SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 355 



banks of the river for half a day, Mr. Keating saw the last 

 of them, at about four miles above the little falls ; and he 

 was assured by his guide that they did not recur for a con- 

 siderable distance. We had, nevertheless, an opportunity 

 of seeing from a distance, in the bed of the river, a rocky 

 island, which appeared to us to bear the character of the 

 primitive rocks near Patterson's rapids. Our guides in- 

 sisted that it was a sandstone. We have generally found 

 them to be such accurate observers of natural objects, that 

 we wished to visit the rock, and see how far their reports 

 could be depended upon, but that would have required se- 

 veral hours ; a waste of time which it was thought the ob- 

 ject did not warrant. In the evening we again observed 

 the primitive rocks in the valley, and encamped upon one 

 of these knolls ; it was composed of a rock partaking al- 

 ternately of the characters of micaslate and gneiss which 

 appeared stratified nearly east and west. The strata being 

 almost vertical. This knoll was so small, that we could 

 not presume from the direction of its strata, to draw con- 

 clusions as to that of the rock in general. 



The occurrence of these primitive knobs disturbs the cur- 

 rent of the river, and renders the navigation difficult and ha- 

 zardous. Five miles below the encampment of the 19th, there 

 is a place where the boats and their loads are carried for the 

 distance of a mile; from which circumstance the place is 

 called the Grand Portage. By this portage the canoes avoid 

 thirteen rapids; these with twenty-six other rapids, con- 

 stitute all the obstructions to the navigation of the river, 

 from its source to its mouth. In a good stage of the waters, 

 there are, however, but two portages, of which this is one. 

 Among the tributaries passed on that day, only one dc, 

 serves to be mentioned ; it is called the P^jthita Z^ze Wa- 

 tapan, the yellow medicine. It is about the same size as 



