CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
THE VOYAGE INTERRUPTED.
About ten days' rapid travelling down the Elk River brought our partyinto the Athabasca Lake--sometimes called the "Lake of the Hills." Thisis another of those great bodies of fresh water that lie between theprimitive rocks of the "Barren Grounds," and the more fertile limestonedeposit upon the west. It is nearly two hundred miles long from west toeast, and is only fifteen miles in breadth, but in some places it is sonarrow and full of islands that it looks more like a broad river than alake. Its shores and many of its islands are thickly wooded,particularly upon the southern and western edges; and the eye of thetraveller is delighted with many a beautiful vista as he passes along.But our voyageurs took little heed of these things. A gloom had comeover their spirits, for one of their party had taken ill, and wassuffering from a painful and dangerous disease--an intermittent fever.It was Lucien--he that was beloved by all of them. He had beencomplaining for several days--even while admiring the fair scenery ofthe romantic Elk--but every day he had been getting worse, until, ontheir arrival at the lake, he declared himself no longer able to travel.It became necessary, therefore, to suspend their journey; and choosinga place for their camp, they made arrangements to remain until Lucienshould recover. They built a small log-hut for the invalid, and dideverything to make him as comfortable as possible. The best skins werespread for his couch; and cooling drinks were brewed for him from roots,fruits, and berries, in the way he had already taught his companions toprepare them. Every day Francois went forth with his gun, and returnedwith a pair of young pigeons, or a wood-partridge, or a brace of thebeautiful ruffed grouse; and out of these he would make delicate soups,which he was the better able to do as they had procured salt, pepper,and other ingredients, at the Fort. They had also brought with them astock of tea--the real China tea--and sugar; and as the quantity of bothwas but small, this luxurious beverage was made exclusively for Lucien,and was found by him exceedingly beneficial during his illness.
To the great joy of all the invalid was at length restored to health,and the canoe being once more launched and freighted, they continuedtheir journey.
They coasted along the shores of the lake, and entered the Great SlaveRiver, which runs from the Athabasca into the Great Slave Lake. Theysoon came to the mouth of another large river, called the Peace. Thisruns into the Great Slave a short distance below Lake Athabasca, and,strange to say, the sources of the Peace River lie upon the _western_side of the Rocky Mountains, so that this stream actually runs acrossthe mountain-chain! It passes through the mountains in a succession ofdeep gorges, which are terrible to behold. On both sides dizzy cliffsand snow-capped peaks rise thousands of feet above its rocky bed, andthe scenery is cold and desolate. Its head-waters interlock with thoseof several streams that run into the Pacific; so that, had our voyageurswished to travel to the shores of that ocean, they might have done so intheir birch-bark canoe nearly the whole of the way. But this was nottheir design at present, so they passed the _debouchure_ of the Peace,and kept on for the Great Slave Lake. They were still upon the samewater as the Elk, for the Great Slave is only another name for that partof the river lying between the two lakes--Athabasca and Great Slave. Ofcourse the river had now become much larger by the influx of the Peace,and they were travelling upon the bosom of a magnificent stream, withvaried scenery upon its banks. They were not so happy, however, as whendescending the Elk--not but that they were all in good health, forLucien had grown quite strong again. No, it was not any want of healththat rendered them less cheerful. It was the prospect before them--theprospect of coming winter, which they now felt certain would arrivebefore they had got to the end of their journey. The delay of nearly amonth, occasioned by Lucien's illness, had deranged all theircalculations; and they had no longer any hope of being able to finishtheir voyage in what remained of the short summer. The ice would soonmake its appearance; the lakes and rivers would be frozen up; they couldno longer navigate them in their canoe. To travel afoot would be a mostlaborious undertaking, as well as perilous in an extreme degree. Inthis way it is only possible to carry a very small quantity ofprovisions--for the traveller is compelled to load himself withskin-clothing in order to keep out the cold. The chances of procuringgame by the way in that season are precarious, and not to be dependedupon. Most of the birds and many of the quadrupeds migrate to moresouthern regions; and those that remain are shy and rare. Besides,great snow-storms are to be encountered, in which the traveller is indanger of getting "smoored." The earth is buried under a deep coveringof snow, and to pass over this while soft is difficult, and at timesquite impossible. All these circumstances were known to our youngvoyageurs--to Norman better than any of them--and of course the prospectwas a cheerless one--much more so than those unacquainted with thewinter of these dreary regions would be willing to believe.
It was the month of August, near its end, when they reached the GreatSlave Lake, in the latitude of 62 degrees. The days had now become veryshort, and their journeys grew short in proportion. They alreadyexperienced weather as cold as an English winter. There were slightfrosts at night--though not yet enough to cover the water with ice--andthe midday hours were hot, sometimes too hot to be comfortable. Butthis only caused them to feel the cold the more sensibly when eveningset in; and all their robes and skins were necessary to keep them warmduring the night.
The Great Slave Lake, like the Athabasca, is very long and very narrow.It extends full 260 miles from east to west, but at its widest part isnot over thirty, and in some places much less. Along its northernshores lies the edge of the "Barren Grounds," and there nothing meetsthe eye but bleak and naked hills of primitive rock. On its southernside the geology is entirely of a different character. There thelimestone prevails, and scarcely anything that deserves the name of hillis to be seen. There are fine forests too, in which poplars, pines, andbirches, are the principal trees. The lake is filled with islands, manyof which are wholly or partially covered with timber of these kinds, andwillows also are abundant. There are fish of several species in itswaters, which are in many places of great depth--sixty fathoms deep--andin some of the islands, and around the wooded shores, game exists inabundance in the summer season. Even in winter it is not scarce, butthen it is difficult to follow it on account of the deep snow. Many ofthe animals, too, at this season become torpid, and are of course hiddenin caves and hollow trees, and even in the snow itself, where no one canfind them. Notwithstanding all this, our voyageurs knew that it wouldbe the best place for them to make their winter camp. They saw that tocomplete their journey during that season would be impossible. Even hadit been a month earlier it would have been a difficult undertaking. Ina few days winter would be upon them. They would have to stopsomewhere. There was no place where they could so safely stay as by thelake. One thing they would have there, which might not be found soplenty elsewhere, that was wood for their fire; and this was aninducement to remain by the lake. Having made up their minds,therefore, to encamp on some part of it, they looked from day to day fora place that would be most suitable, still continuing their journeytowards its western end. As yet no place appeared to their liking, andas the lake near its western point trends away towards the south, Normanproposed that they should follow the shore no longer, but strike acrossto a promontory on the northern shore of the lake, known as "SlavePoint." This promontory is of the limestone formation, and as Normanhad heard, is well wooded, and stocked with game. Even buffaloes arefound there. It is, in fact, the farthest point to the north-east thatthese animals range, and this presents us with a curious fact. It isthe farthest point that the limestone deposit extends in that direction.Beyond that, to the east and north, lie the primitive rocks of theBarren Grounds, into which the buffaloes never stray. Thus we observethe connexion that exists between the _fauna_ of a country and itsgeological character.
Of course they all agreed to Norman's proposal. The canoe was,therefore, headed for the open waters; and, af
ter a hard day'spaddling--for there was a head-wind--the voyageurs landed upon a smallwooded island, about halfway over the lake, where they encamped for thenight, intending next day to cross the remaining part.