Marime Biological Laboratory L brary Whods Hole, Massachusetts
4 Newcoms Thomson Montgomery
(1907-1986)
Philadelphia archstect, nephew of Thomas Harrison Montgomery (1873-19/2), MBL investigator, and Priscilla Brasshin
Montgomery (1874-1956), MBL librarian.
Gift of thar sons Hugh Montgomery, MD. and Raymond B. Montgomery — 1987.
M. & N. HANHART, LITH
DELS
H. MUE
A
RAY,
WINTER LODGES
KUTCHIN
(VOL, 1 p. 392.)
wae
AOL EC
SEARCHING EXPEDITION:
A
JOURNAL OF A BOAT-VOYAGEH THROUGH RUPERT'S LAND AND THE ARCTIC SEA,
IN SEARCH OF
THE DISCOVERY SHIPS UNDER COMMAND OF
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA.
BY SIR JOHN RICHARDSON, C.B,, F.RS.,
INSPECTOR OF NAVAL HOSPITALS AND FLEETS, ETC, ETC. ETC,
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY.
LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1851.
NOTICE.
In the Indian names which occur in the following narrative, wu is to be sounded like 00, in “moon ;” yu as “yule,” or like “you ;” and 7 as in “ ravine.”
Lonpon:
SPoTTISWOODES and SHAW, New-street-Square.
CO NES.
CHAPTER I. Page Route assigned to the Expedition under command of Sir John Franklin. Names of the Officers. Erebus and Terror. Date of its sailing. Last Letters. Sir John Franklin’s last Official Letter. Last Sight of the Expe- dition. Sir John Ross proposes a Search. Discussion of Various Opinions offered respecting the Fate of the Expedition. Plans of Search adopted. Main Objects of the Overland Searching Expedition. Instructions from the Admiralty = - : - - aw
@EAP Si:
Overland Searching Expedition. Routes through the In- terior. Hudson’s Bay Ships. Pemican. Boats. Boat Party leaves England. Arrives at Winter Quarters, Volunteers. Mr. John Rae appointed to the Expedition.
The Author and Mr. Rae sail from England. Land at New York. Proceed to Montreal and La Chine. Canoe- men. Saut Ste. Marie. Voyage to the North. Reach Cumberland House’ — - - - - = §2
CHAPS TEHT
Pine Island Lake. Silurian Strata. Sturgeon River. Progress of Spring. Beaver Lake. Isle & la Crosse Brigade. Ridge River. Native Schoolmaster and his Family. Two Kinds of Sturgeon. Native Medicines. Bald Eagles. Pelicans. Black-Bellied and Cayenne Terns. Cranes. Frog Portage. Missinipi or Church-
lv
CONTENTS.
ill River. Its Lake-like Character. Poisonous Plants and Native Medicines. Athabasca Brigade. Sand-fly Lake. The Country changes its Aspect. Bull-dog Fly. Isle & la Crosse Lake. Its Altitude above the Sea. Length of the Missinipi. Isle 4 la Crosse Fort. Roman Catholic Mission. Deep River. Canada Lynx. Buffalo Lake. Methy River and Lake. Murrain among the Horses. Burbot or La Loche. A Mink. Methy Portage. Join Mr. Bell and his Party - -
CHAP. IV.
Clear-Water River. Valley of the Washakummow.
Portages. Limestone Cliffs. Shale. Elk or Atha- basca River. Wapiti. Devonian Strata. Geological Structure of the Banks of the River. Athabasca Lake, or Lake of the Hills. Meet Mr. M‘Pherson with the Mackenzie River Brigade. Send Home Letters. L’Es- perance’s Brigade. Fort Chepewyan. Height of Lake Athabasca above the Sea. Rocks. Plumbago. Forest Scenery. Slave River. Rein-Deer Islands. Portages. Native Remedies. Separate from Mr. Bell and his Party - - - - = = =
CHAP. V.
Pyrogenous Rocks. Rate of the Current of Slave River.
Salt River and Springs. Geese. Great Slave Lake. Domestic Cattle. Deadman’s Islands. Horn Moun- tain. Hay River. Alluvial Lignite Beds. Macken- zie’s River. Marcellus Shale. Fort Simpson. River of the Mountains. Rocky Mountains. Spurs. Animals. Affluents of the Mackenzie. Cheta-ut-Tinne - -
Page ~
116
147
CONTENTS. v
CHAP. VI. Page
Rock by the River’s Side. Shale Formation. Fort Nor- man. ‘Tertiary Coal Formation. Lignite Beds. Fossil Leaves. Edible Clay. Spontaneous Combustion of the River Bank. Hill at Bear Lake River. Hill at the Rapid on that River. Forest. Plants. Birds - - 181
CHAP. VII.
Peregrine Falcon. The Rapid. Ramparts. Hare Indians. Fort Good Hope. Hares. Kutchin. Their Contests with the Eskimos. A Fatal Dance. A Hare Indian devoured by a Brown Bear. Vegetation. Narrows. Richardson Chain of Hills. Fort Separation. Cache of Pemican and Memorandum. Alluvial Delta. Yukon River. Rein-Deer Hills. M/‘Gillivray Island. Harri- son Island. Termination of the Forest. Sacred Island. Richard’s Island. Point Encounter — - - ~ 205
CHAP VEIT:
Enter the Estuary of the Mackenzie. Interview with the Eskimos. Remarks on that People. Winter-Houses near Point Warren. Copland Hutchison Bay. Flat Coast with Hummocks. Level Boggy Land. Mirage. A Party of Eskimos visit us. Point Atkinson. Kashim. Old Woman. Old Man. Young Men. Cape Brown. Eskimos. Russell Inlet. Cape Dalhousie. Sabine Xema. Liverpool Bay. Nicholson Island. Frozen Cliffs of Cape Maitland. Rock Ptarmigan. Eskimo Tents. Harrowby Bay. Baillie’s Islands. River of the Toothless Fish or Beghula Tesse. Eskimo of Cape Bathurst. Their Summer and its Occupations. Shale Formation of the Sea-Coast —- - - ~ 236
vi CONTENTS.
CHAP. crx: Page
Voyage continued along the Coast. Franklin Bay. Mel- ville Hills. Point Stivens. Sellwood Bay. Cape Parry. Cocked-Hat Point. Cache of Pemican. Ice Packs. Archway. Burrow’s Islands. Darnley Bay. Clapperton Island. Cape Lyon. Point Pearce. Point Keats. Point Deas Thompson. Silurian Strata. Ros- coe River. Point de Witt Clinton. Furrowed Cliffs. Melville Range. Point Tinney. Buchanan River. Drift Ice. Croker’s River. Point Clifton. Inman’s River. Point Wise. Hoppner River. Wollaston Land. Cape Young. Stapylton Bay. Cape Hope. Cape Bexley. Ice Floes. Point Cockburn. <A Storm. Chantry Island. Salmon. Lambert Island. Leave a Boat. Cape Krusenstern. Detained by Ice. Basil Hall’s Bay. Cape Hearne. Peculiar Severity of the Season. Conjectures respecting the Discovery Ships. Resources of a Party enclosed by Ice among the Arctic Islands. General Reflections - - - - 273
CHAP. X.
Preparing for the March. Sleep in Back’s Inlet. Eskimo Village. Eskimos ferry the Party across Rae River. Basaltic Cliffs. Cross Richardson’s River. March along the Banks of the Coppermine. Geese. First Clump of Trees. Musk Oxen. Copper Ores and Na- tive Copper. Kendall River. Make a Raft. Fog. Pass a Night on a Naked Rock without Fuel. Fine Clump of Spruce Firs. Dismal Lakes. Indians. Dease River. Fort Confidence. Send off Despatches and Letters - - - - - - 308
CONTENTS. Vil
CHAP. XI. ON THE ESKIMOS OR INUIT.
The Four Aboriginal Nations seen by the Expedition. Eskimos. Origin of the Name. National Name Jnw-it. Great Extent of their Country. Personal Appearance. Occupations. Provident of the Future. Villages. Seal Hunt. Snow Houses. Wanderings not. extensive. Respect for Territorial Rights. Dexterous Thieves. Courage. Traffic. Compared to the Pheenicians. Skrellings. Western Tribes pierce the Lip and Nose. Female Toilet. Mimics. Mode of defying their Ene- mies. Dress. Boats. Kaiyaks. Umiaks. Dogs. Religion. Shamanism. Susceptibility of Cultivation. Origin. Language. Western Tribes of the Eskimo Stock. Tchugatchih. Kuskutchewak. A Kashim or Council House. Feasts. Quarrels. Wars. Customs. Mammoth’s Tusks. National Names. Namollos or Sedentary Tchutchki. Rein-Deer Tchuktche. Their Herds. Commerce. Shamanism. Of the Mongolian Stock - - - - - - - 339
CHAP. XII. ON THE KUTCHIN OR LOUCHEUX.
Designations. Personal Appearance. Tattoo. Employ Pigments. Dress. Ornaments. Beads. Used as a Medium of Exchange. Shells. Winter Dress. Arms. Wives. Treatment of Infants. Compress their Feet. Lively Dispositions. Religious Belief. Shamanism. Anecdotes. Treachery. Contests with the Eskimos. Occupations. Traffic. Beads and Shells. Tents. Va- pour Baths. Deer Pounds. Oratory. Talkativeness. Dances. Manbote or Blood-Money. Ceremonies on meeting other People. Population of the Valley of the Yukon. Same People with certain Coast Tribes. Ko-
Vill CONTENTS,
Page lusches. Kenaiyers. Ugalents. Atnaér. Koltshanen. Persons and Dress. Deer Pounds. Passion for Glass Beads. Kolushes descended from a Raven. Courtship. Wives. Revenge. Murder. Burn the Dead. Mourn- ing. Do not name the Deceased. Custom connected therewith. Winter Habitations. Journeys of the Ke- naiyer Inland. Porcupine Quills. Slavery - - 377
LIST OF PLATES.
Plate Page I. Fossil Leaves of a Tertiary lignite formation - - 186 1 Ditto. - - - - - - 190 III. Kutchin Hunters - - - - - 377 ITV. Kutchin Warrior and his Wife - - - - 379 V. Portrait of a Chief of the Kutchi-Kutchi - - 381 VI. Kutchin Woman and Children.—Cradle for Infants - 384 VII. Portrait of Saviah, a Kutchi-Kutchi Chief - - 391 VIII. Kutchin Winter-lodges. (Vide p. 392.) - Frontispiece IX. Dance of the Kutchi-Kutchi —- - - - 397
WOODCUTS AND DIAGRAMS. Rocky Mountains at the Bend of the Mackenzie - - Ay Rock by the River’s Side - - - - - 182 Hill in Bear Lake River - - - - - UG Ramparts, Mackenzie’s River, Geological Section - - 210 Diagram of Rocks in lat. 68° 10’ N. - - - = 229 Sandhills on the Mackenzie, Lat. 68° 50’ N. - -. - 232 Conical Hill near Point Encounter - - - - 234 Torso Rock - - = z z = - 282
ERRATUM.
Page 35. line 3. from bottom, for “ 1849” read “ 1848.”
TTT TTT mm
: eee : WeEMIOn FE
ARCTIC
SEARCHING EXPEDITION.
CHAPTER I.
ROUTE ASSIGNED TO THE EXPEDITION UNDER COMMAND OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.—NAMES OF THE OFFICERS. —EREBUS AND TERROR.— DATE OF ITS SAILING.—LAST LETTERS. — SIR JOHN FRANKLIN’S LAST OFFICIAL LETTER.—LAST SIGHT OF THE EXPEDITION.—SIR JOHN ROSS PROPOSES A SEARCH. —DISCUSSION OF VARIOUS OPINIONS OFFERED RESPECTING THE FATE OF THE EXPEDITION.— PLANS OF SEARCH ADOPTED. — MAIN OBJECTS OF THE OVERLAND SEARCHING EXPEDITION. — INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ADMIRALTY.
Her Masesty’s government having deemed it ex- pedient that a further attempt should be made for the accomplishment of a north-west passage by sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the “ Erebus” and “ Terror” were fitted out for that service, and placed under the command of Captain Sir John Franklin, K.C.H. He was directed by the Ad- miralty instructions, dated on the 5th of May, 1845, to proceed with all despatch to Lancaster
VOL. I. B
2 FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION.
Sound, and, passing through it, to push on to the westward, in the latitude of 743°, without loss of time or stopping to examine any openings to the northward, until he reached the longitude of Cape Walker, which is situated in about 98° west. He was to use every effort to penetrate to the south- ward and westward of that point, and to pursue as direct a course for Beering’s Straits as circum- stances might permit. He was cautioned not to attempt to pass by the western extremity of Mel- ville Island, until he had ascertained that a perma- nent barrier of ice or other obstacle closed the prescribed route. In the event of not being able to penetrate to the westward, he was to enter Wellington Sound in his second summer.
He was further directed to transmit accounts of his proceedings to the Admiralty, by means of the natives and the Hudson’s Bay Company, should opportunities offer; and also, after passing the 65th meridian, to throw overboard daily a copper cylin- der, containing a paper stating the ship’s position. It was also understood that he would cause piles of stones or signal-posts to be erected on conspi- cuous headlands at convenient times, though the instructions do not contain a clause to that effect.*
* The instructions are published at length in a parliamentary Blue Book, and all known particulars respecting the expe- dition have been communicated from time to time to the public
NAMES OF THE OFFICERS. oO
The following officers joined the expedition :—
EREBUS. TERROR. Captain, Sir John Franklin, | Capé., Francis R. M. Crozier. Ki. KC. HH. Lieutenant, Edward Little. Commander, James Fitzjames. | Lieut., George H. Hodgson. Lieutenant, Graham Gore. Lieutenant, John Irving.
Lieut., H. P. D. Le Vesconte. | Zce-Master, Thomas Blanky. Lieut., James W. Fairholme. | Surgeon, John 8. Peddie.
Ice-Master, James Read. Assist.- Surgeon, A. M‘Donald. Surgeon, Stephen §. Stanley. | See. Mr., Gillies A. Maclean. Paymaster, C. H. Osmer. Clerk-in- Charge, Edward J.
Assist.- Surg.,H.D.S.Goodsir. | HH. Helpman.
Sec. Master, Henry F. Collins. | .
And the conjoined crews of the two ships amounted to 130 souls.
The “ Erebus,” originally built for a bomb- vessel, and therefore strongly framed, was of 370 tons measurement, and had been fortified, in 1839, after the most approved plan, by an extra or dou- ble exterior planking and diagonal bracing within, for Sir James C. Ross’s antarctic voyage, from which she returned in 1843. Having been care- fully examined and refitted for Sir John Franklin, she was considered to be as strongly prepared to resist the pressure of the ice as the resources of science, and the utmost care of Mr. Rice, the skilful master-shipwright who superintended the prepar- ations, could ensure. The “Terror,” of 340 tons,
by the same channel. The above abstract mentions the leading points which would direct the course of the expedition. — B2
4 FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION. 1845.
was also constructed for a bomb-vessel, and had the bluff form, capacious hold, and strong frame- work of that class of war vessels. When com- manded by Captain Sir George Back, on his voyage to Repulse Bay in 1836-7, she had been beset for more than eleven months in drifting floes of ice, and exposed to every variety of assault and pres- sure to which a vessel was liable in such a danger- ous position. In this severe and lengthened trial, the “ Terror” had been often pressed more or less out of the water, or thrown over on one side, and had, in consequence thereof, sustained some damage, particularly in the stern post. All de- fects, however, were made good in 1839, when she sailed for the Antarctic Seas, under the command of Captain Crozier, the second officer of Sir James C. Ross’s expedition. She was again examined, and made as strong as ever, before Captain Crozier took the command of her a second time in 1845.
The best plans that former experience could suggest for ventilating and warming the ships in the winter were adopted, and full supplies of every requisite for arctic navigation were provided, in- cluding an ample stock of warm bedding, clothing, and provisions, with a proportion of preserved meats and pemican.
The expedition sailed from England on the
19th of May, 1845, and, early in July, had
1845. LAST LETTERS. 5
reached Whalefish Islands, near Disco, on the Greenland coast of Davis’s Straits, where, having found a convenient port, the transport which ac- companied it was cleared and sent home to England, bringing the last letters that have been received from the officers or crew. The following extract of a letter, from Lieutenant Fairholme, of the “ Erebus,” will serve to show the cheerful anticipation of success which prevailed throughout the party, and the happy terms on which they were with each other :—-
“We have anchored in a narrow channel be- tween two of the islands, protected on all sides by land, and in as convenient a place for our purpose as could possibly be found. Here we are with the transport lashed alongside, transferring most ac- tively all her stores to the two ships. I hope that this operation will be completed by to-morrow night, in which case Wednesday will be devoted to swinging the ships for local attraction, and I sup- pose Thursday will see us under way with our heads to the northward. We have had the obser- vatory up here, on a small rock on which Parry formerly observed, and have got a very satis- factory set of magnetic and other observations. Of our prospects we know little more than when we left England, but look forward with anxiety to our reaching 72°, where it seems we are likely to
B3
6 FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION. 1845.
mect the first obstruction, if any exists. On board we are as comfortable as it is possible to be. I need hardly tell you how much we are all delighted with our Captain. He has, I am sure, won not only the respect but the love of every person on board by his amiable manner and kindness to all; and his influence is always employed for some good purpose both among the officers and men He has been most successful in his selection of officers, and a more agreeable set could hardly be found. Sir John is in much better health than when we left England, and really looks ten years younger. He takes an active part in every thing that goes on, and his long experience in such services as this makes him a most valuable adviser. July 10th.—The transport is just reported clear, so I hope that we may be able to swing the ships to-morrow and get away on Saturday. We are very much crowded ; in fact, not an inch of stowage has been lost, and the decks are still covered with casks, &c. Our supply of coals has encroached seriously on the ship’s stowage; but as we con- sume both this and. provisions as we go, the evil will be continually lessening.”
Letters from most of the other officers, written in a similarly buoyant and hopeful spirit, were received in England at the same time with the above. An extract of a letter from Sir John
1845. LAST LETTERS. 7
Franklin himself to Lieutenant Colonel Sabine deserves to be quoted, as expressing his own opinion of his resources, and also his intention of remaining out should he fail after a second winter in finding an outlet to the south-westward from Barrow’s Strait. The letter is dated from Whalefish Islands, on the 9th of July, 1845, and, after noticing that the “ Erebus” and “ Terror” had on board provisions, fuel, clothing, and stores for three years complete, from that date, adds, “I hope my dear wife and daughter will not be over anxious if we should not return by the time they have fixed upon; and I must beg of you to give them the benefit of your advice and experience when that time arrives, for you know well that, without success in our object, even after the second winter, we should wish to try some other channel if the state of our provisions and the health of the crews justify it.”
The following is the last official letter written by Sir John Franklin to the Admiralty.
** Her Majesty’s Ship ‘ Erebus,’ Whalefish Islands, July 12. 1845. 6c Sir,
‘© T have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that Her Majesty’s ships ‘ Erebus’ and ¢ Terror,’ with the transport, arrived at this anchorage on the 4th instant, having had a passage of one month from Stromness. The
transport was immediately taken alongside this ship, that B4
8 FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION. 1845.
she might be more readily cleared; and we have been constantly employed at that operation till last evening, the delay having been caused not so much in getting the stores transferred to either of the ships, as in making the best stowage of them below, as well as on the upper deck. The ships are now complete with supplies of every kind for three years: they are, therefore, very deep; but happily we have no reason to expect much sea as we proceed further.
“The magnetic instruments were landed the same — morning; so also were the other instruments requisite for ascertaining the position of the observatory ; and it is satisfactory to find that the results of the observations for latitude and longitude accord very nearly with those assigned to the same place by Sir Edward Parry. Those for dip and variation are equally satisfactory, which were made by Captain Crozier with the instruments belonging to the ‘ Terror,’ and by Commander James with those of the * Erebus.’
“The ships are now being swung, for the purpose of ascertaining the dip and deviation of the needle on board, as was done at Greenhithe; which I trust will be com- pleted this afternoon, and I hope to be able to sail in the night.
«The governor and principal persons are at this time absent from Disco; so that I have not been able to re- ceive any communication from head quarters as to the state of the ice to the north. I have, however, learned from a Danish carpenter in charge of the Esquimaux at these islands, that, though the winter was severe, the spring was not later than usual, nor was the ice later in breaking away hereabout. He supposes, also, that it is now loose as far as 74°, and as far as Lancaster Sound, without much obstruction.
1845. LATEST OFFICIAL LETTER. )
«* The transport will sail for England this day. I shall instruct the agent, Lieutenant Griffiths, to proceed to Deptford, and report his arrival to the Secretary of the Admiralty. Ihave much satisfaction in bearing my tes- timony to the careful and zealous manner in which Lieu- tenant Griffiths has performed the service entrusted to him, and would beg to recommend him, as an officer who appears to have seen much service, to the favourable con- sideration of their Lordships.
“It is unnecessary to assure their Lordships of the energy and zeal of Captain Crozier, Commander Fitz- james, and of the officers and men with whom I have the happiness of being employed on this service.
« T have, &c. < JOHN FRANKLIN,
‘¢ Captain. “ The Right Hon. H. L. Cary, M.P. &e. &e. &c.”
The two ships were seen on the 26th of the same month (July) in latitude 74° 48’ N., longitude 66° 13’ W., moored to an iceberg, waiting for a favour- able opportunity of entering or rounding the ‘middle ice” and crossing to Lancaster Sound, distant in a direct westerly line from their position about 220 geographical miles. On that day a boat from the discovery ships, manned by seven officers, one of whom was Commander Fitzjames, boarded the “ Prince of Wales,” whaler, Captain Dannett. They were all in high spirits, and invited Captain Dannett to dine with Sir John Franklin on the
10 FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION. 1845—1847.
following day, which had he done, he would doubt- less have been the bearer of letters for England, but a favourable breeze springing up he separated from them. The ice was then heavy but loose, and the officers expressed good hopes of soon ac- complishing the enterprise. Captain Dannett was favoured with very fine weather during the three following weeks, and thought that the expedition must have made good progress. - This was the last sight that was obtained of Franklin’s ships.
