248 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



deulj, the stern of his canoe swung across the stream, which per • 

 mittecl the steersman to catch hold of a branch. Thus stretched 

 tensely across the rapid stream, in an instant the water swept over 

 its gunwale, and its contents were plunged into the swift current. 

 The water was about four feet deep. Allen and his men found 

 footing, with much ado, but his canoe — compass, apparatus, and 

 everything, was lost and swept over the falls. He grasped his 

 manuscript notes, and, by feeling with his feet, fetched up his 

 fowling-piece ; the men clutched about, and managed to save the 

 canoe. Fortunately, I had a fine instrument to replace the lost 

 compass, though wanting the nautical rig of the other. 



We made a short portage. Two of the canoes, with Indian 

 pilots, went down the rapids, but injured their canoes so much as 

 to cause a longer delay than if they had carried them by land. 

 Below this fall, the river receives a tributary on the right hand, 

 called the Chemaun, or Ocano. It contributes to double its 

 volume, very nearly, and hence its savanna borders are enlarged. 

 Conspicuous among the shrubbery on its shores are the wilding 

 rose and clumps of the salix. The channel winds through these 

 savanna borders capriciously. At a point where we landed for 

 breakfast, on an open pine bank on the left shore, we observed 

 several copious and clear springs pouring into the river. Indeed, 

 the extensive sand ranges which traverse the woodlands of the 

 Itasca plateau are perfectly charged with the moisture which is 

 condensed on these elevations, which flows in through a thousand 

 little rills. On these sandy heights the conifera predominate. 



The physical character of the stream made this part of our 

 route a most rapid one. Willing or unwilling, we were hurried 

 on; but, indeed, we had every desire to hasten the descent. At 

 four o'clock P. M., we came to the junction of the Piniddiwin,*or 

 Carnage Eiver, a considerable tributary on the left. On this 

 river, which originates in a lake, on the northeastern summit of 

 the Hauteur des Terres, I bestowed the name of De Soto. It has 

 also a lake, called Lac la Folle, at the point of its junction with 

 the Mississippi, whose borders are noted for the abundant and 



* From the term lah-pinuniddeivin, an emphatic expression for a place of carnage, 

 so called from a secret attack made at this place, in time past, by a party of Sioux, 

 ■who killed every member of a lodge of Chippewas, and then shockingly mangled 

 their bodies. 



