below the mouth of the river Seignelay; but our two canoemen, in hopes of still greater gain, preferred to pass on, according to the advice I then gave them. These last Indians seeing that we carried iron and arms to their enemies, and unable to overtake us in their periaguas, which are wooden canoes, much heavier than our bark one, which went much faster than their boats, despatched some of their young men after us by land, to pierce us with their arrows at some narrow part of the river, but in vain; for soon discovering the fire made by these warriors at their ambuscade, we promptly crossed the river, gained the other side, and encamped on an island, leaving our canoe loaded and our little dog to wake us, so as to embark more expeditiously, should the Indians attempt to surprise us by swimming

In the angle formed on the south by this river, at its mouth, is a flat precipitous rock, about forty feet high, very well suited for building a fort. On the northern side, opposite the rock, and on the west side beyond the river, are fields of black earth, the end of which you can not see, all ready for cultivation, which would be very advantagious for the existence of a colony. The ice which floated down from the north kept us in this place till the 12th of March, whence we continued our route, traversing the river and sounding on all sides to see whether it was navigable. There are, indeed, three islets in the middle, near the mouth of the river Seignelay, which stop the floating wood and trees from the north, and form several large sand-bars, yet the channels are deep enough, and there is sufficient water for

barks; large flat-boats can pass there at all times.

The river Colbert (Mississippi) runs southsouthwest, and comes from the north and northwest; it runs between two chains of mountains, very small here, which wind with the river, and in some places are pretty far from the banks, so that between the mountains and the river, there are large prairies, where you often see herds of wild cattle browsing. In other places these eminences leave semi-circular spots covered with grass or wood. Beyond these mountains you discover vast plains, but the more we approach the northern side ascending, the earth did not appear to us so fertile, nor the woods so beautiful as in the Illinois country.

This great river is almost everywhere a short league in width, and in some places, two leagues; it is divided by a number of islands covered with trees, interlaced with so many vines as to be almost impassable. It receives no considerable river on the western side except that of the Olontenta and another, which comes from the west-northwest, seven or eight leagues from the Falls of St. Anthony, of Padua. On the eastern side you meet first an inconsiderable river, and then further on another, called by the Indians Ouisconsin, or Wisconsin, which comes from the east and east-northeast. Sixty leagues up you leave it, and make a portage of half a league to reach the bay of the Puans (Green bay) by another river which, near its source, meanders most curiously. It is almost as broad as the river Seignelay, or Illinois, and empties into the river Colbert, 100 leagues above the river Seignelay.

Twenty-four leagues above, you come to the Black river, called by the Nadouessious (Sioux), or Islati, Chabadeba, or Chabaoudeba, it seems inconsiderable. Thirty leagues higher up, you find the Lake of Tears (Pepin ), which we so named because the Indians who had taken us, wishing to kill us, some of them wept the whole night, to induce the others to

gun, which so surprised and startled all hands, that the canoe was nearly going over, which taught me to confine my rejoicings on future occasions to terra firma.

After proceeding a few miles the guide, who is commodore, and is responsible for all during the journey, ordered a halt and all hands to debark. A heavy rapid was before us, which must be surmounted. Among other necessary articles of the outfit was a rope about twenty yards long, one end of which was securely fastened to the prow of the canoe. Two of the men were ordered to strip to their shirts, whose duty it would be to wade to their middles up the rapids, one at the prow, the other at the stern of the canoe, to keep it clear of the rocks. The prowman or guide and steersman, each with a long pole to ward off, while the remaining five men, sometimes in the water, and sometimes on shore, to pull at the rope.

When all was ready the guide directed me to a very narrow path, which led me by the verge of a precipice, from which I had a view of the poor men below struggling against the cold rapids, which for two miles ran at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles an hour. At the end no fire was made to dry the men's clothes and warm their feet; but all was hurry and away to the camping ground, about three miles. The paddling was brisk, the song loud and lively, the water smooth, and the hungry mouths soon reached the end of their first day's journey.

till daylight, when the cook added four biscuits, broken up, to the mess, and invited all hands to breakfast. The swelling of the peas and biscuit had now filled the kettle to the brim, so thick that a stick would stand upright in it. It looked inviting, and I begged for a plate full of it, and ate little else during the journey. The men now squatted in a circle, the kettle in their midst, and each one plying his wooden spoon or ladle from kettle to mouth, with almost electric speed, soon filled every cavity. Then the pipes were soon brought into full smoke.

