of its winding banks, and on the 26th we were some hours employed
in traversing a series of shallow rapids, where it was necessary to
lighten the canoes. Having missed the path through the woods, we
walked two miles in the water upon sharp stones, from which some
of us were incessantly slipping into deep holes, and floundering in
vain for footing at the bottom; a scene highly diverting, notwithstanding
our fatigue. We were detained in Sandy Lake, till one P.M.,
by a strong gale, when the wind becoming moderate we crossed five
miles to the mouth of the river, and at four P.M. left the main
branch of it, and entered a little rivulet called the Grassy Eiver,
running through an extensive reedy swamp. It is the nest of innumerable
ducks, which rear their young, among the long rushes, in
security from beasts of prey. A t sunset we encamped on the banks
of the main branch.
A t three A.M. June 28th, we embarked in a thick fog occasioned
by a fall of the temperature of the air ten degrees below that of the
water. Having crossed Knee Lake, which is nine miles in length,
and a portage at its western extremity, we entered Primeau Lake,
with a strong and favourable wind, by the aid of which we ran
nineteen miles through it, and encamped at the river’s mouth. It
is shaped like the barb of an arrow, with the point towards the noi’th,
and its greatest breadth is about four miles.
During the night, a torrent of rain washed us from our beds,
accompanied with the loudest thunder I ever heard. This weather
continued during the 29th, and often compelled us to land, and
turn the canoes up, to prevent them from filling. We passed one
portage, and the confluence of a river, said to afford, by other rivers
beyond a height of land, a shorter but more difficult route to the
Athabasca Lake than that which is generally pursued.
On the 28th we crossed the last portage, and at ten A.M. entered
the Isle k la Crosse Lake. Its long succession of woody points,
both banks stretching towards the south, till their forms were lost
in the haze of the horizon, was a grateful prospect to us, after our
bewildered, and interrupted, yoyager;in Jhe,rMi$sinippi, The gale
wafted u& with unusual speed, .and,,as, the lake, increased, in breadth,
the waves■ swelled to ai jflangerous.height. A canoe running.,before
the wind is .very liahle.dOj hWstra^under^ yrhen on the;top vOf|a,>w3,ye,
so thatipart of the bottom is outtpLitheijyater:;, fp;r therein,nothing
to support the weight of its heavy, cargo but the bark, , and (th e slight
gunwales attached to-it- -
On making known our,, exigencies: sto the gentlemen, in, charge of
the Hudson’s . Bay and Horth-Wes.t: Companies’, ,Fortsp they? made
up an assortment of, stores,, amounting, to five bales; for .four of
which we were indebted to, Mr. Mae Lead o f the North-West, Company,
who shared with us the ammunition absolutely,required for
the support of his post; receiving in exchange an order for the same
quantity upon the cargo which we expected to follow us;,from,‘York
•Factory. We had heard from Mr. Stuart that; Tort Ghipewyam was
too much impoverished to supply the wants of the Jhspeditipn, and
:we found Isle k la Crosse 1» the same condition ; which, indeed, we
might, have foreseen, from the exhausted state of Cumberland House,
hut could not have provided against.- We never had [heard before
our departure from York, that the posts in the interior' only-received
annually the stores necessary for the consumption mf, a, single year.
It was fortunate for us that Mr. Franklin had desired ten hags of
pemmjcan ,to be sent from the Saskatchewan across the-plains to
Isle a la Crosse for our use. This resource was untouched, but we
could not embark more than five pieces in our own canoes., However,
Mr. Mac Leod;agreed to send a canoe after us to the Metliye
Portage,, with the pemmican, and we calculated that the diminution
of our provision would there enable us to receive it,
The Beaver. River, enters this lake on the S.L, side,’ and another
river whiqh has not been named, on the S,W. Both these rivers
are branches of,the,Missinippi, as it is the only outlet from,,the lake.
The hanks appeared to be rocky, and the beach in many places
a B