Old Bow Fort to Fort Edmonton.

'By mid-day we arrived at Old Bow Fort (a deserted settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company), all heartily glad to leave the mountains, amidst whose rugged passes we have lost three horses, and seen most of the others become walking skeletons, footsore and feeble; where we have consumed all our provisions, and endured much unseasonable cold.

'For my own part, I entirely share in the general joy. Grand as is the scenery of the Athabasca mountains, it has fallen short of my expectations, which looked for sky-piercing peaks and heights towering above the clouds, features by no means often discoverable even in the remoter ranges among which we travelled.' [The valleys we had passed through being some 5000 feet above the sea, the mountains, as seen from them, lose to that extent in height as well as in grandeur of character; thus elevations twice as great as Ben Nevis show hardly larger than the loftier among the Scottish or English hills, while ranges far higher than the rest do not exceed 7000 to 8000 feet in apparent altitude. According to the Government Exploring Expedition, the peak immediately above Kootenai Plain (no way remarkable so far as I remember) is 8913 feet high; while nearly opposite. Mount Murchison (below which our track led us on the 21st of September) rises to a height of 15,789 feet, considerably surpassing Mont Blanc. Old Bow Fort, outside the mountains, and at the edge of the plains, is 4100 feet above the sea, nearly equaling Ben Nevis, the highest point in Great Britain.]

'Then my anticipations of sport have been greatly disappointed. Instead of the hundreds of grizzly bears I had been led to expect, I have only seen one, and that at a distance.' [Unless disturbed in their hiding places, bears are seldom seen except at early dawn. By knowing this I might have had better sport, for there were plenty of grizzlies about, to judge from their numerous tracks. I half think that my people were not zealous in the matter, dreading the risk - for me more than themselves - in a country so far from help in case of accident.] ' Instead of white goats crowning every rocky height, or reposing in herds on the sunny slopes of the lower hills, I have seen but a few scattered bands, and only got two indifferent specimens, after toil that has left me so weak that I can scarcely carry my rifle. With the grey sheep only have I been fortunate; and there also my success was obtained with great labour, except on two occasions.

'Every deerstalker knows the effort of climbing the first hill to get command over the ground, but be it remembered that in these mountains merely to reach the foot of the precipices is a very steep ascent of more than a mile, made doubly difficult by the roughness of the ground and the quantity of thick brush and fallen timber through which a way has to be forced. And then, towering above you, there are hundreds of feet of bare and often slippery crags, which cannot be scaled without taxing every muscle to the uttermost. On the 1st of September, I entered the mountains with joy, on the 1st of October I leave them with greater joy.'

[Feelings scarcely comprehended at the time - of relief at throwing off leaden bondage, of warmth and brightness, of life and joy and freedom - were swelling in every heart. There is something appalling in the gloom of the deep mountain valleys which had so long been our home, confined within tremendous barriers of unmitigated rock, = a gloom most horrible when storms and mists prevail, and not altogether absent when the sun is pouring down wide floods of cheerfulness.

Words cannot describe the desolation of the cold grey dawn in these rock-bound valleys when heavy frost grapples the whole face of the earth, and nothing stirs with a full and energetic vitality except invisible creeping chills. The very mass and vastness of the mountains depress and daunt the soul; scarcely can you look up at the blue sky without some portentous object sternly frowning down your gaze. You feel yourself imprisoned under some mighty ogre's sway; the unassailable, prodigious potencies that beset you all around crush out your courage, "o'ercrow your spirit" quite. In leaving the mountains, we seemed to me to resemble the band of travellers in The Pilgrim's Progress, making their glad escape from Doubting Castle, the stronghold of that evil tyrant Giant Despair.]

'The ruins of Bow Fort stand on a high bank overhanging the river, here very rapid and about fifty yards wide. Looking eastward down the vale, the eye ranges far over extensive prairies, bounded by low hills, whose features are partly hidden by a few small woods occupying their slopes and spreading into the valleys beneath. The colours of the foliage were most lovely in rich autumnal tints, - gold, olive, green, and crimson, according to the different varieties of trees that were grouped into clumps, or mingled together in the groves.

'The plains are all strewn with skulls and other vestiges of the buffalo, which came up this river last year in great numbers. They were once common in the mountains. At the Kootanie Plain I observed some of their wallowing - places,* and even so high as a secluded little lake, near where the horses were taken up the ice-bank, I noticed certain traces of them. They are now rapidly disappearing everywhere: what will be the fate of the Indians, when this their chief support fails, it is painful to imagine.

