CEDAR LAKE. 



457 



Crees, there being on it a clump of good sized poplar, the 

 only timber fit for fuel for miles around ; and here they 

 hold their great councils, dog feasts, and medicine dances. 

 Its name in Swampy is Kash-ke-bu-jes-pu-qua-ne-shing^ 

 signifying, " Tying the mouth of a drum." 



Between Muddy Lake and Cedar Lake the Saskatche- 

 wan meanders through an immense marsh with tall reeds 

 and rushes. It is now no longer an integral stream, but 

 is divided into a maze of reticulating branches. Accord- 

 ing to our Indian guide, land is being formed here very 

 fast ; and what is now marsh and mud-flats was, within 

 his recollection, open navigable water for a considerable 

 distance back from where the Saskatchewan at present 

 debouches into Cedar Lake through its numerous mouths. 

 In one or two places we saw the trunks and branches of 

 stranded trees sticking above water, where alluvial flats 

 or shoals of mud and drift timber are in course of for- 

 mation. 



The Indians informed me that beyond these extensive 

 alluvial flats and shallow marshes there is not to their 

 knowledge anything but " muskeg " or boggy swamps for 

 a very great distance on either side. I could see no high 

 ground of any kind, and the character of the country 

 bordering the Saskatchewan, as above described, may be 

 said to continue back from the river for many miles. 



We entered Cedar Lake on the morning of the 20th 

 August, and coasted along the north shore till about noon, 

 when we ran into a fine little harbour to eat dinner, after 

 making a long traverse. In the afternoon, while crossing 

 a wide and deep bay or sound stretching far to the north 

 (the extremity being below the horizon), a stiff breeze 

 sprang up, soon raising a very heavy sea, in which our 

 canoe became almost unmanageable, pitching tremen- 

 dously and shipping a great deal of water. On the 21st 



