ty of getting the boats over the rapids was equal to what we
experienced the day before. Having passed a small brook however, termed
Halfway Creek, the river became deeper and although rapid it was smooth
enough to be named by our Orkney boatmen Stillwater. We were further
relieved by the Company's clerks consenting to take a few boxes of our
stores into their boats. Still we made only eleven miles in the course of
the day.

The banks of Hill River are higher and have a more broken outline than
those of Steel or Hayes Rivers. The cliffs of alluvial clay rose in some
places to the height of eighty or ninety feet above the stream and were
surmounted by hills about two hundred feet high, but the thickness of the
wood prevented us from seeing far beyond the mere banks of the river.

September 17.

About half-past five in the morning we commenced tracking and soon came
to a ridge of rock which extended across the stream. From this place the
boat was dragged up several narrow rocky channels until we came to the
Rock Portage where the stream, pent in by a range of small islands, forms
several cascades. In ascending the river the boats with their cargoes are
carried over one of the islands, but in the descent they are shot down
the most shelving of the cascades. Having performed the operations of
carrying, launching, and restowing the cargo we plied the oars for a
short distance and landed at a depot called Rock House. Here we were
informed that the rapids in the upper parts of Hill River were much worse
and more numerous than those we had passed, particularly in the present
season owing to the unusual lowness of the water. This intelligence was
very mortifying, especially as the gentlemen in charge of the Company's
boats declared that they were unable to carry any part of our stores
beyond this place; and the traders, guides, and most experienced of the
boatmen were of opinion that, unless our boat was still further
lightened, the winter would put a stop to our progress before we could
reach Cumberland House or any eligible post. Sixteen pieces we therefore
necessarily left with Mr. Bunn, the gentleman in charge of the post, to
be forwarded by the Athabasca canoes next season, this being their place
of rendezvous.

After this we recommenced our voyage and, having pulled nearly a mile,
arrived at Borrowick's Fall, where the boat was dragged up with a line
after part of the cargo had been carried over a small portage. From th