At two p.m. they entered Great Slave River,
here three-quarters of a mile wide, and, passing Red Deer Islands
and Dog River, encountered the rapids, overcome by seven or eight
portages, from the Casette to the Portage of the Drowned, all
varying in length from seventy to eight hundred yards.
On the 21st they landed at the mouth of Salt River to lay in a
supply of salt for their journey, the deposits lying twenty-two
miles up by stream. These natural pans, or salt plains, he
describes--and the description answers for to-day--as "bounded on
the north and west by a ridge between six and seven hundred feet
high." Several salt springs issue at its foot, and spread over the
plain, which is of tenacious clay, and, evaporating in summer,
crystallize in the form of cubes. The poisson inconnu, a species
of salmon which ascends from the Arctic Ocean, is not found, he
says, above this stream. A few miles below it, however, a buffalo
plunged into the river before them, which they killed, and those
animals still frequent the region.
On the 25th of July they passed through the channel of the
Scaffold to Great Slave Lake, and, landing at Moose Deer Island,
found thereon the rival forts, of course, within striking distance
of each other, and in charge, as usual, of rival Scotsmen. At Great
Slave Lake I must part company with Franklin's Journal, since our
own negotiations only extended to its south shores.
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