the crust of the snow was sufficient to bear us. After two or three
hours of incredible exertions and fatigues, we arrived at the _plateau_
or summit, and followed the footprints of those who had preceded us.
This mountain is placed between two others a great deal more elevated,
compared with which it is but a hill, and of which, indeed, it is only,
as it were, the valley. Our march soon became fatiguing, on account of
the depth of the snow, which, softened by the rays of the sun, could no
longer bear us as in the morning. We were obliged to follow exactly the
traces of those who had preceded us, and to plunge our legs up to the
knees in the holes they had made, so that it was as if we had put on and
taken off, at every step, a very large pair of boots. At last we arrived
at a good hard bottom, and a clear space, which our guide said was a
little lake frozen over, and here we stopped for the night. This lake,
or rather these lakes (for there are two) are situated in the midst of
the valley or _cup_ of the mountains. On either side were immense
glaciers, or ice-bound rocks, on which the rays of the setting sun
reflected the most beautiful prismatic colors. One of these icy peaks
was like a fortress of rock; it rose perpendicularly some fifteen or
eighteen hundred feet above the level of the lakes, and had the summit
covered with ice. Mr. J. Henry, who first discovered the pass, gave this
extraordinary rock the name of _M'Gillivray's Rock_, in honor of one of
the partners of the N.W. Company. The lakes themselves are not much over
three or four hundred yards in circuit, and not over two hundred yards
apart. Canoe river, which, as we have already seen, flows to the west,
and falls into the Columbia, takes its rise in one of them; while the
other gives birth to one of the branches of the _Athabasca_, which runs
first eastward, then northward, and which, after its junction with the
_Unjighah_, north of the Lake of the Mountains, takes the name of
_Slave_ river, as far the lake of that name, and afterward that of
_M'Kenzie_ river, till it empties into, or is lost in, the Frozen ocean.
Having cut a large pile of wood, and having, by tedious labor for nearly
an hour, got through the ice to the clear water of the lake on which we
were encamped, we supped frugally on pounded maize, arranged our
bivouac, and passed a pretty good night, though it was bitterly cold.
The most common wood of the locality was cedar and stunted pine. The
heat of our fire made the snow melt, and by morning the embers had
reached the solid ice: the depth from the snow surface was about five
feet.

On the 15th, we continued our route, and soon began to descend the
mountain. At the end of three hours, we reached the banks of a
stream--the outlet of the second lake above mentioned--here and there
frozen over, and then again tumbling down over rock and pebbly bottom in
a thousand fantastic gambols; and very soon we had to ford it. After a
tiresome march, by an extremely difficult path in the midst of woods, we
encamped in the evening under some cypresses. I had hit my right knee
against the branch of a fallen tree on the first day of our march, and
now began to suffer acutely with it. It was impossible, however, to
flinch, as I must keep up with the party or be left to perish.

On the 16th, our path lay through thick swamps and forest; we recrossed
the small stream we had forded the day before, and our guide conducted
us to the banks of the _Athabasca_, which we also forded. As this
passage was the last to be made, we dried our clothes, and pursued our
journey through a more agreeable country than on the preceding days. In
the evening we camped on the margin of a verdant plain, which, the guide
informed us, was called _Coro prairie_. We had met in the course of the
day several buffalo tracks, and a number of the bones of that quadruped
bleached by time. Our flesh-meat having given out entirely, our supper
consisted in some handfuls of corn, which we parched in a pan.

We resumed our route very early on the 17th, and after passing a forest
of trembling poplar or aspen, we again came in sight of the river which
we had left the day before. Arriving then at an elevated promontory or
cape, our guide made us turn back in order to pass it at its most
accessible point. After crossing it, not without difficulty, we soon
came upon fresh horse-prints, a sure indication that there were some of
those animals in our neighborhood. Emerging from the forest, each took
the direction which he thought would lead soonest to an encampment. We
all presently arrived at an old house which the traders of the N.W.
Company had once constructed, but which had been abandoned for some four
or five years. The site of this trading post is the most charming that
can be imagined: suffice to say that it is built on the bank of the
beautiful river _Athabasca_, and is surrounded by green, and smiling
prairies and superb woodlands. Pity there is nobody there to enjoy these
rural beauties and to praise, while admiring them, the Author of Nature.
We found there Mr. Pillet, and one of Mr. J. M'Donald's party, who had
his leg broken by the kick of a horse. After regaling ourselves with
_pemican_ and some fresh venison, we set out again, leaving two of the
party to take care of the lame man, and went on about eight or nine
miles farther to encamp.

