72 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 
entrance of Cross Lake, having advanced only 
five miles and a half. 
Cross Lake is extensive, running towards the 
N.E,, it is said, for forty miles. We crossed it 
at a narrow part, and pulling through several 
winding channels, formed by a group of islands; 
entered Cedar Lake, which, next to Lake Wini- 
peg, is the largest sheet of fresh water we had 
hitherto seen. Ducks and geese resort hither in 
immense flocks in the spring and autumn. These 
birds were now beginning to go off, owing to its 
muddy shores having become quite hard through 
the nightly frosts. At this place the Aurora 
Borealis was extremely brilliant in the night, 
its coruscations darting, at times, over the whole 
sky, and assuming various prismatic tints, of 
which the violet and yellow were predominant. 
After pulling, on the 14th, seven miles anda 
quarter on the lake, a violent wind drove us for 
shelter to a small island, or rather a ridge of 
rolled stones, thrown up by the frequent storms 
which agitate this lake. The weather did not 
moderate the whole day, and we were obliged to 
pass the night on this exposed spot. The delay, 
however, enabled us to obtain some lunar obser- 
vations. The wind having subsided, we left our 
resting-place the following morning, crossed the 
mainder of the lake, and in the afternoon, ar- 
