174 Harmon's journal. 



Friday, 23. Peace River. This river is about 

 seventy rods in breadth, and has a gentle current. 

 It rises on the west side of the Rocky Mountain, 

 at the distance of nearly a thousand miles from 

 this. Below this, it assumes the name of Slave 

 River ; and, after a course of one hundred and 

 forty or fifty miles, it discharges itself into Great 

 Slave Lake. 



Sunday, October 2. Fort Vermillion. To this 

 post, great numbers of Beaver Indians bring their 

 furs ; and there are a few Iroquois, also, from Can- 

 ada, who hunt in this vicinity. — About sixty miles 

 below this, where the river is about thirty rods 

 wide, there is a fall, of about twenty feet. 

 Through the whole course, from this fall nearly 

 to the Rocky Mountain, at a little distance from 

 the river, on each side, there are plains of con- 

 siderable extent, which afford pasture for nume- 

 rous herds of the buffaloe, the red deer or elk, 

 and a few moose. Great numbers of black bears 

 are found, that feed on the berries, which are 

 abundant on the hills, on both sides of the river. 



Friday, 7. Encampment island Fort. This place 

 is, also established, for the purpose of trading with 

 the Beaver Indians. They are the only Indians 

 who live along this noble river, excepting a few 

 Crees, who occasionally come to this quarter, 

 from the Lesser Slave Lake. 



