V Lake Shebandowan and Others 119 



Skeins of wild geese fly clanking over our heads, 

 seeking their warm south from their breeding-places 

 on the shores of Hudson's Bay ; snipe are feeding 

 on the splashes of mud by the road -side ; and 

 among the logs jolly little striped chipmunks, with 

 dainty little feet, scramble and play, disappearing 

 with a frisky flourish of their bushy tails, and 

 suddenly reappearing and looking at us with bright 

 eyes, as if they wanted us to have a game of hide 

 and seek. . . .' 



' St. Paul, Minnesota, 

 ' September i g. 



' We left Silver Islet on the 2nd of September, 

 drove forty-eight miles through the forest to Lake 

 Shebandowan. There we found our canoe, which 

 had been forwarded up the river on which the great 

 falls are which we visited last year, and tied her to 

 a tug and were towed across the lake, one of the 

 most narrow and tortuous I have ever seen. We 

 had to carry the canoe over a portage to Lake 

 Katchibone, which is so narrow as to be rather a 

 river than a lake, and another portage brought us to 

 Lac-des-Mille-Lacs. At all the portages there were 

 Emigrant Houses established to assist the people 

 who were going to the Red River Settlements. 

 During the night a tremendous thunderstorm burst 

 over us and set a tall tree on the bank into a 

 brilliant blaze ; the forest was very grand as seen by 

 the flashes of lightning. On the 4th we started on 



