hered thick and black, and we had a gust, accompanied with hail, but
of short duration; the weather cleared up again, and about sundown we
arrived at _Le Fort de la Montee_, so called, on account of its being a
depot, where the traders going south, leave their canoes and take
pack-horses to reach their several posts. We found here, as at Fort
Vermilion, two trading-houses joined together, to make common cause
against the Indians; one belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, the
other to the company of the Northwest: the Hudson's Bay house being then
under the charge of a Mr. Prudent, and the N.W. Company's under a Mr.
John M'Lean. Mr. de Roche Blave, one of the partners of the last company
having the superintendence of this district, where he had wintered, had
gone to Lake Superior to attend the annual meeting of the partners.
There were cultivated fields around the house; the barley and peas
appeared to promise an abundant harvest. Mr. M'Lean received us as well
as circumstances permitted; but that gentleman having no food to give
us, and our buffalo meat beginning to spoil, we set off the next
morning, to reach Cumberland house as quick as possible. In the course
of the day, we passed two old forts, one of which had been built by the
French before the conquest of Canada. According to our guide, it was the
most distant western post that the French traders ever had in the
northwestern wilderness. Toward evening we shot a moose. The aspect of
the country changes considerably since leaving _Montee_; the banks of
the river rise more boldly, and the country is covered with forests.

On the 20th, we saw some elms--a tree that I had not seen hitherto,
since my departure from Canada. We reached Fort Cumberland a little
before the setting of the sun. This post, called in English _Cumberland
House_, is situated at the outlet of the _Saskatchawine_, where it
empties into _English lake_, between the 53d and 54th degrees of north
latitude. It is a depot for those traders who are going to Slave lake or
the Athabasca, or are returning thence, as well as for those destined
for the Rocky mountains. It was under the orders of Mr. J.D. Campbell,
who having gone down to Fort William, however, had left it in charge of
a Mr. Harrison. There are two factories, as at Vermilion and la Montee.
At this place the traders who resort every year to Fort William, leave
their half-breed or Indian wives and families, as they can live here at
little expens