133 EXPEDITION TO THE 



had never been attended to, for the decayed timber, arising 

 from the broken causeways which were formerly remov- 

 ed, now produces many dangerous holes. Many accidents 

 occur in the portages, especially to such as carry heavy 

 loads. Not unfrequently one of those that carry the ca- 

 noes slips, in which case the whole weight falls upon him, 

 and crushes him. An accident of this kind gave rise to the 

 name of Deadman's Lake and portage which we passed on 

 the 6th. Next to this was a lake, called Dore, which we 

 have named Hyodon, from the beautiful fish of that genus, 

 (Hyodon tergissus, Lesueur,) which abounds in it. Be- 

 j'-ond this we entered the Thousand lakes, so called from 

 the apparent division of a sheet of water into numberless 

 small lakes, by thousands of small rocky islands. A more 

 gloomy name is that of Cannibal or Wandigo Lake, which 

 is derived from the unnatural deed which was perpetrated 

 in its vicinity. It is said that a party of Indians, belonging 

 to the Oschekkamega Wenenewak, or band of the cross- 

 ridge, were once encamped near this lake in the year 1811, 

 and were quite destitute of provisions ; they amounted to 

 about forty : their numbers gradually diminished through 

 famine, the survivors feeding upon the bodies of their de- 

 ceased relations ; finally there remained but one woman, 

 who had subsisted upon the corpses of her own husband 

 and children, whom she had killed for this purpose. She was 

 afterwards met by another party of Indians, who, sharing 

 in the common belief, that those who have once fed upon 

 this flesh, always hunger for it, put an end to her existence. 

 The Oschekkamega band, inhabiting a very barren coun- 

 try, are often reduced to cannibalism from necessity, and 

 the frequent recurrence ofit has almost deprived them of the 

 abhorrence which men naturally feel for anthropophagy. 

 It was not therefore from horror, but rather from a feeling 



