THE KI-SIS-KAH-CHE-WUN. 



397 



Branch. The low points are covered with aspen, the hill 

 banks with white spruce, aspen, Banksian pine, and 

 poplar. Just below the junction of the two branches, 

 after they unite to form the main Saskatchewan at the 

 Grand Forks, there is an extensive flat, on which the 

 remains of an old post of the Hudson's Bay Company is 

 situated. 



The main Saskatchewan, or Ki-sis-kah-che-wun, as the 

 natives call it, is a noble river, sweeping in magnificent 

 curves through a valley about one mile broad, and from 150 

 to 200 feet deep. We paddled rapidly round eight points, 

 making a distance of sixteen miles in three hours, and 

 towards evening sighted Fort a la Corne, with the Nepo- 

 wewin Mission on the opposite or north side of the river. 

 As the description of the Saskatchewan and the valley in 

 which it flows at Fort a la Corne applies equally to the 

 river between it and the Grand Forks, it is unnecessary to 

 incur the risk of needless repetition by enumerating the 

 features of each of the eight points or bends we passed, 

 and of the valley through which the river flows. At Fort 

 a la Corne we made measurements of its leading dimen- 

 sions, a section of the bed of the river, ascertained its 

 rate of current, examined the cliffs, points, and flats, 

 which are so curiously reproduced at every bend, which 

 will be amply sufficient to illustrate the most interesting 

 and important features of this noble stream between the 

 Grand Forks and a short distance below Fort k la Corne ; 

 from that point the country begins to assume a different 

 aspect, and will require an independent notice. 



The Saskatchewan opposite Fort a la Corne is 320 

 yards broad, twenty feet deep in the channel, and flows at 

 the rate of three miles an hour. The mean depth of the 

 river is fourteen feet, but it is in the memory of those 

 living at the fort, when it was crossed on horseback during 

 a very dry season. 



