Long moss
hung from every branch. Everything indicated a cold frigid soil. In the
act of encamping, it commenced raining, which gave a double gloom to the
place. Several species of duck were brought from the different canoes as
the result of the day's hunt.
Early the next morning we resumed the ascent. The river became narrow
and tortuous. Clumps of willow and alder lined the shore. Wherever
larger species were seen they were gray pines or tamarack. One of the
Indians killed a deer, of the species _C. Virginea_, during the morning.
Ducks were frequently disturbed as we pushed up the winding channel. The
shores were often too sedgy and wet to permit our landing, and we went
on till twelve o'clock before finding a suitable spot to breakfast.
About five o'clock we came to a high diluvial ridge of gravel and sand,
mixed with boulders of syenite, trap-rock, quartz, and sandstone.
Ozawandib, our guide, said we were near the junction of the Naiwa, or
Copper-snake River, the principal tributary of this branch of the
Mississippi, and that it was necessary to make a passage over this ridge
to avoid a formidable series of rapids.
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