184 EXPEDITION TO THE 



this properly at one time placed the point of Brown's de- 

 sertion beyond a doubt; yet if ever a man had cause to ad- 

 here strictly to his engagement it was he ; for his term of 

 service was nearly completed, and on his starting with the 

 expedition he had been promised his discharge on reach- 

 ing Mackinaw ; a considerable sum was due to him as ar- 

 rears of pay and ration ; he knew that we were fast ap- 

 proaching the settlements. Another motive to restrain 

 him might have been the improbability, not to say impos- 

 sibility, of his being able to subsist in the country ; the 

 only settlement within one hundred miles was the Peek 

 house, which was then closed. The country where he re- 

 mained has been described to us as covered with such im- 

 penetrable swamps, that we very much question whether 

 he ever made his way out of it. Brown had engaged vo- 

 luntarily in our service, had shown himself active and well 

 disposed. We therefore regretted his desertion, more how- 

 ever on his account than on our own. 



After waiting a suitable time for him, we proceeded on- 

 wards with a head wind and a high sea, which retarded our 

 progress so much as to induce us to stop in a small cove, 

 which received the name of Sunday harbour. In the even- 

 ing we proceeded some distance, and made our encamp- 

 ment in a small and dangerous bay, where, for want of bet- 

 ter accommodation, we spread our blankets upon a beach 

 covered with large boulders. 



On the morning of the 22d we resumed our journey with 

 a high south-easterly wind. We observed, as we advanc- 

 ed, that the country being all sienitic, presented a wilder 

 and more barren appearance than where the trap rocks 

 prevailed ; i did not rise to such a height, the shores pro- 

 bably seldom exceeding two hundred feet; but good har- 

 bours became more scarce, owing doubtless to the greater 



