Original - North Central Michigan College Library

SUcjranfcerJ^enrpChippewa of fifty lodges, of whom I boughtcanoes. They insisted further on having goodsgiven to them on credit, as well as on receivingsome presents. The latter they regarded as anestablished tribute, paid them on account ofthe ability which they possessed to put a stopto all trade with the interior. I gave them rum,with which they became drunk and troublesome;and in the night I left them.The River a la Pluie is forty leagues long, ofa gentle current, and broken only by one rapid.Its banks are level to a great distance, andcomposed of a fine soil, which was covered withluxuriant grass. They were perfect solitudes,not even a canoe presenting itself along mywhole navigation of the stream. 32 I was greatlystruck with the beauty of the stream as well aswith its fitness for agricultural settlements,in which provisions might be raised for theNorthwest.On the thirtieth we reached the Lake of theWoods, or Lake des lies, at the entrance ofwhich was an Indian village of a hundred souls,where we obtained a further supply of fish.Fish appeared to be the summer food.From this village we received ceremoniouspresents. The mode with the Indians is first32The scarcity of animal life in this vicinity at thisseason of the year has been remarked by many explorers.Thus, Keating, in 1823, did not meet with a singlequadruped from Rainy Lake to Lake Superior, the onlyanimals seen being thirty or forty birds, chiefly ducks.Editor.234