236 EXPEDITION TO THE 



perior and those of Hudson's Bay, tracts of flat and marshy 

 lands become more numerous and extensive, and in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of that limit the country appears to be 

 formed almost exclusively of swamps, quagmires, and stag- 

 nant pools. The swamps sustain a growth of spruce, epi- 

 nette or larch, and some pine, exceedingly dense, and in 

 many places rendered almost impenetrable by a profusion 

 of furze and bushes. 



The lakes of this region are of all possible shapes, ex- 

 ceedingly numerous, and thronged with islands. As on the 

 route before described, the lakes here rise one above an- 

 other in contaiual gradations, but less abruptly, giving an 

 altitude to the uppermost on the route at least equal to 

 one hundred and thirty feet, making the entire elevation 

 above Winnepeek about six hundred feet. 



The altitude of the dividing ridge, above the water-table 

 of the adjacent country, is no where greater than about one 

 hundred and fifty feet, the head waters of the streams tri- 

 butary to Hudson's Bay being somewhat more elevated 

 than those of Lake Superior. 



The channel of communication thence to Lake Superior, 

 is through Dog river, the lower portion of which is more 

 commonly called the Kamanatekwoya. This river is ex- 

 ceedingly serpentine in its course, has a regular bed, and a 

 rapid current. About forty miles below the point where 

 we entered it, is a lake of the same name, about twelve 

 miles long and from one to five broad. The river receives 

 several tributaries, the most considerable of which is the 

 Cypress, entering from the west above Dog Lake. Two 

 others, (names unknown,) one of which enters Dog Lake 

 from the north-east, and is said to communicate with the 

 English river before noticed, and the other into the south- 

 west part of the same lake, affording a communication with 