On the 18th, we had rain. I took the lead, and after having walked about
ten or twelve miles, on the slope of a mountain denuded of trees, I
perceived some smoke issuing from a tuft of trees in the bottom of a
valley, and near the river. I descended immediately, and reached a small
camp, where I found two men who were coming to meet us with four horses.
I made them fire off two guns as a signal to the rest of our people who
were coming up in the rear, and presently we heard it repeated on the
river, from which we were not far distant. We repaired thither, and
found two of the men, who had been left at the last ford, and who,
having constructed a bark canoe, were descending the river. I made one
of them disembark, and took his place, my knee being so painful that I
could walk no further. Meanwhile the whole party came up; they loaded
the horses, and pursued their route. In the course of the day my
companion (an Iroquois) and I, shot seven ducks. Coming, at last, to a
high promontory called _Millet's rock_, we found some of our
foot-travellers with Messrs. Stewart and Clarke, who were on horseback,
all at a stand, doubting whether it would answer to wade round the base
of the rock, which dipped in the water. We sounded the stream for them,
and found it fordable. So they all passed round, thereby avoiding the
inland path, which is excessively fatiguing by reason of the hills,
which it is necessary perpetually to mount and descend. We encamped, to
the number of seven, at the entrance of what at high water might be a
lake, but was then but a flat of blackish sand, with a narrow channel in
the centre. Here we made an excellent supper on the wild ducks, while
those who were behind had nothing to eat.




CHAPTER XXIV.

Arrival at the Fort of the Mountains.--Description of this
Post.--Some Details in Regard to the Rocky Mountains.--Mountain
Sheep, &c.--Continuation of the Journey.--Unhappy
Accident.--Reflections.--News from Canada.--Hunter's
Lodge.--Pembina and Red Deer Rivers.


On the 19th we raised our camp and followed the shore of the little dry
lake, along a smooth sandy beach, having abandoned our little bark
canoe, both because it had become nearly unserviceable, and because we
knew ourselves to be very near the Rocky Mountains House. In fact, we
had not gone above five or six miles when we discerned a column of smoke
on the opposite side of the stream. We immediately forded across, and
arrived at the post, where we found Messrs. M'Donald, Stuart, and
M'Kenzie, who had preceded us only two days.

The post of the Rocky Mountains, in English, _Rocky Mountains House_, is
situated on the shore of the little lake I have mentioned, in the midst
of a wood, and is surrounded, except on the water side, by steep rocks,
inhabited only by the mountain sheep and goat. Here is seen in the west
the chain of the Rocky Mountains, whose summits are covered with
perpetual snow. On the lake side, _Millet's Rock_, of which I have
spoken above, is in full view, of an immense height, and resembles the
front of a huge church seen in perspective. The post was under the
charge of a Mr. Decoigne. He does not procure many furs for the company,
which has only established the house as a provision depot, with the view
of facilitating the passage of the mountains to those of its _employes_
who are repairing to, or returning from, the Columbia.

People speak so often of the Rocky Mountains, and appear to know so
little about them, that the reader will naturally desire me to say here
a word on that subject. If we are to credit travellers, and the most
recent maps, these mountains extend nearly in a straight line, from the
35th or 36th degree of north latitude, to the mouth of the _Unjighah_,
or _M'Kenzie's river_, in the Arctic ocean, in latitude 65 deg. or 66 deg. N.
This distance of thirty degrees of latitude, or seven hundred and fifty
leagues, equivalent to two thousand two hundred and fifty English miles
or thereabouts, is, however, only the mean side of a right-angled
triangle, the base of which occupies twenty-six degrees of longitude, in
latitude 35 deg. or 36 deg., that is to say, is about sixteen hundred miles
long, while the chain of mountains forms the _hypotenuse_; so that the
real, and as it were diagonal, length of the chain, across the
continent, must be very near three thousand miles from S.E. to N.W. In
such a vast extent of mountains, the perpendicular height and width of
base must necessarily be very unequal. We were about eight days in
crossing them; whence I conclude, from our daily rate of travel, that
they may have, at this point, i.e., about latitude 54 deg., a base of two
hundred miles.

The geographer Pinkerton is assuredly mistaken, when he gives these
mountains an elevation of but three thousand feet above the level of the
sea; from my own observations I would not hesitate to give them six
thousand; we attained, in crossing them, an elevation probably of
fifteen hundred feet above the valleys, and were not, perhaps, nearer
than half way of their total height, while the valleys themselves must
be considerably elevated above the level of the Pacific, considering the
prodigious number of rapids and falls which are met in the Columbia,
from the first falls to Canoe river. Be that as it may, if these
mountains yield to the Andes in elevation and extent, they very much
surpass in both respects the Apalachian chain, regarded until recently
as the principal mountains of North America: they give rise,
accordingly, to an infinity of streams, and to the greatest rivers of
the continent.[AF]

[Footnote AF: This is interesting, as the rough calculation of an
unscientific traveller, unprovided with instruments, and at that date.
The real height of the Rocky Mountains, as now ascertained, averages
twelve thousand feet; the highest known peak is about sixteen
thousand.--ED.]

