40 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



bles strewed over a bank of sand : former experience had 

 established the hopelessness of attempting to procure a 

 night's rest in a bed made on the sand or on small 

 boulders. Sleep may be obtained, but purchased at the 

 price of weary and bruised limbs, and a painful feeling 

 on rising that the night has been utterly thrown away. 

 In preference to sleeping on the sand, we stretched out 

 blankets on the bottom of the boat, and although rather 

 crowded, having made no preparations for this alter- 

 native, we nevertheless slept soundly and enjoyed rest. 



A fair wind on the 2nd started us at dawn. We 

 steered for the mouth of the Water-hen Eiver, leaving 

 on our left Crane Eiver and Bay, where salt springs 

 exist, and then passed through a narrow channel in a 

 reef of boulders, which stretched from east to west, as 

 far as we could see. The wind being fair, we pressed on, 

 notwithstanding a heavy rain, and landed, rather late in 

 the day for breakfast, on an island near the mouth of 

 Water-hen Eiver, which connects Lake Manitobah with 

 Water-hen and Winnipego-sis Lake. Here we found a 

 pair of white-headed eagles engaged in fishing ; and as 

 we came suddenly upon them after rounding a point, one 

 of them dropped a fine white fish he had just caught, 

 which was immediately seized and appropriated by our 

 men for their own breakfast. 



We entered one of the many mouths of the river at 

 2 p.m., and pulled up a broad channel through a vast 

 marsh, whose hmits are well defined by a belt of aspens 

 on either hand. Having reached an attractive camping- 

 place, where the woods came down to the edge of the 

 river, we landed with a view to make a short traverse 

 into the country. The river is swift, very broad, and 

 prettily varied with well- wooded islands. At our camp 

 the trees consisted of white spruce, 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter; 



