. 

 We now discovered tops of the mountains, covered with 

 snow, over very high intermediate land. We killed a 

 whitehead and a grey eagle, and three grey partridge « $ 

 we saw also two otters in the river, and several beaver 

 lodges along it. When the rain ceased, we caught a few 

 small fish, and repaired the raft for the service of the en- 

 suing day. 



Wednesday 10. At an early hour of this morning we 

 prepared to cross the water. The traverse is about thirty 

 yards, and it required five trips to get us all over. At a 

 short distance below, a small river falls in, that comes from 

 the direction in which we were proceeding. It is a rapid 

 for about three hundred yards, when it expands into a 

 lake, along which our road conducted us, and beneath a 

 range of beautiful hills, covered with verdure. At half 

 past eight we came to the termination of the lake, where 

 there were two houses that occupied a most delightful 

 situation, and as they contained their necessary furniture, 

 it seemed probable that their owners intended shortly to. 



