at the instant. The guide anticipating the consequences, ran with
the utmost haste to the other end of the portage, but he was too
late: the other canoe had pushed off, and he arrived only to
witness the fate of his comrades. They got alarmed in the middle
of the rapid, the canoe was upset, and every man perished.
The various rapids we passed this day, are produced by an assemblage
of islands and rocky ledges, which obstruct the river, and
divide it into many narrow channels. Two of these channels are
rendered still more difficult by accumulations of drift timber; a
circumstance which has given a name to one of the portages. The
rocks which compose the bed of the river, and the numerous, islands,
belong to the granite formation. The distance made to-day was
thirteen miles.
July 21.—We embarked at four A.M. and pursued our course
down the river. The rocks cease at the last portage ; and below it
the banks are composed of alluvial soil, which is held together by
the roots of trees and shrubs that crown their summits. The river
is about a mile wide, and the current is greatly diminished. At
eight we landed at the mouth of the Salt River, and pitched our
tents, intending to remain there that and the next day for the purpose
of fishing. After breakfast, which made another inroad on our
preserved meats, we proceeded up the river in a light canoe, to visit
the salt springs, leaving a party behind to attend the nets. This
river is about one hundred yards wide at its mouth. Its waters did
not become brackish until we had ascended it seven or eight miles;
but when we had passed several rivulets of fresh water which flowed
in, the main stream became very salt, at the same time contracting
its width to fifteen or twenty yards. At a distance of twenty-two
miles, including the windings of the river, the plains commence.
Having pitched the tent at this spot, we set out to visit the principal
springs, and had walked about three miles when the musquitoes
compelled us to give up our project. We did not see the terminafion
of the plains toward the east, but on the north and west they
are bounded by an even ridge, about six or seven hundred feet in
height. Several salt springs issue from the foot of this ridge, and
spread their waters over the plain, which consists of tenacious clay.
During the summer much evaporation takes place, and large heaps
of salt are left behind crystallized in the form of cubes. Some beds
of grayish compact gypsum were exposed on the sides of the hills.
The next morning after filling some casks with salt for our use
during winter, we embarked to return, and had descended the river
a few miles, when turning round a point, we perceived a buffalo
plunge into the river before us. Eager to secure so valuable a prize,
we instantly opened a fire upon him from four muskets, and in a few
minutes he fell, but not before he had received fourteen balls. The
carcass was towed to the bank, and the canoe speedily laden with
meat. After this piece of good fortune, we descended the stream
merrily, our voyagers chanting their liveliest songs. On arrival at
the mouth of the river, we found that our nets had not produced
more than enough to supply a scanty meal to the men whom we
had left behind, but this was now of little importance, as the acquisition
of meat we had made would enable us to proceed without
more delay to Slave Lake. The poisson inconnu, mentioned by
Mackenzie, is found here. It is a species of the Genus Salmo, and is
said by the Indians to ascend from the Arctic Sea, but being unable
to pass the cascade of the Slave River, is not found higher than this
place. In the evening a violent thunder-storm came on with heavy
rain, thermometer 70°.
At a very early hour on the following morning we embarked, and
continued to paddle against a very strong wind and high waves,
under the shelter of the bank of the rivers, until two P.M., when
having arrived at a more exposed part of the stream, the canoes
took in so much water that we were obliged to disembark on a small
island. The river here is from one mile and a quarter to one mile