THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



CHAPTER I 



THE WOODLAND LAKE 



NEAR the head- waters of 'the Ottawa 'River, and some 

 twelve miles from Lake Temiscaming, there is a small 

 lake surrounded with woods. It is about three-quarters 

 of a mile long and from two to five hundred yards across, 

 and of irregular form, but of good depth, as nearly all 

 these small Canadian lakes are. These " ponds," as they 

 are called by the inhabitants, are numerous in all parts 

 of the British American possessions, and the term " pond" 

 is applied to very much larger bodies of water than this. 

 Lakes of ten or twelve square miles area are " ponds " in 

 local parlance ; sheets of water, which in other countries 

 would be esteemed considerable, sinking into insignificance 

 in the proximity of the vast lakes which are the most 

 remarkable feature of this part of America. 



On the banks of the tiny lake I have mentioned, the 

 surface of which, I suppose, was about a hundred and 

 fifty acres in extent, I established myself in the summer 

 of 1865, being at the time not seventeen years old. I 

 had as companions two Indians, a half-breed and the 

 wife and daughter of the latter. The men were hunters, 

 seeking furs for the Hudson Bay Company, and intended 



A 



