of channels. Night overtook us before
we arrived at the _Second Portage_, so named from its being the second
in the passage down the river. Our whole distance this day was one mile
and a quarter.

On the 22d our route led us amongst many wooded islands, which, lying in
long vistas, produced scenes of much beauty. In the course of the day we
crossed the Upper Portage, surmounted the Devil's Landing Place, and
urged the boat with poles through Groundwater Creek. At the upper end of
this creek, our bowman having given the boat too great a sheer, to avoid
the rock, it was caught on the broadside by the current, and, in
defiance of our utmost exertions, hurried down the rapid. Fortunately,
however, it grounded against a rock high enough to prevent the current
from oversetting it, and the crews of the other boats having come to our
assistance, we succeeded, after several trials, in throwing a rope to
them, with which they dragged our almost sinking vessel stern foremost
up the stream, and rescued us from our perilous situation. We encamped
in the dusk of the evening amidst a heavy thunder-storm, having advanced
two miles and three quarters.

About ten in the morning of the 23d we arrived at the _Dramstone_, which
is hailed with pleasure by the boats' crews, as marking the termination
of the laborious ascent of Hill River. We complied with the custom from
whence it derives its name, and soon after landing upon Sail Island
prepared breakfast. In the mean time our boatmen cut down and rigged a
new mast, the old one having been thrown overboard at the mouth of Steel
River, where it ceased to be useful. We left Sail Island with a fair
wind, and soon afterwards arrived at a depot situated on Swampy Lake,
where we received a supply of mouldy _pemmican_[2]. Mr. Calder and his
attendant were the only tenants of this cheerless abode, and their only
food was the wretched stuff with which they supplied us, the lake not
yielding fish at this season. After a short delay at this post, we
sailed through the remainder of Swampy Lake, and slept at the Lower
Portage in Jack River; the distance sailed to-day being sixteen miles
and a half.

[2] Buffalo-meat, dried and pounded, and mixed with melted fat.

Jack River is only eight miles long; but being full of bad rapids, it
detained us considerably. At seven in the morning of the 24th, we
crossed the Long Portage, where the woods, having caught fire in the
summer, were still smoking. This i