Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/83

 we could approach within shot. We had now resumed our snow-shoes, but the fresh fall made the march very fatiguing both for men and dogs; and at 4 the violence of the gale obliged us to encamp.

We were again on the river the following morning at 4 o'clock; the weather desperately cold, with a violent north-west wind. We breakfasted at the foot of the "Turned-boat Hill," so called from its peculiar shape. The general thickness of the ice was about eighteen inches; but there were several open rapids, where the current ran with considerable force, pursuing a very irregular course, and rendering the ice extremely rough and difficult of passage. But upon the whole we made good progress, and early in the afternoon reached the point where we quitted the river, which describes a long circuit to the right before falling into Lac la Crosse, five miles to the east of the establishment. Perch River, a small stream, joins Beaver River two reaches lower down, and erroneously appears in some maps as "Riv. Lac la Ronge." This lake is fed by the Montreal River, which issues from Lac Assiniboine, a large body of water, extending, it is said, to within a day's journey of Green Lake, and abounding in fine white-fish. We