we crossed five miles to the mouth of the river and at
four P.M. left the main branch of it and entered a little rivulet called
the Grassy River, running through an extensive reedy swamp. It is the
nest of innumerable ducks which rear their young among the long rushes in
security from beasts of prey. At sunset we encamped on the banks of the
main branch.

At three A.M. June 28th we embarked in a thick fog occasioned by a fall
of the temperature of the air ten degrees below that of the water. Having
crossed Knee Lake which is nine miles in length and a portage at its
western extremity we entered Primeau Lake with a strong and favourable
wind, by the aid of which we ran nineteen miles through it and encamped
at the river's mouth. It is shaped like the barb of an arrow with the
point towards the north and its greatest breadth is about four miles.

During the night a torrent of rain washed us from our beds accompanied
with the loudest thunder I ever heard. This weather continued during the
29th and often compelled us to land and turn the canoes up to prevent
them from filling. We passed one portage and the confluence of a river
said to afford by other rivers beyond a height of land a shorter but more
difficult route to the Athabasca Lake than that which is generally
pursued.

On the 28th we crossed the last portage and at ten A.M. entered the Isle
a la Crosse Lake. Its long succession of woody points, both banks
stretching towards the south till their forms were lost in the haze of
the horizon, was a grateful prospect to us after our bewildered and
interrupted voyage in the Missinippi. The gale wafted us with unusual
speed and as the lake increased in breadth the waves swelled to a
dangerous height. A canoe running before the wind is very liable to burst
asunder when on the top of a wave so that part of the bottom is out of
the water, for there is nothing to support the weight of its heavy cargo
but the bark and the slight gunwales attached to it.

On making known our exigencies to the gentlemen in charge of the Hudson's
Bay and North-West Companies' forts they made up an assortment of stores
amounting to five bales, for four of which we were indebted to Mr. McLeod
of the North-West Company who shared with us the ammunition absolutely
required for the support of his post, receiving in exchange an order for
the same quantity upon the cargo which we expected to follow us from York
Factory. We had heard from Mr. Stuart that