74 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



hardy, self-made men, who have often for years led a 

 monotonous and solitary life. A stranger is always 

 welcome among them. But there was little to be had at 

 Fort Frances ; for the Company do not sell provisions ; 

 or indeed sell at all, all their trade being by barter. So 

 we pushed on, and two days later arrived at the not 

 euphoniously named " Rat Portage House," where we 

 fared no better. The gentleman in charge of the house 

 had nothing to sell ; but he treated us very hospitably, 

 and as an act of courtesy, supplied us with a little 

 salt pork, and a few other necessaries. From some 

 Indians here we purchased some fresh fish for immediate 

 use, and as much wipiti venison as we could carry. The 

 stowage capacity of our canoe was very limited, and I 

 desired to take a smaller canoe in tow in which to pack 

 some of our stores ; but to this arrangement my Red 

 friends offered so much opposition that I was compelled 

 to abandon it. 



To reach Rat Portage House we had crossed the Lake 

 of the Woods, and this was, to my mind, the most en- 

 chanting piece of water we had yet passed over. The 

 thousands of islets that crowd the bosom of this lake, 

 rocky and clothed thickly with pines, and trees of 

 feathery foliage ; the bold rocky shores, rising to moun- 

 tainous heights, and reflected in the smooth, glass-like 

 waters, made up a scene that for beauty and sublimity I 

 had not hitherto seen the like of in this country. The 

 Lake of the Woods is rightly named ; for as far as I 

 could see it is surrounded with primeval forest. The 

 waters are the quietest and most unruffled of any we have 

 passed as yet, and this is probably the result of being 

 protected, especially on the north, with mountainous 

 ridges. I have heard, though, that the lake is subject, 

 like all others, to sudden and fearful storms. It is of 

 such size that looking south and south-west, no land is 

 visible, and the horizontal line resembles that of an ocean. 



From this point the scenery became more and more 



