46 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



engaged in the manufacture complained of the want of 

 fuel — in other words, of the labour and trouble of cutting 

 down the spruce and poplar near at hand, and the diffi- 

 culty of hauling it to the furnaces, — an objection of no 

 moment, but characteristic of some of the people, who are 

 generally unaccustomed to long-continued manual labour. 



It will be seen that the processes employed in the 

 manufacture of salt are of the rudest description, so that 

 without any outlay, beyond a few days' labour, the quan- 

 tity might be largely increased. I spoke to John Monk- 

 man, who now makes salt here, of pumps and solar 

 evaporation. Of a pump he knew absolutely nothing. 

 He had heard that such an apparatus had been contrived, 

 but had never seen one. He readily comprehended the 

 advantage to be derived from pumping the water into 

 shallow troughs, dug in the retentive clay near the springs, 

 and strengthening the brine by solar evaporation. An 

 Indian guide, who accompanied us up the Moss Eiver, 

 assured me that all along the west coast of Winnipego-sis 

 and Manitobah Lakes, there are salt lagoons and springs. 

 The Indians we met on the Dauphin Lake made the same 

 acknowledgment, but declined to give precise information, 

 alleging that the manufacture of salt drove away the game, 

 and spoiled their hunting. 



The extent, character, and importance of the Salt 

 Eegion in Eupert's Land will be discussed at length in 

 another chapter. 



Oct. 6th. — Left the Salt Springs, and sailed before a 

 stiff breeze to the mouth of Moss Eiver. We found four 

 feet of water on the bar, and nine feet at the mouth of 

 the river. A low exposure of limestone occurs near the 

 entrance, and another one mile and a half up the stream. 

 The dip is very irregular. The fossils are few in number, 

 and obscure. In its lithological aspect, it resembles the 