They offer a vast and unexplored field to natural history: no botanist,
no mineralogist, has yet examined them. The first travellers called them
the Glittering mountains, on account of the infinite number of immense
rock crystals, which, they say, cover their surface, and which, when
they are not covered with snow, or in the bare places, reflect to an
immense distance the rays of the sun. The name of Rocky mountains was
given them, probably, by later travellers, in consequence of the
enormous isolated rocks which they offer here and there to the view. In
fact, Millet's rock, and _M'Gillivray's_ above all, appeared to me
wonders of nature. Some think that they contain metals, and precious
stones.

With the exception of the mountain sheep and goat, the animals of the
Rocky mountains, if these rocky passes support any, are not better known
than their vegetable and mineral productions. The mountain sheep resorts
generally to steep rocks, where it is impossible for men or even for
wolves to reach them: we saw several on the rocks which surround the
Mountain House. This animal has great curved horns, like those of the
domestic ram: its wool is long, but coarse; that on the belly is the
finest and whitest. The Indians who dwell near the mountains, make
blankets of it, similar to ours, which they exchange with the Indians of
the Columbia for fish, and other commodities. The ibex, or mountain
goat, frequents, like the sheep, the top and the declivities of the
rocks: it differs from the sheep in having hair instead of wool, and
straight horns projecting backward, instead of curved ones. The color is
also different. The natives soften the horns of these animals by
boiling, and make platters, spoons, &c., of them, in a very artistic
manner.

Mr. Decoigne had not sufficient food for us, not having expected so many
people to arrive at once. His hunters were then absent on _Smoke_ river
(so called by some travellers who saw in the neighborhood a volcanic
mountain belching smoke), in quest of game. We were therefore compelled
to kill one of the horses for food. We found no birch bark either to
make canoes, and set the men to work in constructing some of wood. For
want of better materials, we were obliged to use poplar. On the 22d, the
three men whom we had left at the old-house, arrived in a little canoe
made of two elk-skins sewed together, and stretched like a drum, on a
frame of poles.

On the 24th, four canoes being ready, we fastened them together two and
two, and embarked, to descend the river to an old post called _Hunter's
Lodge_, where Mr. Decoigne, who was to return with us to Canada,
informed us that we should find some bark canoes _en cache_, placed
there for the use of the persons who descend the river. The water was
not deep, and the stream was rapid; we glided along, so to speak, for
ten or a dozen leagues, and encamped, having lost sight of the
mountains. In proportion as we advanced, the banks of the river grew
less steep, and the country became more agreeable.

On the 25th, having only a little _pemican_ left, which we wished to
keep, we sent forward a hunter in the little elk-skin canoe, to kill
some game. About ten o'clock, we found him waiting for us with two
moose that he had killed. He had suspended the hearts from the branch of
a tree as a signal. We landed some men to help him in cutting up and
shipping the game. We continued to glide safely down. But toward two
o'clock, P.M., after doubling a point, we got into a considerable rapid,
where, by the maladroitness of those who managed the double pirogue in
which I was, we met with a melancholy accident. I had proposed to go
ashore, in order to lighten the canoes, which were loaded to the water's
edge; but the steersman insisted that we could go down safe, while the
bow-man was turning the head of the pirogue toward the beach; by this
manoeuvre we were brought athwart the stream, which was carrying us fast
toward the falls; just then our frail bark struck upon a sunken rock;
the lower canoe broke amid-ships and filled instantly, and the upper one
being lighted, rolled over, precipitating us all into the water. Two of
our men, Olivier Roy Lapensee and Andre Belanger, were drowned; and it
was not without extreme difficulty that we succeeded in saving Messrs.
Pillet and Wallace, as well as a man named _J. Hurteau_. The latter was
so far gone that we were obliged to have recourse to the usual means for
the resuscitation of drowned persons. The men lost all their effects;
the others recovered but a part of theirs; and all our provisions went.
Toward evening, in ascending the river (for I had gone about two miles
below, to recover the effects floating down), we found the body of
Lapensee. We interred it as decently as we could, and planted at his
grave a cross, on which I inscribed with the point of my knife, his name
and the manner and date of his death. Belanger's body was not found. If
anything could console the shades of the departed for a premature and
unfortunate end, it would be, no doubt, that the funeral rites have been
paid to their remains, and that they themselves have given their names
to the places where they perished: it is thus that the shade of
Palinurus rejoiced in the regions below, at learning from the mouth of
the Sibyl, that the promontory near which he was drowned would
henceforth be called by his name: _gaudet cognomine terra_. The rapid
and the point of land where the accident I have described took place,
will bear, and bears already, probably, the name of _Lapensee_.[AG]

[Footnote AG: Mr. Franchere, not having the fear of the _Abbe Gaume_
before his eyes, so wrote in his Journal of 1814; finding consolation in
a thought savoring, we confess, more of Virgil than of the catechism. It
is a classic term that calls to our mind rough Captain _Thorn's_
sailor-like contempt for his literary passengers so comically described
by Mr. _Irving_. Half of the humor as well as of the real interest of
Mr. Franchere's charming narrative, is lost by one who has never read
"Astoria."]