In January 1847, a year and a half after the above date, Captain Sir John Ross addressed a letter to the Admiralty, wherein he stated his conviction that the discovery ships were frozen up at the western end of Melville Island, from whence their return would be for ever prevented by the accu- mulation of ice behind them, and volunteered his services to carry relief to the crews. Sir John also laid statements of his apprehensions before the Royal and Geographical Societies, and, the public attention being thereby roused, several writers in the newspapers and other periodicals published their sentiments on the subject, a variety of plans of relief were suggested, and many volunteers came forward to execute them.
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, though judging that the second winter was too
1847. VARIOUS OPINIONS. LE
early a period of Sir John Franklin’s absence to give rise to well founded apprehensions for his safety, lost no time in calling for the opinions of several naval officers who were well acquainted with arctic navigation, and in concerting plans of relief, to be carried out when the proper time should arrive.
A brief review of the replies most worthy of notice may help the reader to form a judgment of the plans that were eventually adopted by the Admiralty for the discovery and relief of the absent voyagers. It is convenient to consider first the notions of those who believe that Sir John Franklin never entered Lancaster Sound, either because the ships met with some fatal dis- aster in Baffin’s Bay, and went down with the entire loss of both crews, or that Sir John endea- voured to fulfil the purposes of the expedition by taking some other route than the one exclusively marked out for him by his instructions. That the ships were not suddenly wrecked by a storm, or overwhelmed by the pressure of the ice, may be concluded from facts gathered from the records of the Davis’s Straits whale-fishery, by which we learn that of the many vessels which have been crushed in the ice, in the course of several centuries, the whole or greater part of the crews have almost always escaped with their boats. It is, therefore,
12 FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION.
scarcely possible to believe that two vessels so strongly fortified as the “ Erebus” and “ Terror,” and found by previous trials to be capable of sus- taining so enormous a pressure, should both of them have been so suddenly crushed as to allow no time for active officers and nen, disciplined and pre- pared for emergencies of the kind, to get out their boats. And having done so, they would have had little difficulty in reaching one of the many whalers, that were occupied in the pursuit of fish in those seas for six weeks after the discovery ships were last seen. Moreover, had the ships been wrecked, some fragments of their spars or hulls would have been found floating by the whalers, or being cast on the eastern or western shores of the bay, would have been reported by the Greenlanders or Eskimos. Neither are any severe storms recorded as having occurred then or there, nor did any unusual cala- mity befall the fishing vessels that year.
With respect to Sir John Franklin having chosen to enter Jones’s or Smith’s Sounds in preference to Lancaster Sound, his known habit of strict ad- herence to his instructions is a sufficient answer, and the extract quoted above from his letter to Lieutenant Colonel Sabine, which gives his latest thoughts on the subject, plainly says that such a course would not be pursued until a second winter had proved the impracticability of the route laid
VARIOUS OPINIONS. ts
down for him. This point is mooted, because Mr. Hamilton, surgeon in Orkney, states that Sir John, when dining with him on the last day that he passed in Great Britain, mentioned his deter- mination of trying Jones’s Sound. But Sir John’s communication to Colonel Sabine shows that this could be meant to refer only to the contingency of a full trial by Lancaster Sound proving fruitless. Supposing that, contrary to all former experience, he had found the mouth of Lancaster Sound so barred by ice as to preclude his entrance, then, after waiting till he had become convinced that it would remain closed for the season, he might have tried to find a way, by Jones’s Sound, into Wel- lington Sound ; but in such a case, we may hold it as certain that.he would have erected conspicuous cairns, and deposited memoranda of his past pro- ceedings and future intentions, at the entrance of Lancaster Sound.
Taking it, then, for granted that the expedition entered Lancaster Sound, the most probable con- jecture respecting the direction in which it ad- vanced is that Sir John, literally following his instructions, did not stop to examine any openings either to the northward or southward of Barrow’s Strait, but continued to push on to the westward until he reached Cape Walker in longitude 98°, when he inclined to the south-west, and steered as
14 FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION.
directly as he could for Beering’s Straits. But even supposing that the state of the ice permitted him to take the desired route, and to turn to the south- westward by the first opening beyond the 98th meridian, we are ignorant of the exact position of that opening, the tract between Cape Walker and Banks’s Land being totally unknown. ‘That a passage to the southward does exist in that space, and terminates between Victoria and Wollaston Lands in Coronation Gulf, is inferred from the observed setting of the flood tide. There is, it is true, an uncertainty in our endeavours to determine the directions of the tides in these narrow seas, where the currents are influenced by prevailing winds; but Mr. Thomas Simpson, who was an acute ob- server, remarked that the flood tide brought much ice into Coronation Gulf round the west end of Victoria Land, and facts collected on three visits which I have made to that gulf lead me to concur with him. Entirely in accordance with this opinion is the fact noted by Sir Edward Parry, that the flood tide came from the north between Cornwallis and the neighbouring islands, and that the ice was continually setting round the west end of Melville Island and passing onwards to the south-east. These observations, while they point to an opening to the eastward of Banks’s Land, may be adduced as an argument against the existence of a
VARIOUS OPINIONS. 15
passage directly to the westward between it and Melville Island; and, though they are not conclu- sive, they are supported by another remark of Sir Edward Parry’s, that he thought there was some peculiar obstruction immediately to the west of that island, which produced a permanent barrier of ace:
But wherever the opening which we presume to exist may be situated, the channels among the islands are probably not direct, and may be intricate. Vessels, therefore, having pushed into one of them would be exposed to the ice closing in behind and barring all regress. Sir John Ross, whose opinions are first recorded in the parliamentary Blue Book, believes that “Sir John Franklin put his ships into the drift ice at the western end of Melville Island,” and that, “if not totally lost, they must have been carried by the ice, which is known to drift to the southward, on land (Banks’s Land) seen at a great distance in that direction, and from which the accu- mulation of ice behind them will,” says he, “as in my own case, for ever prevent the return of the ships.”
Sir W. Edward Parry is of opinion that Sir John Franklin would endeavour “to get to the southward and westward before he approached the south-western extremity of Melville Island, that is, between the 100th and 110th degree of longitude: ”
16 FRANKLIN’S EXPEDITION.
‘how far they may have penetrated to the south- ward between those meridians, must be a matter of speculation, depending on the state of the ice and the existence of land in a space hitherto blank in our maps.” “Be this as it may, I (Sir W. E. Parry) consider it not improbable, as suggested by Dr. King, that an attempt will be made by them to fall back on the western coast of North Somerset, wherever that may be found, as being the nearest point affording a hope of communication, either with whalers or with ships sent expressly in search of the expedition.”
Sir James C. Ross says: “It is far more pro- bable, however, that Sir John Franklin, in obe- dience to his instructions, would endeayour to push the ships to the south and west as soon as they passed Cape Walker; and the consequence of such a measure, owing to the known preva- lence of westerly winds, and the drift of the main body of the ice, would be, their inevitable embar- rassment; and if he persevered in that direction, which he probably would do, I have no hesitation in stating my conviction, that he would never be able to extricate his ships, and would ultimately be obliged to abandon them. It is, therefore, in latitude 73° N. and longitude 135° W. that we may expect to find them involved in the ice, or shut up in some harbour.”
1847. VARIOUS OPINIONS. If
The opinions here quoted are contingent on the supposition, that Sir John Franklin found the state of the ice to be such that he could take the routes in question ; but the several officers quoted admit that, in the event of no opening through the ice in a westerly or south-westerly direction being found, Sir John would attempt Wellington Sound, or any other northern opening that was acces- sible. Commander Fitzjames, in a letter dated January, 1845, says: “The north-west passage 1s certainly to be gone through by Barrow’s Straits, but whether south or north of Parry’s Group remains to be proved. I am for going far north, edging north-west till in longitude 140° W., if possible.” Mr. John Barrow, to whom this letter was addressed, appends to it the following me- morandum: ‘“ Captain Fitzjames was much in- clined to try the passage to the northward of Parry’s Islands, and he would no doubt endea- vour to persuade Sir John Franklin to pursue that course, if they failed to get to the south- ward.”
My own opinion, submitted to the Admiralty in compliance with their commands, was substantially the same with that of Sir James Clark Ross, though formed independently ; and I further suggested that, in the event of accident to the ships, or their abandonment in the ice, the members of the ex-
C
18 SEARCHING EXPEDITIONS. 1847.
pedition would make either for Lancaster Sound to meet the whalers, or Mackenzie River to seek relief at the Hudson’s Bay posts, as they judged either of these places most easy of attainment.
After deliberately weighing these and other sug- gestions, and fully considering the numerous plans submitted to them, the Admiralty determined that, if no intelligence of the missing ships arrived by the close of autumn, 1847, they would send out three several searching expeditions—one to Lan- caster Sound, another down the Mackenzie River, and the third to Beering’s Straits.
The object of the first, and the most important of the three, was to follow up the route supposed to have been pursued by Sir John Franklin; and, by searching diligently for any signal-posts he might have erected, to trace him out, and carry the required relief to his exhausted crews. Sir James Clark Ross was appointed to the command of this expedition, consisting of the “ Enterprise ” and ‘“ Investigator ;” and, as his plan of proceeding
bears upon my own instructions, I give it at leneth :—
“ As vessels destined to follow the track of the expe- dition must necessarily encounter the same difficulties, and be liable to the same severe pressure from the great body of the ice they must pass through in their way to Lan- caster Sound, it is desirable that two ships, of not less
1847. SIR JAMES GC. ROSS’S PLAN OF SEARCH. 19
than 500 tons, be purchased for this service, and fortified and equipped, in every respect as were the ‘ Erebus’ and ‘ Terror,’ for the Antarctic Seas.
«Each ship should, in addition, be supplied with a small vessel or launch of about 20 tons, which she could hoist in, to be fitted with a steam-engine and boiler of ten-horse power, for a purpose to be hereafter noticed.
‘The ships should sail at the end of April next, and proceed to Lancaster Sound, with as little delay as pos- sible, carefully searching both shores of that extensive inlet, and of Barrow’s Strait, and then progress to the westward.
‘Should the period at which they arrive in Barrow’s Strait admit of it, Wellington Channel should next be examined, and the coast between Cape Clarence and Cape Walker explored, either in the ships or by boats, as may at the time appear most advisable. As this coast has been generally found encumbered with ice, it is not de- sirable that both ships should proceed so far along it as to hazard their getting beset there and shut up for the winter ; but in the event of finding a convenient harbour near Garnier Bay or Cape Rennell, it would be a good position in which to secure one of the ships for the winter.
«From this position the coast line might be explored, as far as it extends to the westward, by detached parties early in the spring, as well as the western coast of Boothia, a considerable distance to the southward; and at a more advanced period of the season the whole distance to Cape Nicolai might be completed.
« A second party might be sent to the south-west as far as practicable, and a third to the north-west, or in any other direction deemed advisable at the time.
* As soon as the formation of water along the coast
c 2
20 SIR JAMES C. ROSS’S PLAN OF SEARCH. 1847.
between the land and main body of the ice admitted, the small steam-launch should be despatched into Lancaster Sound, to communicate with the whale ships at the usual time of their arrival in those regions, by which means information of the safety or return of Sir John Franklin might be conveyed to the ships before their liberation from their winter quarters, as well as any further in- structions the Lords Commissioners might be pleased to send for their future guidance.
“The easternmost vessel having been safely secured in winter quarters, the other ship should proceed alone to the westward, and endeavour to reach Winter Harbour in Melville Island, or some convenient port in Banks’s Land, in which to pass the winter.
“From this point, also, parties should be despatched early in spring, before the breaking up of the ice. The first should trace the western coast of Banks’s Land, and, proceeding to Cape Bathurst, or some other conspicuous point of the continent, previously agreed on with Sir John Richardson, reach the Hudson’s Bay Company’s settle- ment of Fort Good Hope on the Mackenzie, whence they may travel southward by the usual route of the traders to York Factory, and thence to England.
«The second party should explore the eastern shore of Banks’s Land, and, making for Cape Krusenstern, commu- nicate with Sir John Richardson’s party on its descending the Coppermine River, and either assist him in completing the examination of Wollaston and Victoria Land, or return to England by any route he should direct.
«These two parties would pass over that space in which most probably the ships have become involved (if at all), and would, therefore, have the best chance of communicating to Sir John Franklin information of the
1847. PLANS OF SEARCH ADOPTED. 21
measures that have been adopted for his relief, and of directing him to the best point to proceed, if he should consider it necessary to abandon his ships.
“Other parties may be despatched, as might appear desirable to the commander of the expedition, according to circumstances ; but the steam-launches should certainly be employed to keep up the communication between the ships, to transmit such information for the guidance of each other as might be necessary for the safety and success of the undertaking.
(Signed) « James C. Ross, “‘ Captain, R. N.
*“ Atheneum, 2 December, 1847.”
By a subsequent arrangement between Sir James Ross and myself, under the sanction of the Ad- miralty, I undertook to deposit pemican at Fort Good Hope and Point Separation on the Macken- zie, and Capes Bathurst, Parry, Krusenstern, and Hearne, on the sea-coast, for the use of Sir James Ross’s detached parties.
The Beering’s Straits expedition was composed of the “ Herald,” Captain Kellet, then employed in surveying the Pacific coasts of America, and the “ Plover,” Commander Moore. ‘The vessels were expected to arrive in Beering’s Straits about the Ist of July, 1848, and were directed to “ proceed along the American coast as far as possible, con- sistent with the certainty of preventing the ships
being beset by the ice.” A harbour was to be c3
22 BEERING’S STRAITS EXPEDITION.
sought for the “ Plover” within the Straits, to which that vessel was to be conducted; and two whale-boats were to go on to the eastward in search of the missing voyagers, and to commu- nicate, if possible, with the Mackenzie River party. The “Plover” was fitted out in the Thames in December, 1847; but having been found to leak when she went to sea, was compelled to put into Plymouth for repair, and did not finally leave England until February, 1848. This tardy de- parture, conjoined with her dull sailing, prevented her from passing Beering’s Straits at all in 1848 ; but she wintered near Cape Tschukotskoi, on the Asiatic coast, just outside of the Straits.
The “ Herald” visited Kotzebue Sound, repassed the Straits before the arrival of the ‘“ Plover,” and returned to winter in South America, with the intention of going northwards again next season.
The main object of the searching party en- trusted to my charge was to trace the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers, and the shores of Victoria and Wollaston Lands lying opposite to Cape Krusenstern. In a pre- ceding page I have adduced reasons for believing that there is a passage to the northwards between these lands ; and if so, its position makes it the most direct route from the continent to the un-
OBJECT OF THE OVERLAND EXPEDITION. 23
known tract interposed between Cape Walker and Banks’s Land, into which Sir John Franklin was expressly ordered to carry his ships. Should he have done so, and his egress by the way he entered be barred by the ice closing in behind him as already suggested, there remained a probability that the annual progression of the ice southwards would eventually carry the ships into Coronation Gulf, or, if abandoned before that event, their crews were to be sought for on their way to the continent.
At the time when Sir John Franklin left Eng- land, two other openings from the north into the sea washing the continental shores were sup- posed to exist. The most westerly of these is be- tween Boothia and Victoria Land, and it was part of Sir James Ross’s plan to examine the whole western side of Boothia and North Somerset by one of his steam-barges.
The other supposed entrance was by Regent’s Inlet. Dease and Simpson had left only a small space unsurveyed between that inlet and the sea, which was known to afford in good seasons a pas- sage all the way to Beering’s Straits; and this might have recommended the route by Regent’s Inlet for trial. But, exclusive of its being abso-
lutely prohibited by Sir John Franklin’s instruc- c 4
24 MR. RAE’S EXPEDITION. 1846.
tions, Sir Edward Parry and Sir James Ross, on whose opinions Sir John placed deservedly the greatest reliance, were decidedly averse to his attempting a passage in that direction; and it was known that Sir John Franklin had resolved on trying all the other openings before he entered Regent’s Inlet, which was to be his last resource. It fortunately happened before any of the search- ing expeditions were finally organised, that the non-existence of a passage through that inlet was fully ascertained.
Mr. John Rae, a Chief Trader in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, left Fort Churchill in the beginning of the summer of 1846, with two boats, for the express purpose of completing the survey of Regent’s Inlet. He arrived in Repulse Bay in the month of August of that year, and immediately crossed an isthmus, forty-three miles wide, to the inlet, taking one boat with him. Finding that the season was too far advanced for him to complete the survey that year, he determined, with a bold- ness and confidence in his own resources that has never been surpassed, to winter in Repulse Bay, and to finish his survey of Regent’s Inlet on the ice next spring ; so that he might be able to return to Churchill and York Factory by open water in the summer of 1847. He therefore recrossed the isthmus again with his boat, and set about col-
1847. SURVEY OF REGENT’S INLET. 25
lecting provisions and fuel for a ten months’ winter. To one less experienced and hardy, the desolate shores of Repulse Bay would have forbidden such an attempt. They yielded neither drift-wood nor shrubby plants of any kind; but Mr. Rae employed part of his men to gather the withered stems of the Andromeda tetragona, a small herbaceous plant which grew in abundance on the rocks, and to pile it in cocks like hay: others he set to build a house of stone and earth, large enough to shelter his party, amounting in all to sixteen; whilst he himself and his Eskimo interpreter were occupied in killing deer for winter consumption. He suc- ceeded in laying up a sufficient stock of venison, and kept his people in health and strength for next year’s operations, though not in comfort, for the chimney was so badly constructed for venti- lation, that when the fire was lighted it was neces- sary to open the door, and thus to reduce the temperature of the apartment, nearly to that of the external air. The fire was, therefore, used as seldom as possible, and only for cooking or melting snow to drink. In the spring he completed the survey of Prince Regent’s Inlet on foot, thereby proving that no passage existed through it, and confirming the Eskimo report, first made to Sir Edward Parry and afterwards to Sir John Ross. <A party of Eskimo, who resided near Mr. Rae in the winter,
26 OVERLAND SEARCHING EXPEDITION. 1848.
informed him, through his interpreter, that they had not seen Franklin’s ships, thereby excluding the Gulf of Boothia from the list of places to be searched. ;
Having thus mentioned the opinions most worthy of note, respecting the quarters in which search was to be made, the plans of search adopted by the Admiralty after duly weighing a great variety of suggestions, and the extent of coast and parts of the Arctic Sea embraced in the three expedi- tions of the summer of 1848, I subjoin the instruc- tions I received from the Admiralty.
Instructions to Sir John Richardson, M. D., 16th March 1848. By the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, &c.
“* Whereas we think fit that you should be employed on an overland expedition in search of Her Majesty’s ships ‘Erebus’ and ‘ Terror,’ under the command of Captain Sir John Franklin, which ships are engaged in a voyage of discovery in the Arctic seas, you are hereby required and directed to take under your orders Mr. Rae, who has been selected to accompany you, and to leave England on the 25th instant by the mail steamer for Halifax in Nova Scotia, and New York; and on your arrival at the latter place, you are to proceed immediately to Montreal, for the purpose of conferring with Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany’s Settlements, and making arrangements with him for your future supplies and communications.
1848. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ADMIRALTY. Oy
** You should next travel to Penetanguishene, on Lake Huron, and from thence, by a steamer, which sails on the Ist and 15th of every month of open water, to Saut Ste. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior, and there em- bark in a canoe, which, with its crew, will have been pro- vided for you, by that time, by Sir George Simpson.
“« Following the usual canoe route by Fort William, Rainy Lake, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Winipeg, and the Saskatchewan River, it is hoped that you will overtake the boats now under charge of Mr. Bell, in July 1848, somewhere near Isle 4 la Crosse, or perhaps the Methy Portage.
* You will then send the canoe with its crew back to Canada, and having stowed the four boats for their sea voyage, you will go on as rapidly as you can to the mouth of the Mackenzie; leaving Mr. Bell to follow with the heavier laden barge, to turn off at Great Bear Lake, and erect your winter residence at Fort Confidence, establish fisheries, and send out hunters.
« Making a moderate allowance for unavoidable deten- tion by ice, thick fogs, and storms, the examination of the coast between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine Rivers will probably occupy 30 days; but you cannot calculate to be able to keep the sea later than the 15th of September, for, from the beginning of that month, the young ice covers the sea almost every night, and very greatly im- pedes the boats, until the day is well advanced.
*«« If you reach the sea in the first week of August, it is hoped you will be able to make the complete voyage to the Coppermine River, and also to coast a considerable part of the western and southern shores of Wollaston Land, and to ascend the Coppermine to some convenient point, where the boats can be left with the provisions
28 INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ADMIRALTY. 1848.
ready for the next year’s voyage; and you will instruct Mr. Bell to send two hunters to the banks of the river to provide food for the party on the route to Fort Con- fidence, and thus spare you any further consumption of the pemican reserved for the following summer.
«* As it may happen, however, from your late arrival on the coast, or subsequent unexpected detentions, that you cannot with safety attempt to reach the Coppermine, you have our full permission in such a case to return to Fort Good Hope, on the Mackenzie, there to deposit two of the boats, with all the sea stores, and to proceed with the other two boats, and the whole of the crews, to winter quarters on Great Bear Lake.
«¢ And you have also our permission to deviate from the line of route along the coast, should you receive accounts from the Eskimos, which may appear credible, of the crews of the ‘Erebus’ and ‘ Terror,’ or some part of them, being in some other direction.
“For the purpose of more widely extending your search, you are at liberty to leave Mr. Rae and a party of volunteers to winter on the coast, if, by the establishment of a sufficient fishery, or by killing a number of deer or musk oxen, you may be able to lay up provisions enough for them until you can rejoin them next summer.
