CHAPTER XVI. 



1763. 

 MICHILLI MACKINAC. 



In the spring of the year 1763, before the war 

 broke out, several English traders went up to 

 Michillimackinac, some adopting the old route of 

 the Ottawa, and others that of Detroit and the 

 lakes. We will follow one of the latter on his 

 adventurous progress. Passing the fort and settle- 

 ment of Detroit, he soon enters Lake St. Clair, 

 which seems like a broad basin filled to overflow- 

 ing, while, along its far distant verge, a faint line 

 of forest separates the water from the sky. He 

 crosses the lake, and his voyageurs next urge his 

 canoe against the current of the great river above. 

 At length. Lake Huron opens before him, stretch- 

 ing its liquid expanse, like an ocean, to the farthest 

 horizon. His canoe skirts the eastern shore of 

 Michigan, where the forest rises like a wall from 

 the water's edge ; and as he advances northward, 

 an endless line of stiff and shaggy fir-trees, hung 

 with long mosses, fringes the shore with an aspect 

 of monotonous desolation. In the space of two or 

 three weeks, if his Canadians labor well, and no 

 accident occur, the trader approaches the end of 



