Volume 1

TURTLE MOUNTAIN SIGHTED AND NOTED. 309
wood. From our camp we have a good view of Turtle
mountain," about eight leagues E. of us. Our most
direct route would have been along the W. extremity of
that mountain
;
but we had been informed that a number
of Crees and Assiniboines were tented there, who would
certainly steal our horses if they could—even pillage, and,
perhaps, murder us, as they disapprove of our taking arms
and ammunition to the Missourie to supply the natives
there, with whom they are often at war. We, therefore,
thought it prudent to make this circuit to avoid them. It
is called 30 leagues from the establishment on the Assiniboine
to our present camp.
We kept watch all night, each in turn. Some herds
of buffalo passed near us ;
the noise they made startled our
horses and made them uneasy for the night ; they appeared
in one body from E. to W., on a quick pace, as 'if
lately chased by horsemen.
July i6th. At daybreak we saddled, but, on mounting, I
found my seat very uncomfortable, having a blister the size
of a hen's ^gg under each thigh, occasioned by the excessive
heat of yesterday and the continual friction between my
saddle and leather trousers. The horse I rode was a cruel
beast, with the worst trot I ever saw ; both blisters burst
soon, and I was in great pain.
''^The distance of Turtle mt. from Mouse r., on the parallel of 49° N., is
20 m. Henry's camp is further N., and consequently at a little greater distance.
Though Turtle mt. is by far the most conspicuous object in this region,
its actual elevation at the highest point is only 500 feet above the general level
of the country. It lies diagonally across the parallel of 49°, with about onethird
of its extent in the British Possessions ; the width of the mountain from
E. to W., along the line of the boundary, is 34 ni.; its greatest length, from
N. W. to S. E., is considerably more. The ascent on the E. is very gradual,
but on the W. the acclivity is quite abrupt, and one descends quickly into the
valley of Mouse r. Two special points near the S. W. border of the mountain
are known as Bear Butte and Butte St. Paul. The mountain is simply a mass
of drift, heavily wooded ; the surface is dotted with many little lakes, one of
the largest of which, on the line of the boundary, and more than a
mile wide,
is Lake Farquhar, so-called for the late Major F. U. Farquhar, U. S. A., chief
astronomer of the U. S. Northern Boundary Survey, before that position was
held by the late Major William J. Twining, U. S. A.