Original - North Central Michigan College Library

an&assistance of an Indian we took as much fishas all the party could eat.Lake Nipisingueis distant two hundredleagues from Montreal. Its circumference issaid to measure one hundred and fifty miles,and itsdepth is sufficient for vessels of anyburden. On our voyage along its eastern bankswe met some canoes of Indians, who said theylived on the northwestern side. My men informedme that they were Nipisingues, aname which they derive from the lake. Theirlanguage is a dialect of the Algonquin; and bynation they are a mixture of Chippewa andMaskegons. They had a large quantity of furs,part of which I purchased. The animals whichthe country affords them are the beaver,marten, bear and o'tic, a'tic, or caribou, aspecies of deer, by some called the reindeer.They wished for rum, but I avoided selling orgiving them any.Leaving the Indians, we proceeded to themouth of the lake at which is the carryingplaceof La Chaudiere Francaise, 24 a namepart of which it has obtained from the holesin the rock over which we passed; and whichholes, being of the kind which is known tobe formed by water with the assistance ofpebbles, demonstrate that it has not alwaysbeen dry as at present it is, but the phenomenonis not peculiar to this spot, the samebeing observable at almost every carrying-24 Or, la Chaudiere des Fran^ais. Author.