OF THE FUR TRADE, &c. Ixxxv

Weft until it lofes its local height betweén the Safkatchiwine and Elk -
Rivers; clofe on the bank of the former, in latitude 53. 96. North, and
longitude 119. 45. Weft, it may be traced in an Eafterly direGtion toward
latitude 58. 12. North, and longitude 1033. Weft, when it appears to.
take its courfe due North, and may probably reach the Frozen Seas.

From Lake le Souris, the banks of the rivers and lakes difplay a
fmaller portion of folid rock. The land is low and ftony, intermixed
with a light, fandy foil, and clothed with wood. That of the Beaver
River is of a more produétive quality: but no part of it has ever been
cultivated by the natives or Europeans, except a fmall garden at the
Iile a la Crofle, which well repaid the labour beftowed upon it.

The Portage la Loche is of a level furface, in fome parts abounding
with ftones, but in general it is an entire fand, and covered with the
cyprefs, the pine, the fpruce fir, and other trees natural to its foil. With-
in three miles of the North-Weft termination, there is a fmall round
lake, whofe diameter does not exceed a mile, and which affords a trif-
ling refpite to the labour of carrying. Within a mile of the termina-
tion of the Portage is a very fteep precipice, whofe afcent and defcent
appears to be equally impracticable in any way, as it confifts of a fuccef- ,
fion of eight hills, fome of which are almoft perpendicular ; neverthelefs,
the Canadians contrive to furmount all thefe difficulties, even with their
canoes and lading.

This precipice, which rifes upwards of a thoufand feet above the plain
beneath it, commands a moft extenfive, romantic, and ravifhing profpect.

From