﻿1848. BEAVER LAKE. 79 



five in number, are greyish- or purplish-white, 

 thickly spotted with brown ; and the male hides 

 himself in a neighbouring bush while he serenades 

 his mate. 



At the outlet of Beaver Lake, and at several 

 succeeding points on both sides of the canoe- 

 route, the thin slaty limestone forms cliffs, thirty 

 or forty feet high ; but about the middle of the 

 lake, there is a small island of greenstone. Be- 

 yond this we again touched upon the granite rocks 

 which we had left at the north-east corner of Lake 

 Winipeg, bearing from this place about east 82° 

 south. 



At the entrance of Ridge River we met 

 Mr. M'Kenzie, Jun., in charge of a brigade of 

 boats, carrying out the furs of the Isle a la Crosse 

 district, and were glad to obtain from him tidings 

 of Mr. Bell, who was advancing prosperously, 

 though he had been stopped for three days by ice, 

 on the lake which we had just crossed. The Mis- 

 sinipi, or Churchill River, Mr. M'Kenzie told us, 

 did not open till the 6th of the present month, 

 though in common years it seldom continues 

 frozen beyond the 1st. 



Soon after parting with this gentleman, we met 

 •the schoolmaster of Lac La Ronge district, who, 

 with his wife and four children, were on their way 

 to pass the summer with the Rev. Mr. Hunter, 



