which they carry over the portages, is not more a matter of surprise
than the alacrity with which they perform these laborious duties.
At si?, on the morning of the 21st, we left our encampment, and
soon after arrived at the Mossy Portage, where the cargoes were
carried through a deep bog for a quarter of a mile. The river swells
out, above this portage, to the breadth of several miles, and as the
islands are numerous there are a great variety of channels. Night
overtook us before we arrived at the Second Portage, so named from
its being the second in the passage down the river. Our whole distance
this day was one mile and a quarter.
On the 22d our route led us amongst many wooded islands, which
lying in long vistas, produced scenes of much beauty. In the course
of the day we crossed the Upper Portage, surmounted the Devil’s
Landing Place, and urged the boat with poles through Groundwater
Creek. At the upper end of this creek, our bowmen having given
the boat too great a sheer, to avoid the rock, it was caught on the
broadside by the current, and in defiance of our utmost exertions,
hurried down the rapid. Fortunately, however, it grounded against
a rock high enough to prevent the current from oversetting it, and
the crews of the other boats having come to our assistance, we succeeded,
after several trials, in throwing a rope to them, with which
they dragged our almost sinking vessel stern foremost up the stream,
and rescued us from our perilous situation. We encamped m the
dusk of the evening amidst a heavy thunder-storm, having advanced
two miles and three quarters.
About ten in the morning of the 23d we arrived at the Dramstone,
which is hailed with pleasure by the boats’ crews, as marking the
termination of the laborious ascent of Hill River. We complied
with the custom from whence it derives its name, and soon after
landing upon Sail Island prepared breakfast. In the mean time our
boatmen cut down and rigged a new mast, the old one having been
thrown overboard at the mouth of Steel River, where it ceased to be
useful. We left Sail Island with a fair wind, and soon afterwards
arrived at a depdt situated on Swampy Lake, where we received a
supply of mouldy pemmican*. Mr. Calder and his attendant were
the only tenants of this cheerless abode, and their only food was the
wretched stuff with which they supplied us, the lake not yielding
fish at this season. After a short delay at this post, we sailed through
the remainder of Swampy Lake, and slept at the Lower Portage in
Jack River; the distance sailed to-day being sixteen miles and a half.
Jack River is only eight miles long; but being full of bad rapids, it
detained us considerably. At seven in the morning of the 24th, we
crossed the Long Portage, where the woods, having caught fire in the
summer, were still smoking. This a common accident, owing to the
neglect of the Indians and voyagers in not putting out their fires, and
in a dry season the woods may be seen blazing to the extent of many
miles. We afterwards crossed the Second, or Swampy Portage, and
in the evening encamped on the Upper Portage, where we were overtaken
by an Indian bringing an answer from Governor Williams to a
letter I had written to him on the 15 th, in which he renewed his injunctions
to the gentlemen of the boats accompanying us, to afford us
every assistance in their power. The Aurora Borealis appeared this
evening in form of a bright arch, extending across the zenith in a N.W.
and S.E. direction. The extent of our voyage to-day was two miles.
About noon, on the 25 th, we entered Knee Lake, which has a very
irregular form, and near its middle takes a sudden turn, from whence
it derives its name. It is thickly studded with islands, and its shores
are low and well wooded. The surrounding country, as far we could
see, is flat, being destitute even of the moderate elevations which
occur near the upper part of Hill River. The weather was remarkably
fine, and the setting sun threw the richest tints over the scene
that I remember ever to have witnessed.
* Buffalo meat, dried and pounded, and mixed with melted fat.