On the 26th, a part of our people embarked in the three canoes which
remained, and the others followed the banks of the river on foot. We saw
in several places some veins of bituminous coal, on the banks between
the surface of the water and that of the plain, say thirty feet below
the latter; the veins had a dip of about 25 deg.. We tried some and found it
to burn well. We halted in the evening near a small stream, where we
constructed some rafts, to carry all our people.

On the 27th, I went forward in the little canoe of skins, with the two
hunters. We soon killed an elk, which we skinned and suspended the hide,
besmeared with blood, from the branch of a tree at the extremity of a
point, in order that the people behind, as they came up, might perceive
and take in the fruit of our chase. After fortifying ourselves with a
little food, we continued to glide down, and encamped for the night near
a thick wood where our hunters, from the tracks they observed, had hopes
of encountering and capturing some bears. This hope was not realized.

On the 28th, a little after quitting camp, we killed a swan. While I was
busy cooking it, the hunters having plunged into the wood, I heard a
rifle-shot, which seemed to me to proceed from a direction opposite to
that which they had taken. They returned very soon running, and were
extremely surprised to learn that it was not I who had fired it.
Nevertheless, the canoes and rafts having overtaken us, we continued to
descend the river. Very soon we met a bark canoe, containing two men and
a woman, who were ascending the river and bringing letters and some
goods for the _Rocky Mountains House_. We learned from these letters
addressed to Mr. Decoigne, several circumstances of the war, and among
others the defeat of Captain Barclay on Lake Erie. We arrived that
evening at _Hunter's Lodge_, where we found four new birch-bark canoes.
We got ready two of them, and resumed our journey down, on the 31st. Mr.
Pillet set out before us with the hunters, at a very early hour. They
killed an elk, which they left on a point, and which we took in. The
country through which we passed that day is the most charming possible;
the river is wide, handsome, and bordered with low outjutting points,
covered with birch and poplar.

On the 1st of June, in the evening, we encamped at the confluence of the
river _Pembina_. This stream comes from the south, and takes its rise in
one of the spurs of the great chain of the Rocky mountains; ascending it
for two days, and crossing a neck of land about seventy-five miles, one
reaches Fort Augustus, a trading post on the _Saskatchawine_ river.
Messrs. M'Donald and M'Kenzie had taken this route, and had left for us
half a sack of pemican in a _cache_, at the mouth of the river
_Pembina_. After landing that evening, Mr. Stuart and I amused ourselves
with angling, but took only five or six small fish.

On the 2d, we passed the confluence of _Little Slave Lake_ river. At
eight o'clock in the morning, we met a band or family of Indians, of the
_Knisteneaux_ tribe. They had just killed a buffalo, which we bought of
them for a small brass-kettle. We could not have had a more seasonable
_rencontre_, for our provisions were all consumed.

On the 3d, we reached _Little Red Elk_ river, which we began to ascend,
quitting the _Athabasca_, or _Great Red Elk_. This stream was very
narrow in its channel, and obstructed with boulders: we were obliged to
take to the shore, while some of the men dragged along the canoes. Their
method was to lash poles across, and wading themselves, lift the canoes
over the rocks--a laborious and infinitely tedious operation. The march
along the banks was not less disagreeable: for we had to traverse points
of forest where the fire had passed, and which were filled with fallen
trees.

Wallace and I having stopped to quench our thirst at a rill, the rest
got in advance of us; and we lost our way in a labyrinth of buffalo
tracks which we mistook for the trail, so that we wandered about for
three hours before we came up with the party, who began to fear for our
safety, and were firing signal-guns to direct us. As the river now grew
deeper, we all embarked in the canoes, and about evening overtook our
hunters, who had killed a moose and her two calves.

We continued our journey on the 4th, sometimes seated in our canoes,
sometimes marching along the river on foot, and encamped in the evening,
excessively fatigued.




CHAPTER XXV.

Red Deer Lake.--Antoine Dejarlais.--Beaver River.--N.
Nadeau.--Moose River.--Bridge Lake.--Saskatchawine River.--Fort
Vermilion.--Mr. Hallet.--Trading-Houses.--Beautiful
Country.--Reflections.


