LAKE HURON. 35 



I found my three men who had been sent from 

 Montreal ; and, having embarked them, with 

 seventeen " pieces " out of nineteen which had 

 been forwarded by the steam-boat, we proceeded 

 along rapids, which more or less detained us 

 until we got to Fort Coulonge. The houses 

 above this were far apart, and the population 

 comparatively thin ; but, on my return in 1835, 

 I was agreeably surprised to see many com- 

 fortable dwellings erected in the interval, sur- 

 rounded by smiling corn fields, and animated 

 by groups of both sexes, who looked from the 

 windows or stood on the banks to see us pass. 



Leaving the Ottawa, we diverged to the left, 

 up a deep and black stream, so overhung by 

 sombre rocks and withered trees, and so bleak 

 and lifeless, that it seemed the very home of 

 melancholy and despair, and forced upon my 

 recollection an admirable painting represent- 

 ing Sadak in search of the waters of oblivion. 

 It took us to Lake Nipising, whence we de- 

 scended by the Riviere des Fra^ais into Lake 

 Huron ; our progress through which was so im- 

 peded by fogs and head winds, that it was not 

 until May 11th that we reached the Sault de Ste. 

 Marie, at the head of the lake, and the extreme 

 point to which civilisation has yet extended. 



Some surprise was testified at our early arrival 

 by my old acquaintance Mr. Bethune, who in- 



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