days in the spring; scarcely does the
snow disappear from the ground, before the trees are clothed with thick
foliage, the shrubs open their leaves, and put forth their variegated
flowers, and the whole prospect becomes animating. The spaces between
the rocky hills, being for the most part swampy, support willows and a
few poplars. These spots are the favourite resort of the musquitoes,
which incessantly torment the unfortunate persons who have to pass
through them.

Some of the hills attain an elevation of five or six hundred feet, at
the distance of a mile from the house; and from their summits a very
picturesque view is commanded of the lake, and of the surrounding
country. The land above the Great Point at the confluence of the main
stream of the Elk River is six or seven hundred feet high, and stretches
in a southern direction behind Pierre au Calumet. Opposite to that
establishment, on the west side of the river, at some distance in the
interior, the Bark Mountain rises and ranges to the N.W., until it
reaches Clear Lake, about thirty miles to the southward of these forts,
and then goes to the south-westward. The Cree Indians generally procure
from this range their provision, as well as the bark for making their
canoes. There is another range of hills on the south shore, which runs
towards the Peace River.

The residents of these establishments depend for subsistence almost
entirely on the fish which this lake affords; they are usually caught in
sufficient abundance throughout the winter, though at the distance of
eighteen miles from the houses; on the thawing of the ice, the fish
remove into some smaller lakes, and the rivers on the south shore.
Though they are nearer to the forts than in winter, it frequently
happens that high winds prevent the canoes from transporting them
thither, and the residents are kept in consequence without a supply of
food for two or three days together. The fish caught in the net are the
attihhawmegh{41}, trout, carp, methye, and pike[15].

[15] See page 143-4{42}.

The traders also get supplied by the hunters with buffalo and moose deer
meat, (which animals are found at some distance from the forts,) but the
greater part of it is either in a dried state, or pounded ready for
making pemmican; and is required for the men whom they keep travelling
during the winter to collect the furs from the Indians, and for the
crews of the canoes on their outward passage to the depots in spring