202 EXPEDITION TO THK 



Mr. Mac Intosh, who left his post eight days before we did, 

 arrived at the Sault three hours after we had landed ; yet 

 this gentleman was travelling with a crew of experienced 

 voyagers, but being in a canoe he was frequently obliged 

 to lay by. Our boat though flat-bottomed, and in a bad 

 condition, answered our purpose very well. The north 

 coast of the lake, along which we travelled, is considered 

 somewhat safer at that time of the year than the southern ; 

 it is said to afford many good harbours, the entrances to 

 most of these are, however, concealed ; hence none but ex- 

 perienced pilots can find them out. Our Engages not be- 

 ing well acquainted with the coast, we were frequently at 

 a loss for harbours when we needed them most. The route 

 which we travelled on the lake was estimated by Major 

 Long at three hundred and eighty-three miles ; no doubt a 

 considerable saving in the distance could be effected in 

 fine weather by keeping further off from the coast, and 

 by cutting across Michipicotton bay. The season dur- 

 ing which we travelled on the lake was unusually boister- 

 ous and severe ; we had snow, hail, or rain, for nearly the 

 whole of the time. 



The country along the lake is one of the most dreary 

 imaginable, considering its latitude, and the facility with 

 which it may be approached. Its surface is every where 

 rocky, broken, and unproductive, even in the natural 

 growth of trees common to rugged regions ; its climate is 

 cold and inhospitable ; the means of subsistence are so cir- 

 cumscribed that man finds no possibility of residing on it 

 in a savage state. Game is extremely scarce. Few, if 

 any, esculent plants grow spontaneously. ,Fish, it is 

 true, abound in its waters, but only such as can be plen- 

 tifully caught by means of nets ; the total absence of 

 sandy beaches on the greater part of its extent prevents 



