SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 107 



its extremity, according to the tenour of the seventh arti- 

 cle of the treaty of Ghent, which provides that the com- 

 missioners appointed to regulate the boundary line shall 

 fix and determine that part of the line which extends from 

 the water communication between Lake Huron and Lake 

 Superior to the most north-western point of the Lake of 

 the Woods ; and which further enjoins that they shall par- 

 ticularize the latitude and longitude of that point. 



The determination of the north-westernmost point of a 

 lake which presents a great number of bays and indenta- 

 tions, will be an object of difficult accomplishment ; we had 

 heard from the Indians that the boundary line had been 

 run to Rat portage, and were therefore anxious to find it 

 out. We saw evidences of the commissioners having been 

 there but a short time previously, but no land marks could 

 be discovered. We subsequently, however, met John 

 Bigsby, M. D., surgeon in his Britannic Majesty's service, 

 a gentleman who is attached to the boundary line com- 

 mission, and who has taken advantage of the situation 

 which he fills, to investigate very fully and extensively 

 the geology of British North America. We have had fre- 

 quent communications with Dr. Bigsby concerning the 

 geology of that part of the country which lies between the 

 Lake of the Woods and the Sault de Ste. Marie ; and are 

 pleased to find that our observations correspond well 

 with his. Our specimens were likewise very concordant; 

 with this exception, however, that Dr. Bigsby's stay in the 

 country having been much longer than ours, he was ena- 

 bled to visit many more places than we were. His inves- 

 tigations were therefore more full and more minute, and 

 his specimens selected with more care. In travelling as 

 rapidly as we did, we were obliged to confine ourselves to 

 the observation of the general features of the country, 



