ment. At length we came to our men,
pitched upon a narrow strip of land situated between two rivers. Though
the portion of dry ground did not exceed fifty yards yet they appeared to
be living very comfortably, having formed huts with the canoe's sail and
covering, and were amply supported by the fish their nets daily
furnished. They sometimes had a change in their fare by procuring a few
ducks and other waterfowl which resort in great abundance to the marshes
by which they were surrounded.

July 2.

The canoe which was ordered to be built for our use was finished. As it
was constructed after the manner described by Hearne and several of the
American travellers a detail of the process will be unnecessary. Its
extreme length was thirty-two feet six inches, including the bow and
stern pieces, its greatest breadth was four feet ten inches, but it was
only two feet nine inches forward where the bowman sat, and two feet four
inches behind where the steersman was placed, and its depth was one foot
eleven and a quarter inches. There were seventy-three hoops of thin cedar
and a layer of slender laths of the same wood within the frame. These
feeble vessels of bark will carry twenty-five pieces of goods, each
weighing ninety pounds exclusive of the necessary provision and baggage
for the crew of five or six men, amounting in the whole to about three
thousand three hundred pounds' weight. This great lading they annually
carry between the depots and the posts in the interior; and it rarely
happens that any accidents occur if they be managed by experienced bowmen
and steersmen, on whose skill the safety of the canoe entirely depends in
the rapids and difficult places. When a total portage is made these two
men carry the canoe, and they often run with it though its weight is
estimated at about three hundred pounds exclusive of the poles and oars
which are occasionally left in where the distance is short.

On the 5th we made an excursion for the purpose of trying our canoe. A
heavy gale came on in the evening which caused a great swell in the lake
and in crossing the waves we had the satisfaction to find that our
birchen vessel proved an excellent sea-boat.

July 7.

This morning some men and their families, who had been sent off to search
for Indians with whom they intended to pass the summer, returned to the
fort in consequence of a serious accident having befallen their canoe in
the Red Deer River; when they were in the act of