CHAPTER II.
Lesser Slave River And Lesser Slave Lake.
It is unnecessary to inform the average reader that the Lesser Slave River connects the Lesser Slave Lake with the Athabasca; any atlas will satisfy him upon that point.

But its peculiar colouring he will not find there, and it is this which gives the river its most distinctive character.

Once seen, it is easy to account for the hue of the Athabasca below the Lesser Slave River; for the water of the latter, though of a pale yellow colour in a glass, is of a rich burnt umber in the stream, and when blown upon by the wind turns its sparkling facets to the sun like the smile upon the cheek of a brunette.

Its upward course is like a continuous letter S with occasional S's side by side, so that a point can be crossed on foot in a few minutes which would cost much time to go around.

Its proper name, too, is not to be found in the atlases, either English or French.