442 ASSIOTIBOINB AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



with a view to describe the topography and general 

 character of the region bordering the line of exploration. 



The birch-rind canoe in which we embarked was 

 eighteen feet long, two feet six inches wide, with a round 

 bottom, and drew about a foot of water, a depth some- 

 times too great in places where the river abounds in mud- 

 shallows and sand-bars. This small and light craft was one 

 of those which we had hauled overland from Selkirk settle- 

 ment, and although new at starting, it had become battered 

 and worn during our summer's campaign on the prairies. 

 The crew consisted of two half-breeds, one of Ojibway 

 and the other of Blackfoot origin. Their experience and 

 skill in canoeing, "woodcraft," and hunting rendered 

 them well adapted for the service to be performed. 



A canoe-voyage on these north-western waters is 

 generally monotonous and not often accompanied by that 

 excitement and adventure which is still not unfrequently 

 met with in journeying across the great prairie-plains of 

 the North American Continent. A relation of incidents, 

 and a description of objects to which observation was 

 directed, on this voyage of exploration, may therefore 

 possess but little interest compared with a portrayal of 

 prairie life and travel, buffalo hunts, and scenes among the 

 savage and often hostile tribes distributed over the great 

 plains of the far West. 



Bark canoes are not often seen so high upon the 

 Saskatchewan, there being a scarcity of birch-bark in the 

 region through which the north and south forks flow. 

 These great prairie-rivers are generally crossed and often 

 descended in "bull-boats" or "parchment canoes" by 

 the Indians, for great distances. These bull-boats are 

 made of one or two buffalo skins, stretched on a light 

 frame, stitched together, and the seams covered with 

 tallow and ashes. Hunters and trappers frequently set out 

 from Fort a la Corne, on horseback or on foot, to the 



