NARRATIVE OP THE EXPEDITIOX. 213 



Mackinac, in a light canoe, doubly manned, for something ho had 

 left. When he returned, the wind had so far abated that we em- 

 barked, and crossed the separating channel, of about four miles, 

 to the peninsula, and encamped near the River Cheboigan.* This 

 was a tedious beginning of our voyage to Detroit; the first day 

 had carried us only ten miles, the second hntfour. 



We were now to retraverse the shores of the Huron, along 

 wdiieh we had encountered such delaj^s in our outward passage, 

 and the men applied themselves to the task with that impulse 

 which all partake of when returning from a long journey. Winds 

 we could not control, but every moment of calm was improved. 

 Paddle and song were plied by them late and early. A violent 

 rain-storm happened during the night, but it ceased at daybreak, 

 when we embarked and traversed a coast line of forty-four miles, 

 encamping at Presque Isle. Rain fell copiously during the night, 

 and the unsettled and changing state of the atmosphere kept us 

 in pei'petual agitation during the day. Notwithstanding these 

 changes, we em.barked at five o'clock in the morning (16th), and, 

 by dint of perseverance, made thirty miles. We slept on the 

 west cape of Thunder Bay. Next morning, we landed a few 

 moments on the Idol Island, in Thunder Bay, and, continuing 

 along the sandy shore of the au sauhle, or Iosco coast, entered 

 Saganaw Bay, and encamped, on its west shore, at Sandy Point. 

 Indians of the Chippewa language were encountered at this spot, 

 whose manners and habits appeared to be quite modified by long 

 contact with the white race. 



The morning of the 18th (Sept.) proved fair, which enabled us 

 to cross the bay, taking the island of Shawangunk in our course, 

 wdiere we stopped an hour, and re-examined its calcedonies and 

 other minerals. We then proceeded across to Oak Point, on its 

 eastern shore, and, coasting down to, and around, the precipitous 

 cliffs of Point aux Barques, encamped in one of its deeply-indented 

 coves, having made, during the day, forty-two miles. 



* Cheboigan. This is a noted river of the extreme of the peninsula of Michi- 

 gan, which has just been made the centre of a new land district by Congress. It 

 affords a harbor for shipping, and communicates with Little Travers Bay on Lake 

 Michigan. A canal across a short route, of easy excavation, would avoid the whole 

 dangerous route through the Straits of IMichilin.aekinac, converting the end of 

 the peninsula into au island, and save ninety miles of dangerous travel. 



