Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/66

 dicament, for advance we must; we, therefore, laid ourselves upon the sledges, and, our weight thus pressing on an extended surface, our sagacious dogs carried us safely over the danger. From Fir Bay, two miles of a swampy portage conducted us to Swan River, close to the tents of some freemen, who subsist by hunting, fishing, and mailing salt and maple sugar. We entramped a few miles further, in a fine wood of elm. After the men had gone to rest, the dry grass on which they lay caught fire, and before they were aroused their blankets were in a blaze; but, fortunately, the sleepers escaped unscorched.

It snowed incessantly during the 14th, making it heavy travelling for both men and dogs. Our route now bent to the south-west, sometimes ascending the winding river for several miles, but more frequently leading direct through the bordering country. The latter consists of swampy meadows, alternating with woods of poplar fringed with willow, and a few straggling clumps of pine.

The industry of man may, in some future age, convert this wilderness into a habitable land, as the climate is good, and barley, potatoes, and other vegetable produce have been raised at several points along Swan River.

On the 15th we came again in view of the