A JOURNEY TO THE RED RIVER 61 



shores. The tide is scarcely perceptible: I have been 

 told that the rise and fall does not exceed eighteen or 

 twenty inches. 



The navigation of these lakes in canoes is a very 

 ticklish business. The canoe is not adapted for navi- 

 gating rough water ; but these lakes, like all large inland 

 bodies of water, are subject to sudden squalls. Unless, 

 therefore, you have time to reach the land, an upset is 

 inevitable. Consequently it is necessary to creep round 

 the shore ; but when a bay or inlet is come to, the crew, 

 naturally, to save time and labour, like to strike straight 

 across from headland to headland. In the technical 

 language of the voyageurs this is termed making a tra- 

 verse. As some of these traverses are not less than 

 twenty miles broad, it is necessary to study the weather, 

 and to be an accurate judge of meteorological probabili- 

 ties if serious accidents are to be avoided ; for the waves 

 of Huron and Superior are not inferior in size and power 

 to those of the ocean, if, indeed, they are not more to be 

 dreaded. Then, again, there are long stretches on the 

 northern coasts of these lakes where a landing would be 

 impossible, or only possible at the cost of the loss of 

 stores and canoe. 



The time required to make a canoe voyage round the 

 northern shores of Lake Huron is calculated to be not 

 less than a week, and more often nine or ten days. The 

 same calculation is made for Superior. But this is the 

 actual time for paddling. If there is much wind, and 

 the weather is bad, a week or a fortnight may be lost in 

 waiting ashore, and occasionally double that time is 

 wasted. Fifty miles a day is a fair rate of paddling for 

 a large canoe ; and this can be done day after day with- 

 out over-exertion. One man, in a light hunting canoe, 

 can maintain a much higher rate of speed in smooth 

 water. 



The small islands on the north of Huron, and Superior 

 too, are rocky, with sometimes a pine or two growing on 