Our encampment being at the foot of a small fall or cascade, over which canoes and all had to be transported, the guide would not allow talking; so all was bustle, each man's duty being at every trip to carry two packages of eighty-four pounds each over the portages; and six men to carry the canoe, which counted for one trip for each of them, it remaining for them to carry a package afterwards. All was soon over, the boats re-loaded, when the paddle would again resume its strokes with the merriest songs accompanying its play. I conclude that the breakfast on pea soup, with the condition of the atmosphere, so affected the nasal organs that the men suffered intensely the first few days.

With respect to camping, cooking and scenery, there was little variation during the journey. I may, however, mention the beautiful sheet of water falling about forty or fifty feet into the Ottawa near the present city of that name, where at the time of which I write, seventy years ago, there was not even a shadow of a mansion. This fall was very properly called Le Rideau, for it has the appearance of a beautiful curtain.

ing me some fish and offering me lodgings for the night; the former I thankfully received, but preferred my tent to the latter. Parts of two days were spent in getting all things over this long portage, while the peas, pork and cakes had been considerably lessened. The second day, however, we crossed the lake and pitched our tents on the French River.

We had mounted seventeen portages, and we had to descend seventeen more to Lake Huron. The poor men were sadly worn out with the roughness of the last carrying place, and the guide considerately brought to an hour earlier than usual to give them a good rest and an opportunity to wash, a business in which they had thus far spent little time and lesser soap. The only time I tried the experiment of carrying packages was at the last long portage, where I got the guide to tie a pair of strings to a bag of biscuits and load me with it; but it swayed about, and being top heavy, I could not walk steady. Before proceeding twenty yards down I came with the bag in the mud. The men ran to unharness me, and laughed to see me enjoy the fun.

The next morning the sun stepped forth, and with our paddles and songs we merrily left the lake behind us. How many days it took to reach Lake Nipissing from Lachine, or from Nipissing to Lake Huron, I know not, neither is it of any importance to past generations; but of this I am sure, that in due time we reached Lake Huron, and the keenness of the air of that broad sheet of pure water was felt night and day; and even at this distant period of seventy years, my probocis takes offense at its sufferings at that time.

After getting over those seventeen portages, and running sundry rapids, at times going at the rate of ten knots an hour, we at length reached the big lake; and again, after paddling and working many days, we landed on Grosse island, within nine miles of Mes-she-mic-kanock, the Big Turtle; corrupted into Michilimackinac, and finally into Mackinaw.

The traverse being long and dangerous, it was deemed imprudent to undertake it with our full load; and it being late in the day, the guide concluded to encamp, and have everything ready for an early start in the morning. When the morning came I volunteered to guard the baggage at one end of the portage, enabling all hands to engage in the transportation of the goods and canoes; but here I was too desirous of reaching the end of this long journey, and would not stay. In this I was wrong, for one of the men had to remain in charge of the half loads necessarily left, thereby weakening the carrying force, which might have proved serious had a high wind occurred. However, all was safe over and in store by sunset.

Here, then, I was in Mackinaw, truly a stranger in a strange land. I knew no one, and my only care was to perform such duties as might be allotted to me without a murmur. Mr. McKinzie's two outfits or equipments had arrived from their trading posts. They called to see me, and I was informed by them that the furs they had brought on here were to be packed in a certain way for transportation by canoe to Montreal. At it I went, and before Mr. McKinzie arrived in a light canoe, the forty or fifty packs were pressed, marked and the bills of the contents of each pack all ready. The men complained of being given little time, but Mr. McKinzie was surprised and pleased to find all in readiness for those who wanted to return without delay to Montreal, yet would stay to distribute the goods, which were brought under my supervision, into the three outfits he intended to send to trade with the Mississippi Indians the ensuing winter.

Two of the outfits were assigned to two brothers named Lagortroin, and the third to myself. There was also a lot of old remainders of goods from a retail shop Mr. McKinzie had for long years before kept; these, not suitable for the Indian trade, I was directed to pack up and take to St. Louis and make the most of them. My orders were all verbal. My bour