« As you have been informed by Captain Sir James Ross, of Her Majesty’s ship ‘ Enterprize,’ who is about to be employed on a similar search in another direction, of the probable directions in which the parties he will send out towards the continent will travel, you are to leave a deposit of pemican for their use at the following points—namely, Point Separation, Cape Bathurst, Cape Parry, and Cape Krusenstern; and as Sir James Ross is desirous that some pemican should be stored at Fort Good
1848. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ADMIRALTY. 29
Hope, for the use of a party which he purposes sending thither in the spring of 1849, you are to make the neces- sary arrangements with Sir George Simpson for that purpose, as his directions to that effect must be sent early enough to meet the Company’s brigade of Mackenzie River boats at Methy Portage, in July 1848.
* Should it appear necessary to continue the search a second summer (1849), and should the boats have been housed on the Coppermine, you are to descend that river on the breaking up of the ice in June 1849, and to examine the passages between Wollaston and Banks’s and Victoria Lands, so as to cross the routes of some of Sir James C. Ross’s detached parties, and to return to Great Bear Lake in September 1849, and withdraw the whole party from thence to winter on Great Slave Lake, which would be as far south as you will have a prospect of travelling before the close of the river navigation.
** Should you have found it necessary to return to the Mackenzie (September 1848), instead of pushing on to the Coppermine, the search in the summer of 1849 would, of course, have to be commenced from the former river again; but should circumstances render it practicable and desirable to send some of the party down the Coppermine with one or two boats, you are at liberty to do so.
** A passage for yourself and Mr. Rae will be provided in the ‘America, British and North American mail- steamer, which sails from Liverpool on the 25th of March, and you will receive a letter of credit on Her Majesty’s Consul at New York for the amount of the expense of your journey from New York to Saut Ste. Marie, and the carriage of the instruments, &c.
‘¢ And in the event of intelligence of the ‘ Erebus’ and ‘Terror’ reaching England after your departure, a com-
30 INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ADMIRALTY. 1848.
munication will be made to the Hudson’s Bay Company to ascertain the most expeditious route to forward your recal,
«* We consider it scarcely necessary to furnish you with any instructions contingent on a successful search after the above-mentioned expedition, or any parties belonging to it. The circumstances of the case, and your own local knowledge and experience, will best point out the means to be adopted for the speedy transmission to this country of intelligence to the above effect, as well as of aiding and directing in the return of any such parties to England.
“We are only anxious that the search so laudably undertaken by you and your colleagues should not be unnecessarily or hazardously prolonged; and whilst we are confident that no pains or labour will be spared in the execution of this service, we fear lest the zeal and anxiety of the party so employed may carry them further than would be otherwise prudent.
* It is on this account you are to understand that your search is not to be prolonged after the winter of 1849, and which will be past on the Great Slave Lake; but that, at the earliest practicable moment after the breaking up of the weather in the spring of 1850, you will take such steps for the return of the party under your orders to England as circumstances may render expedient.
“It must be supposed that the instructions now af- forded you can scarcely meet every contingency that may arise out of a service of the above description; but re- posing, as we do, the utmost confidence in your discretion and judgment, you are not only at liberty to deviate from any point of them that may seem at variance with the objects of the expedition, but you are further empowered
1848. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE ADMIRALTY. ah
to take such other steps as shall be desirable at the time, and which are not provided for in these orders. ‘¢ Given under our hands, 16th March 1848. (Signed) “ AUCKLAND. J. W. D. Dunpas. “ To Sir John Richardson, M.D., &e. “ By command, &c. (Signed) “ W. A. B, Hamilton.”
32 ROUTES THROUGH THE INTERIOR. 1848.
CREAR i.
OVERLAND SEARCHING EXPEDITION. — ROUTES THROUGH THE INTERIOR. — HUDSON’S BAY SHIPS. — PEMICAN. — BOATS. — BOAT PARTY LEAVES ENGLAND. — ARRIVES AT WINTER QUARTERS. — VOLUNTEERS. — MR. JOHN RAE APPOINTED TO THE EXPEDITION.— THE AUTHOR AND MR. RAE SAIL FROM ENGLAND. — LAND AT NEW YORK.—PROCEED TO MONTREAL AND LA CHINE. — CANOE-MEN. — SAUT STE. MARIE. — VOYAGE TO THE NORTH.— REACH CUMBERLAND HOUSE.
Tue preceding pages contain an exposition of the objects of the expedition, with a general outline of the course to be pursued after leaving the Mac- kenzie; but as that great river can be attained only by a long and laborious lake and river navigation, it is proper that I should introduce the narrative by a brief account of that first stage of our over- land journey. There are two routes to the Mac- kenzie, one of which, traced at an early period by the Canadian fur companies, passes through Lakes Huron and Superior, the Kamenistikwoya, or Dog River, the Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake, Lake Winipeg, Cedar Lake, the Saskatchewan River, Beaver and Half-moon Lakes, Churchill or English River, Isle a la Crosse Buffalo and Methy Lakes to the Methy Portage, and the Clear-water or Little Athabasca River, one of the affluents of the Mac-
1847. ROUTES THROUGH THE INTERIOR. 33
kenzie. From thence there is a continuous water- course to the sea, through the Elk or Athabasca River, Athabasca Lake, Slave River and Lake, and the Mackenzie proper.
The length of this interior navigation from Mon- treal to the Arctic Sea is, in round numbers, four thousand four hundred miles, of which sixteen hundred miles are performed on the Mackenzie and its affluents, from Methy Portage northwards, and in which the only interruptions to boat navi- gation are a few cascades and rapids in Clear-water and Slave Rivers.
During the existence of the North-west, X-Y, and other fur companies trading from Canada, supplies were conveyed to their northern posts by the way of the Ottawa river and great Canada lakes; but they reached the distant establish- ments on the Mackenzie only in the second summer, having been deposited in the first year at a depdt on Rainy River. Owing to the shallowness of the streams, and badness of the portage roads over the heights between Lake Superior and Rainy Lake, the transport of goods requires to be performed in canoes, with much manual labour, and is, consequently, very expensive. On this account the Hudson’s Bay Company, who are now the sole possessors of the northern fur trade, no longer take their trading goods from Canada, but
VOL. I. D
34 ROUTES THROUGH THE INTERIOR. 1847.
send them by the shorter and cheaper way of Hudson’s Bay; though they still employ two or three canoes on the Lake Superior route, to accom- modate the Governor in his annual journeys from his residence at La Chine to Norway House, and for the transport of newly-hired servants to the interior, or for bringing down officers coming out on furlough, and men whose period of service has expired. No repairs having of late years been made on the portage roads, they have very much deteriorated, and are truly execrable.
The distance between York Factory in Hudson’s Bay and Norway House, situated near the north- east corner of Lake Winipeg, does not much exceed three hundred miles; and as the navigation, though much interrupted by rapids and cascades, admits, in the majority of seasons, of boats carrying a cargo of between fifty and sixty hundred-weight, it offers a much more economical approach to the interior of the fur countries than the other; since one of these boats may be managed by the same crew that is required for a canoe carrying only twenty hundred-weight. The Hudson’s Bay ships are generally two in number; one of them being em- ployed in taking supplies to Moose Factory, at the bottom of James’s Bay, and the other to York Factory, in latitude 57° N., longitude 924° W., on the west coast of Hudson’s Bay. They sail
1847. HUDSON’S BAY SHIPS. 35
annually from the Thames on the first Saturday in June, and, after touching at the Orkneys, to receive labourers for the Company’s service, pro- ceed on their voyage to Hudson’s Straits. The York Factory ship has dropped her anchor at the mouth of Hayes River as early as the 5th of August, and as late as the beginning of September. A tardy arrival is very inconvenient, both in respect of forwarding goods into the interior, and also with regard to the return of the ship to England, there being in such a case scarcely time for the em- barkation of the cargo of furs and the passage of Hudson’s Straits before the winter sets in.
This brief notice of the modes of communication with Rupert’s Land— for so the possessions of the Hudson’s Bay Company are named—is given, to explain some parts of the plan of the expedition, and particularly to show why the stores and men were sent out by ships which sailed in June 1847, although the expediency of searching expeditions was not considered by the Admiralty to be esta- blished until the last of the whalers came in at the close of that season, without bringing tidings of the discovery ships. It was arranged that in that case, the officers were to leave England early in 1849, and, travelling as rapidly as they could through
the United States and Canada, were to overtake D 2
36 THE GOVERNOR OF RUPERT’S LAND. Aprit,
the party conveying the stores in the vicinity of Methy Portage.
In April, 1847, I had the advantage of a personal interview with Sir George Simpson, Governor-in- chief of Rupert’s Land, who was then on a visit to England, and of concerting with him the measures necessary for the future progress of the expedition ; and I may state here that he entered warmly into the projects for the relief of his old acquaintance Sir John Franklin; and from him I received the kindest personal attention, and that support which his thorough knowledge of the resources of the country and his position as Governor enabled him so effectively to bestow. He informed me that the stock of provisions at the various posts .in the Hudson’s Bay territories was unusually low, through the failure of the bison hunts on the Saskatchewan, and that it would be necessary to carry out pemican from this country, adequate not only to the ulterior purposes of the voyage in the Arctic Sea, but also to the support of the party during the interior navigation in 1847 and 1848. I, therefore, obtained authority from the Admiralty to manufacture, forthwith, the requisite quantity of that kind of food in Clarence Yard ; and as I shall have frequent occasion to allude to it in the subsequent narrative, it may be well to describe in this place the mode of its preparation.
1847. PEMICAN. 37
The round or buttock of beef of the best quality, having been cut into thin steaks, from which the fat and membranous parts were pared away, was dried in a malt kiln over an oak fire, until its moisture was entirely dissipated, and the fibre of the meat became friable. It was then ground in a malt mill, when it resembled finely grated meat. Being next mixed with nearly an equal weight of melted beef-suet or lard, the preparation of plain pemican was complete; but to render it more agreeable to the unaccustomed palate, a proportion of the best Zante currents was added to part of it, and part was sweetened with sugar. Both these kinds were much approved of in the sequel by the consumers, but more especially that to which the sugar had been added. After the ingredients were well incorporated by stirring, they were transferred to tin canisters, capable of containing 85 lbs. each ; and, having been firmly rammed down and allowed to contract further by cooling, the air was com- pletely expelled and excluded by filling the canister to the brim with melted lard, through a small hole left in the end, which was then covered with a piece of tin, and soldered up. Finally, the canister was painted and lettered according toits contents. The total quantity of pemican thus made was 17,424 |bs., at a cost of ls. 74d. a pound. But the expense
was somewhat greater than it would otherwise have 10) 3}
38 PEMICAN. 1847.
been from the inexperience of the labourers, who required to be trained, and from the necessity of buying meat in the London market at a rate above the contract price, occasioned by the bullocks slaughtered by the contractor for the naval force at Portsmouth being inadequate to the supply of the required number of rounds. Various tempo- rary expedients were also resorted to in drying part of the meat, the malt kiln and the whole Clarence Yard establishment being at that time fully occupied night and day in preparing flour and biscuit for the relief of the famishing popu- lation of Ireland. By the suggestions of Messrs. Davis and Grant, the intelligent chief officers of the Victualling Yard, and their constant personal superintendence, every difficulty was obviated.
As the meat in drying loses more than three fourths of its original weight, the quantity required was considerable, being 35,651 ]bs.*; and the sudden abstraction of more than one thousand rounds of beef from Leadenhall Market occasioned speculation among the dealers, and a rise in the price of a penny per pound, with an equally sudden fall when the extra demand was found to be very temporary.T
* By drying this was reduced to about 8000 Ibs. { Particulars of the estimated expense of pemican, manu-
1847. PEMICAN. 39
The natives dry their venison by exposing the thin slices to the heat of the sun, on a stage, under which a small fire is kept, more for the purpose of driving away the flies by the smoke than for promoting exsiccation; and then they pound it between two stones on a bison hide. In this process the pounded meat is contaminated by a greater or smaller admixture of hair and other im- purities. The fat, which is generally the suet of the bison, is added by the traders, who purchase it separately from the natives, and they complete the process by sewing up the pemican in a bag of un-
factured in the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard, in Midsummer
quarter, 1847:
LUT Li tsa, Fresh beef 35,651 lbs. at 63d. per lb. 979 10 1 Lard - 7,549 — at 88s. percwt. 296 11 4 Currants - 1,008 — at 84s. percwt. 37 16 O Sugar - 280 —at3ls.2d.perewt. 3 17 11 Oho a BUPA) A Oak slab 46 fms. at 22s. 6d. per load 47 5 O Hire for labourers - . = 09 87/8 Hire of kiln and cartage - - at lal ——. 114 14 8 1,432 10 O Deduct for scraps of fat sold - - - - 35 18 1 £396 11 tI1
Quantity of pemican manufactured 17,424 lbs.; average cost
per lb. 1s. 73d. p 4
40 BOATS. 1847.
dressed hide with the hairy side outwards. Each of these bags weighs 90 lbs. and obtains from the Canadian voyagers the designation of “un taureau.” A superior pemican is produced by mixing finely powdered meat, sifted from impurities, with marrow fat, and the dried fruit of the Amelanchier.
By order of the Admiralty, four boats were built; two of them in Portsmouth Dock Yard, and two in Camper’s Yard at Gosport. These boats, to fit them for river navigation, were required to be of as small a draught of water as was consistent with the power of carrying a cargo of at least two tons; to have the head and stern equally sharp, like a whale-boat, that they might be steered with a sweep oar when running rapids; and to be of as light a weight as possible, for more easy transportation across the numerous portages on the route, and es- pecially the formidable one between Methy Lake and Clear-water River. They were also to be as good sea-boats as a compliance with the other re- quisites would allow. It is manifest that the inven- tion of a form of boat possessing such various and in some respects antagonistic qualities would task the skill of the constructor, and I felt much indebted to William Rice, Esq., Assistant Master Builder of Portsmouth Yard, for the care and skill with which he worked out a successful result. The Company’s boats, or barges, as they term them, are
1847. BOATS. Al
generally about 36 feet long from stem to stern-post, 8 feet wide, stoutly framed and planked, and are ca- pable of carrying seventy packages of 90 lbs. each, with a crew of eight men. The thickness of the planks of these boats is such that they sustain with little injury a severe blow against a rock, to which they are much exposed in descending the rapids ; but their weight being proportionally great, they are transported with much labour across the ordinary portages, and it is necessary to avoid this operation altogether at Methy Portage by keeping a relay of boats at each terminus. Moreover, these boats re- semble the London river barges in the great rake of the stem and stern, by which they are better fitted for the descent of a rapid, but from the flat- ness of their floors they are leewardly and bad sea- boats.
Two of the expedition boats measured 30 feet from the fore part of the stem to the after part of the stern-post, 6 feet in breadth of beam, and 2 feet 10 inches in depth; and each of them weighed 63 cwt., or, including fittings, masts, sails, oars, boat-hook, anchor, lockers and tools, half a ton. The other two boats measured 28 feet in length, 5 feet 6 inches in width, 2 feet 8 inches in depth ; and weighed 51 cwt., or, with the moveable fittings and equipment, 9 cwt. They were all clinker- built of well-seasoned Norway fir planks 3%, of an
492 BOATS’ CREWS. 1847.
inch thick; ashen floors placed 9 inches apart; stem, stern-posts, and knees of English oak; and gunwales of rock-elm. To admit of their stow- ing the requisite cargo, they were necessarily very flat-floored, but screws and bolts were fitted to the kelson, by which a false keel might be readily bolted on before they reached the Arctic Sea, so as to render them more weatherly. The larger boats when quite empty drew 71 inches of water, and, when loaded with two tons but without a crew, 141 inches. They were constructed of two sizes, that the smaller might stow within the larger ones during the passage across the Atlantic.
For the voyage on the Arctic Sea, a crew of five men to each boat was considered sufficient, but for river navigation a bowman and steers- man experienced in the art of running rapids were required in addition. Five seamen and _ fifteen sappers and miners were selected in the month of May, for the expedition, from a number of volun- teers. They were all men of good physical powers, and, with one exception, bore excellent charac- ters in their respective services. The solitary ex- ception was one of the sappers and miners who had repeatedly appeared on the defaulters’ list for drunkenness, but as he was reported to be in other respects a good and willing workman, and I knew that he would have no means of obtaining intoxi-
1847. EMBARKATION. 43
cating drinks in Rupert’s Land, I yielded to his re- quest that I would allow him an opportunity of retrieving his character. Few seamen were em- ployed, since I knew from experience that as a class they march badly, particularly when carrying a load, and the bulk of the party was composed of sappers and miners, because that corps contains a large proportion of intelligent artizans. Of the men selected, six were joiners or sawyers, and four were blacksmiths, armourers, or engineers, who could be useful for repairing the boats, working up iron, constructing the buildings of our winter residence, or making the furniture.
Every thing was ready before the appointed day ; and the boats and stores, having been sent round from Portsmouth to the Thames, were embarked with the expedition men on board the “ Prince of Wales” and ‘‘ Westminster,” bound to York Factory, the exigences of the Hudson’s Bay trade of that year requiring two ships to go to that port. The stores consisted of 198 canisters of pemican, each weighing 85 lbs., 10 bags of flour, amounting in all to 8cwt., 5 bags of sugar, weighing 44 cwt., 2 of tea, weighing 88 lbs., 3 of chocolate, weighing 2 cwt., 10 sides of bacon, amounting to 45 cwt., and 6 cwt. of biscuit ; also 400 rounds of ball cartridge, 90 lbs. of small shot, and 120 lbs. of fine powder in 4 boat magazines. In the arm-chests and lockers of the
44 CLOTHING. 1847.
boats, there were stowed a musket fitted with a percussion lock for each man, with a serrated bay- onet that could be used as a saw; also a complete double set of tools for making or repairing a boat, a tent for each boat’s crew, towing-lines, anchors, and one seine net.
Each man was provided with a Flushing jacket and trowsers, a stout blue Guernsey frock, a waterproof over-coat, and a pair of leggins. In- structions were also given that they should be furnished in winter with such moccasins and leather coats as the nature of their employment should render necessary. Could the expedition have depended on procuring supplies of provision at the Company’s posts during their progress through the interior, and a sufficient quantity of pemican at one of the northern depéts for the sea voyage, the boats would have been lightly laden, and a quick advance into the interior might have been anticipated. But such not being the case, it was necessary to employ one of the Company’s barges to assist in the transport; and Governor Sir George Simpson undertook to provide one, and to engage a proper crew in Rupert’s Land, together with bowmen and steersmen for the expedition boats. He also agreed to select from the Company’s stores a complete assortment of nets and other ne-
1847. STORES LANDED. 45
cessaries for the. use of the party in the winter of 1847-8.*
The Company’s ships sailed from the Thames on the 15th of June, 1847, and, being much delayed by ice in Hudson’s Straits, had a long passage ; so that the “ Prince of Wales” did not cross the bar of Hayes River till the 25th of August, nor the “Westminster” until five days later; and the 8th of September arrived before the expedition stores were landed. Sir George Simpson, on his annual visit to the Company’s depot at Norway House, had engaged a guide or river pilot, with the requi- site number of bowmen, steersmen, and fishermen, and placed the whole under the superintendence of Mr. John Bell, chief trader, who, having resided many years on the Mackenzie, was intimately ac- quainted with the natives inhabiting that part of the country. Notwithstanding the high wages offered, being much in advance of the rate ordi- narily paid by the Company, and though none of these men were required to extend their services beyond the winter quarters of the party in 1848, there was a scarcity of volunteers; and several of the steersmen, that were, from the necessity of the case, engaged, were men of little experience. None of them were acquainted with the neighbourhood of Great Bear Lake, and they all anticipated with more
* See Appendix.
46 MR. BELL TAKES CHARGE. Sept. 1847.
or less apprehension a season of extreme hardship in that northern region. Mr. Bell’s party consisted of twenty Europeans, a guide, and sixteen Com- pany’s voyagers, together with the wives* of three of the latter, and two children; making in all, with himself and two of his own children, forty- five individuals, embarked in five boats. Had the ships arrived early, there was a possibility of the party reaching Isle 4 la Crosse before the naviga- tion closed, which, in that district, may be expected to occur about the 20th of October. But the very late date at which the stores were disembarked precluded such a hope; and the extreme dryness of the season, and consequent lowness of the rivers between York Factory and Lake Winipeg, obliged Mr. Bell to leave a quantity of the pemican and some other packages at York Factory, that he might reduce the draught of his boats.
These facts were communicated to me on the return of the Hudson’s Bay ships to England in October; and in February, 1848, I heard by letters forwarded through Canada, that Mr. Bell and his party had, from the causes specified, made slow progress; that the boats had been often
* It is desirable to have two or three females at every post in the interior for washing, making, and mending the people’s clothes and mocassins, netting snow shoes, making and repairing fishing nets, and other services of a similar nature.
Ocr. 1847. WINTER QUARTERS. 47
stranded and broken in the shallow waters, caus- ing frequent detention for repairs; and that the party was overtaken by winter in Cedar Lake. Mr. Bell forthwith housed the boats, constructed a store-house for the goods, left several men to take care of them, and such of the women and children as were unable to travel over the snow. This being done, he set out with the bulk of the party for Cumberland House, and reached it on the eighth day after leaving Cedar Lake. His first care was to establish a fishery, which he did on Beaver Lake, two days’ walk further north; and having sent a division of the men thither, the others were dis- tributed to the several winter employments of cutting firewood, driving sledges with meat or fish, and such-like occupations. The unforeseen stoppage of the boats occasioned a large consumption of the pemican destined for the sea voyage, but was at- tended by no other bad consequences, and the deficiency was amply made up in spring through the exertions of the gentlemen in charge of the Company’s provision posts on the Saskatchewan ; so that Mr. Bell, when he resumed his voyage north- wards in the summer of 1848, was enabled to take with him as much of that kind of food as his boats could stow.
