190 EXPEDITION TO THE 



" It has been related on the authoritj- of sonic Chinese 

 books, that these needles do not receive their virtue from 

 the loadstone, though the Chinese possess that mineral in 

 abundance, but from a curious mixture of orpiment, cin- 

 nabar, sandrak, and filings of steel, which, being reduced 

 into a fine powder, are made into a kind of paste by a suf- 

 ficient quantity of blood drawn from the comb of a white 

 cock. In this paste the needles were said to be put, being 

 previously rolled in paper, and there kept seven days and 

 seven nights, over a clear charcoal fire. After this opera- 

 tion, being taken out, and ivorn three days longer next to 

 the skin of a man, they are found fit for use, pointing di- 

 rectly to the north, and unliable to the frequent varia- 

 tions ivhich affect those that are touched by the load- 

 stone.^^ — History of Marine Architecture, by John Char- 

 nock, London, 1802, vol. 3, p. 299."* 



Sleep being out of the question during this war of the 

 elements, we resumed our journey long before day-light, 

 and proceeded until about nine o'clock, when we reached 

 the head of the bay. The preceding evening we had stop- 

 ped at the mouth of a river called " la Chienne" which is 

 renowned for the excellent white-fish caught near it. We 

 met there a few Chippewas who had arrived the preceding 

 day, but who had not yet succeeded in obtaining a supply 

 of fish. 



We saw a boat adrift in the bay, and would have approacli- 

 ed it, if the waves had not been so high. At the mouth of 

 Michipicotton river there is an extensive sandbar ; on the 

 opposite side of which we observed a person in a canoe, 

 who, after having made signs to us which we did not un- 

 derstand, disappeared among the rocks. We entered the 



• Mr. Colhoun's MS.. 