'Large as were the herds I saw in July, they were nothing to what I have heard and read of, and there is reason to believe that I then beheld all the buffaloes belonging to the two Saskatchewan valleys and the intervening country, pressed from various quarters into one great host. There were none near Edmonton, none near Pitt, none near Carlton, during the whole winter, - the inhabitants meanwhile almost starving. And now I learn that the Blackfeet have been compelled to leave their usual settlements, and go far south in pursuit of their means of existence.'

As we approached Bow Fort, we were met by three Stonies, who came to inform us that the rest were encamped close by. It appeared that they had neither fresh meat nor provisions of any kind, but that "bounding-deer" (ie: Chevreuil) were plentiful in the neighbouring woods, where some of their young men were then engaged in hunting them. In the evening this party returned, having killed seven deer, upon which McKay gave them ammunition supplies, and sent them to the forest again on our account.

Antoine and I had already started on the same errand, riding Moutonne and Jasper, as we usually did when hunting or exploring together. We forded the river, which was so deep and strong as nearly to carry the horses off their legs, and then made long search among the woods and poplar clumps, but without getting a chance, though we saw five * See footnote, p. 96. + See footnote, p. 113 of the Chevreuil. It was dangerous, difficult work to recross the river, in the utter darkness that had set in by the time we reached its margin.

The water had somewhat risen since our former crossing and now came well above our knees, freezing our blood with its icy chill. Jasper's great strength made up for his want of size, and he contrived to hold his own, but, between the weight of the current and the darkness, we drifted out of the true line, and it seemed a very long journey before we landed on the opposite side.

Toma, and others of the party, had been fishing while we were away, baiting their hooks with pieces of raw meat, and had managed to catch fourteen fine trout, some of them as heavy as several pounds apiece. They were in excellent order and made an agreeable change in our rather monotonous suppers.

October 2nd. - A tremendous north-westerly gale blew the whole night long. Being in a high and much-exposed situation we were quite unsheltered from its fury, and it beat upon us with terrific violence. My tent soon saw signs of yielding to the strain; presently one of the poles broke across, and everything fell in a heap upon my body. No step could be taken to repair damages amidst the darkness and the raging storm, so I was doomed to pass a most uncomfortable night, feeling much as if beneath a gigantic fan, as the canvas flapped steadily to and fro, and drove eddies of air through every covering I could devise.

On searching about near the fort, we had found the remains of a number of carts, left behind by Captain Blakiston and different American travellers, preparatory to making their entrance into the mountains; and, as many parts of these build vehicles were still in fair order, McKay proposed that we should ourselves new ones out of the fragments. Pack saddles are the only conveyance adapted for mountain work, but in the plains carts are far preferable, one horse being able to draw more than two can carry; besides which, the time occupied in removing the packs at every halt is saved, and the men are relieved from the labour of tying and untying all the leather thongs, a troublesome and difficult job in wet or frosty weather.

We hoped to have found harness also, but they were disappointed, for the cache made by Captain Blakiston had been opened, and everything carried off. Matheson (having belonged to that party) had been present when the things were stored away, and perfectly remembered the place, - indeed we found a board with written directions, which would have guided us sufficiently had he been mistaken. This mattered little, however, for McKay at once engaged to make harnesses as well as carts. He was as good as his word; by mid-day, his work was finished, and we had the * pleasure of seeing three carts and their harness all complete; the whole skillfully put together in a few hours by my handy men, who had a knack of overcoming all difficulties, and making everything out of nothing at the shortest notice. [One of my shooting boots having been cut by the rocks, Kline mended it as firmly as any professional cobbler could have done; he also repaired my telescope case in the same workmanlike manner.]

The storm having abated, we marched a few miles to a more sheltered place; where all the Indians presently joined us, forming their encampment close to mine. Soon afterwards the hunters came in, and brought us five Chevreuils and a goose, as the produce of our ammunition, so we were once again abundantly supplied.

While some of the older Indians were talking with us, I happened to notice a pipe, which one of the headmen was holding in his hand. It was neatly carved out of black slate-like stone, though the stem was merely a rough piece of fir. On hearing that I admired it, the owner immediately presented it to me with the most obliging politeness. I afterwards gave him in return some things that I found him to be in want of, adding two pairs of my own woollen socks, which he received with interest, though evidently puzzled as to their exact use.