While the body of the party was thus passing the winter at Cumberland House and its vicinity,
48 VOLUNTEERS. 1847.
I was almost daily receiving letters from officers of various ranks in the army and navy, and from civilians of different stations in life, expressing an ardent desire for employment in the expedition. It may interest the reader to know that among the applicants, there were two clergymen, one justice of peace for a Welsh county, several country gentle- men, and some scientific foreigners, all evidently imbued with a generous love of enterprise, and a humane desire to be the means of carrying relief to a large body of their fellow creatures. But as long as there remained a hope of the return of the discovery ships in the autumn of 1847, it was not thought necessary to take any steps for the appoint- ment of a second officer to the party which I was to command. In November, however, when the last whalers from Davis’s Straits had come in, I sug- gested to the late Lord Auckland, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, that Mr. John Rae, chief trader of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was fully qualified for the peculiar nature of the service on which we were to be employed. He had re- sided upwards of fifteen years in Prince Rupert’s Land, was thoroughly versed in all the methods of developing and turning to advantage the natural. products of the country, a skilful hunter, expert in expedients for tempering the severity of the climate, an accurate observer with the sextant and
Marcu, 1848. DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 49
other instruments usually employed to determine the latitude and longitude, or the variations and dip of the magnetic needle, and had just brought to a successful conclusion, under circumstances of very unusual privation, an expedition of discovery fitted out by the Hudson’s Bay Company, for the purpose of exploring the limits of Regent’s Inlet. Lord Auckland highly approved of my suggestion, and Mr. Rae was appointed with the assent of the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany.
Mr. Rae and I left Liverpool on the 25th of March, 1848, in the North American mail steam- packet ‘‘ Hibernia,” and landed at New York on the morning of the 10th of April. In addition to our personal baggage, we took with us a few very port- able astronomical instruments required for deter- mining our positions; and four pocket chronometers, one of them being the property of Mr. Frodsham, which had been used on the several expeditions of Sir W. E. Parry and Sir John Ross, and which he wished to lend gratuitously for service in the pre- sent enterprise. We had also a few meteorological instruments, and some others for determining ques- tions in magnetism, that shall be more particularly described hereafter, when their employment comes to be mentioned. An ample supply of paper for
VOL. I. E
50 LAND AT NEW YORK. Aprir,
botanical purposes, a quantity of stationery, a small selection of books, a medicine chest, a canteen, a compendious cooking apparatus, and a few tins of pemican, completed our baggage, which weighed in the aggregate, above 4000 lbs.
Mr. Barclay, the British consul, assisted with much kindness in expediting our departure from New York. An order from the United States Treasury directed that our baggage should not be inspected by the custom-house agents, and it was without delay consigned to the care of Messrs. Wells and Co., forwarders, who con- tracted to send it to Buffalo, by rail-road, and from thence to Detroit and Saut Sainte Marie, by the first steam-boat, which was advertised to sail from Detroit on the 21st of April. Imme- diately on landing, the chronometers were placed in the hands of Mr. Blount, of Water Street, that he might ascertain their rate by comparison with the astronomical clock in the observatory. For this service Mr. Blount would receive no re- muneration, but, on the contrary, said that he was glad of the opportunity it afforded him of showing his sense of the courtesy he had experienced from the hydrographer of the British Admiralty.
We received the chronometers next day, and embarked in the evening on board the “‘ Empire,” for Albany and Troy, with the view of proceeding, by
~
1848. REACH MONTREAN. 5E
way of Lake Champlain, to Montreal, where the canoe-men engaged for us by Sir George Simpson were ordered to rendezvous.
We waited one day at Whitehall, for the complete disruption of the ice on Lake Champlain*, and did not reach Montreal till the fourth day after leaving New York. Sir George Simpson received us, with his usual kindness and hospitality, at his residence in La Chine, and expedited our arrangements by all the means in his power; but two days were spent in collecting the voyagers | who were en- gaged as our canoe-men. Four of them, with the levity of their class, were absent at the time finally fixed for our departure, thereby, in terms of their agreements, incurring fines, which were afterwards levied by the Hudson’s Bay Company.
The steamers commenced running on the St. Lawrence on the 18th of April; we embarked on the 19th, reached Buffalo on 21st, Detroit on the 23rd, and Saut Ste. Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior, on the 29th, where we again found our-
* The ice broke up on Lake Champlain on the 13th of April. On the previous day a steamer was prevented from reaching Whitehall by drift ice filling a narrow passage of the lake.
{ The Canadian term “ voyageurs ”
is usually employed to designate these men, as that is the language in which they are addressed; but there seems to be no reason why they should not be called “ voyagers,”
lish work.
or ‘‘ canoe-men,” in an Eng-
EK 2
52 CANOE-MEN. ~ 1848.
selves in advance of the season, the Lake being covered with drift ice.*
At the Hudson’s Bay House, the residence of Chief Factor Ballenden, we found two “north canoes,” made ready for us, by direction of Sir George Simpson, and, having engaged four addi- tional men to supply the place of an equal number who had failed to appear at La Chine, our crews now consisted of
First Canoe.
Thomas Karahonton (di¢ Gros Thomas), an Iroquois guide. Laxard Tacanajazé - - - Iroquois. Thomas Nahanajaze - - - Francois Monegon - - - Thomas Anackera - - - Sauveur St. Martin . : - Canadian. Thomas Cadrant - - - - Half-breed.
Joseph Dinduvant - - A
Second Canoe.
Charlot Arahota_ - . - - Iroquois. Louis Taranta - - - : Ignace Atawackon - - - Ignace Sataskatchi - - - “ Apoquash - - - - Chippeway. Miskiash - - - - -
Piquatchiash (Peter)
”
29
* In the instructions the route by Penetanguishene is specified for the expedition to take; but the steamer from that port to
Saut Ste. Marie was not advertised to start for three weeks later than our time.
JuNE, 1848. REACH CUMBERLAND HOUSE. oe
Two days were occupied in re-packing our bag- gage, instruments, and provisions, in cases weigh- ing 90 lbs. each (being the established size for the portages) ; in which, and in all other matters connected with our equipment and comfort, we experienced great assistance and personal kindness from Mr. Ballenden. On the 2nd of May, 1851, we quitted his hospitable roof, but it was the 4th before the ice on the lake broke up, and permitted us to pass the portal of the lake formed by Gros Cap and Point Iroquois.
We accomplished the navigation of the lake on the 12th by arriving at Fort William, attained the summit of the water-shed which separates the St. Lawrence and Winipeg valleys on the 18th*, the mouth of the River Winipeg on the 29th, Norway House, near the efflux of Nelson River, on the 5th of June, and Cumberland House, on the Saskat- chewan, on the 13th; our passage through Lake Winipeg having been much delayed by ice, from which we did not disengage ourselves till the 9th.
We learnt at Cumberland House, that Mr. Bell had given the boats a thorough repair at Cedar Lake in the spring, had brought them and the
* Dog Lake, near the summit of this water-shed, broke up only on the eve of our arrival; an Indian whom we met on the Kamenistikwoya, which flows from it, having crossed it on the preceding day over the ice.
E 3
54 MR. BELL LEAVES WINTER QUARTERS. 1848.
stores up on the first opening of the Saskatchewan, and was now a fortnight in advance of us on his way to Methy Portage. The bulk of his party had been maintained at Beaver Lake on fish, but some having wintered in Cedar Lake, to look after the stores, and the fishery there having failed, there had been an unavoidable consumption of the pemican des- tined for the sea-voyage. ‘The provision posts on the upper part of the Saskatchewan had fortunately been able to replace what was consumed, and Mr. Bell had started from Cumberland House with his boats fully laden.
He had left two men of the English party behind, who were unequal to the labours of the voyage; one of them, because of an injury received in the hand early in the spring, and the other owing to a recur- rence of pains in the bones, with which he had for- merly beenaftlicted. After carefully examining these men, I decided upon sending them to York Factory by the first conveyance which offered, that they might return to England in September, in the Hudson’s Bay annual ship.
Having thus briefly touched on the line of route pursued by us in a journey of two thousand eight hundred and eighty statute miles, from New York to the wintering place of the boat-party*, I shall
* New York to La Chine - - - 6500 miles. La Chine to Buffalo - - = wore
29
SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 55
detail the events of the remainder of the voyage in form of a daily journal. To have given a full account of the country travelled through between New York and the Saskatchewan, would have swelled the work to an inconvenient size; and I must, therefore, refer the reader, who wishes to have a physical description of that part of the con- tinent, to Sir Charles Lyell’s accounts of his recent visits to the United States, to Professor Agassiz’s description of Lake Superior, and to Major Long’s voyage to the St. Peter’s, Red River, and River Winipeg. The Appendix to the present work also contains a summary of the physical geography of North America, wherein the lake basins of the St. Lawrence and Winipeg or Saskatchewan are par- ticularly noticed. This may be consulted by the reader before he enters upon the narrative of the voyage, and I shall give in this place a few remarks, by way of preface to the botanical and geological notices which follow in the journal.
On the bluff granitic promontories and bold acclivities which form the northern shore of Lake
Buffalo to Detroit - - - 230 miles Detroit to Saut Ste. Marie - =F A00F Saut Ste. Marie to Fort William - Sper OL wes Fort William to Cumberland House (Frank- lin’s second journey) - - - T018 2880 uns;
56 SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
Superior, the forest is composed of the white spruce, balsam fir, Weymouth pine, American larch, and canoe birch, with, near the edge of the lake and on the banks of streams, that pleasant inter- mixture of mountain maple and dogwood* which imparts such a varied and rich gradation of orange and red tints to the autumnal landscape. Other trees exist, but not in sufficient numbers to give a character to the scenery. Oaks are scarce, and beech disappears to the south of the lake. The American yew, which does not rise into a tree like its European namesake, is the common underwood of the more fertile spots, where it grows under the shade to the height of three or four feet, in slender bush-like twigs. On the low sandstone islands deci- duous trees, such as the poplars and maples, abound, with the nine-bark spireea, cockspur thorns, wil- lows, plums, cherries, and mountain-ash.; When we entered the lake on the 4th of May, large accu- mulations of drift snow on the beaches showed the lateness of the season; none of the deciduous trees had as yet budded; and the precocious catkins of a silvery willow (Salix candida), with the humble
* Abies alba, Abies balsamea, Pinus strobus, Larix ameri- cana, Betula papyracea, Acer montanum, and Cornus alba.
} Populus tremuloides et balsamifera ; Acer; Spirea opuli- folia; Cretegus crus-galli, punctata, glandulosa, et coccinea ;
Prunus americana; Cerasus pumila, nigra, pennsylvanica, virginiana, et serotina; Pyrus americana.
SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. at
flowers of a few Saxifrages and Uvularie, gave the only promises of spring.
In various parts of the lake, the gorges lying be- tween the jutting bluffs of granite or slate are filled with deposits of sand rising in four or five succes- sive terraces to the height of more than a hundred feet above the present surface of the water. Mr. Logan has measured some of the most remarkable, and Professor Agassiz devotes an interesting chapter to.the discussion of their origin ; in which he comes to the conclusion that they were formed by the waters of the lake itself, and have been raised, at various intervals, from the beach to their present levels, by the agency of the innumerable trap dikes, which cross the rocks in many directions.
Near Cape Choyye, on the south side of Michi- picoten Bay, a small gorge between two points of granite is filled, to the height of twenty-five feet above the water, with rolled stones and pebbles. These rounded stones vary in size from that of a hogshead to a hen’s egg, and form a steeply shelv- ing beach, with a flat terraced summit, the larger boulders being next the water, and the smaller pebbles highest up. As the cove is sheltered from high waves, the terrace could not be thrown up by the waters of the lake standing at their present height; nor can it be owing to the pressure of ice, since that would not graduate the pebbles.
58 SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
At Michipicoten River we had a curious illustra- tion of the agency of frost, on the outlet of the stream. During the summer, when the waters are low, the waves of the lake throw a sandy bar across the mouth of the river. In winter this bar freezes into a solid rock and closes the channel, but as the spring advances the stream acts upon it and cuts a passage. At the time of our visit, on May 7th, the river was in flood, and the bar remained hard, but was cleft by a narrow channel with precipitous sides like sandstone cliffs, and a cascade one foot high existed. This fall, which was five or six feet high when the river broke, would, we were told, entirely disappear in a few days.
The north coast of Michipicoten Bay is the boldest and most rugged of the shores of the lake, and apparently the least capable of cultivation. It rises to the height of about eight hundred feet, and for twenty-five miles comes so preci- pitously down to the water that there is no safe landing for a boat. On much of the crags the forest was destroyed by fire, many years ago, and with it the soil, presenting a scene of desola- tion and barrenness not exceeded on the frozen confines of the Arctic Sea. The few dwarf trees that cling to the crevices of the rocks, struggling, as it were, between life and death, add to the dreariness of the prospect rather than relieve it, and wreaths of drift snow lining many of the recesses, at the time
WATER-SHED. 59
when we passed, though it was in the second week of the glorious month of May, gave a most unfavour- able impression of the land and its climate. Profes- sor Agassiz has pointed out the sub-arctic character of the vegetation of Lake Superior, by a lengthened comparison with the subalpine tracts of Switzer- land ; but this is due to the nature of the soil, rather than to the elevation or northern position of the dis- trict; for as we advance to the north at an equal elevation above the sea, but more to the westward, so as to enter on silurian or newer deposits in the vicinity of the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River, we find cacti and forests having a more southern aspect.
The ascent to the summit of the water-shed_ be- tween Lakes Superior and Winipeg, by the Kame- nistikwoya River, is made by about forty portages, in which the whole or part of a canoe’s lading is carried on the men’s shoulders ; and a greater number occur in the descent to the Winipeg. The summit of the water-shed is an uneven swampy gra- nitic country, so much intersected in every direc- tion by lakes that the water surface considerably exceeds that of the dry land. Its mean elevation above Lake Superior is about eight hundred feet, and the granite knolls and sand-banks, which vary its surface, do not rise more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet beyond that general level, though their altitude above the river valleys which
60 ST. LAWRENCE WATER-SHED.
surround them is occasionally greater, giving the district a hilly aspect. The highest of these eminences does not overtop Thunder Mountain and some other basalt-capped promontories on Lake Superior, and had not the silurian strata, which, judging by the patches which remain, once covered the gneiss and granitic rocks nearly to their summits, been removed, the country would have been almost level, and would have formed part of the rolling eastern slope of the continent, above whose plane the highest of the hills on Lake Superior scarcely rises. The summit of this water-shed of the St. Lawrence basin, commencing towards the Labrador coast, runs south 52° west, or about south-west half- west, at the distance of rather more than two hundred miles from the water-course, until it comes opposite to that elbow of the line of the great lakes which Lake Erie forms; it then takes a north 51° west course, or about north-west half-west, towards the north-east end of Lake Winipeg, and onwards from thence in the same direction to Coronation Gulf of the ArcticSea. The angle at which the two arms of this extensive water-shed (but no where mountain ridge) meet between Lakes Huron and Ontario is within half a point of a right one, and the character of the surface is everywhere the same, bearing, in the ramifications and conjunctions of its narrow valleys filled with water, no distant resem-
THOUSAND ISLANDS LAKE. 61
blance to the fiords of the Norway coast. Such a preponderance of fresh water, coupled with the tardy melting of the ice in spring, makes a late summer, and augments the severity of the climate beyond that which is due to the northern position of the district. Though the whole tract is most unfavourable for agriculture, much of the scenery abounds in picturesque beauty. Of this we have an instance in the Thousand Islands Lake, which forms the funnel-shaped outlet of Lake Ontario. At this place the pyrogenous rocks, denuded of newer deposits, cross the river to form a junction with the lofty highlands of the northern counties of New York. The round-backed, wooded hummocks of granite which constitute the more than thousand islets of this expanse of water, are grouped into long vistas, which are alternately disclosed and shut in as we glide smoothly and rapidly among them, in one of the powerful steamers, that carry on the pas- senger traffic of the lakes. The inferior fertility of this granite belt has deferred the sweeping opera- tions of the settler’s axe; the few farm-steadings scattered along the shore enhance the beauty of the forest; and the eye of the traveller finds a pleasant relief in contemplating the scenery, after having dwelt on the monotonous succession of treeless clearances lower down the river. Sooner or later, however, the shores of the Lake of the
62 THOUSAND LAKES.
Thousand Isles will be studded with the summer retreats of the wealthy citizens of the adjacent states, and the incongruities of taste will mar the fair face of nature.
On the summit of the canoe-route between Lakes Superior and Winipeg, a sheet of water, bearing the analogous appellation of Thousand Lakes, is also studded with knolls of granite, forming islets; but low mural precipices are more common there; and there is, moreover, an inter- mixture of accumulations of sand, such as are com- monly found on the summit of the water-shed, along its whole range. The general scenery of this lake is similar to that of the Thousand Islands ; but though the elevation above the sea does not exceed fourteen hundred fect, the voyagers say that frosts occur on its shores almost every morn- ing throughout the summer.
Silurian strata occur on both flanks of both arms of the water-shed above spoken of, to a greater or smaller extent throughout their whole length.* When we descend to Lake Winipeg we come upon epidotic slates, conglomerates,
* A Pentamerus, very like P. Knightii, was gathered by Dr. Bigsby on the Lake of the Woods, and presented by him to the British Museum. He probably found it in some of the western arms of the lake, the islands in the more easterly part being mostly granite.
LAKE WINIPEG. 63
sandstones, and trap rocks, similar to those which occur on the northern acclivity of the Lake Superior basin; and after passing the straits of Lake Wini- peg, we have the granite rocks on the east shore, and silurian rocks (chiefly bird’s-eye limestone) on the west and north, the basin of the lake being mostly excavated in the limestone. The two formations approach nearest to each other at the straits in question, where the limestone, sandstone, epidotic slates, green quartz-rock, greenstone, gneiss, and granite, occur in the close neighbourhood of each other.
The eastern coast-line of Lake Winipeg is in general swampy, with granite knolls rising through the soil, but not to such a height as to render the scenery hilly. The pine forest skirts the shore at the distance of two or three miles, covering gently- rising lands, and the breadth of continuous lake- surface seems to be in process of diminution, in the following way. <A bank of sand is first drifted up, in the line of a chain of rocks which may happen to lie across the mouth of an inlet or deep bay. Carices, balsam-poplars, and willows, speedily take root therein, and the basin which lies be- hind, cut off from the parent lake, is gradually con- verted into a marsh by the luxuriant growth of aquatic plants. The sweet gale next appears on its borders, and drift-wood, much of it rotten and
64 LAKE WINIPEG.
comminuted, is thrown up on the exterior bank, together with some roots and stems of larger trees. The first spring storm covers these with sand, and in a few weeks the vigorous vegetation of a short but active summer binds the whole together by a network of the roots of bents and willows. Quan- tities of drift-sand pass before the high winds into the swamp behind, and, weighing down the flags and willow branches, prepare a fit soil for suc- ceeding crops. During the winter of this climate, all remains fixed as the summer left it; and as the next season is far advanced before the bank thaws, little of it washes back into the water, but, on the contrary, every gale blowing from the lake brings a fresh supply of sand from the shoals which are continually forming along the shore. The floods raised by melting snows cut narrow channels through the frozen beach, by which the ponds be- hind are drained of their superfluous waters. As the soil gradually acquires depth, the balsam- poplars and aspens overpower the willows, which, however, continue to form a line of demarcation between the lake and the encroaching forest. Considerable sheets of water are also cut. off on the north-west side of the lake, where the bird’s- eye limestone forms the whole of the coast. Very recently this corner was deeply indented by narrow, branching bays, whose outer points were
LAKE WINIPEG. 65
limestone cliffs. Under the action of frost, the thin horizontal beds of this stone split up, crevices are formed perpendicularly, large blocks are de- tached, and the cliff is rapidly overthrown, soon becoming masked by its own ruins. In a season or two the slabs break into small fragments, which are tossed up by the waves across the neck of the bay into the form of narrow ridge-like beaches, from twenty to thirty feet high. Mud and vege- table matter gradually fill up the pieces of water thus secluded; a willow swamp is formed; and when the ground is somewhat consolidated, the willows are replaced by a grove of aspens.* Near the First and Second Rocky Pointsf, the various stages of this process may be inspected, from the rich alluvial flat covered with trees and bounded by cliffs that once overhung the water, to the pond recently cut off by a naked barrier of limestone, pebbles, and slabs, discharging its spring floods into the lake, by a narrow though rapid stream. In some exposed places the pressure of the ice, or power of the waves in heavy gales, has forced the
* The fact of the formation of these detached ponds, marshes, and alluvial flats points either to a gradual elevation of the dis- trict, or to an enlargement of the outlet of the lake, producing a subsidence of its waters.
+ The strata at these points contain many gigantic ortho-
ceratites, some of which have been described by Mr. Stokes in the Geological Transactions.
VOL. I. F
66 RAINY LAKE.
limestone fragments into the woods, and heaped them round the stems of trees, some of which are dying a lingering death; while others, that have been dead for many years, testify to their former vitality, and the mode in which they have perished, by their upright stems, crowned by the decorticated and lichen-covered branches which protrude from the stony bank. The analogy between the en- tombment of living trees, in their erect position, to the stems of sigillarie, which rise through dif- ferent layers in the coal-measures, is obvious.™ The action of the ice in pushing boulders into the woods was observed at an earlier period of our voyage, and is noticed in the following terms in my journal. ‘In the first part of our course through Rainy Lake we followed a rocky channel, which was in many places shallow, and varied in breadth from a mile, down to a few yards. Some long arms stretch out to the right and left of the route, and particularly one to the eastward, into which a fork of Sturgeon River is said to enter. There is considerable current in these narrows.
* If one of the spruce firs included in the limestone debris had its top broken off, and a layer of mud were deposited over all, we should have the counterpart of a sketch in Sir Henry de la Beche’s Manual (p. 407.). The thick and fleshy rhizomata of the Calla palustris, marked with the cicatrices of fallen leaves, and which are abundant in these waters, bear no very distant resemblance to stigmaria.
BOULDERS. 67
The first expanse of water we traversed is six miles across, and the second is fully wider. They are connected by a rocky channel, on whose shores many boulders are curiously piled up eight or ten feet above the rocks on which they rest. Other boulders lie in lines among the trees near the shore. They have been thrust up, many of them very recently, by the pressure of the ice, since the channel is too narrow for the wind to raise waves powerful enough to move such stones.”
