But on the banks of the Fraser they were lucky enough to find the "real red deer", the great wapiti stag, which is absent from the far north-west, beyond the region of the Saskatchewan.

The canoe was loaded with venison.

The banks of the Fraser River sank to a moderate height and were covered with poplars and cypresses, birch trees, junipers, alders, and willows.

The deserted house or lodge of some Amerindian tribe was visited on the banks.

It was a finer structure than anything that Mackenzie had seen since he left Fort Michili-Makinak in upper Canada.