to its mouth, the end of their long annual journey across the American continent. For myself, I had to try the snowshoes for the first time in my life; by means of them, I had to ascend those frightful ramparts, the barriers of snow, which separate the Atlantic world from the Pacific 'Ocean and the waters of the Arctic. I have in my previous letters already told you that this is probably the most elevated point, of the Rocky Mountains, where five great rivers derive their sources, viz. : the north branch of the Saskatchewan, flowing into Lake Winnipeg, the Athabasca and Peace rivers, uniting and flowing into Great Slave lake, which is discharged into the Northern ocean, by the Mackenzie, the most solitary of rivers. From the bosom of these mountains the Columbia and Frazer rivers also derive water from a thousand fountains and streams.
We had now seventy miles to travel on snow-shoes, in order to reach the boat encampment on the banks of the Columbia. We proposed to accomplish this in two days and a half. The most worthy and excellent Messrs. Rowand and Harriote, whose kindness at the Rocky Mountain House and Fort Augustus I shall ever acknowledge, were of opinion that it was absolutely impossible for me to accomplish the journey, on account of my corpulency, and they wished to dissuade me from attempting it. However, I thought I could remedy the inconvenience of my surplus weight by a vigorous fast of thirty days, which I cheerfully underwent. I found myself much lighter indeed, and started off somewhat encouraged, over snow sixteen feet deep. We went in single file - alternately ascending and descending - sometimes across plains piled up with avalanches - sometimes over lakes and rapids buried deeply under the snow -now on the side of a deep mountain -then across a forest of cypress tress, of which we could only see the tops. I cannot tell you the number of my summersets. I continually found myself embarrassed by my snow-shoes, or entangled
in some branch of a tree. When falling, I spread my arms before me, as one naturally would do, to break the violence