It is a pine-tree divested of its lower branches and having only
a small tuft at the top remaining. This operation is usually performed at
the instance of some individual emulous of fame. He treats his companions
with rum and they in return strip the tree of its branches and ever after
designate it by his name.
In the afternoon, whilst on my way to superintend the operations of the
men, a stratum of loose moss gave way under my feet and I had the
misfortune to slip from the summit of a rock into the river betwixt two
of the falls. My attempts to regain the bank were for a time ineffectual
owing to the rocks within my reach having been worn smooth by the action
of the water; but after I had been carried a considerable distance down
the stream I caught hold of a willow by which I held until two gentlemen
of the Hudson's Bay Company came in a boat to my assistance. The only bad
consequence of this accident was an injury sustained by a very valuable
chronometer (Number 1733) belonging to Daniel Moore, Esquire, of
Lincoln's Inn. One of the gentlemen to whom I delivered it immediately on
landing in his agitation let it fall, whereby the minutehand was broken,
but the works were not in the smallest degree injured and the loss of the
hand was afterwards supplied.
During the night the frost was severe; and at sunrise on the 3rd the
thermometer stood at 25 degrees. After leaving our encampment at the
White Fall we passed through several small lakes connected with each
other by narrow, deep, grassy streams, and at noon arrived at the Painted
Stone. Numbers of muskrats frequent these streams; and we observed in the
course of the morning many of their mud-houses rising in a conical form
to the height of two or three feet above the grass of the swamps in which
they were built.
The Painted Stone is a low rock, ten or twelve yards across, remarkable
for the marshy streams which arise on each side of it, taking different
courses. On the one side the watercourse which we had navigated from York
Factory commences. This spot may therefore be considered as one of the
smaller sources of Hayes River.
ECHEMAMIS AND SEA RIVERS.
On the other side of the stone the Echemamis rises and, taking a westerly
direction, falls into Nelson River. It is said that there was formerly a
stone placed near the centre of this portage on which figures were
annually traced and offerings deposited by the Indians; but the stone has
been removed many years and the spot has ceased to be held in veneration.
Here we were overtaken by Governor Williams who left York Factory on the
20th of last month in an Indian canoe. He expressed much regret at our
having been obliged to leave part of our stores at the Rock depot, and
would have brought them up with him had he been able to procure and man a
boat, or a canoe, of sufficient size.
Having launched the boats over the rock we commenced the descent of the
Echemamis. This small stream has its course through a morass and in dry
seasons its channel contains, instead of water, merely a foot or two of
thin mud. On these occasions it is customary to build dams that it may be
rendered navigable by the accumulation of its waters. As the beavers
perform this operation very effectually endeavours have been made to
encourage them to breed in this place, but it has not hitherto been
possible to restrain the Indians from killing that useful animal whenever
they discover its retreats. On the present occasion there was no want of
water, the principal impediment we experienced being from the narrowness
of the channel, which permitted the willows of each bank to meet over our
heads and obstruct the men at the oars. After proceeding down the stream
for some time we came to a recently-constructed beaver dam through which
an opening was made sufficient to admit the boat to pass. We were assured
that the breach would be closed by the industrious creature in a single
night. We encamped about eight miles from the source of the river, having
come during the day seventeen miles and a half.
On the 4th we embarked amidst a heavy rain and pursued our route down the
Echemamis. In many parts of the morass by which the river is nourished
and through which it flows, is intersected by ridges of rock which cross
the channel and require the boat to be lifted over them. In the afternoon
we passed through a shallow piece of water overgrown with bulrushes and
hence named Hairy Lake; and in the evening encamped on the banks of
Blackwater Creek, by which this lake empties itself into Sea River;
having come during the day twenty miles and three-quarters.
On the morning of the 5th we entered Sea River, one of the many branches
of Nelson River. It is about four hundred yards wide and its waters are
of a muddy white colour. After ascending the stream for an hour or two
and passing through Carpenter's Lake, which is merely an expansion of the
river to about a mile in breadth, we came to the Sea River Portage where
the boat was launched across a smooth rock to avoid a fall of four or
five feet.
PLAY GREEN LAKES.
Reembarking at the upper end of the portage we ran before a fresh gale
through the remainder of Sea River, the lower part of Play Green Lake
and, entering Little Jack River, landed and pitched our tents. Here there
is a small log hut, the residence of a fisherman who supplies Norway
House with trout and sturgeon.