'At night a bell was rung in the Assiniboine camp, and the Indians all joined in singing hymns, as they do every night. The service lasted some time. It was a sort of chant, the men and women occasionally singing in parts. Their preacher is an aged and venerable man. He learned Christianity from another Indian, I believe, but his gift of preaching is entirely self-developed. Mr. Woolsey had since occasionally visited these people, who, as far as I could learn, are now well instructed in the Christian faith, and certainly carry out its precepts in their lives.'*

October 3rd. - The Indians' dogs were exceedingly trouble-some all night long, making continual attempts to carry off our fresh meat, which was their particular attraction. Woke by these intruders several times, I went out and drove them away, but they always came back again as impudently as ever. There was a thin coating of snow on the ground this morning, the result of an easterly wind that began after the great gale had spent its force.'

I had been considering what I could do for these poor and most worthy Indians, and a plan having occurred to me, I sent for the chief man, and spoke to him as follows - McKay interpreting. I said - that I was very glad to have met them, and much pleased by the kindness with which they had received and helped me; that it also made me glad to find that they were Christians, and so well remembered what they had been taught; that God never failed to help those who put their trust in him, and that He had put it into my heart to them some good; that I had not much with me here, but that if they would send with my party two of their young men, with spare horses and packs, as far as Edmonton, they should return with a supply of blankets, ammunition, and such other things as they wanted, which I would give them as a token of friendship and goodwill.

'The Assiniboine's were much delighted, and gratefully accepted my offer, expressing their thankfulness in broken words.

'This plan, I think, promises well. Apart from the duty and pleasure of helping these really poor people, I feel that to them we owe our rescue from great privations, if not starvation itself; and though, as it happened, I was able to pay for all we got, I am satisfied that had we been destitute there would have been no difference in their liberality. The men who accompany us will hunt for us on the way, and their spare horses will also be serviceable, so that they may freely receive whatever I send them without feeling themselves recipients of charity. So small a sum, indeed, will suffice to make these few families happy, that the circumstances alone make the matter worth noting.'

Poor as they were, these Indians had a farm, on which they grew different sorts of vegetables. We got some turnips from them, which were pretty good, though not of large size.

The old preacher happened to say that he had never seen a likeness of Queen Victoria, I gave him a half-crown piece that bore Her Majesty's image, which excited great admiration. At the same time, I divided a few trinkets among the women.

We did very little about horses, only arranging to leave one of the Edmonton animals, which was nearly giving out, in exchange for a strong black mare; paying for two blankets and some other things besides, and engaging to send the owner a third blanket (which he particularly asked might be a green one) on the return of the messengers. Before we left I made a trifling purchase from two of the Stonies, buying from one a was beaded knife sheath, and a beaded fire-bag from the other, which, though worn and dirty, and not remarkable in pattern, I glad to have as specimens of their commoner work.

The snow had nearly disappeared, we now struck our tents, and made a short afternoon march of two or three miles, putting ourselves beyond the reach of the troublesome Indian dogs. This enabled us to freeze all our venison by setting it out in the open air during the night - Whisky muzzled in consequence, to his great disgust.

October 4th. - The two Stonies who were to accompany us joined us this morning: one of them, we found, had lately been in Dr. Hector's employ. I was much struck by the beauty of their hands, which seemed to me the smallest and shapeliest I had ever beheld on men. Perhaps this special handsomeness only belonged to one particular Assiniboine band, for no other Indians known to me approached them in that respect.

Another young man also added himself to our party, intending to ride with us a short distance. He was accompanied by his wife, who was certainly the prettiest Indian woman I had yet had a chance of seeing. Instead of being lean, fat, and bony, she was plump and well-proportioned in figure; her features were good, though a little thick; her expression was remarkably pleasant and good-humoured. Below her under lip three blue perpendicular lines, about an inch in length, were tattooed with much care and distinctness.

Before we had gone many miles we observed a large party approaching us on the open plain. "We supposed them to be Blackfeet, and as they were on bad terms with the Stonies, all of us loaded and prepared for a fight. The three Indians then rode forward with myself and two others to reconnoitre; and, to my amusement, as soon as we left the rest, the pretty young woman pushed briskly on and joined us, evidently considering her husband's side by far the safest place when danger threatened.

