326 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 
side of the lake. Few furs are collected. Les 
potssons inconnus, trout, pike, carp, and white fish 
are very plentiful, and on these the residents 
principally subsist. Their great supply of fish 
is procured in the latter part of September and 
the beginning of October, but there are a few 
taken daily in the nets during the winter. The 
- Surrounding country consists almost entirely of 
coarse grained granite, frequently enclosing large 
masses of reddish felspar. These rocks form 
hills which attain an elevation of three hundred 
or four hundred feet, about a mile behind the 
house; their surface is generally naked, but in 
the valleys between them a few spruces, aspens, 
and birches grow, together with a variety of 
shrubs and berry-bearing plants. bss 
On the afternoon of the 2d of August we com- 
menced our journey, having, in addition to our 
three canoes, a smaller one to convey the women; 
we were all in high spirits, being heartily glad 
that the time had at length arrived when our 
course was to be directed towards the Copper- 
Mine River, and through a line of country which 
had not been previously visited by any European. 
We proceeded to the northward, along the eastern 
side of a deep bay of the lake, passing through 
various channels, formed by an assemblage of 
rocky islands; and, at sunset, encamped on a 
