selection of the workmen who were to
accompany him to Red River, he was not able to move the Hudson's Bay
Company officials. Two days, however, after arrival of the Company
magnates from the interior his men were secured to him, and he was fully
occupied in transporting his stores up the river as far as the
"Rock"--the rapids of the Hill River which here falls into Hayes River.
For a long distance up the river there is a broad stream, one-quarter of
a mile wide, running at the rate of two miles an hour through low banks.
The boatmen have a good steady pull up the river for some sixty miles,
and here where the Steel River enters the Hayes is seen a wide, deep,
rapid stream running about three miles an hour. The banks of this river
are of clay and rising from fifty to one hundred feet, the clay of the
banks is so smooth and white that a traveller has compared them in color
to the white, chalk cliffs of Dover. Thus far though it has required
exertion on the part of the boatmen, a good stretch of a hundred miles
from the Factory has been passed without any obstruction or delay. Now
the serious work of the journey begins. The Hill River, as this part of
the river is called, is a series of rapids and portages--where the cargo
and boat have both to be carried around a rapid; of decharges where the
cargo has thus to be carried, and of semi-decharges--where a portion of
the cargo only needs to be removed.

At times waterfalls require to be circuited with great effort. A high
mountain or elevated table-land seen from this river shows the rough
country of which these cascades and rapids are the proof. Here are the
White-Mud Falls and other smaller cataracts. To the expert voyageur such
a river has no terrors, but to the raw-hand the management of such boats
is a most toilsome work. The birch-bark canoe is a mere trifle on the
portage, but the heavy York boat capable of carrying three or four tons
is a clumsy lugger. The cargo must be moved, the non-effectives such as
the women and children and the old men must trudge the weary path,
varying from a few hundred yards to several miles along a rocky, steep
and rugged way. When the portage is made the whole force of boatmen and
able-bodied passengers are required to stand by each boat, pull it out
of the water, and then skid or drag or cajole it along till it is thrust
into its native element again. To the willing crofter or Orkney boatmen
this was not a great task, but to the Glasgow