The granite and gneiss which form the east shore of Lake Winipeg strike off at its north-east corner, and, passing to the north of Moose Lake, go on to Beaver Lake, where the canoe-route again touches upon them. At some distance to the west- ward of them the Saskatchewan, which is the prin- cipal feeder of Lake Winipeg, flows through a flat limestone country, which is full of lakes, the re- ticulating branches of the river, and mud-banks: it has in fact all the characters of a delta, though the divisions of the stream unite into one channel before entering the lake. This flat district extends nearly to the forks of the river, above which the prairie lands commence. Pine Island Lake, Muddy Lake, Cross Lake, and Cedar Lake, where the boats were arrested by ice in 1848, are dilata- tions of the Saskatchewan, and when the water
rises a very few feet, the whole district is flooded ; F 2
68 VEGETATION ON THE
which commonly occurs on the snow melting in spring. Some way to the south lies an eminence of considerable height, named by the Crees Wapus- kiow-watchi*, and by the Canadians Basquiau. It separates Winepegoos Lake, and Red-Deer Lake and River from the bed of the Saskatchewan. I am ignorant of its geological structure, not having visited it.
With respect to the forests: The white or sweet cedar (Cupressus thyoides) disappears on the south side of Rainy Lake, within the American boun- dary line. The Weymouth pine, various maples, cockspur thorns, and the fern-leaved Comptonia, reach the southern slope of the Winipeg basin. Oaks extend to the islands and narrows of that lake. The elm, ash, arbor vite, and ash-leaved maple ter- minate on the banks of the Saskatchewan. The “wild rice,” or Folle avoinet of the voyagers and traders, grows abundantly in the district between Lakes Superior and Winipeg. This grain resembles rice in its qualities, but has a sweeter taste. Though small, it swells much in cooking, and is nourishing, but its black husk renders it uninviting in its natural state. In favourable seasons it affords sustenance to a populous tribe of Indians, but the
* Wapis, strait; Ke-ow, woods; Watchi, hill: the signifi- cation being, “a pass through woods on a hill.” + Zizania aquatica L., or Hydropyrum esculentum of Link.
SHORES OF LAKE WINIPEG. 69
supply is uncertain, depending greatly on the height of the waters. In harvest time the natives row their canoes among the grass, and, bending its ears over the gunwale, thresh out the grain, which separates readily. They then lay it by for use in neatly-woven rush baskets. This grass finds its northern limit on Lake Winipeg, and it is common in the western waters of the more northern of the United States ; but how far south it extends, I have not been able to learn. Strachey, in his “‘ Historie of Travaille in Virginia,” speaks of a “ graine called Nattowine, which groweth as bents do in meadowes. The seeds are not much unlike rice, though much smaller; these they use for a deyntie bread, but- tered with deere’s suet.” (p. 118.) It is possible that he may refer to a smaller species (H. jluitans) of the same genus, which is known to abound in Georgia ; but the seed of that could scarcely be collected in sufficient quantity. The hop plant (Humulus lupulus) reaches the south end of Lake Winipeg, and, according to Mr. Simpson, yields flowers plentifully in the Red River colony. We observed it in the autumn of 1849 growing luxu- riantly on the banks of the Kamenistikwoya, and connecting the lower branches of the trees with elegant festoons of fragrant flowers. An opinion prevailed among the traders that Lord Selkirk
introduced it into this neighbourhood when he F 3
70 NATIVES.
took possession of the North-west Company’s post of Fort William, upwards of thirty years ago; but the plant is indigenous to America, and grows abundantly in the Raton Pass, lying on the 37th parallel, at the height of eight thousand feet above the sea, as well as in many localities of the northern States. Throughout the canoe-route from Lake Superior to Lake Winipeg, no district shows such fertility as the banks of Rainy River. In autumn, especially, the various maples, oaks, sumachs, ampelopsis, cornel bushes, and other trees and shrubs whose leaves before they fall assume elowing tints of orange and red, render the wood- land views equal, if not superior, to the finest that J have seen elsewhere on the American continent, from Florida northwards. Nor are showy asters, helianthi, lophantht, gentianee, physosteqie, irides, and many other gay flowers, wanting to complete the adornment of its banks.
From Saut Ste. Marie to the Saskatchewan, and the banks of Churchill River, the native inhabit- ants term themselves Jn-ninyu-wuk or Hy-thinyu- wuk, and are members of a nation which formerly extended southwards to the Delaware. That part of this widely spread people which occupies the north side of Lake Huron, the whole border of Lake Superior, and the country between it and the south end of Lake Winipeg, call themselves
CHIPPEWAYS AND CREES. Tt
Ochipewa, written also Ojibbeway, or Chippeway™ ; and the more northerly division, who name them- selves Nathe-wywithin-yu, are the Crees of the traders, and Knistenaux of French writers. In a subsequent chapter I shall speak more parti- cularly of the place which this people hold among the aboriginal nations. At present, I wish merely to point out some of the circumstances which have tended to work out a difference in the moral cha- racter of these two tribes, essentially the same people in language and manners. ‘The Crees have now for more than twenty-six years been under the undivided control and paternal government of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and are wholly dependent on them for ammunition, European clothing, and other things which haye become necessaries. No spirituous liquors are distributed to them, and schoolmasters and missionaries are encouraged and aided by the Company, to intro- duce among them the elements of religion and civilization. One village has been established near the depét at Norway House, and another at the Pas on the Saskatchewan, each having a church, and school-house, and a considerable space of cul- tivated ground. The conduct of the people is quiet and inoffensive ; war is unknown in the Cree
* They are the Sauteurs or Saulteaux of the Canadians, and Sotoos of the fur traders.
OC; CHIPPEWAYS.
district ; and the Company’s officers find little diffi- culty in hiring the young men as_ occasional labourers.
The case is otherwise with the Chippeways, who live within the Company’s territories. The vici- nity of the rival United States Fur Company’s establishments; the vigorous competition which is carried on between them and the Hudson’s Bay Company, in prosecution of which spirituous liquors are dispensed by both parties liberally to the natives; and the abundance of /olle avoine on Rainy River and the River Winipeg, with the plentiful supply of sturgeon obtained from these waters, rendering the natives independent of either party, have had a demoralising effect, and neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic missionaries have been able to make any impression upon them. One party of these Indians, from whom we pur- chased a supply of sturgeon on Rainy River, are briefly characterised in my notes, made on the spot, as being “fat, saucy, dirty, and odorous.” A Roman Catholic church, erected some years ago on the banks of the Winipeg, has been abandoned, with the clearing around it, on account of the want of success of the priest in his endeavours to convert the natives; and neither the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany nor the United States people have been able to extinguish the deadly feud existing between the
MICA BAY. {2
Chippeways and Sioux, nor to restrain their war parties.
Very recently the Chippeways of Lake Superior, through some oversight in the Canadian govern- ment in not making arrangements with them at the proper time, organised a war party against the mining village of Mica Bay, containing more than a hundred male inhabitants. In passing through Lake Superior we were pleased with the flou- rishing appearance of this village, containing many nicely white-washed houses, grouped in terraces on the steep bank of the lake. The mines were worked by a company, under a grant from the Canadian legislature, who, at the same period, made many other similar grants of mining loca- lities on the lake, without previously purchasing the Indian rights. As the game is nearly extinct on the borders of the lake, the natives subsist chiefly by the fisheries; and the vicinity of the mining establishments was likely to be beneficial to them rather than injurious, by providing a market for their fish. But when they beheld party after party of white men crowding to their lands, eager to take possession of their lots by erecting buildings, and inquisitively examining every cliff, they ac- quired exaggerated ideas of the value of their rocks. For two summers they descended in large bodies to Saut Ste. Marie, expecting payment, and,
74 ATTACK ON MICA BAY.
being disappointed, thought they were trifled with. They determined, therefore, in council, to bring matters to a crisis by expelling the aggressors, and, in the autumn of 1849, made a descent upon Mica Bay, and drove away the miners and their families. To repel this attack a regiment was ordered up from Canada, at an expense which would have paid the Indians again and again: but a small part of the force only reached Mica Bay, to find the Chippeways gone; the rest were driven back to Saut Ste. Marie by stormy weather, not without very severe suffering, leading, I have been informed, to loss of life.
June, 1848. PINE ISLAND LAKE. 75
CHAP. III.
PINE ISLAND LAKE.— SILURIAN STRATA.—STURGEON RIVER.— PROGRESS OF SPRING. — BEAVER LAKE.—ISLE A LA CROSSE BRIGADE. — RIDGE RIVER.—NATIVE SCHOOLMASTER AND HIS FAMILY.——-TWO KINDS OF STURGEON. —NATIVE MEDICINES, — BALD EAGLES.—PELICANS.—BLACK-BELLIED AND CAYENNE TERNS. —CRANES.—FROG PORTAGE.—MISSINIPI OR CHURCH- ILL RIVER. —ITS LAKE-LIKE CHARACTER. — POISONOUS PLANTS AND NATIVE MEDICINES.—ATHABASCA BRIGADE. —SAND-FLY LAKE.—THE COUNTRY CHANGES ITS ASPECT. —BULL-DOG FLY. —ISLE A LA CROSSE LAKE.—ITS ALTITUDE ABOVE THE SEA. — LENGTH OF THE MISSINIPI.—ISLE A LA CROSSE FORT. — ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION. DEEP RIVER.—CANADA LYNX.— BUFFALO LAKE.—METHY RIVER AND LAKE.—MURRAIN AMONG THE HORSES. — BURBOT OR LA LOCHE.— A MINK. — METHY PORTAGE, — JOIN MR. BELL AND HIS PARTY.
We left Cumberland House at 4 a.M., on the 14th of June, but had not passed above three miles through Pine Island Lake, before we were com- pelled to seek shelter on a small island by a vio- lent thunder storm, bringing with it torrents of rain. The rain moderating after a few hours, we resumed our voyage; but the high wind continuing and raising the waves, our progress was slow, and the day’s voyage did not exceed twenty-two miles. In the part of the lake where we encamped the limestone (silurian™) rises, in successive outcrops,
* Some fragments of large Orthocerata, and a specimen of Receptaculites neptunii, point to the bird’s-eye and Trenton
76 STURGEON RIVER. JUNE,
to the height of thirty feet above the water, the strike of the beds being about south-west by west, and north-east by east, or at right angles to the general line of direction of the gneiss and granite formation, which lies to the eastward. Many boulders of granite and trap rocks are scattered over the surface of the ground, far beyond the reach of any modern means of transport.
Thunder and heavy rain detained us in our encampment the whole of the following day; but some improvement in the weather taking place at midnight, we embarked, and at one in the morning of the 16th entered Sturgeon River, named by the voyagers, on account of its many bad rapids, ‘ La Riviere Maligne.” We made two portages, and an hour after noon reached Beaver Lake. The entire
limestones as occurring in this neighbourhood. Mr. Weodward says of the latter specimen, “The only wood-cut in the New York State Surveys at all resembling your engine-turned fossil, is a very rude representation of part of a circular disk, with radiating and concentric (not engine) turned lines. It is called Uphanteria chemungensis, and is supposed to be a marine plant (p. 183. Vanuxem). A fossil much like yours is figured by De France in the Dictionatre des Sciences Naturelles under the name of Receptaculites neptuni, from Chimay, in the Pays Bas. This is certainly of the same genus. De Blainville also de- scribes it in his Actinologie at the end of the corals, but offers no opinion respecting its affinities. I should compare it with Eschadites Konigi of Murchison’s upper silurian, but that was originally spherical and hollow.”
1818. PROGRESS OF SPRING. Le
bed of the river consists of limestone, sometimes lying in nearly horizontal layers more or less fissured; in other places broken up into large loose slabs, tilted up and riding on each other. Boulders of granite occur in various parts of the river, some of them of considerable magnitude, and rising high out of the water. In the lower part of the river the banks are sandy, a considerable deposit of dry light soil overlies the limestone, and vegetation is early and vigorous.
When we left Lake Superior, in the middle of May, the deciduous trees gave little promise of life; and, in ascending the Kamenistikwoya, we were glad to let the eye dwell upon the groves of aspens which skirt the streams in that undulating and rocky district, and which, when well massed, gave a pleasing variety to the wintry aspect of the landscape, — the silvery hue of their leafless branches and young stems contrasting well with the sombre green of the spruce fir, which forms the bulk of the forest. On the 27th of May, while ascending Church Reach of Rainy River, we had been cheered by the lovely yellowish hue of the aspens just unfolding their young leaves; but the ice, lingering on Lake Winipeg, when we crossed it, had kept down the temperature, spring had not yet assumed its sway, and the trees were
leafless. Now, the season seemed to be striding
78 FRINGILLA LEUCOPHRYS. JUNE,
onwards rapidly, and the tender foliage was trem- bling on all sides in the bright sunshine. It was in a patch of burnt woods in this vicinity that, in the year 1820, I discovered the beautiful Hutoca Franklin, now so common an ornament of our gardens.
Constantly, since the 1st of June, the song of the Lringilla leucophrys has been heard day and night, and so loudly, in the stillness of the latter season, as to deprive us at first of rest. It whistles the first bar of “Oh dear, what can the matter be!” in a clear tone, as if played on a piccolo fife; and, though the distinctness of the notes rendered them at first very pleasing, yet, as they haunted us up to the Arctic circle, and were loudest at midnight, we came to wish occasionally that the cheerful little songster would time his serenade better. It is a curious illustration of the indifference of the native population to almost every animal that does not yield food or fur, or otherwise contribute to their comfort or discomfort, that none of the Iroquois or Chippeways of our company knew the bird by sight, and they all declared boldly that no one ever saw it. We were, however, enabled, after a little trouble, to identify the songster, his song, and breeding-place. The nest is framed of grass, and placed on the ground under shelter of some small inequality; the eggs,
1848. BEAVER LAKE. 79
five in number, are greyish- or purplish-white, thickly spotted with brown; and the male hides himself in a neighbouring bush while he serenades his mate. 7
At the outlet of Beaver Lake, and at several succeeding points on both sides of the canoe- route, the thin slaty limestone forms cliffs, thirty or forty feet high; but about the middle of the lake, there is a small island of greenstone. Be- yond this we again touched upon the granite rocks which we had left at the north-east corner of Lake Winipeg, bearing from this place about east 82° south.
At the entrance of Ridge River we met Mr. M‘Kenzie, Jun., in charge of a brigade of boats, carrying out the furs of the Isle a la Crosse district, and were glad to obtain from him tidings of Mr. Bell, who was advancing prosperously, though he had been stopped for three days by ice, on the lake which we had just crossed. The Mis- sinipi, or Churchill River, Mr. M‘Kenzie told us, did not open till the 6th of the present month, though in common years it seldom continues frozen beyond the Ist.
Soon after parting with this gentleman, we met the schoolmaster of Lac La Ronge district, who, with his wife and four children, were on their way to pass the summer with the Rev. Mr. Hunter,
80 TWO KINDS OF STURGEON. JUNE,
episcopal clergyman at the Pas. Both husband and wife are half-breeds, and both are lively, active, and intelligent. The family party were travelling in a small canoe, which the husband paddled on the water, and carried over the portages with their light luggage. For their subsistence, they depended on such fish and wild-fowl as they could kill on the route; and the lady was very erateful for a small supply of tea, sugar, and flour which we gave her. The young ones bore the assaults of the moschetoes with a stoical indif- ference, as an inevitable evil, that had belonged to every summer of their lives, and from which no part of the world, as far as they knew, was exempt. At the Ridge Portage, where we encamped for the night, the rock is gneiss, resembling mica-slate, owing to the quantity of mica that enters into its composition.
On the 17th, we came early to a long and strong rapid, bearing the same appellation with the pre- ceding portage, and which is said to be the highest point to which sturgeon ascend in this river; and it is most probably the northern limit of the range of that fish, on the east side of the Rocky Moun- tains. It is situated in about 544° degrees of north latitude. We noticed two species of this fish in the Saskatchewan River system. One of these is described in the Fauna Loreali-Americana under the name of Accipenser rupertianus, and has a
1848. CHARACTER OF THE ROCKS. 81
tapering acute snout. It seldom exceeds ten or fifteen pounds in weight. The other is the Name- yu of the Crees, and has not been hitherto de- scribed. It very commonly weighs ninety pounds, and attains the weight of one hundred and thirty. Its snout is short and blunt, being only one third of the length of the entire head; its nasal barbels are short, its shields small and remote, and the ventral rows are absent. Its caudal is less oblique than that of the smaller kind, the upper lobe being proportionally shorter. This species ascends the Winipeg River as high as the outlet of Rainy Lake: and the smaller kind is occasionally, though rarely, taken also in that locality, but, in general, it seems to be unable to surmount the cascade at the outlet of the Lake of the Woods. The rocks here are granite, and a mountain-green chlorite slate, similar to that which occurs so abundantly on the north side of the Lake Superior basin ; the latter, under the action of the weather, forms a tenacious clayey soil. A hornblende-slate occupies the bed of the river, and rises, on each bank, into rounded knolls and low cliffs. The inequalities of the country here, as well as its vegetation, are very similar to that on the Kamenistikwoya, where the same formation exists.
The woods, being now in full but still tender foliage, were beautiful. The graceful birch, in
VOL. I. G
82 NATIVE MEDICINES. JUNE,
particular, attracted attention by its white stem, light green spray, and pendent, golden catkins. Willows of a darker foliage lined the river bank ; and the background was covered with dark green pines, intermixed with patches of lively aspen, and here and there a tapering larch, gay with its minute tufts of crimson flowers, and young pale green leaves. The balsam poplar, with a silvery foliage though an ungainly stem, and the dank elder, disputed the strand at intervals with the willows; among which the purple twigs of the dog-wood contributed effectively to add variety and harmony to the colours of spring.
The Actwa alba grows abundantly here; it is called by the Canadians le racine @ours, and by the Crees, musqua-mitsu-in (bears’ food). A de- coction of its-roots and of the tops of the spruce fir is used as a drink in stomachic complaints. The Acorus calamus is another of the indigenous plants that enter into the native pharmacopeia, and is used as a remedy in colic. About the size of a small pea of the root, dried before the fire or in the sun, is a dose for an adult, and the pain is said to be removed soon after it is masticated and swallowed. When administered to children, the root is rasped, and the filings swallowed in a glass of water, or of weak tea with sugar. A drop of the juice of the recent root is dropped into in-
1848. SUCKING CARP. 83
flamed eyes, and the remedy is said to be an ef- fectual though a painful one. I have never seen it tried. The Cree name of this plant is watchiske mitsu-in, or “‘ that which the musk-rat eats.”
At breakfast-time we crossed the Carp Portage, where there is a shelving cascade over granite rocks. The grey sucking carp (Catastomus hudsonius) was busy spawning in the eddies, and our voyagers killed several with poles. Two miles above the portage there are some steeply rounded sandy knolls clothed with spruce trees, being the second or high bank of the river, which is elevated above all floods of the present epoch. In some places granite rocks show through sand, heaped round their base. The frequent occurrence of accumulations of sand in this granite and gneiss district, near the water-sheds of contiguous river systems, has been already noticed. In the course of the forenoon we passed the Birch lightening- place (Demi-charge du bouleau), where a slaty sienite or greenstone occurs, the beds being inclined to the east-north-east at an angle of 45°; and an hour afterwards we crossed the Birch Portage, five hundred and forty paces long. The rocks there are porphyritic granite, portions of which are in thin beds, and are therefore to be entitled gneiss.
The river has the character peculiar to the district, G 2
84 HALF-MOON LAKE. JUNE,
that is, it is formed of branching lake-like expan- sions without perceptible current, connected by falls or rapids occasioning portages, or by narrow straits through which there flows a strong stream. At four in the afternoon we crossed the Island Portage, where the rock is a fine-grained laminated granite or gneiss, containing nodules or crystals of quartz, which do not decay so fast as the rest of the stone, and consequently project from its surface: the layers are contorted. In 1825, which was a season of flood, this islet was under water, and our canoes ascended among the bushes.
Two hours later we passed the Pine Portage (Portage des Epinettes), and entered Half-Moon Lake (Lac Mh-rond*). At this portage the rocks are granite, greenstone, and black basalt, or horn- blende-rock, containing a few scales of mica, and a very few garnets. The length of the portage is two hundred yards. At our encampment on a small island in Half-Moon Lake the gneiss lay in vertical layers, having a north and south strike. A few garnets were scattered through the stone. This piece of water, and Pelican and Woody Lakes, which adjoin it, are full of fish, and they are con- sequently haunted by large bodies of pelicans, and several pairs of white-headed eagles (//aliwctus
- Called by mistake Lac Heron in Franklin’s overland
journeys.
1848. BALD EAGLES. 85
albicilla). This fishing eagle abounds in the wa- tery districts of Rupert’s Land; and a nest may be looked for within every twenty or thirty miles. Each pair of birds seems to appropriate a certain range of country on which they suffer no intruders of their own species to encroach; but the nest of the osprey is often placed at no great distance from that of the eagle, which has no disincli- nation to avail itself of the greater activity of the smaller bird, though of itself it is by no means a bad fisher. The eagle may be known from afar, as it sits in a peculiarly erect position, motionless, on the dead top of a lofty fir, overhanging some rapid abounding in fish. Not unfrequently a raven looks quietly on from a neighbouring tree, hoping that some crumb may escape from the claws of the tyrant of the waters. Some of our voyagers had the curiosity to visit an eagle’s nest, which was built, on the cleft summit of a balsam poplar, of sticks, many of them as thick as a man’s wrist. It contained two young birds, well fledged, with a good store of fish, in a very odoriferous con- dition. While the men were climbing the tree the female parent hovered close round, and threatened an attack on the invaders; but the male, who is of much smaller size, kept aloof, making circles high in the air. The heads and tails of both were white.
