9? Up the Ottawa. 



UP THE OTTAWA. 



Leaving Lachine in the steamer " Prince of Wales, ' on 

 the arrival of the early morning train from Montreal, we 

 pass, about two miles up the bay, the Isle Dorval, formerly 

 the residence of Sir George Simpson, the Governor of the 

 Hudson Bay Company, and latterly of General Williams ; 

 we then steam along the north shore of an expansion of the 

 St. Lawrence, called Lake St. Louis, into which, through a 

 narrow passage, part of the waters of the Ottawa flow ; and 

 it is curious that the waters of the two rivers for some dis~ 

 tance run side by side, as if refusing to mingle, and the line 

 of demarcation can be clearly traced ; the St. Lawrence being 

 of a greenish hue, while the Ottawa furnishes a slightly olive 

 brown tint. The junction of the two mighty rivers seems to 

 have caused the formation of the Island of Montreal, and the 

 others adjacent to it. Two distinct branches of the Ottawa 

 winding between Isle Jesus, Isle Bizarre, and the main con- 

 tinent, rejoin the St. Lawrence at Repentigny, whilst another 

 and the greatest, rushing among a cluster of islets and rocks, 

 lying in the channel between Isle Perrot and St. Annes, 

 mingle with the waters of Lake St. Louis. 



The Ottawa or " Uttawas," has never been explored up to 

 its head waters. It is known to flow from Lake Temisca- 

 ming, and to have a course thence of at least five hundred 

 miles, but how much further north it takes its rise is un- 

 known. Formerly from forty to fifty canoes proceeded 

 yearly from Lachine with articles of traffic, and ascended the 

 Ottawa for about 300 miles, whence they were carried by 

 portages, and then passed through French River to Lake 

 Huron. Here they were met by messengers called " Coureurs 

 des Bois," who brought the furs from the Indian hunting- 



