through ilknds; five^mMeskihore 'to- Fart Bourbon*, fituated on a
fmall ifland, dividing this from Mud-Lake.
•? The Cedar Lake is ’from1 four to twelve miles wide, exclufive of the
bays.- ItSjbanks are iCoVeréd with wood,.and.abound in .game, and its
waters produce plenty jof^filh, particularly »the burgeon,S j The,-Mud*
Lithe*; and thé; neighbourhood [of the Tort Bourbonrhh^Shilfi^aielei
duokfyifwafts, &c. and Was* formerly remarkable, for. number of
martens, of which it cannot now.,boaft but a yeryjfp^lf proportion.',.
The Mud-Lake mull have formerly been a part of the Cedar Lake, but
the immenfe .quantity o f earth Land fand, btpught .dowa^yLthe SiO|a|éhi-;
wine, hasrfilled up this part o f it for a circumference .whbfe diameter is at
feaft .fifteen or twenty,miles: part of whichfjpace is fo$;coyere4.withff
few feet of water, but tbegreateftproportionis {haded withlarge^reeSj fitch
as the .Hard, the fwamp-afh,and.the willow. T his land; eonfifts o f many
iflands, which confequently Tor-m various channels,
oecafibnally: dry, and bearing young wood. It is, indeed, more thanipro-
bable that this river will,:in the courfe of time, Co;nyqfh the-t^hol| qLifber
Cedar Lake into a foreft. TotheNorth-Weft the 'ced^% n^tjp^,faypd.
. From this lake the Safkatehiwine may be confidered as nayigable;,tp;
near its fources- in the rocky mountains, for canoes, and without a
carrying-place, making a great bend to Cumberland Houfe, on Sturgeon
Lake. From the confluence of its North and South* branches its courfe
* This was alfo a principal ;poft o f the French, .who gave it its. name.
is Weftërly; fpre’ading itfelf, it receives feveral tributary ftreams, and'
encompafles a large träck of country, which is level*, particularly along
the " South" branch, but is little known.’ Beaver,'and other animals,
Whofe furs are*valuable," are amongftthé inhabitants of the North-Weft
branch, and thé plains aré cövéred with buffalos, wolves, and fmall
föxeè ; particularly abbut ;the 'South* branch, which;, however, has of late
claimed fomé attention,' as it 'is-ribw uiiderftood, that where the plains
terminatè*towards the rocky mountain, there is a fpace of hilly’country
clothed With wood,,and inhabited alfo |by animals of the fur kind. This
’has bben-actually determined to be the'cafe towards the head* of the
North branch) whère the ’trade has befen carried to about the latitude
54 North,* arfd longitude 1 r £ . Weft. The bed and banks o f the latter,
in fohièifêw places;Ï difeover a- ftratum of' freë-ftone ; but, in general,
j? Thef plains are land and gravel,,
covered' with fihe^rafs, and mixed with a fmall quanty of vegetable earth.
This is partiedlarly obfervable along the North branch, the Weft fide of
which is coVÊif^with Wbbd; !
There are on this river .five principal faflories for the convenience of
trade "With the datives. Nepäwi Houfe; South-branch Houfe, Fort-
George Houfè, Fort-Auguftus Houfe, and Upper Eftablifhment. There
have been many* others; which, frómïva>fious caufes, have been changed
for thefe, whde^tHerëlare becafionally others depending on each of
them.
. The^inhabitants, frbm?the information I ; could obtain, are as follow: