NARRATIVE. 59 



would think prudent under the circumstances, yet our men dipped 

 confidently on, and never ceased their chatter or their laugh for a 

 moment, even when the bow man occasionally got a wet jacket from a 

 wave that broke too soon. In truth, they had such perfect command 

 of the canoe, that their course 'was no doubt the safest, for not 

 only did we thus get some partial shelter from an occasional rock or 

 point, but also the force of the wind was deadened by the nearness of 

 the chflF. 



At the little beach before spoken of, we stopped to rest. Here 

 was an abundance of Labrador tea in blossom, Pinguicula, and Poten- 

 tilla fruticosa. A rapid stream came in at the centre of the beach, 

 about the mouth of which were multitudes of brook trout ; some were 

 caught, being the first that we had seen since leaving the Sault, 

 although they were said to be numerous in all the streams. Beyond 

 this, we found the rocks along the water much grooved and polished ; 

 one groove, about six inches deep, I traced for some twenty feet. 



A sudden exclamation from the men, as we passed a deep narrow 

 cleft, called our attention, but too late to see what they maintained 

 they saw, namely, a quantity of snow at the bottom of the chasm. 

 This seemed at first impossible in this burning July weather, with the 

 thermometer about 80° at noon ; but on reflection, this chasm, open 

 to the N. W., must doubtless be filled with some hundred feet of 

 snow in the winter, and the sun can never penetrate into it for a mo- 

 ment, so that the process of melting in the short summer must be slow. 

 And then the summer was after all but just set in ; Gov. Simpson, 

 if I remember rightly, found the lake full of ice about the first of 

 June. 



We came in sight of the bottom of the bay, a wide and high sand- 

 beach about a mile in length, but seeing nothing of the river, we 

 approached a dark object on the beach, ( which we had ascertained 

 to be an Indian squatting on the sand ) to make inquiries, but he 

 retreated rapidly, and we had to coast for some distance, before we 

 discovered the entrance. ^ 



Michipicotm River, a rapid stream of clear dark brown water, 

 some two hundred yards wide, here cuts through the beach at right 

 angles, leaving a somewhat projecting sand spit on the south. The 

 name Michipicotin was declared by some of the men to signify " Big 



