Journals, стр. 118

the possession of its present inhabitants, as they will remain contented with the produce of the woods and waters for their support, leaving the earth, from various causes, in its virgin state. The proportion of it that is fit for cultivation, is very small and is still less in the interior parts; it is also very difficult of access; and whilst any land remains uncultivated to the south of it, there will be no temptation to settle it. Besides, its climate is not in general sufficiently genial to bring the fruits of the earth to maturity. It will also be an asylum for the descendants of the original inhabitants of the country to the south, who prefer the modes of life of their forefathers, to the improvements of civilization. Of this disposition there is a recent instance. A small colony of Iroquois emigrated to the banks of the Saskatchiwine, in 1799, who had been brought up from their infancy under the Romish missionaries, and instructed by them at a village within nine miles of Montreal.

A further division of this country is marked by a ridge of high land, rising, as it were, from the coast of Labrador, and running nearly southwest to the source of the Utawas River, dividing the waters going either way to the river and Gulf of St. Lawrence and Hudson’s Bay, as before observed. From thence it stretches to the north of west, to the northward of Lake Superior, to latitude 50° north, and longitude 98° west, when it forks from the last course at about southwest, and continues the same division of waters until it passes north of the source of the Mississippi. The former course runs, as has been observed, in a northwest direction, until it strikes the river Nelson, separating the waters that discharge themselves into Lake Winipic, which forms part of the said river, and those that also empty themselves into Hudson’s Bay, by the Albany, Severn, and Hay’s or Hill’s Rivers. From thence it keeps a course of about west-northwest, till it forms the banks of the Missinipi or Churchill River, at Portage de Traite, latitude 55° 25′ north. It now continues in a western direction, between the Saskatchiwine and the source of the Missinipi, or Beaver River, which it leaves behind, and divides the Saskatchiwine from the Elk River; when, leaving those also behind, and pursuing the same direction it leads to the high land that lies between the Unjigah and Tacoutche rivers, from whence it may be supposed to be the same ridge. From the head of the Beaver River, on the west, the same kind of high ground runs to the east of north, between the waters of the Elk and Missinipi River forming the Portage la Loche, and continuing on to the latitude 57° 15′ north, dividing the waters that run to Hudson’s Bay from those going to the north Sea: from thence its course is nearly north, when an angle runs from it to the north of the Slave Lake, till it strikes Mackenzie’s River.

The last, but by no means the least, is the immense ridge, or succession of ridges of stony mountains, whose northern extremity dips in the North Sea, in latitude 70° north, and longitude 135° west, running nearly southeast, and begins to be parallel with the coast of the Pacific Ocean, from Cook’s entry, and so onwards to the Columbia. From thence it appears to quit the coast, but still continuing, with less elevation, to divide the waters of the Atlantic from those which run into the Pacific. In those snow-clad mountains rises the Mississippi, if we admit the Missouri to be its source, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico; the River Nelson, which is lost in Hudson’s Bay; Mackenzie’s River, that discharges itself into the North Sea; and the Columbia emptying itself into the Pacific Ocean. The great River St. Lawrence and Churchill River, with many lesser ones, derive their sources far short of these mountains. It is, indeed, the extension of these mountains so far south on the sea coast, that prevents the Columbia from finding a more direct course to the sea, as it runs obliquely with the coast upwards of eight degrees of latitude before it mingles with the ocean.

It is further to be observed, that these mountains, from Cook’s entry to the Columbia, extend from six to eight degrees in breadth easterly; and that along their eastern skirts is a narrow strip of very marshy, boggy, and uneven ground, the outer edge of which produces coal and bitumen: these I saw on the banks of Mackenzie’s River, as far north as latitude 66° I also discovered them in my second journey, at the commencement of the Rocky Mountains in 56° north latitude, and 120° west longitude; and the same was observed by Mr. Fidler, one of the servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company, at the source of the south branch of the Saskatchiwine, in about latitude 52 north, and longitude 112° 30′ west. 24 Next to this narrow belt are immense plains, or meadows, commencing in a point at about the junction of the River of the Mountain with Mackenzie’s River, widening as they continue east and south, till they reach the Red River at its confluence with the Assiniboin River, from whence they take a more southern direction, along the Mississippi towards Mexico. Adjoining to these plains is a broken country, composed of lakes, rocks, and soil.

From the banks of the rivers running through the plains, there appeared to ooze a saline fluid, concreting into a thin, scurf on the grass. Near that part of the Slave River where it first loses the name of Peace River, and along the extreme edge of these plains, are very strong salt springs, which in the summer concrete and crystallize in great quantities. About the Lake Dauphin, on the southwest side of Lake Winipic, are also many salt ponds, but it requires