The 5th of June brought us to the beautiful sheet of water called _Red
Deer lake_, irregular in shape, dotted with islands, and about forty
miles in length by thirty in its greatest width. We met, about the
middle of it, a small canoe conducted by two young women. They were
searching for gulls' and ducks' eggs on the islands, this being the
season of laying for those aquatics. They told us that their father was
not far distant from the place where we met them. In fact, we presently
saw him appear in a canoe with his two boys, rounding a little isle. We
joined him, and learned that his name was Antoine Dejarlais; that he
had been a guide in the service of the Northwest Company, but had left
them since 1805. On being made acquainted with our need of provisions,
he offered us a great quantity of eggs, and made one of our men embark
with his two daughters in their little canoe, to seek some more
substantial supplies at his cabin, on the other side of the lake. He
himself accompanied us as far as a portage of about twenty-five yards
formed at the outlet of the lake by a Beaver dam. Having performed the
portage, and passed a small pond or marsh, we encamped to await the
return of our man. He arrived the next morning, with Dejarlais, bringing
us about fifty pounds of dried venison and from ten to twelve pounds of
tallow. We invited our host to breakfast with us: it was the least we
could do after the good offices he had rendered us. This man was married
to an Indian woman, and lived with his family, on the produce of his
chase; he appeared quite contented with his lot. Nobody at least
disputed with him the sovereignty of Red Deer lake, of which he had; as
it were, taken possession. He begged me to read for him two letters
which he had had in his possession for two years, and of which he did
not yet know the contents. They were from one of his sisters, and dated
at _Vercheres_, in Canada. I even thought that I recognised the
handwriting of Mr. L.G. Labadie, teacher of that parish. At last, having
testified to this good man, in suitable terms, our gratitude for the
services he had rendered us, we quitted him and prosecuted our journey.

After making two portages, we arrived on the banks of Beaver river,
which was here but a rivulet. It is by this route that the canoes
ordinarily pass to reach Little Slave lake and the Athabasca country,
from the head of Lake Superior, via., _Cumberland House_, on _English
river_. We were obliged by the shallowness of the stream, to drag along
our canoes, walking on a bottom or beach of sand, where we began to feel
the importunity of the mosquitoes. One of the hunters scoured the woods
for game but without success. By-and-by we passed a small canoe turned
bottom up and covered with a blanket. Soon after we came to a cabin or
lodge, where we found an old Canadian hunter named _Nadeau_. He was
reduced to the last stage of weakness, having had nothing to eat for two
days. Nevertheless, a young man who was married to one of his daughters,
came in shortly after, with the good news that he had just killed a
buffalo; a circumstance which determined us to encamp there for the
night. We sent some of our men to get in the meat. Nadeau gave us half
of it, and told us that we should find, thirty miles lower down, at the
foot of a pine tree, a _cache_, where he had deposited ten swan-skins,
and some of martin, with a net, which he prayed us to take to the next
trading-post. We quitted this good fellow the next morning, and pursued
our way. Arriving at the place indicated, we found the _cache_, and took
the net, leaving the other articles. A short distance further, we came
to Moose river, which we had to ascend, in order to reach the lake of
that name. The water in this river was so low that we were obliged
entirely to unload the canoes, and to lash poles across them, as we had
done before, that the men might carry them on their shoulders over the
places where they could not be floated. Having distributed the baggage
to the remainder of the hands, we pursued our way through the woods,
under the guidance of Mr. Decoigne.

This gentleman, who had not passed here for nineteen years, soon lost
his way, and we got separated into small parties, in the course of the
afternoon, some going one way, and some another, in search of Moose
lake. But as we had outstripped the men who carried the baggage and the
small stock of provision that old Nadeau had given us, Mr. Wallace and I
thought it prudent to retrace our steps and keep with the rear-guard. We
soon met Mr. Pillet and one of the hunters. The latter, ferreting the
woods on both sides of a trail that he had discovered, soon gave a
whoop, to signify that we should stop. Presently emerging from the
underwood, he showed us a horsewhip which he had found, and from which
and from other unmistakeable signs, he was confident the trail would
lead either to the lake or a navigable part of the river. The men with
the baggage then coming up, we entered the thicket single file, and were
conducted by this path, in a very short time, to the river, on the banks
of which were visible the traces of an old camping ground. The night was
coming on; and soon after, the canoes arrived, to our great
satisfaction; for we had begun to fear that they had already passed. The
splashing of their paddles was a welcome sound, and we who had been wise
enough to keep behind, all encamped together.

Very early on the 8th, I set out accompanied by one of the hunters, in
quest of Messrs. D. Stuart, Clarke and Decoigne, who had gone on ahead,
the night previous. I soon found MM. Clarke and M'Gillis encamped on the
shore of the lake. The canoes presently arrived and we embarked; MM.
Stuart and Decoigne rejoined us shortly after, and informed us that they
had bivouacked on the shore of Lac _Puant_, or Stinking lake, a pond
situated about twelve miles E.N.E. from the lake we were now entering.
Finding ourselves thus reunited, we traversed the latter, which is about
eighteen miles in circuit, and has very pretty shores. We encamped, very
early, on an island, in order to use old Nadeau's fishing net. I visited
it that evening and brought back three carp and two water-hens. We left
it set all night, and the next morning found in it twenty white-fish.
Leaving camp at an early hour, we gained the entrance of a small stream
that descends between some hills of moderate elevation, and there
stopped to breakfast. I found the white-fish more delicious in flavor,
even than the salmon. We had again to foot it, following the bank of
this little stream. It was a painful task, as we were obliged to open a
path through thick underbrush, in the midst of a rain that lasted all
day and kept us drenched. Two men being left in each canoe, conveyed
them up the river about thirty miles, as far as Long lake--a narrow
pond, on the margin of which we spent the night.

