4th.—We were involved all day among portages and rapids; the river rushing impetuously, in numerous channels, among rocky wooded islands, with a breadth of from one to two miles. Many patches of snow still adhered to the river banks. We encamped on the Mountain Portage.
A considerable part of the 6th was occupied by the Pelican Portage, and that of The Drowned. The desert-bird frequents the first in prodigious numbers; and the rocky islands, a mile out in the stream, were crowded with their white ranks reposing after their morning's fishing. After passing these turbulent barriers, we descended the now tranquil river for about five leagues, and found our hunters (who had been despatched two days a-head), with a large camp of other Chipewyans, squatted, like so many beavers, in their lodges on the muddy banks of the Salt River. We chose our station in the neighbouring woods.
On the morning of the 6th I mustered in the camp three of the largest canoes, and ascended Salt River, in order to procure a supply of its most useful production, and to view the beautiful plain represented with so much spirit by Back's able pencil. The distance to the opening of the plain exceeds twenty miles, following the tortuous course of the stream, which
