^0 EXPEDITION TO THE 



ously, using it as Ihey Avould packs of furs, which are so 

 made up as not to be injured by this rough treatment. The 

 whole care and attention of a voyager seems to centre in 

 his canoe, which he handles with an astonishing degree of 

 dexterity and caution. 



Voyagers compute distances on the water by pipes, 

 which are the intervals between the times when they cease 

 to paddle in order to smoke their pipe. We cannot determine, 

 however, the length of a pipe, having found it to vary ac- 

 cording to the hurry of the voyagers, the peculiar disposi- 

 tion of the guide, the nature of the weather, &c. &c. When 

 a portage exceeds half a mile in length, it is generally di- 

 vided into what are termed pauses or distances travelled 

 without stopping to rest. These also vary much in length 

 according to the greater or less difficulty of the portage, 

 its length, &c. A pause averages about a third of a mile. 



On the 20th of August, we passed three lightening places 

 and three portages, none of w^hich were long. We en- 

 camped immediately above the Portage des Chenes, hav- 

 ing travelled fourteen miles. The evening being very fa- 

 vourable for observations, Mr. Colhoun determined the po- 

 sition of this portage to be in latitude 50° 31' 30", and in 

 longitude 95° 55' 5". 



It was at our evening's encampment that the splendid 

 scenery of the Winnepeek first displayed itself to our 

 view, realizing all that the mind could have fancied of 

 wild and sublime beauty, and far surpassing any that we 

 had ever seen. The characters which we admire in the 

 scenery of the Winnepeek, are the immense volume of 

 waters, the extreme rapidity of the current, the great va- 

 riety of form which the cascades and falls present, and the 

 incomparable wildness of the rocky scenery which pro- 

 duces these falls, and Avhich contrasts by its gloom, its im- 



