Baptiste also told us that many years ago a nugget of gold was brought to Mr. Rowand, of Edmonton, by an Indian, who stated he had found it near the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The gold was forwarded to the Company in England, and the Indian strictly enjoined to tell no man, lest something evil should happen unto him. At Jack Fish Lake we met Gaytchi Mohkamarn and some Wood Crees of our acquaintance. The former apologised for eating our meat in the winter, urging the dire necessity which compelled him. After accompanying us for a day, they left us, seeming really sorry that they would see us no more. The principal difficulty we met with in this part of our journey was the crossing of rivers, which were now bank full from the melted snows. We generally adopted the plan of making a small raft, on which one of us crossed; then, with a rope from either bank, we hauled the raft backwards and forwards, until the baggage was all ferried over. The horses were made to swim the stream, and the carts dragged across. This we found rather miserable work, standing up to our knees in the icy water, sometimes in the chilly evening, or the raw cold of early morning. One river we crossed on a narrow bridge of ice which had not yet broken up. A large fissure extended down the middle, through which we could see the waters boiling along beneath. Taking the wheels off one of the carts, we pushed the body before us on the ice, and placed it as a bridge across the dangerous portion. As we removed the cart, when everything had been brought over, the ice broke up in great masses, which were whirled away down stream, and in a few minutes the river was open. Some days before we reached Fort Pitt, we were overtaken by a party of the Company’s men from Carlton, who accompanied us for the rest of the journey. They travelled on foot, and their baggage was carried on “travailles,” drawn by dogs. A “travaille” is an Indian contrivance, consisting of two poles fastened together at an acute angle, with cross-bars between. The point of the angle rests upon the back of the dog or horse, the diverging ends of the poles drag along the ground, and the baggage is tied on to the cross-bars. The Indians use these contrivances instead of carts. The new-comers were out of provisions and ammunition, and depended upon our liberality for subsistence. We had little left, and had to work hard to kill a sufficient number of ducks and prairie chickens, for ten hungry men will eat a great many brace of birds.