The pelican, as it assembles in flocks, and is 3 9 G3
86 PELICANS. JUNE,
very voracious, destroys still larger quantities of fish than the eagle. It is the Pelicanus trachy- rhynchus of systematic ornithologists, and ranges as far north as Great Slave Lake, in latitude 60°— 61° N. These birds generally choose a rapid for the scene of their exploits, and, commencing at the upper end, suffer themselves to float down with the current, fishing as they go with great success, particularly in the eddies. When satiated, and with full pouches, they stand on a rock or boulder which rises out of the water, and air themselves, keeping their half-bent wings raised from their sides, after the manner of vultures and other gross feeders. Their pouches are frequently so crammed with fish that they cannot rise into the air until they have relieved themselves from the load, and on the unexpected approach of a canoe, they stoop down, and, drawing the bill between their legs, turn out the fish. They seem to be unable to ac- complish this feat when swimming, so that then they are easily overtaken, and may be caught alive, or killed with the blow of a paddle. If they are near the beach when danger threatens, they will land to get rid of the fish more quickly. They fly heavily, and generally low, in small flocks of from eight to twenty individuals, marshalled, not in the cunei- form order of wild geese, but in a line abreast, or slightly en echellon ; and their snow-white plum-
1848. BLACK-BELLIED AND CAYENNE TERNS. 87
age with black-tipped wings, combined with their great size, gives them an imposing appearance. Exceeding the fishing eagle and the swan in bulk, they are the largest birds in the country. Their egos are deposited on rocky islets among strong rapids, where they cannot be easily approached by man or beasts of prey. The species is named from a ridge or crest which rises from the middle line of the upper mandible of the male; sometimes from its whole length, when it is generally uneven ; and sometimes from a short part only, when it is semicircular and smooth-edged.
The black-bellied tern (Hydrochelidon nigra) is also abundant on these waters, and ranges north- wards to the upper part of the Mackenzie. And the Cayenne tern (Sterna cayana) is common in this quarter and onwards to beyond the arctic circle; but notwithstanding Mr. Rae’s expertness as a fowler, and eagerness to procure me a specimen, the extreme wariness of the bird frustrated all his endeavours until this day, when he brought one down, and gave me an opportunity of examining it, which I was glad to do, since from want of a northern specimen the bird was not noticed in the Fauna Boreali-Americana. Mr. Audubon mentions the great difficulty of shooting this bird, and he succeeded in doing so only by employing several boats to approach its haunts in different directions.
G 4
88 CRANES. JUNE,
Albert, our Eskimo interpreter, told me that it does not visit Hudson’s Bay.
I was also indebted to Mr. Rae’s gun for spe- cimens of the brown crane (Grus canadensis). Mr. Audubon, who is so competent an authority on all questions relating to American birds, and whose recent death all lovers of natural history deplore, was of opinion, in common with many other ornithologists, that the brown crane is merely the young of the large white crane (Grus ameri- cana); but, though I concede that the young of the latter are grey, I think that the brown species is distinct; first, because it is generally of larger dimensions than the white bird, and secondly, be- cause it breeds on the lower parts of the Mackenzie and near the Arctic coasts, where the Grus ameri- cana is unknown. As far as I could ascertain, the latter bird does not go much further north than Great Slave Lake. At Fort aux Liards, on the River of the Mountains, large flocks of cranes pass continually to the westward, from the 17th to the 20th of September ; the grey and white birds being in different bands, and the former of smaller size, like young birds. Very rarely during the summer a flock of white cranes passes over Fort Simpson in latitude 62° N. The brown cranes, on the other hand, which frequent the banks of the
1848. FROG PORTAGE. 89
Mackenzie from Fort Norman, in latitude 65° N. down to the sea-coast, are generally in pairs. They are in the habit of dancing round each other very gracefully on the sand-banks of the river.*
June 18th.— About three hours after embarking we came to the Pelican lightening-place (Demi- charge de chetauque), and by breakfast-time we had crossed the three portages of Woody Lake. <A mi- caceous gneiss or mica-slate rock prevails at these portages. A family of Cree Indians, who were encamped on one of the many islands which adorn the scenery of Woody Lake, exchanged fish for tobacco, and enabled us to vary the diet of our voyagers, an indulgence which pleases them greatly ; for, though they generally prefer pork or pemican to fish, they relish the latter occasionally. At five we crossed the Frog Portage, or Portage de Traite of the Canadians, and encamped on the banks of the Missinipi or Churchill River, in the immediate vicinity of a small outpost of the Hudson’s Bay
Company.f
* Much of this information I received from Murdoch Mac Pherson, Esq., who, during twenty years’ residence on the Mackenzie, became thoroughly acquainted with all its feathered and ferine inhabitants.
+ The Cree term Missinipi signifies “ much water,” and is analogous to that of Mississippi, which means “ great river ;” nipt being water, and sipz river. The Canadians call it English
90 MISSINIPI JUNE,
No change of formation takes place in passing from the Saskatchewan River system to that of the Missinipi. The Frog Portage is low, and Churchill River, in seasons of flood, sometimes overflows it and discharges some of its superfluous waters into the Woody Lake.* The general level of the country for some distance, or down to the lower end of Half-Moon Lake, varies little; but in this and in Pelican Lake there are a few conical eminences, which rise several hundred feet above the water. We did not approach-them sufficiently near for examination.
Frog Portage is the most northerly point of the Saskatchewan basin, and lies in 55° 26’ N. latitude, 103° 20’ W. longitude. Below it there is a remark- able parallelism in the courses of Churchill and Saskatchewan rivers, both streams inclining to the north-east in their passage through the “‘ interme- diate primitive range,” the district from whence they receive lateral supplies being at the same time very greatly narrowed. Several other considerable
River, because on it the early fur traders from Canada encoun- tered the Hudson’s Bay Company’s people ascending from their principal depot at Fort Churchill.
* About forty years ago, in a season remembered especially for the land-floods, a gentleman was drowned on the Frog Portage by his canoe oversetting against a tree as he was passing from Churchill River.
1848. OR CHURCHILL RIVER. 91
streams run near them, and parallel to them, but do not originate so far to the westward. In their widely spreading upper branches, and their re- stricted trunks, they resemble trees. As they are not separated high on the prairie slopes by an elevated water-shed, they may be, considered, in reasoning upon the direction of the force which excavated their basins, as one great system, having an eastern direction and outlet, interposed be- tween the Missouri and Mackenzie, which discharge themselves respectively into southern and northern seas.
The Churchill River is the boundary between the Chepewyans and Crees, but a few of the latter frequent its borders, resorting to Lac la Ronge and Isle a la Crosse posts, along with the Che- pewyans, for their supplies.
On June the 19th, a fog detained us at our en- campment to a later hour than usual; when being unwilling to lose all the morning, we went some distance in the thick weather under the guidance of the post-master, who was acquainted with every rock in the neighbourhood. As the sun rose higher the atmosphere cleared, and we ascended the Great Rapid by its southern channel, making a portage part of the way, and poling up the remainder. A recent grave with its wooden cross marked the burial-place of one of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
92 MISSINIPI JuNE,
servants, who was drowned here last year. His body was thrown out a little below the rapid.
We next crossed the Rapid lightening-place, and afterwards mounted four several rapids, connected with the Barrel Portage. In the afternoon the Island Portage, was made, where the river, being pent in for a short space between high, even, rocky banks, is there only five or six hundred yards wide, and has a strong current, requiring much exertion from the canoe-men in paddling round the head- lands. Elsewhere, except at the rapids during this day’s voyage, Churchill River has more the character of a lake. In the evening we crossed the portage of the Rapid River, one hundred and sixty paces long, which has its name from a tributary stream on which the Hudson’s Bay Company have a post, that is visible from the canoe-route. Afterwards we passed the lightening-place of the Rapid River, and encamped five or six miles further on, at half-past eight o’clock.
Our Iroquois, being tired with the day’s journey and longing for a fair wind to ease their arms, frequently in the course of the afternoon, scattered a little water from the blades of their paddles as an offering to La Vieille, who presides over the winds. The Canadian voyagers, ever ready to adopt the Indian superstitions, often resort to the same practice, though it is probable that they give
1848. OR CHURCHILL RIVER. 93
only partial credence to it. Formerly the English shipmen, on their way to the White Sea, landed regularly in Lapland to purchase a wind from the witches residing near North Cape; and the rudeness and fears of Frobisher’s companions in plucking off the boots or trowsers of a poor old Eskimo woman on the Labrador coast, to see if her feet were cloven, will be remembered by readers of arctic voyages.
Throughout the day’s voyage, the primitive for- mation continued. In several places we observed micaceous slate, traversed by large veins of granite, and alternating with beds of the same, also gneiss in thick beds, with its layers much contorted. Below the Great Rapid there are many bluff eranite rocks, and some precipices thirty cr forty feet high, the higher knolls rising probably from two to three hundred feet above the water. At the Great Rapid a greenstone-slate stained with iron occurs. At the Barrel Portage, a mile or two further on, where the river makes a sharp bend, beds of chlorite-slate occupy its channel for two miles, having a north-east and south-west strike, and a southerly dip of 60° or 70°. Beds of greenstone- slate are interleaved with it. Above the Island Portage a sienite occurs which contains an imbedded mineral; and at the Rapid River Portage, mica- slate, passing into gneiss, prevails, the beds having
94 CHURCHILL RIVER. JUNE,
a south-west and north-east strike. The granite veins here have a general direction nearly coin- cident with that of the beds, but they are waved up and down. In the vicinity of the veins the layers of slate are much contorted, following the cur- vatures of the veins closely. At the lightening- place of the Rapid River, there is a fine precipice of granite fifty feet high, which is traversed ob- liquely from top to bottom by two magnificent veins of flesh-coloured porphyry-granite. Five miles further on there are precipices of granite one hundred and fifty feet high.
The country in this neighbourhood is hilly, and a few miles back from the river the summits of the eminences appear to the eye to rise four hundred or perhaps five hundred feet above the river. The resemblance of the whole district to Winipeg River is perfect, and the general aspect of the country is much like that of thenorth shores of Lake Su- perior, though the water basin is not so deeply excavated.
An hour and a half after starting on the morning of the 20th, we crossed the Mountain Portage, one hundred paces long, where the rock is horn- blende-slate. At Little Rock Portage, a short way further on, the thin slaty beds have a north-east and south-west strike. Above this, a dilatation of the river, named Otter Lake, leads to the Otter
1848. POISONOUS PLANTS. 95
Portage of three hundred paces made over mica- slate. The beach there is strewed with fragments of a crystalline augitic greenstone, showing that that rock is not far distant.
From a party of Chepewyans who were encamped on the Otter Lake, we procured a quantity of a small white root, about the thickness of a goose quill, which had an agreeable nutty flavour. I ascertained that it was the root of the Szwm lineare. The poisonous roots of Cicuta virosa, maculata, and bulbifera, are often mistaken for the edible one, and have proved fatal to several labourers in the Com- pany’s service. ‘The natives distinguish the proper kind by the last year’s stem, which has the rays of its umbel ribbed or angled, while the Cicutw have round and smooth flower-stalks. When the plant has put out its leaves, by which it is most easily identified, the roots lose their crispness and become woody. The edible root is named dskotask by the Crees, and queue de rat by the Canadians. The poisonous kinds are called manito-skatask, and by the voyagers carrotte de Moreau, after a man who died from eating them.
The Heuchera Richardsonii, which abounds on the rocks of this river, is one of the native medicines, its astringent root being chewed and applied as a vulnerary to wounds and sores. Its Cree name is piché quaow-utchépi. The leaves of the Ledum
96 BLACK-BEAR ISLAND LAKE. JUNE,
palustre are also chewed and applied to burns, which are said to heal rapidly under its influence. The cake of chewed leaves is left adhering to the sore until it falls off.
In the course of the forenoon we ascended four rapids, occasioning short portages, then the Great Devil’s Portage, of fourteen hundred paces; and in the afternoon several other rapids were passed, among which were the Steep Bank, Little Rock, and Trout portages. At the Steep Bank Portage (Portage des Ecores), which is one hundred and sixty paces long, gneiss and mica-slate occur interleaved irregularly with each other, and intersected in every direction by reticulating quartz veins; the prevail- ing rock in the neighbourhood being gneiss, and the hills low and barren.
June 21st.—Soon after starting we crossed the Thicket Portage (Portage des Haliers) of three hundred and sixty paces, and entered Black-bear Islands Lake, a very irregular piece of water, intersected by long promontories and clusters of islands. After four hours’ paddling therein we came to a rapid, considered by the guide as the middle of the lake; in three hours more we came to another strong rapid, and after another three hours to the Broken-Canoe Portage, which is at the upper end of this dilatation of the river. Granite is the prevailing rock in the lake,
1848. ATHABASCA BRIGADE. 97
and one of the small islands consists of large balls of that stone, piled on each other like cannon shot in an arsenal. They might be taken for boulders were they not heaped up in a conical form and all of one kind of stone; and they have obviously received their present form by the softer parts of the rock having crumbled and fallen away. At Thicket Portage and the lower end of the lake, the granite is associated with greenstone slate; and at Broken- Canoe Portage, above the lake, a laminated stone exists, whose vertical layers are about an inch thick, and have a north and south strike, being parallel to the direction of the ridges of the rock. This stone is composed of flesh-coloured quartz, with thin layers of duck-green chlorite, and no felspar. It ought perhaps to be considered as a variety of gneiss.
Later in the afternoon we came to the Birch and Pin Portages, on the last of which we en- camped. The granite rocks here are covered by a high bank of sand and gravel, filled with boulders.
June 22d.— Embarking early, we passed through Sand-fly Lake, and afterwards Serpent Lake, in which we met the Athabasca brigade of boats, under charge of Chief Trader Armitinger. This gentleman informed us that he met Mr. Bell with our boats on the 19th, on which day they would
VOL. I. U
98 SNAKE RIVER. JUNE
arrive at Isle & la Crosse. The aspect of the country changes suddenly on entering these lakes. The rising grounds have a more even outline, and one long low range rises over another, as the country recedes from the borders of the water, where it is generally low and swampy. ‘The trees near the water are almost exclusively birch and balsam-poplar, or aspen ; the spruce firs occupy- ing the distant elevations, which are generally long round-backed hills, with a few short conical bluffs. Serpent Lake is named from the occur- rence on its shores of a small snake.* I was not able to learn that this or any other snake had been detected further to the north. Having passed a high sand-bank on the north side of Serpent Lake, six miles further on, we entered the Snake River, within the mouth of which there is a bank of loam, sand, and rolled stones, thirty-five feet high. The bed of the stream is lined with these stones, and its width is about equal to that of Rainy River. The rocky points, as seen from the canoe, appeared to be of granite. All the boulders that I examined were of a dull brownish-red, striped or laminated granite, which, on a cursory inspection, might be mistaken for sandstone. Boulders of the same kind occur at the Snake Rapid, where they are inter- mixed with a few pieces of hornblende rock.
* Coluber or Tropidinotus sirtalis.
1848. BULL-DOG FLY. 99
June 23d.— The moschetoes were exceedingly nu- merous and troublesome during the night and this morning. Our route lay through Sandy Lake and Grassy River, where the country retains the same general aspect that it has on Sand-fly and Serpent Lakes, and where the prevailing rock is a brownish- red, fine-grained sienite, resembling a sandstone. The same rock abounds in Knee Lake, where, how- ever, we saw, for the first time since leaving the south end of Lake Winipeg, fragments of white quartz- ose sandstone; but did not find the stone zn situ. The sienite, when traced, is found to pass into hornblendic granite, by the addition of scales of mica to some parts of the same beds. The high banks of Knee Rapid consist of sandy loam crammed with boulders.
The Yabanus, named by the voyagers “ Bull- dog,” has been common for two days. The cur- rent notion is, that this fly cuts a piece of flesh from his victim, and at first sight there seems to be truth in the opinion. The fly alights on the hands or face so gently that if not seen he is scarcely felt until he makes his wound, which produces a stinging sensation as if the skin had been touched by a live coal. The hand is quickly raised towards the spot, and the insect flies off. A drop of blood, oozing from the puncture, gives
it the appearance of a gaping wound, and the
H 2
100 PRIMEAU’S LAKE. JUNE,
fly is supposed to have carried off a morsel of flesh. In fact, the Zabanus inserts a five-bladed lancet, makes a perforation like a leech-bite, and, introducing his flexible proboscis, proceeds to suck the blood. He is, however, seldom suffered to re- main at his repast; unless, as in our case, he be allowed to do so, that his mode of proceeding may be inspected. These Tabani are troublesome only towards noon and in a bright sun, when the heat beats down the moschetoes.*
In the afternoon we passed through Primeau’s Lake, having previously ascended three strong and bad rapids. At the middle turn of the lake a moderately high, long, and nearly level-topped hill closes the transverse vista. The channel between the eastern and western portions of the lake winds among extensive sandy flats, covered with bents, and in some places there was a rich crop of grass not in flower, but seemingly a Poa. Inthe evening we encamped at the “ Portage of the Exhausted,” on the river between Isle a la Crosse and Pri- meau Lakes. The rock here, and on the two lakés below it, is the brownish-red slaty sienite already mentioned: it has much resemblance to a
* Of the five lancets with which the Tabanus wounds his prey two are broader than the others. They are enclosed in a black hairy sheath, whose extremity folds back. The palpi are conico-cylindrical and tubular.
1848. ISLE A LA CROSSE LAKE. 101
rock on Lakes Huron and Superior, which seemed there to be associated with a conglomerate. The brownish colour belongs to the felspar; a vitreous quartz also enters into its composition, and a little hornblende. It is rather easily frangible, and has a flat, somewhat slaty, fracture.
Two hours after embarking on the 24th we passed the Angle Rapid (Rapide de Equerre), and subse- quently the Noisy (Rapide Sonante), and Sagi- naw Rapids, and entered the small Saginaw Lake, which we crossed in half an hour. At various points we had cursory glances, in passing, of gra- nite forming low rocks. The Crooked Rapid, a mile and a half long, conducted us to Isle a la Crosse Lake. In traversing twenty-three geo- eraphical miles of this lake, we disturbed many bands of pelicans, which were swimming on the water, or seated on rocky shoals, in flocks number- ing forty or fifty birds. On the shores there are fragments of a white quartzose sandstone, but I noticed no limestone. The country consists of gravelly plains, having a coarse sandy soil and numerous imbedded boulder stones. Shoals formed by accumulations of boulders are common in the lake, and in various places close pavements of these stones are surmounted by sandy clifis twenty or thirty feet high. The bulk of the boulders belongs
H 3
102 LENGTH OF THE MISSINIPI. JUNE,
to the brownish glassy sienite mentioned in a pre- ceding page.
The funnel-shaped arm named Deep River (La Riviére Creuse) meets the northern point of the lake at an acute angle, enclosing between it and Clear Lake a triangular peninsula. Beaver River, the principal feeder of the lake, flows from Green Lake, which lies directly to the southward, near the valley of the Saskatchewan in the 54th parallel of latitude. The winter path from Isle a la Crosse to Carlton House ascends this river to its great bend, whence it leads to the Saskatche- wan plains, through an undulating country but without any marked acclivity. I consider it proba- ble, therefore, that Isle 4 la Crosse Lake and Carl- ton House do not differ more than two hundred feet from each other in their height above the sea. The altitude of the latter I have judged to be about eleven hundred feet; and Captain Lefroy, from his experiments with the boiling-water ther- mometer, assigns an elevation of thirteen hundred feet to the former.
Churchill River, disregarding its flexures, has a course to the sea from Isle a la Crosse Fort of five hundred and twenty-five geographical miles, and the length of the Saskatchewan below Carlton House is six hundred and thirty miles. The
general descent of the eastern slope of the con-
1848. BEAVER RIVER. 103
tinent to Hudson’s Bay from these two localities may be reckoned at a little more than two feet a mile. Further to the westward, in the vicinity of Fort George, near the 110th meridian, the upper branches of the Beaver River rise from the very banks of the Saskatchewan.
On Beaver River the strata are limestone, and a line drawn from the north side of Lake Winipeg, to the south side of Isle a la Crosse Lake, runs about north 58° west, and touches upon the northern edge of the limestone in Beaver Lake. That line may, therefore, be considered as representing the general direction of the junction of the limestone with the primitive rocks in this district of the country. Judging from relative geographical position and mineralogical resemblances, the north part of Isle 4 Ja Crosse Lake belongs to a similar sandstone deposit with that which skirts the primitive rocks on Lake Superior, —a peculiar looking sienite being con- nected with the sandstone in both localities. From its order of occurrence the limestone of Beaver River is probably silurian. My observations were too limited and cursory to carry conviction, even to my own mind, on these points; the circumstances at- tending the several journeys I have made through these countries having prevented me from obtaining better evidence. In avoyage with ulterior objects
through so wide an extent of territory, and with so H 4
104 -ISLE A LA CROSSE FORT. JUNE,
short a travelling season, every hour is of import- ance, and whoever has charge of a party must show that he thinks so, otherwise his men cannot be induced to keep up their exertions for sixteen hours a day, which is the usual period of labour in summer travelling. Of this time an hour’s halt is allowed for breakfast, and half an hour for dinner. We did not reach Isle ala Crosse Fort till half- past nine in the evening, and then learnt that Mr. Bell with the boats was four days in advance of us.
June 25th. — A strong gale blowing this morning detained us at the post, and the day being Sunday our voyagers went to mass at the Roman Catholic chapel, distant about a mile from the fort. This mission was established in 1846 under charge of Monsieur La Fléche, who has been very successful in gaining the confidence of the Indians, and gathering a considerable number into a village round the church. In the course of the day I received a visit from Monsieur La Fléche and his col- league Monsieur Tasche. They are both intelligent well-informed men, and devoted to the task of in- structing the Indians; but the revolution in France having cut off the funds the mission obtained from that country, its progress was likely to be impeded. They spoke thankfully of the assistance and coun- tenance they received from the gentlemen of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The character they gave
1848. ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION. 105
the Chepewyans for honesty, docility, aptness to re- ceive instruction, and attention to the precepts of their teachers, was one of almost unqualified praise, and formed, as they stated, astrong contrast to that of the volatile Crees. They have already taught many of their pupils here to read and write a stenographic syllabic character, first used by the late Reverend Mr. Evans, a Wesleyan missionary, formerly resident at Norway House, but which Monsieur La Fléche has adapted to the Chepewyan language. On asking this gentleman his opinion of the affinity between the Cree and Chepewyan tongues, both of which he spoke fluently, he told me that the grammatical structure of the Chepewyan was different, the words short, and the sounds dis- similar, bearing little resemblance to the soft, flow- ing compounds of the Cree language.