We soon made out the enemy to be nothing but a company of Americans, bound for Fraser's River. Mr. Hind, whom I had met on the 9th of August, was among the number, having fallen in with his present companions at Fort Carlton. Mr. Colville - brother of Sheriff Colville of St. Paul, Mr. Dickman, Mr. Reid, and two or three others whose names I did not learn, made up the whole brigade. There were two very fine mules, of immense size, in their band, but having rather too few horses, they had already been twelve days on the road from Edmonton, which was poor travelling.

'It was an agreeable and useful meeting on both sides. They liberally supplied us with salt, flour, rice, dried apples, etc., as far as they could, and we, in return, gave them tobacco, fresh meat, a moose skin, and a shoeing hammer. Besides this, Matheson shod several of their horses. We also engaged one of the Stonies for them as a guide over part of the mountains, an arrangement they could not have made for themselves, having no interpreter, and speaking no Indian language.

'We dined together, then parted with many kind wishes and farewells, and went on our ways rejoicing.'

After this, we made a good march over a prairie country and camped for the night in a hollow between two hills. On the way, we saw several bounding deer and four wolves. It was fine winter weather: bright sunshine and hard frost. The Pleiades and Aldebaran were now visible after sunset.

October 5th. - Intense frost. Rose before break of day, and travelled through hilly prairies interspersed with a few small poplar woods, till we came to Dog River, an insignificant stream, where we halted to partake of our breakfast-dinner. The Stonies, who had been hunting all the morning, now rejoined us, bringing in one black-tailed deer. They had killed four others, but left them, too heavy to carry.

'We spoke about sending for this quantity of meat, but they laughed at the notion. "What's the use?" they said; "there are plenty more deer on the road, - easy to get, as they are not much hunted hereabouts."

'This is an illustration of Indian improvidence: these Stonies, on their own hunting grounds, needlessly destroy the game, knowing that the scarceness of game in most of the surrounding country had often brought people to the verge of starvation, - that this very year the Jasper's House hunters had been obliged to go elsewhere in search of sustenance.

'With the buffalo, it is the same kill, kill, kill. All year round the Indians hunt and slaughter them, and in the winter they drive them into "pounds" by hundreds at a time, and murder every' beast in the enclosures, male and female, young or old, usable or useless. Such waste will soon bring its bitter punishment.'

October 6th. - Made a very long march over an undulating country, and halted for dinner a good deal later than usual, owing to the difficulty of finding wood and water. The same cause obliged us to travel on for an hour after dark; the moon, however, gave some little light, though obscured by clouds. Shot two young muskrats at the edge of the quiet pool beside which we were camping, and had them cooked as part of supper. I thought them rather good, 'like rabbits, with a duck flavour.' They are not real rats, but more of the beaver tribe, living entirely on vegetable food.* Shot also several prairie fowl in the course of the day.

October 7th. - The country became more hilly as we approached the Red Deer River. Again we had to march for an hour in the dark, camping for the night near a swampy piece of water about a mile off the regular track. A flock of wild swans rose from a lake as we passed by, soared upwards, and streamed away into the distance in a long and waving line. I watched the beautiful creatures till they were so far off as to seem like a white ribbon floating across the deep indigo-blue of the evening sky.

October 8th. - Another change in the weather; yesterday it was very warm with a hot sun, today the wind blew from the north, and it was bitterly cold. There were plenty of varieties of wildfowl in the lakes and pools. Short stalked and shot a swan this morning before breakfast, and a goose and a duck were brought in by the hunters at the same time. We also saw several rabbits - as they are called, though more resembling the Scotch mountain hare. They were but poor eating, like a particularly tasteless rabbit of the common kind.*

After leaving camp, a few miles brought us to Red Deer River; we had a considerable march, however, along its course before reaching the crossing place at the bend. At that point the stream was nearly 100 yards wide, being spread over gravelly shallows, but elsewhere it averaged only half that width, in its then low and empty condition.

Shooting at some ducks near the river, I started a black bear, to which McKay and I gave chase, and ran him pretty hard. Old Cendre went well, but the bear doubled so craftily in the brushwood, that we could never get near him, and at length, he escaped us altogether.

Camped at Blind River, eight miles from the Red Deer River Ford.

