92 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



was sluggish at its outlet, near which a change in 

 its course had left a small pond in the sandy shore, 

 and was not altogether inviting, with its shallow, dis- 

 colored, heated current. It has a high reputation 

 among those who have explored it, but flows into 

 the lake in a commonplace manner. A neighbor- 

 ing swamp encouraged the growth of mosquitoes ; 

 and the black flies, which seemed to be of an un- 

 recognized and indescribably vicious species, were 

 annoying in the extreme. There was a small settle- 

 ment of Indians near by, and hardly had we com- 

 menced pitching our camp, which had to be located 

 some distance from shore on account of the pebbly 

 beach, ere they appeared. 



There was an old man, the embodiment of harm- 

 less idiotcy, who turned out to be a patriarch and 

 not the fool he looked ; two fine-looking, straight- 

 featured young men ; two boys, a little girl, and 

 three dogs. The latter evidently belonged to the 

 family, for they all, dogs included, stood in a row, 

 the latter fully as intelligent as the former, and 

 none of them offering the least assistance while our 

 men and ourselves raised the tent. The old man 

 wore a conciliatory expression of imbecility, the 

 young men a confirmed air of vacuity, and the dogs 

 and children seemed imbued with a few sparks of 

 intellect. 



They made no motion and uttered no word till a 

 fire was lighted, when they instantly crouched round 

 it. As a race, living in the rudest manner, and de- 

 based from their native simplicity by contact with 



