NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 263 



miles. I noticed the tamarack on its banks, and the nymphae 

 odorata, scirpus lacustris, and Indian reed on the margin. It 

 expands into Birch Lake, a clear sheet, about one mile long, 

 with pebbly bottom, interspersed with boulders. A short outlet, 

 in which we passed a broken fish-dam, connects it with Lac Pie. 

 This lake is about three and a half miles long, exhibiting a por- 

 tion of prairie on its shores, interspersed with small pines. From 

 it, there is a portage to Ottertail Lake, the eastern source of Eed 

 Kiver. This is the common war road of the Mukundwa against 

 the Sioux. , 



On coming out of Lac P16, freshwater shells began to show 

 themselves, chiefly species of naiades, a feature in the natural his- 

 tory of this stream which is afterwards common; but I observed 

 none of much size, and they are often greatly decorticated. Four 

 or five miles lower, we entered Assowa Lake, and about a mile 

 and a half further, Lac Yieux Desert, or Old Gardon Lake, so 

 called from the remains of a trading station, where we halted for 

 breakfast. On resuming the descent, just twenty minutes were 

 required, with vigorous strokes of the paddle, to pass it. It has 

 an outlet about two miles long, when the stream again expands 

 into a lake of considerable size, which we called Summit Lake. 

 Thus far, we had been passing on a geological plateau of the 

 diluvial character, extending southwest. But from this point the 

 course of the river veers, at first towards the east and northeast, 

 and, after a wide circuit, to the southeast, and eventually again 

 to the southwest. From this point, rapids begin to mark its 

 channel. The river, consequently, assumes a velocity which, 

 while it hurries the traveller on, increases his danger of running 

 his frail bark against rocks or shoals. We had been driven down 

 this accelerated channel two hours and fifteen minutes, when it 

 expanded into a sheet called Long Kice Lake. This is some 

 three miles in length, and, at a very short distance below it, the 

 river again expands into a considerable lake, which, from the 

 circumstance of Lieut. Allen having circumnavigated it, I called 

 Allen's Lake. He found it the recipient of a small river from the 

 north. It is, apparently, the largest of this series of river lakes 

 below the Kaginogumaug. While crossing it, we experienced a 

 very severe and sudden tempest of wind and rain, accompanied 

 by most severe and appalling peals of thunder and vivid light- 



