120 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



Wolcott estimates at about thirty feet. Adding to this elevation 

 the estimates of Capt. Douglass, before mentioned, the entire ele- 

 vation between the foot of the falls of the St. Louis and the apex 

 of this summit is three hundred and sixty-eight feet.* 



Having exchanged congratulations, and recited to each other 

 the little personal incidents which had marked our respective 

 tracks of entry into the country, we passed the night on the 

 sources of this little stream ; and the next morning, at five o'clock, 

 began its descent. It is a mere brook, only deep enough, at this 

 spot, to embark the canoes, and two men to manage them. At 

 the distances of four, and of twelve miles, there are rapids, where 

 half the loads are carried over portages. At the foot of the latter 

 rapid, there is a tributary called Ox Creek, and from this point to 

 the lake, a distance of six miles, the navigation is practicable with 

 full loads. We entered the lake with pleasurable feelings, at the 

 accomplishment of our transit over this summit, and after a 

 passage of ihree miles over the calm and sylvan surface of the 

 lake, the expedition reached and landed at the company's fort. 

 It was now four o'clock in the afternoon of a most serene day, 

 and the Indians, who were gathered on the shores, received us 

 with a salute a la mode de savage^ that is, with balls fired over our 

 heads. Quarters were provided in the fort for such as did not 

 prefer to lodge in tents. Understanding that there was to be a 

 day's rest at this post, to reorganize the party, and hold inter- 

 course with the Indians, each one prepared to make such use of 

 his time as best subserved his purposes. Finding my baggage 

 had been wetted and damaged on the portages in the ascent of 

 the St. Louis, I separated the moulded and ruined from things 

 still worth saving, and drying the latter in the sun, prepared them 

 for further use. 



On the day after our arrival (16th) a council of the Indians — the 

 Chippewas — was convened. The principal chiefs were Kadewa- 

 bedas,t or Broken Teeth, and Babisekundeba,:}: or the Curly Head, 

 This tribe, it appears, are conquerors in the country, having at 



* For heights and distances, vide Appendix. 



f From ka, an affirmative particle ; webeed, teeth ; and eda, a , transitive ob- 

 jective intiection. 



X Ba, a repeating particle ; besaw, fine, curly ; and kundib, the human head. 



