Original - North Central Michigan College Library

anfcdistant one hundred leagues from Chatique'svillage, and of this space the first fifty leaguescomprise lands nearly level with the water; butin the latter the surface is more lofty, rising ahundred feet above the river, and increasingin height as we advanced. The soil is a white clay,mixed with sand. The wood is small arid scanty.At Cumberland House the canoes separated,M. Cadotte going with four to Fort des Prairies,Mr. Pond with two to Fort Dauphin,and others proceeding on still different routes.Messrs. Frobisher retained six and myself four,and we resolved on joining our stock and winteringtogether. We steered for the river Churchill,Missinipi, to the east of Beaver Lake, ororLake aux Castors.Sturgeon Lake, 48 which we now crossed, istwenty leagues in length. On the east are highlands, and on the west low islands. The riverMaligne 49 falls into it. This we ascended, butnot without much labor from 'the numerousrapids, on account of which the Canadians intheir vexation have given it the name it bears.We crossed Beaver Lake 60 on the first dayof November, and the very next morning it48 Now known as Cumberland Lake. Its principalnortheastern offset, known as Namew Lake, is theinitial one of the great chain of lakes which, says Coues,"offer a practicable thoroughfare" to Hudson Bayand the Arctic Ocean. Editor.49Modern Sturgeon Weir River. Editor.50 Now called Amisk Lake, in eastern Saskatchewan.Editor.253