CHAP. ix. THE MOUNTAIN POETAGE. 141 



then a little higher still, and suddenly brought it down 

 again a few inches, terminating his imaginary profile of 

 the mountain with a long horizontal sweep of his hand. 



' Michel says,' interpreted Louis, ' you must go up, 

 up, up, and then down until you come to a lake. He 

 says it is high, high, and long as the Grand Portage.' 



' Which way does the portage path run ? ' 



' See that mountain with ice on top ? ' 



' Yes.' 



' See other mountains, over there ? ' 



' Yes, I see the other mountains.' 



' Well, the Ka-pi-ta-gan goes between those mountains,' 

 replied Louis, with a grin. ' Long portage, very high, 

 think we shan't get over it.' 



' Nonsense, Louis ; a strong Montagnais like you would 

 run over that portage after a caribou without stopping.' 



We often found ourselves very much deceived in 

 attempting to estimate the altitude of precipices or rocks 

 over which we had to pass ; and on this occasion I noted 

 down the opinion of each of the party who was supposed 

 to be able to form one respecting the height of the 

 portage and mountain before us, previously to measuring 

 them with the aneroid. Neither the Abenakis, the 

 Montagnais, nor the Nasquapee could express their ideas 

 in a multiple of a measure, such as feet or yards ; but, by 

 comparison, the first two said the portage path between 

 the mountains might be twice the height of the Grand 

 Portage, or about 600 feet. The Nasquapee, who had 

 crossed it several times, said it was three times the height 

 of the Grand Portage. Other estimates (if we judged solely 

 from our point of view, which appeared to be five miles 



