Beyond it the hills disappeared and the banks were no longer visible above the trees.

The river carries away yearly large portions of soil which increases its breadth and diminishes its depth, rendering the water so muddy as to be scarcely drinkable.

Whole forests of timber are drifted down the stream and choke up the channels between the islands at its mouth.

We observed the traces of herds of buffaloes where they had crossed the river, the trees being trodden down and strewed as if by a whirlwind.
At four P.M.we left the main branch of the Athabasca, entering a small river called the Embarras.

It is narrow and muddy with pines of an enormous size on its banks.