On the 10th, we got through this lakelet, and entered another small
stream, which it was necessary to navigate in the same manner as the
preceding, and which conducted us to Bridge lake. The latter received
its name from a sort of bridge or causeway, formed at its southern
extremity, and which is nothing more than a huge beaver dam. We found
here a lodge, where were a young man and two women, who had charge of
some horses appertaining to one of the Hudson's Bay trading houses. We
borrowed of them half a dozen pack horses, and crossed the bridge with
them. After surmounting a considerable hill, we reached an open, level,
and dry prairie, which conducted us in about two hours to an ancient
trading-post on the banks of the _Saskatchawine_. Knowing that we were
near a factory, we made our toilets as well as we could, before
arriving. Toward sundown, we reached Fort Vermilion, which is situated
on the bank of a river, at the foot of a superb hill.

We found at this post some ninety persons, men, women, and children;
these people depend for subsistence on the chase, and fishing with
hooks and lines, which is very precarious. Mr. Hallet, the clerk in
charge was absent, and we were dismayed to hear that there were no
provisions on the place: a very disagreeable piece of news for people
famished as we were. We had been led to suppose that if we could only
reach the plains of the Saskatchawine, we should be in the land of
plenty. Mr. Hallet, however, was not long in arriving: he had two
quarters of buffalo meat brought out, which had been laid in ice, and
prepared us supper. Mr. Hallet was a polite sociable man, loving his
ease passably well, and desirous of living in these wild countries, as
people do in civilized lands. Having testified to him our surprise at
seeing in one of the buildings a large _cariole_, like those of Canada,
he informed us that having horses, he had had this carriage made in
order to enjoy a sleigh-ride; but that the workmen having forgot to take
the measure of the doors of the building before constructing it, it was
found when finished, much too large for them, and could never be got out
of the room where it was; and it was like to remain there a long time,
as he was not disposed to demolish the house for the pleasure of using
the cariole.

By the side of the factory of the Northwest Company, is another
belonging to the Company of Hudson's Bay. In general these
trading-houses are constructed thus, one close to the other, and
surrounded with a common palisade, with a door of communication in the
interior for mutual succor, in case of attack on the part of the
Indians. The latter, in this region, particularly the Black-feet,
_Gros-ventres_, and those of the Yellow river, are very ferocious: they
live by the chase, but bring few furs to the traders; and the latter
maintain these posts principally to procure themselves provisions.

On the. 11th, after breakfasting at Fort Vermilion, we resumed our
journey, with six or seven pounds of tallow for our whole stock of food.
This slender supply brought us through to the evening of the third day,
when we had for supper two ounces of tallow each.

On the 14th, in the morning, we killed a wild goose, and toward midday,
collected some flag-root and _choux-gras_, a wild herb, which we boiled
with the small game: we did not forget to throw into the pot the little
tallow we had left, and made a delicious repast. Toward the decline of
day, we had the good luck to kill a buffalo.

On the 15th, MM. Clarke and Decoigne having landed during our course, to
hunt, returned presently with the agreeable intelligence that they had
killed three buffaloes. We immediately encamped, and sent the greater
part of the men to cut up the meat and jerk it. This operation lasted
till the next evening, and we set forward again in the canoes on the
17th, with about six hundred pounds of meat half cured. The same evening
we perceived from our camp several herds of buffaloes, but did not give
chase, thinking we had enough meat to take us to the next post.

The river _Saskatchawine_ flows over a bed composed of sand and marl,
which contributes not a little to diminish the purity and transparency
of its waters, which, like those of the Missouri, are turbid and
whitish. Except for that it is one of the prettiest rivers in the world.
The banks are perfectly charming, and offer in many places a scene the
fairest, the most smiling, and the best diversified that can be seen or
imagined: hills in varied forms, crowned with superb groves; valleys
agreeably embrowned, at evening and morning, by the prolonged shadow of
the hills, and of the woods which adorn them; herds of light-limbed
antelopes, and heavy colossal buffalo--the former bounding along the
slopes of the hills, the latter trampling under their heavy feet the
verdure of the plains; all these champaign beauties reflected and
doubled as it were, by the waters of the river; the melodious and varied
song of a thousand birds, perched on the tree-tops; the refreshing
breath of the zephyrs; the serenity of the sky; the purity and salubrity
of the air; all, in a word, pours contentment and joy into the soul of
the enchanted spectator. It is above all in the morning, when the sun is
rising, and in the evening when he is setting, that the spectacle is
really ravishing. I could not detach my regards from that superb
picture, till the nascent obscurity had obliterated its perfection.
Then, to the sweet pleasure that I had tasted, succeeded a _triste_, not
to say, a sombre, melancholy. How comes it to pass, I said to myself,
that so beautiful a country is not inhabited by human creatures? The
songs, the hymns, the prayers, of the laborer and the artisan, shall
they never be heard in these fine plains? Wherefore, while in Europe,
and above all in England, so many thousands of men do not possess as
their own an inch of ground, and cultivate the soil of their
country for proprietors who scarcely leave them whereon to support
existence;--wherefore--do so many millions of acres of apparently fat
and fertile land, remain uncultivated and absolutely useless? Or, at
least, why do they support only herds of wild animals? Will men always
love better to vegetate all their lives on an ungrateful soil, than to
seek afar fertile regions, in order to pass in peace and plenty, at
least the last portion of their days? But I deceive myself; it is not
so easy as one thinks, for the poor man to better his condition: he has
not the means of transporting himself to distant countries, or he has
not those of acquiring a property there; for these untilled lands,
deserted, abandoned, do not appertain to whoever wishes to establish
himself upon them and reduce them to culture; they have owners, and from
these must be purchased the right of rendering them productive! Besides
one ought not to give way to illusions: these countries, at times so
delightful, do not enjoy a perpetual spring; they have their winter, and
a rigorous one; a piercing cold is then spread through the atmosphere;
deep snows cover the surface; the frozen rivers flow only for the fish;
the trees are stripped of their leaves and hung with icicles; the
verdure of the plains has disappeared; the hills and valleys offer but a
uniform whiteness; Nature has lost all her beauty; and man has enough to
do, to shelter himself from the injuries of the inclement season.




