DIMENSIONS OF THE SASKATCHEWAN. 451 



wooded with email poplar and willows, and in many 

 places its depth is lessened by mud-flats and sand-bars ; 

 its banks are now low, alluvial flats, only two to three feet 

 above the water, covered with grey willows and sapling 

 poplar. The current in this part of the river is slacker 

 than before, the average rate, as measured by the log, being 

 two miles an hour. We camped about a quarter to seven, 

 p.m., and made a section of the river, which gradually 

 increases in breadth and volume of water ; a number of 

 soundings, taken at intervals across the river with the 

 hand-lead, showed a mean depth of twenty feet ; the 

 width of the river at this point being 980 feet. I leveled 

 about three quarters of a mile along the bank of the 

 river here, to ascertain its fall. 



To-day we met an Indian hunter and his family in a 

 small canoe, the first we had seen since we set out on our 

 journey; indeed the only signs of animal life yet observed 

 in this solitary region were a young black fox, that came 

 down to the brink of the river to slake his thirst, but 

 scampered away as soon as a shot was fired at him, and 

 a beaver in the vicinity of some trees, felled by these 

 industrious animals. The Indian had been catching stur- 

 geon and drying them for future use. This excellent fish 

 abounds in many parts of the Saskatchewan, and it is one 

 of the chief articles of food in the country. The Indians, 

 as well as those in charge of the posts, have frequently 

 nothing else to live upon for months, and the failure of 

 the sturgeon fishing is often the cause of much distress 

 and starvation. The sturgeon sounds are collected at the 

 forts, and form an important article of export. 



August 17th. — We embarked at 4- a. m., and observed 

 no material change in the general character of the river 

 and adjacent country during the clay. The banks of the 



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