82 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



at tweuty-two feet ten inclies* They resemble a bank of rolling 

 foam, and witli their drapery of trees on either shore^ and the 

 mountains of Lake Superior in the distance, and the moving 

 canoes of fishing Indians in the foreground, present a most 

 animated and picturesque view. 



To the Chippewas, who regard this spot as their ancient capital, 

 i,t is doubtless fraught with many associations, and they regard 

 with jealousy the advance of the Americans to this quarter. 

 This tribe, in the absence of any older traditions, are regarded as 

 the aboriginal inhabitants of the place. They are, by their lan- 

 guage, Algonquins, and speak a pure dialect of it. They call 

 themselves Ojibwas. Biva., in this language, denotes voice. Ojib- 

 wamong signifies Chippewa language, or voice. It is not mani- 

 fest what the prefixed syllable denotes. They are a numerous 

 people, and spread over many degrees of latitude and longitude. 

 We have had them constantly around ns, in some form, since 

 leaving Detroit, and they extend to the Great "Winnipeg Lake 

 of Hudson's Bay. They appear, at the French era of discovery, 

 to have been confined almost exclusively to the north bank of 

 the St. Lawrence, below the influx of the Ottowa Eiver, extend- 

 ing to Lake Nepising, and the geographical position seems to 

 have been the origin of the name Algonquin, 



Whilst encamped here, we witnessed the descent down the 

 rapids of eleven barges and canoes laden with furs from the north. 

 This trade forms tlie engrossing topic, at this point, with all 

 classes. Hazardous as it is, the pursuit does not fail to attract 

 adventurers, who appear to be fascinated with the wild freedom 

 of life in the wilderness. 



* St. Mart's Canal. — Thirty-three years have produced an astonishing pro- 

 gress. A ship-canal is now (1853) in the process of being constructed at these 

 falls, by the State of Michigan, under a grant of public land for that purpose, 

 from Congress. It is to consist of two locks of equal lift, dividing the aggregate 

 fall. This canal wiU add the basin of Lake Superior to the line of lake nayiga- 

 tion. It will enable ships and steamers to enter the St. Louis Hirer of Fond du 

 Lac, and to reach a point in latitude corresponding to Independence, on the Mis- 

 souri. No other point of the lake chain reaches so far by some hundreds of 

 miles towards the Rocky Mountains ; and this canal will eventually be the outlet to 

 the Atlantic cities of the copper and other mines of Lake Superior, and of the 

 agricultural and mineral products of all the higher States of the Upper Mississippi 

 and of the Missouri, and a part of Oregon and Washington on the Pacific. 



