- NORTH-WEST CONTINENT OF AMERICA. 123

_ On the 13th at noon we came to the Peace Point; from which, ac- Sake
cording to the report of my interpreter, the river derives its name; it —~v—-~
was the fpot where the Knifteneaux and Beaver Indians fettled their dif-

pute; the real name of the river and point being that of the land which

was the obje& of contention.

When this country was formerly invaded by the Knifteneaux, they
found the Beaver Indians inhabiting the land about Portage la Loche;
and the adjoining tribe were thofe whom they called flaves. They drove
both thefe tribes before them; when the latter proceeded down the
river from the Lake of the Hills, in confequence of which that part of
it obtained the name of the Slave River. The former proceeded up the
river; and when the Knifteneaux made peace with them, this place was
fettled to be the boundary.

We continued our voyage, and I did not find the current fo ftrong in
this river as I had been induced to believe, though this, perhaps, was
not the period to form a correét notion of that circumftance, as well as
of the breadth, the water being very low; fo that the ftream has not
appeared to me to be in any part that I have feen, more than a quarter
‘of a mile wide. is

The weather was cold and raw, fo as to render our progrefs unplea-
fant; at the fame time we did not relax in our expedition, and, at three
on the afternoon of the 17th we arrived at the falls. ‘The river at this
place is about four hundred yards broad, and the fall about twenty feet
high : the firft carrying place is eight hundred paces in length, and the
per Re laft,

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