As there is generally some difficulty in making an early start from a fort, we moved in the evening to the point of the bay, that we might be ready to take advantage of the first favourable moment for proceeding on our voyage.
June 26th.— We embarked before 3 A. M., but a strong head-wind blowing, we could proceed only by creeping along-shore under shelter of the pro- jecting points. For some days past the water has been covered with the pollen of the spruce fir, and to-day we observed that it was thickly spread with
106 CANADA LYNX. Junr,
the downy seeds of a willow. The banks of Deep River, which forms the discharge of Buffalo and Clear Lakes, consist of gravel and sand containing large boulders, principally of trap and primitive rocks. The eminences rise from fifteen to forty feet above the river, and the land-streams have cut ravines into the loose soil, the whole being well covered with the ordinary trees of the country. This low land extends to Primeau Lake on the one side, and Buffalo Lake on the other. The beach, especially towards the openings of Cross and Buf- falo Lakes, is strewed with fragments of quartzose sandstone, mixed with some pieces of light-red freestone, and many boulders of earthy green- stone, chlorite-slate, porphyritic greenstone slate, and oneiss. Neither mica-slate nor limestone were observed among them, and no rocks 2m situ. Many of the bays have sandy beaches. The Deep River has little current, except where it issues from the lakes.
In‘ the morning a Canada lynx was observed swimming across a strait, where the distance from shore to shore exceeded a mile. We gave chase, and killed it easily. This animal is often seen in the water, and apparently it travels more in the summer than any other beast of prey in this country. We put ashore to sup at seven in the evening, at a point in Buffalo Lake, where we found evidences of the
1848. METHY RIVER. 107
boat party having slept there a night or two pre- viously. Being desirous of overtaking them with- out delay, we immediately resumed our voyage, but were caught in the middle of the lake by a violent thunder-storm, accompanied by strong gusts of wind. The voyagers were alarmed, and pulled vigorously for the eastern shore, on which we landed soon after eleven. The shores of Buffalo Lake are generally low; but, on the west side, there is an eminence named Grizzle Bear Will, which is conspicuous at a considerable dis- tance. It probably extends in a north-west di- rection towards the plateau of Methy Portage and Clear-water River. The valley to the east is occupied by Methy, Buffalo, and Clear Lakes, the last of which is said to have extensive arms.
Embarking at daylight on the 27th, we crossed the remainder of the lake, being about fourteen miles, and entered the Methy River, which we found to our satisfaction higher than usual; as in so shallow a stream the navigation is very tedious in dry seasons. The watermarks on the trees skirting the river showed that the water had fallen at least five feet, since the spring floods. The moschetoes are more numerous in seasons of high water, and this year was no exception to the general rule.
At the Rapid of the Tomb (La Cimetiere) several
108 MURRAIN AMONG HORSES. JUNE,
pitch or red pines (Pinus resinosa) grow inter- mixed with black spruces, one of them being a good- sized tree. This is the most northerly situation in which I saw this pine, and the voyagers believe that it does not grow higher than the River Winipeg. An Indian, who has built a house at the mouth of the river, keeps fifteen or twenty horses, which he lets to the Company’s men on Methy Portage, the charge being “a skin,” or four shillings, for carrying over a piece of goods or furs weighing ninety pounds. From him we received the very unpleasant intelligence, that not only had his horses died of murrain last autumn, but that all the Company’s stock employed on the portage had likewise perished. This calamity foreboded a de- tention of seven or eight days longer on the portage than we expected, and a consequent re- duction of the limited time we had calculated upon for our sea-voyage. I had used every exertion to reach the sea-coast some days before the appointed time, expecting to be able to examine Wollaston’s Land this season; — this hope was now almost ex- tinguished. Another stock of horses had been or- - dered from the Saskatchewan, but they were not likely to arrive till the summer was well advanced. Methy River flows through a low, swampy coun- try, of which a large portion is a peat moss. Some sandy banks occur here and there, and boulders
1848. BURBOT OR LA LOCHE. 109
are scattered over the surface, and line the bed of the stream. We encamped on the driest spot we could find, and had to sustain the unintermitting attacks of myriads of moschetoes all night.
The Methy River, Lake, and Portage, are named from the Cree designation of the Burbot (Lota ma- culosa) (La Loche of the Canadians), which abounds in these waters, and often supplies a poor and watery food to voyagers whose provisions are exhausted. Though the fish is less prized than any other in the country, its roe is one of the best, and, with a small addition of flour, makes a pala- table and very nourishing bread.
Four hours’ paddling brought us, early on the 28th, to the head of the river, and two hours more enabled us to cross to the eastern side of Methy Lake, where we were compelled to put ashore by astrong headwind. A female mink ( Vison lutreola) was killed as it was crossing a bay of the lake. It had eight swollen teats, and its udder contained milk; so that probably its death ensured that of a young progeny also. The feet of this little amphi- bious animal are webbed for half the length of its toes. It is the Shakweshew or Atjakashew of the Crees, the “Mink” of the fur-traders, and the Foutereau of the Canadians.
In the evening, the wind having decreased, we paddled under shelter of the western shore to the
110 MR. BELL AND HIS PARTY. JUNE,
upper end of the lake, and entered the small creek which leads to the portage. .
Mr. Bell was encamped at the landing-place, having arrived on the previous day, which he had spent in preparing and distributing the loads, and the party had advanced one stage of different lengths, according to the carrying powers of the in- dividuals, which were very unequal. On visiting the men, I found two of the sappers and miners lame from the fatigue of crossing the numerous carrying-places on Churchill River, and unfit for any labour on this long portage. Several others appeared feeble; and, judging from the first day’s work of the party, I could not estimate the time that would be occupied, should they receive no help in transporting the boats and stores, at less than a fortnight, which would leave us with little prospect of completing our sea-voyage this season. In the equal distribution of the baggage each man had five pieces of ninety pounds’ weight each, exclusive of his own bedding and clothing, and of the boats, with their masts, sails, oars, anchors, &c., which could not be transported in fewer than two jour- neys of the whole party. The Canadian voyagers carry two pieces of the standard weight of ninety pounds at each trip on long portages such as this, and, in shorter ones, often a greater load. Se- veral of our Europeans carried only one piece at
1848. TRANSPORT OF BAGGAGE. 111
a time, and had, consequently, to make five trips with their share of the baggage, besides two with the boats; hence they were unable to make good
the ordinary day’s journey of two miles, being, at
seven trips with the return, twenty-six miles of walking, fourteen of them with a load. The prac- tised voyager, on the contrary, by carrying greater loads, can reduce the walking by one third, and some of them by fully one half.*
* Tn 1825 Sir John Franklin ascertained the position of the first resting-place, after leaving Methy Lake, to be in latitude 56° 36’ 30” N., longitude 109° 52°54” W. By carefully pacing the distance from thence to Methy Lake, I found it to be 1790 yards, on a south 43° 25’ east bearing, giving 22” difference of latitude, and 58” of longitude. Hence the east end of the port- age lies in latitude 56° 36’ 08” N., longitude 109° 51’ 56” W.
The usual encampment by the tomb on the south side of the Little Lake is in latitude 56° 40’ 17” N., longitude 109° 57’ 54” W., and the north end of the path on the banks of the Clear- water River is in 56° 42’ 51” N., 109° 59°08” W. The direct distance from one end of the portage to the other is therefore only 74 geographical miles on a north 27° west course; while the paces, reduced to yards at the rate of 23 feet to every 10 paces (which I found after several trials to be the average), are 18,855, or 10°7 statute miles.
I subjoin the voyagers’ names for the several resting-places on the portage, premising, however, that the halting-places vary both in number and position with the loads and strength of the carriers, and that the names are often transposed.
Methy Lake (Lae la Loche).
Thence to Petit Vieux - - - 2557 paces.
95 Fontaine du Sable - - 317 Sooelacs V teulle - - - 4591
[TZ BAROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. JUNE,
By their agreements, our canoe-men were at liberty to return as soon as we overtook the boats ; and, in that case, the additional pieces we had brought would of course be added to the baggage of the boat party ; but I engaged them to assist us during the time that we were occupied on the portage, for an increase of wages of four shillings, York currency, per diem each.
June 29th. — Our canoe-men were early astir this morning, and, before breakfast-time, had car- ried all the cargo of the canoes to the banks of a small lake, being two thirds of the whole portage, or 16,724 paces: the entire distance from Methy Lake to Clear-water River is 24,593 paces.
By observations with the aneroid and Delcros’ barometers, I ascertained that the Little Lake was elevated twenty-two feet above Methy Lake; that the highest part of the pathway between the Little Lake and the Clear-water River rises above the latter six hundred and fifty-six feet, but, above Methy Lake, only sixty-six feet. The Cockscomb,
Thence to Bon Homme ou De Cypreés - 38167 paces. ie Petit Lac - - - $8238: "; 55 De Cypres ou La Vieux = '4302), 3; 5 La Créte - - = 12835 ‘3 Descente de la Créte - - 1984 ,, cs La Prairie - - = ., 60040.
24,593 ,,
1848. ELEVATION OF METIIY LAKE. Lis
or the crest of the precipitous brow which over- looks the magnificent valley of the Clear-water, is twenty-two feet lower than the summit of the path, or six hundred and thirty-four feet above the last- named river. The portage-road is, in fact, nearly level; the inequalities being of small account as far as to the sudden descent of the Cockscomb. In the sandy soil there are many fragments of sand- stone, a few of limestone, and scattered boulders of granites, sienites, and greenstones. ‘The deposit of sand is about six hundred feet deep, and most probably encloses solid beds of sandstone. It is based on a (Devonian ?) limestone, which lines the whole bed of the Clear-water River, till its junction with the Elk River, as I shall hereafter mention.* Captain Lefroy assigns fifteen hundred feet as the elevation of the surface of Methy Lake above the sea, and, from various estimates of the rate of descent of Mackenzie River and its feeders, I am inclined, independent of his calculations, to con- sider the Clear-water River at Methy Portage to be nine hundred feet above the sea, which accords well with his conclusions; since the difference of level between Methy Lake and Clear-water River being five hundred and ninety feet by my baro-
* As the Coxscomb is under the level of the brow of the valley, the depth of sand may be more than 600 feet at its highest points.
VOL. I. I
114 BAROMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. Juty,
metrical observations, the latter would be nine hundred and fifty feet above the sea by his data.*
* The exact height assigned by Captain Lefroy to Methy Lake is 1540 feet, which I have reduced in the text to the even number of 1500, as agreeing better with my own esti- mates. If this be nearly correct, Captain Lefroy gives too small an altitude to Isle 4 la Crosse Lake, since the route from thence to the portage is chiefly lake-way ; and the Methy River cannot have a descent of 240 feet, which his altitudes would assign to it.
In the year 1848 I made several observations with the aneroid on Methy Portage to ascertain its levels, but they were neither so carefully made nor so extensive as they would have been, had I been less anxiously and constantly employed about the transport of the goods and boat. The error in this case is not, however, likely to be many feet, as the portage is evi- dently very nearly level as far as the Cockscomb. ‘The height of the latter was ascertained on July 27. 1849, by Delcros’ barometer, the observations being as follow : —
»| +034 | Red. to Hour. Baran. [Cok for Eng. Red. to | Att. Therm.| Det. A.M. | Millimr. penal inches. |temp. 32°|Centr.| Fah. | Th.
hs, mM Six feet above Clear-water R.| 4 0 |72°719)|72°753|28°644|28°606| 6°4]43°5|40°8 Two feet above Coekscomb ~~ -| 4 46 |71:079/71:113) 27-998 | 27:944| 10:2] 50°4| 50°9 Six feet above Clear-water R.| 5 20 |72°740| 72-774 |28°652 |28°591 | 11°4|52°5/51°0
These furnish two sets for calculation,—
the first giving a height of - - 640 feet and the second of - - - 632 ,, The aneroid barometer in 1848 gave =, GOL Tass Mean =) (634205
Sir Alexander Mackenzie estimated this declivity at 1000 feet, Lieutenant Hood at 900 feet, both judging merely from the eye and time employed in its descent.
1848. RETURN OF THE CANOE-MEN. 115
On the 3d of July, the whole of the baggage and the boats were brought to the banks of the Little Lake; and on the 6th, every thing having been carried over to Clear-water River on the preceding evening, we descended from the Cocks- comb, where we had remained encamped for two days, that we might avoid the moschetoes which infested the low grounds. While the boats were loading, we took leave of our canoe-men, who re- turned to Canada, and at half-past eight A.M. we pushed off.
The portage occupied nine days from the time of Mr. Bell’s arrival; but, with the assistance of horses, we could have passed it easily in three, and saved nearly a week of summer weather, most important for our future operations, besides hus- banding the strength of the men. The transport of the four boats, being made on the men’s shoulders, employed two days and a half of our time.
116 CLEAR-WATER RIVER. Jury,
CHAP. IV.
CLEAR-WATER RIVER. — VALLEY OF THE WASHAKUMMOW. — PORTAGES. — LIMESTONE CLIFFS. — SHALE.— ELK OR ATHA~- BASCA RIVER. —WAPITI. — DEVONIAN STRATA. — GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE BANKS OF THE RIVER.—ATHABASCA LAKE, OR LAKE OF THE HILLS.—MEET MR. M‘PHERSON WITH THE MACKENZIE RIVER BRIGADE.—SEND HOME LETTERS. — L’ESPERANCE’S BRIGADE.— FORT CHEPEWYAN. — HEIGHT OF LAKE ATHABASCA ABOVE THE SEA.—ROCKS.— PLUMBAGO. — FOREST SCENERY.— SLAVE RIVER. — REIN-DEER ISLANDS. — PORTAGES.—NATIVE REMEDIES.— SEPARATE FROM MR. BELL AND HIS PARTY.
It is probable that the sands of this district and the adjacent limestones belong to the Erie division of the New York system of rocks, considered by the United States geologists to be an upper member of the silurian system, but, by various English naturalists, to be rather part of the Devonian, or of the carboniferous series.
The valley of the Clear-water River, or Washa- kummow, as it is termed by the Crees, is not ex- celled, or indeed equalled, by any that I have seen in America for beauty ; and the reader may obtain a correct notion of its general character by turning to an engraving in the narrative of Sir John Franklin’s second Overland Journey, executed from a drawing of Sir George Back’s. The view from
1848. PORTAGES. 117
the Cockscomb extends thirty or forty miles, and discloses, in beautiful perspective, a succession of steep, well-wooded ridges, descending on each side from the lofty brows of the valley to the borders of the clear stream which meanders along the bottom. Cliffs of light-coloured sand occasionally show themselves, and near the water limestone rocks are almost every where discoverable. The Pinus banks- tana occupies most of the dry sandy levels; the white spruce, balsam fir, larch, poplar, and birch are also abundant; and, among the shrubs, the Amelanchier, several cherries, the silver-foliaged Lleagnus argentea, and rusty-leaved Hippophde ca- nadensis are the most conspicuous.
At the portage, the immediate borders of the stream are formed of alluvial sand; but six or seven miles below, limestone in thin slaty beds crops out on both sides of the river, and, to the left, forms cliffs twenty feet high. A short way further down an isolated pillar of limestone in the same thin layers rises out of the water; and soon after passing it, we come to the White Mud Por- tage (Portage de Terre blanche), of six hundred and seventy paces, where the stream flows over beds of an impure siliceous limestone, in some parts meriting the appellation of a calcareous sandstone, and, for the most part, having a yellowish-grey
colour. On the portage, and on the neighbouring 13
118 PINE PORTAGE. JULY,
islands and flats, the limestone stands up in mural precipices and thin partitions, like the walls of a ruined city ; and the beholder cannot help believing that the rock once formed a barrier at this strait, when the upper part of the river must have been one long lake. The steep sandy slopes, as they project from the high sides of the valley, appear as if they had not only been sculptured by torrents of melted snow pouring down from the plateau above in more recent times, but that they had been pre- viously subject to the currents and eddies of a lake. If such was the case, we must admit that other barriers further down were also then or subsequently carried away, as the sides of the valley retain their peculiar forms nearly to the junction of the stream with the Elk River. I have been informed that the country extending from the high bank of the river towards Athabasca Lake is a wooded, sandy plain, abounding in bison and other game.
In the evening we encamped on the Pine Portage (Portage des Pins), which is one thousand paces long. The name would indicate that the Pinus resinosa grows there; but, if so, I did not observe it, the chief tree near the path being the Pinus banksiana, named Cyprés by the voyagers. A very dwarf cherry grows at the same place; it resembles a decumbent willow, and is probably the
1848. SULPHUREOUS SPRINGS. 119
Cerasus pumila of Michaux. This is the most northern locality in which it, and the Hudsonia eri- coides, which was flowering freely at this time, were observed. The Lonicera parviflora was also showing a profusion of fragrant, rich, yellow flowers, tinged with red on the ends of the petals, especially before they expand; and on this day we gathered ripe strawberries for the first time in the season.
July Tth.—The Pine Portage was completed in the morning, and an hour later we crossed the Bigstone Portage of six hundred paces. After- wards we passed the Nurse Portage (Portage de Bonne), of two thousand six hundred and ten paces ; the Cascade Portage, of one thousand three hun- dred and eighty ; and encamped on the Portage of the Woods, two thousand three hundred and fifty paces long; where two of our boats were broken. At this place, and on many other parts of the river, smooth granite boulders line the beach. The strata 7m situ are limestone covered by thick beds of sand.
July 8th. — The boats having been repaired early in the morning, we embarked at half-past six, and at eight came to a sulphureous spring, which issues from the limestone on the bank of the river. Its channel is lined with a snow-white incrustation, the taste of the water is moderately
saline and sulphureous, and, from its coolness, 14
120 GEOLOGY OF RIVER'S BANK. Jury;
rather agreeable than otherwise: it had a slight odour of sulphureted hydrogen. Here I obtained specimens of a terebratulite (7. reticularis).
In the afternoon we passed the mouth of an affluent named the Pembina from the occurrence of the Viburnum edule on its banks. I did not observe the fruit of this bush further north than Winipeg River, but I was assured that it grew in various localities up to the Clear-water, beyond which it has not been detected. It is distin- guished as a species from the very common cran- berry tree, or mooseberry (Mongséa meena of the Crees), by the obtuse sinuses of its leaves; and its fruit has an orange colour, is less acid, more fleshy, and more agreeable to the taste. There is a rapid in Clear-water River just. above the Pembina, where a section of the north bank is exposed; and I regretted that I had not leisure to examine it. As seen from the boat in passing, it appeared to be formed of sandstone at the base, then of sand, and high up of shale or sandstone in thin layers. Three miles further down a cliff on the south side, about twenty feet high, is composed of an impure limestone, in very thin layers, capped by a more compact cream-yellow limestone. The sun was intensely hot this day, and, dreading the mosche- toes, we avoided the bushy banks of the river, and encamped on an open sand-flat, but did not
1848. ELK OCR ATHABASCA RIVER. TOT
thereby gain immunity, for we were assailed by myriads during the whole night, a heavy rain having driven them into the tents. The species that now infested us had a light brown colour. Each kind remains in force a fortnight or three weeks, and is succeeded by another more bitter than itself.
The Dog-bane and Indian hemp (Apocynum an- drosemifolium and hyperieifolium) grow luxuri- antly on the sandy banks of this river. They abound in a milky juice, which, when applied to the skin, produces a troublesome eruption. The voyagers, by lying down incautiously among these plants at night, or walking among them with naked legs, often suffer from the irritation, which resembles flea-bites ; hence they designate the plant herb d la puce. ‘The second-named species grows more robustly and erectly than the other, and fur- nishes the natives living on the coast of the Pacific with hemp, out of which they form strong and durable fishing nets.
July 9th.— Three miles below our last night’s encampment we entered the Elk or Athabasca River, a majestic stream, between a quarter and half a mile wide, with a considerable current, but without rapids.
The lower point of the bank of the Clear-water, where it loses itself in the Elk River, is formed
122 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE JULY,
of limestone strata, covered by a thick deposit of bituminous shale, which is probably to be referred to the Marcellus shale of the United States geolo- gists.* The shelving cliff of this shale is one hun- dred and fifty feet high or upwards, and is capped by sand or diluvium. The high cliffs extend for two or three miles up the Clear-water River, above which the sandy slopes for the most part conceal the strata, except at the water’s edge, where the limestone crops out. Much of this limestone has a concretionary structure, and easily breaks down. Other beds are more compact.
The same kind of limestone forms the banks of Elk or Athabasca River for thirty-six miles down- wards, to the site of Berens’ Fort, now abandoned. The beds vary in structure, the concretionary form rather prevailing, though some layers are more homogeneous, and others are stained with bitumen. The strata for the most part lie evenly, and have a slight dip, but in several places they are un- dulated, and in one or two localities dislocated, though I did not observe any dykes or intruding masses of trap rock.
