Nevertheless, at last they
had "the inexpressible satisfaction of finding themselves on the
bank of a navigable river on the western side of the first great
range of mountains". Here they re-embarked, and were cheerful in
spite of heavy rain.
As they paddled down this great stream, more than two hundred yards
wide, snow-capped mountains rose immediately above the river. The
current was strong, but perfectly safe. Flocks of ducks, entirely
white, except the bill and a part of the wing, rose before them. Smoke
ascending in columns from many parts of the woods showed that the
country was well inhabited, and the air was fragrant with the strong
odour of the gum of cypress and spruce fir.
Then came a series of cascades and falls and a most arduous portage
of the heavy canoe. These labours were somewhat lightened by the
discovery of quantities of wild onions growing on the banks; but
these, when mixed with the pemmican, on which the party was
subsisting, stimulated their appetites to an inconvenient degree,
seeing that they were on short commons. Meeting with strange Indians
they found no one to interpret, and had to use signs. But on the banks
of the Fraser they were lucky enough to find the "real red deer", the
great wapiti stag, which is absent from the far north-west, beyond the
region of the Saskatchewan.
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