er is called the Forks.
Its banks were in accessible cliffs, apparently of clay and stones,
about two hundred feet high, and its windings in the south were
encircled by high mountains. Its breadth exceeded half a mile and was
swelled to a mile in many places by long muddy islands in the middle
covered with trees. No more portages interrupted our course, but a swift
current hurried us towards the quarter in which our anticipated
discoveries were to commence. The passing cliffs returned a loud
confusion of echoes to the sprightly canoe song, and the dashing
paddles; and the eagles, watching with half-closed eyes on the
pine-tops, started from their airy rest, and prepared their drowsy
pinions for the flight.

About twenty miles from the Forks are some salt pits and plains, said to
be very extensive. The height of the banks was reduced to twenty or
thirty feet, and the hills ranged themselves at an increased distance
from the banks in the same variety as those of the Clear Water River. At
sunset we encamped on a small sandy island, but the next morning made a
speedy retreat to the canoes, the water having nearly overflown our
encampment. We passed two deserted settlements of the fur traders on
opposite banks, at a place called Pierre au Calumet. Beyond it the hills
disappeared, and the banks were no longer visible above the trees. The
river carries away yearly large portions of soil, which increases its
breadth, and diminishes its depth, rendering the water so muddy as to be
scarcely drinkable. Whole forests of timber are drifted down the
stream, and choke up the channels between the islands at its mouth. We
observed the traces of herds of buffaloes, where they had crossed the
river, the trees being trodden down and strewed, as if by a whirlwind.

At four P.M. we left the main branch of the Athabasca, entering a small
river, called the Embarras. It is narrow and muddy, with pines of an
enormous size on its banks. Some of them are two hundred feet high, and
three or four feet in diameter. At nine P.M. we landed and encamped; but
finding ourselves in a nest of musquitoes, we continued our journey
before day-break; and at eight A.M., emerged into the Athabasca Lake. A
strong wind agitated this sea of fresh water, which, however, we crossed
without any accident, and landed on the north side of it, at Fort
Chipewyan; where we had the satisfaction of finding our companions in
good health, and of experiencing that sympathy in ou