Sunday, October 9th. - Slight snow-storm at night; very cold north-west wind. Short made another successful stalk, and brought in two fine young swans.

'The dogs caught a curious animal, like a large dormouse. [Beyond the facts that it was about the size of a small common rat, or of a very large thick-set mouse, and had conspicuous pouches on the sides of its head, I do not distinctly remember the appearance of this animal, but my impression is that its colour was a brownish grey, and its tail was hairy, and of no great length. I took its skin as a specimen but unfortunately lost it in the course of the journey.

From Sir John Richardson's work, I gather the following particulars regarding the class of animal to which it might no doubt be assigned. There are two genera of Sand-rats, - belonging to one or other of which are at least six or seven distinct species, - the one classified by some naturalists as Geomys, the other as Diplostoma: "The sand rats belonging to the former having cheek-pouches, which are filled from within the mouth, and the gauffres or camas-rats of the latter genus having their cheek-pouches exterior to the mouth, and entirely unconnected with its cavity." Both these genera are of burrowing habits, but while the rat of the geomys tribe appears to use its pouches only as a receptacle for the acorns, nuts, roots, plants, etc., that form its food, with the diplostoma rat " these pouches serve the purpose of bags for carrying the earth out of their holes. They are filled with the foreclaws, and emptied at the mouth of the hole by a power which the animal possesses of ejecting the pouches from each cheek, in the manner that a cap or stocking is turned." - Faun. Bor.-Am., vol. i. pp. 197-209.]

'Bears feed almost entirely on roots and, mice, and besides eating the latter, they dig up and devour the hoards of seed which the poor little creatures collect for their winter use. Strange, such a huge beast as a grizzly bear feeding on a mouse! A moose is more what one would expect.'

October 10th. - Crossed Battle River before dinner, and camped in the middle of a large plain. Ducks and prairie fowl in great numbers. The moon appeared tonight with a luminous ring around her, enclosing also the greater part of the eastern sky; it was of clear light and showed no prismatic colouring.

October 11th. - Marched before sunrise. The morning, as usual, was very frosty and cold; succeeded by a cool, cloudy day. Before dinner, we arrived at the point where the Blackfoot track to Edmonton strikes into the road we were travelling. Near this place Brun Farouche gave out; he had been ill for some time, and "had latterly been spared from carrying his load; he now became too weak to follow us anymore, so we had to leave him to his fate.

On coming to Pike Creek we found that the beavers had dammed it up below the track, making the water so deep as to oblige us to raise all the baggage in the carts, by supporting it on poles laid across. While this arrangement was in progress, I went to look at the dams, and near the uppermost observed several trees of eight inches diameter lying prostrate, cut down by the knife-like teeth of the beavers; other good-sized trees were approaching their fall, being gashed with large nicks almost to the centre.

Having passed Pike Creek, we had a disagreeable journey over some twelve miles of recently burnt country, and camped at length in a wilderness of brush, after an unusually long march - of not less than thirty-five miles. As we pitched, the tents, a little foal, left behind by some former travellers, emerged from the thicket and came trotting up to our horses, with whom he joined company, delighted to find himself with friends of his race.

'It was a beautiful sight to watch the full orb of the sun sinking in the west amidst clouds of black, purple, orange, and gold, while the full orb of the moon rose in the opposite heavens amidst clouds of purple, lilac, pink, and amber, - the two great cloud masses exactly balanced in size, and correspondent in colour, though the former was reflected by the latter in feebler and softer hues.

'Several ducks and prairie fowl were shot today, which, with the remains of the Americans' rice, served for our supper: we were then left without a vestige of provisions, except a handful of flour and 3 lbs. of mouldy pemmican.

October 12th. - 'Some of the men started very early and went forward to shoot game, and, as we proceeded on our march, we were constantly coming upon the ducks and rabbits they had killed and left hanging on conspicuous branches for our benefit. I could not help thinking of the commonplace phrase - You see your dinner: and this well-seen dinner was well eaten, to the very last atom, at White Mud River, where we halted to rest, after about four hours' travelling.

'As were now near Edmonton we all made ourselves clean and smart as we could, and, these preparations finished, two hours more brought us to the Fort, where flying colours and cannon salutes gave us the first part of the cordial welcome that greeted our return.