CHAPTER XXVI.

Fort Montee--Cumberland House.--Lake Bourbon.--Great Winipeg
Rapids.--Lake Winipeg.--Trading-House.--Lake of the Woods.--Rainy
Lake House, &c.


On the 18th of June (a day which its next anniversary was to render for
ever celebrated in the annals of the world), we re-embarked at an early
hour: and the wind rising, spread sail, a thing we had not done before,
since we quitted the river Columbia. In the afternoon the clouds
gathered thick and black, and we had a gust, accompanied with hail, but
of short duration; the weather cleared up again, and about sundown we
arrived at _Le Fort de la Montee_, so called, on account of its being a
depot, where the traders going south, leave their canoes and take
pack-horses to reach their several posts. We found here, as at Fort
Vermilion, two trading-houses joined together, to make common cause
against the Indians; one belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, the
other to the company of the Northwest: the Hudson's Bay house being then
under the charge of a Mr. Prudent, and the N.W. Company's under a Mr.
John M'Lean. Mr. de Roche Blave, one of the partners of the last company
having the superintendence of this district, where he had wintered, had
gone to Lake Superior to attend the annual meeting of the partners.
There were cultivated fields around the house; the barley and peas
appeared to promise an abundant harvest. Mr. M'Lean received us as well
as circumstances permitted; but that gentleman having no food to give
us, and our buffalo meat beginning to spoil, we set off the next
morning, to reach Cumberland house as quick as possible. In the course
of the day, we passed two old forts, one of which had been built by the
French before the conquest of Canada. According to our guide, it was the
most distant western post that the French traders ever had in the
northwestern wilderness. Toward evening we shot a moose. The aspect of
the country changes considerably since leaving _Montee_; the banks of
the river rise more boldly, and the country is covered with forests.

On the 20th, we saw some elms--a tree that I had not seen hitherto,
since my departure from Canada. We reached Fort Cumberland a little
before the setting of the sun. This post, called in English _Cumberland
House_, is situated at the outlet of the _Saskatchawine_, where it
empties into _English lake_, between the 53d and 54th degrees of north
latitude. It is a depot for those traders who are going to Slave lake or
the Athabasca, or are returning thence, as well as for those destined
for the Rocky mountains. It was under the orders of Mr. J.D. Campbell,
who having gone down to Fort William, however, had left it in charge of
a Mr. Harrison. There are two factories, as at Vermilion and la Montee.
At this place the traders who resort every year to Fort William, leave
their half-breed or Indian wives and families, as they can live here at
little expense, the lake abounding in fish. Messrs. Clarke and Stuart,
who were behind, arrived on the 22d, and in the evening we had a dance.
They gave us four sacs of pemican, and we set off again, on the 23d, at
eight A.M. We crossed the lake, and entered a small river, and having
made some eighty or ninety miles under sail, encamped on a low shore,
where the mosquitoes tormented us horribly all night.

On the 24th, we passed _Muddy_ lake, and entered Lake _Bourbon_, where
we fell in with a canoe from _York_ factory, under the command of a Mr.
Kennedy, clerk of the Hudson's Bay Company. We collected some dozens of
gulls' eggs, on the rocky islands of the lake: and stopping on one of
the last at night, having a little flour left, Mr. Decoigne and I amused
ourselves in making fritters for the next day's breakfast: an
occupation, which despite the small amount of materials, employed us
till we were surprised by the daybreak; the night being but brief at
this season in that high latitude.

