63 [ 237 ] 



in circumference. The former has tu'enty-seven tributaries, of various 

 sizes. A solitary river issues from it, known by ifie name of Leech Lake 

 river, forming an important outlet from 100 to 120 feet wide, with a depth 

 of from 6 to 10 feet. It has a moderate current, without any obstruction, 

 and flows into the Mississippi after a course of from 45 to 50 miles. 



To be more particular in the description of Leech lake, I may add 

 that it has nine large bays, and presents six prominent points, the timbered 

 features of wliich are fast disappearing beneath the ravages of trie Chip- 

 ' peways. Francis Brunei, my guide, who sounded some parts of the 

 lake, informed me that its depth, from Otter tail Point across to the oppo- 

 site bay, varies from six to ten fathoms. The fish of the lake, the wild rice 

 of the bays, and maple sugar, are the three great natural resources of the 

 Chippeways. The fisheries are abundant at all seasons, but it is princi- 

 pally in the spring and fall that they are most so, and are carried on to 

 /much advantage. With two nets, set over night, from 400 to 500 fish 

 may be calculated upon by next morning; which are dried for winter 

 provisions. 



The population of Leech lake was, in 1836, estimated at about 1,000 

 souls, furnishing about ISO warriors. If any reliance could be placed on 

 the stability of the Indians, this result might be used as indicating an in- 

 crease of population since 1832, when Mr. Schoolcraft made it 800 ; but 

 these people are too nomadic for such conclusions to be relied on. 



The English name of the lake (which, in the Chippeway tongue, is Ka- 

 sagaskwa-djimeliang) implies, m both languages, that its waters contain a 

 remarkable number of leeches. 



On leaving Leech lake, I had the rare advantage, in these parts, of sail- 

 ing down a great part of Leech Lake river, as well as the great savannah, 

 which follows, as far as Red-oak Point. This savannah, as it is called, 

 is an extensive marshy bottom, rilled with canes, reeds, and other aquatic 

 plants, the disposition of which divides the waters of the Mississippi into 

 a great number of channels ; from which, however, (thanks to the good- 

 ness of my guide,) we succeeded in extricating ourselves. Thence we 

 descended to the KakabikoJis, or Little-severed rock, where there is a 

 small fall in the river. This spot is three miles lower than Pa/ce-go-mag, 

 ^a name applied by the Chippeways to all sheets of water in the vicinity of 

 la river. Kakahikoiis (or simply Kabikons) rapids, as 1 have laid them 

 ^own upon the map, have a fall of nine feet in a distance of eighty yards. 

 The rock over which they flow is a gray quarzite, forming the banks and 

 bed of the river ; whence it probably crops out on the St. Louis river, 

 where are found calciferous and argillaceous steaschist, conglomerates 

 formed of quartz pebbles, and bound together by steaschist, containing snlph- 

 i:rcl of iron, and a sandstone which may be possibly referred to the old red 

 sandstone. As, on the day that I passed it, the Mississippi was pretty high, 

 the fall of the rapids did not appear to me so great as it did to other trav- 

 ellers at other seasons. 



From Kabikons, the country which follows, as far as Sandy lake, as well 

 as that which precedes it, having been fully described by Messrs. School- 

 craft and Allen, 1 have nothing to add. 1 must, however, in this place, ex- 

 press my sense of gratitude to Mr. W. Aitkins, the agent of the American 

 Fur Company at Sandy lake, for the many kind attentions paid me during 

 my stay in his family. 



