268 Topographical Notices. 



indicate a continuation of fertility. The Deserts runs in a 

 direction about parallel with the Ottawa, and at no great 

 distance from it, as the Indians pass with their canoes from 

 the one to the other in the course of a day and a half. Their 

 route is by the Coulonge river, which probably affords the 

 best access for exploring these parts of Lower Canada. — 

 The route by the Coulonge must be very difficult for some 

 way ; but when once the eminence is fairly gained, the 

 different branches of the Gatineau present the means of 

 penetrating the country easily in various directions. 



By ascending the Deserts, canoes may pass with great 

 celerity to the head waters of the Ottawa. On leaving that 

 stream, a large lake with numerous islands, is traversed, 

 called Lac des Ecorces, probably the source of the small 

 river du IVIoine, flowing into the Ottawa, about sixty miles 

 above lake Coulonge. Northward from Lac des Ecorces 

 a day or two's journey, is the grand reservoir of the Ottawa, 

 called, by the traders, the Grand lake, which, from all 

 accounts, must be nearly half as large as Lake Ontario. — 

 There has been a trading establishment for many years on 

 the south coast of the Grand lake, which is consequently 

 well known to many connected with the trade. It is 

 decidedly spoken of as exceeding forty miles in breadth, 

 the shores being entirely out of view of each other, and the 

 length, extending chiefly cast and west, is said to be at 

 least one hundred miles. I was informed by a person Avho 

 had performed the journey, that light canoes may pass 

 between the Grand lake and the Gatineau, by the route of 

 the Deserts, in four days. If this be the case, that great 

 sheet of water must extend, inconceivably, nearer to the 

 settled parts of the country, than the course of the Ottawa, 

 as far as it is known, would lead one to conjecture. 



