36 Mackenzie’s Voyages

This region, in fact, is part of the delta of the Peace, which
comprises an immense tract of the richest lands in Canada.
At high water in May and August the flooding Peace flows
into the lake by this and other channels, where it combines
with the discharge of the Athabasca. The precipitation of
sediments brought down by both rivers has resulted in the
formation of extensive lowlands which now occupy a large
area, formerly a part of the lake.

Thirty-seven miles in ten hours might be considered
good going, but this day’s run was just to get the expedition
safely started from the post. From now on the day’s work
would extend from four in the morning to seven at night,
and the speed would seldom be less than four miles an
hour, and often eight and ten. The men might grumble,
but they were inured to it; it was in fact their business, and,
as in the case of all grinding labour, the victims were inclined
to relax periodically, when the opportunity occurred, in
violent dissipations.

The canoes had to be hauled ashore and gummed and,
while they were undergoing this operation, the camp-fires
blazed and pungent smoke, mixed with the odour of ducks,
geese and fish cooking, gave an edge to appetites already keen.

Promptly at four next morning the canoes were under
way. The Peace, where it enters the Slave, is about a mile
wide, but the Slave itself in its upper section varies from
600 to 1200 yards, flowing with a uniform current of about
three miles an hour between low wooded banks. In the
seventy-one miles to the head of the rapids there are no
obstructions, no affuents of any consequence, and only
occasional outcrops of rock, On such stretches as this the
going is good, and the party jogged along comfortably,
smoking their pipes, varying the monotony with traditional
songs, and letting the current do at least half the work.