118 Thirty Years 



after our arrival, and we were soon surrounded by a 

 fleet of seventeen Indian canoes. In company with 

 them we paddled up the river, which is one hundred 

 and fifty yards wide, and, in an hour, came to a cas- 

 cade of five feet, where we were compelled to make a 

 portage of one hundred and fifty-eight yards. We 

 next crossed a dilatation of the river, about six miles 

 in length, upon which the name of Lake Prosperous 

 was bestowed. Its shores, though scantily supplied 

 with wood, are very picturesque. 



Akaitcho caused himself to be paddled by his slave, 

 a young man, of the Dog-rib nation, whom he had 

 taken by force from his friends ; when he thought him- 

 self, however, out of reach of our observation, he laid 

 aside a good deal of his state, and assisted in the la- 

 bor ; and after a few days' further acquaintance with 

 us. he did not hesitate to paddle in our presence, or 

 even cany his canoe on the portages. Several of the 

 canoes were managed by women, who proved to be 

 noisy companions, for they quarrelled frequently, and 

 the weakest was generally profuse in her lamentations, 

 which were not at all diminished, when the husband 

 attemped to settle the difference by a few blows with 

 his paddle. 



Leaving the Lake, we ascended a very strong rapid, 

 and arrived at a range of three steep cascades, situa- 

 ted in the I" ad of the river, Here we made a portage 