Among the organic remains obtained from the beds of limestone at the water’s edge, were Producti,
* See Appendix for a classification of the rocks of the New York system. The Marcellus shale belongs to the Erie division,
1848. OF RIVER’S BANK. 12a
Spirifers, an Orthis resembling resupinata, Terebra- tula reticularis, and a Pleurotomaria, which, in the opinion of Mr. Woodward of the British Museum, who kindly examined the specimens, are charac- teristic of Devonian strata. In the following season, Mr. Rae picked up from the beach of Clear- water River a fine Rhynchonella, which retained chestnut-coloured bands on the shell. The occur- rence of colours in fossil shells of so ancient an epoch is very rare. The specimen has been depo- sited in the British Museum. In one of the cliffs not far below the Clear-water River, the indurated arenaceous beds resting on the limestone contain pretty thick layers of lignite, much impregnated with bitumen, which has been ascertained by Mr. Bowerbank to be of coniferous origin, though he could not determine the genus of the wood. Fourteen or fifteen miles below the junction of the Clear-water with the Elk River there are co- pious springs on the right bank. They rise from the summit of an eminence among the fragments of a ruined shale bank; which they have wholly incrusted with tufa. This incrustation, analysed for me by Dr. Fife in 1823, was found to be com- posed principally of sulphate of lime with a slight admixture of sulphate of magnesia and muriate of soda, and with sulphur and iron. Below this there is a fine section of a bituminous cliff from one
124 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE Jane;
hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty feet high, resting on limestone whose beds are un- dulated in two directions. The limestone is imme- diately covered by a thin stratum of a yellowish- white earth, which, from the fineness of its grain, appears at first sight to be a marl or clay. It does not, however, effervesce with acids, is harsh and meagre, and, when examined with the microscope, is seen to be chiefly composed of minute fragments of translucent quartz, with a greyish basis in form of an impalpable powder. ‘This seam follows the undulations of the limestone; but the beds of the superincumbent bituminous shale, or rather of sand charged with slaggy mineral pitch, are horizontal. About thirty miles below the Clear-water River, the limestone beds are covered by a bituminous deposit upwards of one hundred feet thick, whose lower member is a conglomerate, having an earthy basis much stained with iron and coloured by bitumen. Many small grains and angular frag- ments of transparent and translucent quartz com- pose a large part of the conglomerate, which also contains water-worn pebbles of white, green, and otherwise coloured quartz, from a minute size up to that of a hen’s egg, or larger. Pieces of green- stone, and nodules of clay-ironstone, also enter into the composition of this rock, which, in some places, is rather friable, in others, possesses much hardness
1848. OF RIVER’S BANK. 125
and tenacity. Some of the beds above this stone are nearly plastic, from the quantity of mineral pitch they contain. Roots of living trees and her- baceous plants push themselves deep into beds highly impregnated with bitumen; and the forest where that mineral is most abundant does not suffer in its growth.
The shale banks are discontinued for a space in the neighbourhood of Berens’ House, where thin beds of limestone come to the surface, and form cliffs twenty or thirty feet high at the water’s edge.
Further down the river still, or about three miles below the Red River, where there was once a trading establishment, now remembered as La vieux Fort de la Riviere Rouge, a copious spring of mineral pitch issues from a crevice in a cliff com- posed of sand and bitumen. It lies a few hundred yards back from the river in the middle of a thick wood. Several small birds were found suffocated in the pitch.
Soon after passing this spot, we saw right ahead, but on the left bank of the river, a ridge of land named the ‘‘ Bark Mountain,” looking blue in the distance, being fully sixty miles off. From its name, I conclude that the canoe birch abounds on it. It is the length of a spring day’s march, or about thirty miles, distant from Fort Chepewyan ;
126 GEOLOGY OF RIVER’S BANK. JuLy,
and bison, moose deer, and other game, are said to resort to it in numbers.
At the deserted post named Pierre au Calumet, cream-coloured and white limestone cliffs are covered by thick beds of bituminous sand. Below this there is a bituminous cliff, in the middle of which lies a thick bed of the same white earth which I had seen higher up the river in contact with the limestone, and following the undulations of its surface.
A few miles further on, the cliffs for some distance are sandy, and the different beds contain variable quantities of bitumen. Some of the lower layers were so full of that mineral as to soften in the hand, while the upper strata, containing less, were so cemented by iron as to form a firm dark- brown sandstone of much hardness. The cliff is, in most places, capped by sand containing boulders of limestone. One very bituminous bed, carefully examined with the microscope, was found to consist, in addition to the bitumen, of small grains of transparent quartz, unmixed with other rock, but enclosing a few minute fragments of the pearly lining of a shell. A similar bed in another locality contained, besides the quartz, many scales of mica. The whole country for many miles is so full of bitumen that it flows readily into a pit dug a few feet below the surface.
1848. ELK OR ATHABASCA RIVER. 12%
In no place did I observe the limestone alter- nating with these sandy bituminous beds, but in several localities it is itself highly bituminous, contains shells filled with that mineral, and when struck yields the odour of Stinkstein. It is pro- bable that the whole belongs to the same forma- tion, but I do not possess evidence of the facts to satisfy a geologist.
The rate of our descent of the Elk River must this day have exceeded six geographical miles an hour, indicating a strong current. This river, named also the Athabasca or ftiviere la Biche, rises in the parallel of 473° north latitude, near the foot of Mount Brown, a peak of the Rocky Mountains, having a height of sixteen thousand feet above the sea. Its course in a straight line to the influx of Clear-water River is three hundred miles; but the river course, including its windings, must be more than one third greater. The ele- vation of its sources is probably seven or eight thousand feet. Lesser Slave Lake, situated about midway between its origin and the junction above mentioned, lies, according to Captain Lefroy, eighteen hundred feet above the sea. Some of the feeders of the Oregon spring from very near the head of the Athabasca, and many tributaries of the Saskat- chewan arise not far to the southward. It is the most southern branch of the Mackenzie; and as it
128 THE WAPITI. Juny,
originates further from the mouth of that great river than any other affluent, it may be considered as its source. It flows partly through prairie lands, and its Canadian appellation of /vviere la Biche indicates that the American red-deer, or Wapiti, frequents its banks. Its English name of Elk River, having reference to the moose deer, is a mistranslation of the Canadian one, and is also inappropriate as a distinctive epithet, though the moose grazes on its banks, as well as on the Mac- kenzie, down to the sea. The Wapiti is not known on Slave River or Lake, but further to the west it ranges as far north as the east branch of the River of the Mountains near the 59th parallel, where Mr. Murdoch M‘Pherson informs me that he has partaken of its flesh. From the Saskatchewan and Lesser Slave Lake the country can be traversed by horsemen who are sufficiently acquainted with the district to avoid the deep ravines through which the streams flow. By this route a band of horses were brought to Methy Portage in August, 1848, though they were too much exhausted by their journey to be of service. In 1849 a fine body of upwards of forty horses came to the portage from Lesser Slave Lake, early in the season and in good condition.
July 10th.— Our voyage this morning was im- peded by a strong head-wind, followed by heavy
1848. MACKENZIE RIVER BRIGADE. 129
rain, which compelled us to put ashore for four or five hours. We were able to resume our route at 10 A.m., and at noon we came to high sandy banks named Les Ecores, resembling the sandy deposits on the Clear-water River. These continue down to the alluvial delta formed by the four or five branches into which the river splits before enter- ing the Athabasca Lake, or Lake of the Hills.
At 5 p.m. we arrived at the head of this delta, and, passing down the main channel, held on our way till 8 o’clock, when we landed to cook supper, and then re-embarked to drift with the current during the night, the crews, with the exception of the steersmen, going to sleep in the boats.
July 11th.— We entered Athabasca Lake at three in the morning, but found, to our mortification, that two of the boats, through the inattention of the steersmen, had taken a more easterly branch of the river in the night, which would delay their arrival at Fort Chepewyan for some hours, and consequently be the means of detaining us for that time.
Immediately on emerging from the river we saw the Mackenzie River brigade of boats crossing the lake towards the entrance of the Embarras River, lying four or five miles to the westward of the branch we had descended. On our firing guns and hoisting the sails and ensigns, we were per-
VOL. I. K
130 SEND HOME LETTERS. Juny,
ceived by the officer in charge of the brigade, Chief Factor Murdoch M‘Pherson, who waited till we joined him. From this gentleman I received much useful intelligence of the measures he had taken for supplying the expedition with provisions during our winter residence in Fort Confidence, at the north end of Great Bear Lake, and also a list of all the provisions and stores remaining at Fort Simpson, the Company’s chief post and depdt on the Mackenzie; and I have pleasure in acknow- ledging here, that Iam indebted to him for much invaluable assistance, as well as for very many acts of personal kindness.
To him we committed the last letters that we could send to our families and friends in Europe this year. I had sent despatches to the Admiralty from Methy Portage, not being sure that we should meet the Mackenzie River brigade, which is the latest that goes out. It can seldom cross Great Slave Lake before the end of June, and from twenty to twenty-four days are required for the passage of loaded boats from thence to Methy Portage. There the Mackenzie River party are met by a brigade from York Factory, which brings up goods for next year’s supply of the northern posts, and takes back the furs brought from the Mackenzie. There is just time in common seasons for that brigade to descend to York Fac-
1848. FORT CHEPEWYAN. 131
tory before the annual ship sails from thence for England, about the middle of September, or in backward seasons a week or two later; and after- wards to return to the colony at Red River, where the crews reside, and from whence they come an- nually in the spring on this special service. For many years the Methy Portage brigade has been conducted by a guide named L’Esperance, and on that account it is known by the name of L’Espe- rance’s brigade.
After the return of the Mackenzie River boats to Fort Simpson, the winter’s supply of goods has to be sent to the outposts; but as some of these are at the distance of four or five weeks’ travelling, the parties carrying them are not unfrequently ar- rested by frost, far from their destination, and the posts suffer severely, —sometimes to the length of actual starvation and loss of life; an instance of which occurred before I left the country.
We reached Fort Chepewyan at half-past 7 a.M., but the two boats that strayed from us did not arrive till the afternoon, and the chief artizans being in the missing boats, the intention I had of giving them a complete repair here, and put- ting on false keels, was frustrated. Their leaks were, however, stopped, and some planks replaced, which detained us till 11 a.m. on July the 12th, when we left the fort.
Tag FORT CHEPEWYAN. Jurr-
The height of Lake Athabasca above the sea is estimated by Captain Lefroy at six hundred feet.* Its basin offers another instance of the softer strata having been swept away at the line of their junc- tion with the primitive rocks; and a reference to the map will show that there must have been an evident connection between the cause of this ex- eavation and that of Wollaston and Deer’s Lakes, belonging to the Missinipi River system.f Wol- laston Lake is said to supply a river at one end, which falls into Athabasca Lake, and one at the other, which joins the Missinipi, which, if correct, is not a common occurrence in hydrography, though one or two instances of the kind, in seasons of flood, have been alluded to in the preceding pages.
Much of the country in the immediate vicinity of Chepewyan is composed of rounded knolls of granite, nearly destitute of soil, and many of them smooth and polished. These rocks extend along the north shore of the lake; and the eminences rise in the interior in a confused manner, one over
* Eight months of observations with the boiling-water ther- mometer by this officer, give an elevation of 468 feet, excluding two observations on which he could not rely. This being, however, in his opinion too low, he assigns the altitude men- tioned in the text, after a review of his entire body of observa- tions in various parts of the country, and checking one by another.
t+ See Appendix.
1848, PLUMBAGO. 133
the other, to the height of four or five or perhaps six hundred feet above the water. They also form many islands at the west end of the lake and in front of the fort. Between this end of the lake and the mouth of Peace River there lies a muddy expanse of water, named Lake Mamawee; and, in times of flood, the waters of Peace River flow by this channel into Athabasca Lake, rendering its usually transparent waters very turbid. A short way to the eastward of the fort a grey gneiss rock is associated with reddish granite, and its beds are much contorted and are traversed by veins of vitreous quartz. Still further off in that direction a cliff of chlorite-slate occurs. Plumbago of ex- cellent quality has been found on the shores of this lake, and I have been informed that at its eastern extremity, named the Mon du Lac, there is much sandstone —the resemblance to the succession of strata on Lake Superior being maintained here also. Granite rocks, generally forming rounded knolls, prevail in Stony River, by which name the discharge of Athabasca Lake is known, and on whose banks we encamped on the evening of the 12th.
Soon after starting on the morning of the 13th, we passed the mouth of the Peace River, or Unjugah, which is the largest branch of the Mac- kenzie, since it brings down more water than either
K 3
134: CAPTAIN LEFROY’S JuLy,
the Athabasca River or River of the Mountains. When it is flooded it overcomes the stream of Stony River, and carries its muddy waters into Lake Athabasca, meeting there another rush of waters coming through Lake Mamawee; but at other times there is a strong current in Stony River, and at one point a dangerous rapid, where a gentleman of the North-west Company was drowned many years ago. <A delta, intersected by several channels, exists at the junction of Peace River with Athabasca Lake and its outlet. The source of Finlay’s branch of this river is nearly in the same parallel with its mouth, but in its course the trunk of the river makes a great curve to the southward, and its southern tributaries rise in the same mountains from which Frazer River issues on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, the upper waters of the Peace River coming in fact through a gap in the chain which forms one of the passes leading to the Pacific coast. Captain Lefroy, who has travelled through this district, makes the following remarks upon its elevation. ‘The next series of observations was made in the elevated region at the base of the Rocky Mountains, between Peace River and the Saskatchewan, a district remarkable for its gradual and regular ascent, preserving throughout much of the cha- racter of a plain country. From Lake Athabasca
1848, OBSERVATIONS. 135
to Dunvegan, a distance of about six hundred and fifty miles” (250 geographical miles in a straight line), “ there occurs but one inconsiderable fall, and a few rapids ; the bed of the Peace River preserves a nearly uniform inclination, in which it rises three hundred and ten feet. The stream is, however, more rapid above Fort Vermilion than below it. The depth of the bed of the river below the surround- ing country increases with great uniformity as we ascend the river. A defile, very similar to that called the Ramparts on Mackenzie’s River, but on a finer scale and with far more picturesque features, occurs about eight miles above the river Cadotte, in long. 117°; and here the river has cut ‘a passage through cliffs of alternating sandstone and limestone to a bed of shale, through which it flows, at a depth of two hundred feet (by estimation) below their summit. The general elevation of the country, however, still continues to increase, and at Dunve- gan, it is six hundred feet above the bed of the stream ; yet even at this point, except on approach- ing the deep gorges through which the tributaries ~ of Peace River join its waters, there is little indica- tion of an elevated country ; the Rocky Mountains are not visible, and no range of hills meets the eye. A rough trigonometrical measurement gave five hundred and thirty-eight feet as the elevation of
Gros Cap, a bold hill behind Dunvegan, above the Kk 4
136 FOREST SCENERY. Jury,
bed of the river; and the ground was estimated to rise behind Gros Cap, by a gradual ascent, until it attains the general level.” (Lefroy, 1. c.) The elevation above the sea, that this intelligent officer assigns to the country about Dunvegan is sixteen hundred feet, and the region in which the sources of the river occur is probably four times as high. The oaks, the elms, the ashes, the Weymouth pine, and pitch pine, which reach the Saskat- chewan basin, are wanting here, and the balsam- fir is rare; but as these trees form no prominent feature of the landscape in the former quarter, no marked change in the woodland scenery takes place in any part of the Mackenzie River district until we approach the shores of the Arctic Sea. The white spruce continues to be the predominating tree in dry soils whether rich or poor; the Bank- sian pine occupies a few sandy spots; the black spruce skirts the marshes; and the balsam-poplar and aspen fringe the streams; the latter also springs up in places where the white spruce has been de- stroyed by fire. The canoe-birch becomes less abundant, is found chiefly in rocky districts, and is very scarce north of the arctic circle. It still, however, attains a good size in the sheltered valleys of the Rocky Mountains, up to the 65th parallel. Willows, dwarf birches, alders, roses, brambles, gooseberries, white cornel, and mooseberry, form
1848. SLAVE RIVER. 13¢
the underwood on the margins of the forest ; but there is no substitute for the heath, gorse, and broom, which render the English wild grounds so gay. On the barren lands, indeed, the heath has representatives in the Lapland rhododendron, the Azalea, Kalmia, and Andromeda tetragona, but these are almost buried among the Cornicularie and Cetraria nivalis of the drier spots, or the Ce- traria islandica and mosses of the moister places, and scarcely enrich the colours of the distant hills.
The granite knolls show themselves at frequent intervals on the banks of Slave River, which is the appellation of the stream formed by the junction of the Peace and Stony Rivers; and in several places, ledges of the rock crossing the river form rapids. One of these is named the Lightening Place of the Hummock, because it occurs at the beginning of a reach two miles long, which is terminated by a sandy bluff on the right bank, twenty or thirty feet high, and covered with Banksian pine. This Bute, as it is termed by the Canadian voyagers, is about thirty miles from Fort Chepewyan, and opposite to it there is a limestone cliff, constructed of thin undulated layers. The lower beds of the limestone have a compact struc- ture, a flat conchoidal fracture, and a yellowish grey colour. Some of the upper beds contain mineral pitch in fissures, and shells, which Mr.
138 SLAVE RIVER. JULY,
Sowerby in 1827 ascertained to be Spirifer acuta, and several new Terebratule, one of them resembling T. resupinata; associated with them a Cirrus and some crinoidal remains occur. Not far above this cliff, a vitreous reddish-coloured sienite pro- trudes; and half a mile or so below it, the stream passes between rounded hummocks of granite, one of which forms an island, the water-course evi- dently following the line of dislocation of the strata. The clustered nests of large colonies of the republican swallow (L/irundo fulva) adhere to the ledges of the limestone cliffs, and the bank swallow (Hirundo riparia) has pierced innumerable holes in the sandy brows.
A small tributary enters the river from the left, behind an island, lying a short way below the Bute, and another comes in from the right, beneath which the brown vitreous sienite re-appears, forming a flatly rounded eminence. Within a mile of this pyrogenous rock, another limestone cliff occurs on the left bank, at the commencement of a pathway which leads over prairie-lands, or through spruce- fir woods, marshes, and by small lakes, to the Salt River, to be hereafter noticed.
A mile and a half below this are the three Rocky Islands (Isles des Pierres), which is per- haps the best locality on the river for studying the connection of the limestone with the pyro-
1848. SLAVE RIVER. 139
genous rocks ; and I regretted that I could devote no time to this purpose. The beds of limestone, as seen in passing rapidly along these islands, appeared of various thickness, some being thin and shaly, and almost all more or less undulated, saddle-formed, or contorted. On the borders of a channel between two of the islands, a conglomerate is interleaved with sienite ; and in the vicinity there are beds of a brownish, finely crystalline limestone, having a conchoidal fracture, the fragments being sharply angular. The conglomerate varies con- siderably in its texture in different layers, and even in different parts of the same bed. It con- tains, in general, a large proportion of small rounded grains of translucent or milky quartz, with angular fragments of various sizes of vitreous quartz, chlorite-slate, and calc-spar, imbedded in a powdery or friable white basis, which does not effervesce with acids; the whole forming a tough stone. In some beds the quartz grains predomi- nate, so as to render the rock a coarse sandstone ; but in other parts, these grains appear to have been fused into a bluish quartz rock, the original granular structure being only faintly discernible, and to be detected chiefly in spots, where some of the powdery basis remains unchanged. In one bed, angular fragments of greenstone encrusted with cale-spar occur. The sienite contains grains
140 REIN-DEER ISLANDS. JULY,
of hornblende and quartz in about equal quan- tities, imbedded in a snow-white powdery basis, which appears to be disintegrated felspar.
A mile below the Stony Islands we passed the smaller Balsam Fir Island, below which there is a pretty little bute on the left, where the purplish- coloured rock that protruded appeared to us in passing to be amygdaloid or porphyritic trap rock. Some miles further down we entered among the rather high and rocky cluster of the Rein-deer Islands (Isles de Carrebeuf) by a channel having a north-north-west direction. ‘The rocks here ap- peared to us as we shot past them to be principally trap, associated with gneiss, or perhaps chlorite- slate. A point on the main shore, on which I landed in 1820, is composed of felspar and quartz, and is probably a variety of granite.
A short way further down the Great Balsam Fir Island (La grand Isle des Epinettes), which is a mile across and three or four long, has a triangular form, and divides the river into two channels. We descended the easternmost, or right-hand one, which is the most direct, and has a high and sandy eastern bank.
Below this a bend of the river is filled with many rocky islands, occasioning numerous rapids and cascades, and seven or eight portages. The river expands here to the width of a mile and a
1848, CHEST PORTAGE. 141
half or two miles; its bed is every where rocky, and the rocks are apparently all primitive; but as the boat-route lies wholly through the eastern channels, we had no opportunity of inspecting the opposite shore closely. The islands are well wooded, and the scenery picturesque. Some of the narrower channels, which would be convenient for the descent of boats, are blocked up by im- mense rafts of drift timber, which have been ac- cumulating for many years, and which could not be set free without very great and long-continued labour. Large flocks of pelicans have made their nests on the more inaccessible rocks rising from the brows of the cascades. In the evening we ran down the Dog Rapid after lightening the boats, and afterwards descended a second rapid, and then encamped on a smooth granite rock early in the evening, there not being time to complete the Chest Portage before dark.
Embarking at 3 a.m. on the 22d of July, we descended a narrow channel to the Chest Portage (Portage de Cassette), where our five boats were hauled over a pathway of four hundred and sixty- five paces, and their cargoes carried. A rocky chasm at this place, being one of the numerous channels through which the water flows, encloses a perpendicular cascade upwards of twenty feet high ; beneath which an isolated column of rock
142 PORTAGES. JuLy,
divides the current into two branches, which eddy with great force into the niches and recesses of the stony walls. Huge angular blocks obstruct the water-course, and drift trees, entangled among them, partially denuded of their branches, and wholly of their bark, point in all directions. The over- hanging woods almost seclude this gloomy ravine from the sun; and it presents such an aspect of wildness and ruin as rarely occurs even in this country. In one part of the portage road a bed of gneiss is flanked on each side by masses of granite. A labyrinth of passages among granite rocks exists below the portage, many of them en- tirely choked up with drift timber. In passing rapidly through one of them we grazed a point composed of a crumbling red and grey porphyritic rock, perhaps an amygdaloid; many cubical and irregularly angular fragments had fallen from it. At the Island Portage, which immediately fol- lowed, the cargo is carried only in the ascent of the river. Our boats descended the fall with their entire load. We next crossed the Raft Portage (Portage d’Embarras), which occupied us three hours. At the Little Rock Portage, which follows, the rock is composed of felspar, quartz, and chlorite, being the protogine of Jurine. It differs from the slaty rock observed near the Rein-deer Islands, in not being stratified. At the Burnt Portage, the
1848. MOUNTAIN PORTAGE. 143
next in order, the rock, which is a porphyritic