'Mr. Christie, who is now in charge, received me with the utmost kindness and hospitality. I had also the pleasure of meeting again the Rev. M. Le Train from St. Ann and Mr. Macaulay from Fort Pitt. Mr. Brazeau has gone to Rocky Mountain House, and Mr. Woolsey is engaged in a missionary tour.

'There is a wonderful improvement in the Fort. Order and cleanliness everywhere prevail. . . . It is delightful to be again enjoying some of the comforts of civilization, - such as wine, well-made coffee, vegetables, cream tarts, and other good things too many to mention.

'Some of Captain Palliser's men have just returned, and report his safe arrival at Fort Colville. They bring the worst account of Fraser's River, - neither gold nor food to be got.

'No very late news from Europe: the latest speak of a great battle being imminent, between the Austrians and the united French and Sardinian armies.

'Poor Rowand has died. Swimming the river probably killed him, the cold being too much for him in his reduced condition.'

October 13th. - This morning I settled with Munroe and Antoine Blandoine, giving each a small remembrance as a token of goodwill. To the worthy old hunter, however, I was glad to make a further present as a mark of more particular regard, and we parted with very real signs of regret on his part, - which I entirely reciprocated, for a more honest, excellent man it would be impossible to meet with anywhere.

I then had all the horses brought together, and after a careful inspection with McKay, decided to leave eleven; among which I regretted having to include the fine chestnut bought from the Stonies at Bow River, as an internal illness had suddenly seized him about three days before, and reduced him to mere skin and bone. It was arranged that Mr. Christie should take over these horses for the Company, and enter them to my credit as a balance against those supplied to me on different occasions, rating the whole of them at a certain account, therefore, now stood as below average value. Showing a balance of two in my favour.

I had now only nine horses, besides the six left at Carlton in July, as the following statement will explain.

October 14th - 'Took leave of the Assiniboine's this morning, giving them their present, with the following letter to their people:

'My Friends - I send you some things as I promised. There are . . . blankets. The green one is for the man from whom I got the black mare, the others are to be given to the two old men to be divided among your families. I also send . . . bullets, with powder; . . . knives, a packet of tobacco, and . . . kettles, to be distributed in the same way. The three caps are for the two old men and the old man who preaches. have given three blankets, some clothes, a shirt, . . . bullets, and some tobacco to the three men who came here, - for themselves.

'I hope you will take care not to waste the ammunition.

'I trust God may grant you health and prosperity: and I shall always remain your friend, Southesk.'

[In a letter from the Rev. Mr. Settee (with whom, as it will be seen, I afterwards became acquainted at Fort Pelly), dated January 11, 1871, I received the sad news that smallpox had carried off the whole camp of these poor Mountain Stonies. The disease first appeared in the Saskatchewan district about July, 1870, and made terrible ravages among the Indian tribes.]

That afternoon I sent off all the horses to Carlton, in charge of Kline and Lagrace. My plan, as finally arranged, was to travel there by river in one of the Company's large boats, which, under ordinary circumstances, is by far the quickest and easiest way. I hoped to hire six more horses at that fort, which, with those left in summer, would enable me to reach Fort Pelly, where it was considered that dog trains were most likely to be found. If all went well, I expected to arrive at Carlton about the end of that month, and at Fort Garry towards the beginning of December.

Sunday, October 16th. - [A ridiculous thing happened this morning. I was in the act of washing myself in my India rubber bath, when suddenly the door flew open, and two splendidly dressed Indians walked into the room as if the whole place belonged to them, but on seeing me they stopped and stared with all their might. We stared at one another for a moment, then a radiant smile came over their faces, and there was a general laugh, after which I continued my sponging, to their evident wonder and amazement. What they thought of the ceremony I never happened to find out.]

These men were envoys from the Blackfeet, sent as fore-runners, according to the custom, to announce the near approach of the whole tribe, who were coming on the following Tuesday, under the leadership of the chiefs Nahtooss and Bull-head, to pay their annual autumn visit to the Fort.

Everyone agreed in speaking of these arrivals as very picturesque and interesting displays, and much did I regret being unable to stay for the occasion, but the lateness of the season prevented me. Even a day was precious just now, there being barely time to reach Fort Carlton before the period at which the river generally freezes up; and the state of the weather increased our anxiety to set off, for the cold was severer than usual at this date, and a heavy fall of snow had occurred on Friday night.