124 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION". 



subsequently made,* is three hundred and thirtj-one feet. Its 

 banks are alluvial and of a fertile aspect, bearing a forest of oaks, 

 maples, elms, ash, and pines, with a dense undergrowth of shrub- 

 bery. I observed a species of polyganum in the water's edge, 

 and wherever we attempted to land it was miry and the borders 

 wet and damp. We were now, from our notes, a hundred and 

 forty-seven miles due west of the head of Lake Superior, by the 

 curved lines of travelling, and probably one hundred in an air 

 line ; and had struck the channel of the Mississippi, not less, by 

 the estimates, than two thousand five hundred miles above its 

 mouth on the Gulf of Mexico. It could not, from the very vague 

 accounts we could obtain from the traders, originate, at the utmost, 

 more than three hundred miles higher, and our Canadian voyageurs 

 turned up the stream, with that Troubadour air, or gaiic de cour, 

 keeping time with song and paddle, with which New France had 

 at first been traversed by its Champlains, Marquetts, and Fronte- 

 nacs. To conquer distance and labor, at the same time, with a 

 song, has occurred to no other people, and if these men are not 

 happy, in these voyages, they, at least, have the semblance of it, 

 and are merry. To keep up this flow of spirits, and bravery of 

 capacity in demolishing distances, they always overrate the per 

 diem travel, which, as I have before observed, is put about one- 

 third too high — that is to say, their league is about two miles. 

 On we went, at this rapid rate, stopping every half hour to rest 

 five minutes. During this brief rest, their big kettle of boiled 

 corn and pork was occasionally brought forward, and dipped in, 

 with great fervency of spoon ; but, whether eating or working, 

 they were always gay, and most completely relieved from any 

 care of what might happen to-morrow. For the mess kettle was 

 ever most amply supplied, and not according to the scanty pattern 

 which these couriers de bois often encounter in the Indian trade 

 on these summits, when they are sometimes reduced to dine on 

 tripe de Eoche and sup on buton de rose ; but they bore in mind 

 that their employer, namely. Uncle Sam, was a full-handed man, 

 and they kept up a most commendable mental balance, by at once 

 eating strong and working strong. 



During the first twenty-seven miles, above the inlet of Sandy 



* Expedition to Hasca Lake in 1832. 



