62 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



he lay down before the fire and was soon sound asleep. Two 

 or three times in the night I rose to replenish the fire, and 

 found the Indian without any covering but the wet skin 

 clothes he had worn during the day, curled up on the 

 bare ground and enjoying profound slumber. 



Early on the following morning we arrived at the 

 Eidge Pitching tract, along which we continued for a 

 few miles, and then again descended into a region of 

 swamps and quaking bogs. In no respect does the Eidge 

 Pitching track between Dauphin Lake and Ebb and Flow 

 Lake differ from the Big Eidge of the Assinniboine except 

 in altitude. It is about one hundred yards across, evenly 

 rounded, composed of gravel, and covered to a great 

 extent with the bearberry. On either side are small oaks 

 and aspens, succeeded by marshes. Its altitude above the 

 marsh is about fifteen feet. The guide said it formed an 

 extension of the ridge on White Mud Eiver described in 

 Chapter XX., and if this be the case no better means of 

 communication by land with this part of the country 

 could be found than the Eidge Pitching track. 



Soon after leaving this excellent road we stuck fast in a 

 quaking bog about one mile broad. The horses were mired, 

 and it was only by dint of the greatest exertion and much 

 cruel beating that the Indian and half-breed succeeded in 

 getting them on to dry land. In the afternoon we arrived 

 at Crow Creek, and the country becoming drier we were 

 enabled to make better progress. After passing Sucker 

 Creek, which, with the streamlet before named, flows 

 sluggishly in a trench about ten feet deep, we arrived at a 

 fine open prairie surrounded by tall aspen woods and 

 covered with a splendid crop of wild hay. Here we met 

 an Indian who was setting traps, the hunting season 

 having already commenced. He invited us to his tent 

 which was placed on the shores of Ebb and Flow Lake, 