At sunrise on the 25th, we were again afloat, passed Lake _Travers_, or
_Cross_ lake, which empties into Lake Winipeg by a succession of
rapids; shot down these cascades without accident, and arrived, toward
noon, at the great rapid _Ouenipic_ or Winipeg, which is about four
miles long. We disembarked here, and the men worked down the canoes. At
the foot of this rapid, which is the inlet of Winipeg, we found an old
Canadian fisherman, who called himself _King of the lake_. He might
fairly style himself king of the fish, which are abundant and which he
alone enjoyed. Having made a boil, and regaled ourselves with excellent
sturgeon, we left this old man, and entered the great lake Winipeg,
which appeared to me like a sea of fresh water. This lake is now too
well known to need a particular description: I will content myself with
saying that it visibly yields in extent only to Lake Superior and Great
Slave lake: it has for tributaries several large rivers, and among
others the Saskatchawine, the Winipeg, in the east; and Red river in the
south; and empties into Hudson's bay by the _Nelson_, N.N.E., and the
_Severn_, E.N.E. The shores which it bathes are generally very low; it
appears to have little depth, and is dotted with a vast number of
islands, lying pretty close to land. We reached one called _Egg island_,
whence it was necessary to cross to the south to reach the main; but the
wind was so violent that it was only at decline of day that we could
perform the passage. We profited by the calm, to coast along all day and
a part of the night of the 26th; but to pay for it, remained in camp on
the 27th, till evening: the wind not suffering us to proceed. The wind
having appeared to abate somewhat after sunset, we embarked, but were
soon forced to land again. On the 28th, we passed the openings of
several deep bays, and the isles of _St. Martin_, and camped at the
bottom of a little bay, where the mosquitoes did not suffer us to close
our eyes all night. We were rejoiced when dawn appeared, and were eager
to embark, to free ourselves from these inconvenient guests. A calm
permitted us that day to make good progress with our oars, and we camped
at _Buffalo Strait_. We saw that day two Indian wigwams.

The 30th brought us to Winipeg river, which we began to ascend, and
about noon reached Port _Bas de la Riviere_. This trading post had more
the air of a large and well-cultivated farm, than of a fur traders'
factory: a neat and elegant mansion, built on a slight eminence, and
surrounded with barns, stables, storehouses, &c., and by fields of
barley, peas, oats, and potatoes, reminded us of the civilized countries
which we had left so long ago. Messrs. Crebassa and Kennedy, who had
this post in charge, received us with all possible hospitality, and
supplied us with all the political news which had been learned through
the arrival of canoes from Canada.

They also informed us that Messrs M'Donald and de Rocheblave had passed,
a few days before our arrival, having been obliged to go up Red river to
stop the effusion of blood, which would probably have taken place but
for their intervention, in the colony founded on that river by the earl
of Selkirk. Mr. Miles M'Donnell, the governor of that colony, or rather
of the _Assiniboyne_ district, had issued a proclamation forbidding all
persons whomsoever, to send provisions of any kind out of the district.
The Hudson's Bay traders had conformed to this proclamation, but those
of the Northwest Company paid no attention to it, thinking it illegal,
and had sent their servants, as usual to get provisions up the river.
Mr. M'Donnell having heard that several hundred sacks of pemican[AH]
were laid up in a storehouse under the care of a Mr. Pritchard, sent to
require their surrender: Pritchard refused to deliver them, whereupon
Mr. M'Donnell had them carried off by force. The traders who winter on
Little Slave lake, English river, the Athabasca country, &c., learning
this, and being aware that they would not find their usual supply at
_Bas de la Riviere_, resolved to go and recover the seized provisions by
force, if they were not peaceably given up. Things were in this position
when Messrs, de Rocheblave and M'Donald arrived. They found the Canadian
_voyageurs_ in arms, and ready to give battle to the colonists, who
persisted in their refusal to surrender the bags of pemican. The two
peacemakers visited the governor, and having explained to him the
situation in which the traders of the Northwest Company would find
themselves, by the want of necessary provisions to enable them to
transport their peltries to Fort William, and the exasperation of their
men, who saw no other alternative for them, but to get possession of
those provisions or to perish of hunger, requested him to surrender the
same without delay. Mr. M'Donnell, on his part, pointed out the misery
to which the colonists would be reduced by a failure in the supply of
food. In consequence of these mutual representations, it was agreed that
one half of the pemican should be restored, and the other half remain
for the use of the colonists. Thus was arranged, without bloodshed, the
first difficulty which occurred between the rival companies of the
Northwest, and of Hudson's Bay.

[Footnote AH: _Pemican_, of which I have already spoken several times,
is the Indian name for the dried and pounded meat which the natives sell
to the traders. About fifty pounds of this meat is placed in a trough
(_un grand vaisseau fait d'un tronc d'arbre_), and about an equal
quantity of tallow is melted and poured over it; it is thoroughly mixed
into one mass, and when cold, is put up in bags made of undressed
buffalo hide, with the hair outside, and sewed up as tightly as
possible. The meat thus impregnated with tallow, hardens, and will keep
for years. It is eaten without any other preparation; but sometimes wild
pears or dried berries are added, which render the flavor more
agreeable.]

Having spent the 1st of July in repairing our canoes, we re-embarked on