RESUME OF LITERATURE. 61 



there is plenty of water lilies) of a quarter of a mile in length, and this is again 

 separated by a similar pond from the last Portage de Cerise/' which is HO paces. 

 Here the same operation is to be performed for 380 paces. Thej^ next enter on the 

 Mountain Lake, running northwest by west, 6 miles long and about 2 miles in its 

 greatest breadth. In the center of this lake and to the right is the Old Road, by 

 which I never passed; but an adequate notion maj^ be formed of it from the road 1 

 am going to describe, and which is universally preferred. This is, first, the small 

 new portage * over which everything is carried for 626 paces, over hills and gullies. 

 The whole is then embarked on a narrow line of water" that meanders southwest 

 about 2i miles. It is necessary to unload here, for the length of the canoe, and then 

 proceed west half a mile to the new Grande Portage, which is 3,100 paces in length, 

 and over very rough ground, which requires the utmost exertions of the men, and 

 frequently lames them; from hence thej' approach the Rose Lake, the portage of 

 that name being opposite to the junction of the road from the Mountain Lake. They 

 then embark on the Rose Lake, about 1 mile from the east end of it, and steer west 

 by south in an oblique course across it, 2 miles; then west-northwest, passing the 

 Petite Perche to the Marten Portage, 3 miles. In this part of the lake the bottom is 

 mud and slime, with about 3 or i feet of water over it; and here I frequently stuck 

 a canoe pole of 12 feet long without meeting any other obstruction than if the whole 

 were water. It has, however, a peculiar suction or attractive power, so that it is 

 difficult to paddle a canoe over it.*^ There is a small space along the south shore 

 where the water is deep, and this effect is not felt. In proportion to the distance 

 from this part, the suction becomes more powerful. I have, indeed, been told that 

 loaded canoes have been in danger of being swallowed up, and have only owed their 

 preservation to other canoes, which were lighter. I have, myself, found it diflicult 

 to get away from this attractive power, with 6 men and great exertion, though tliej' 

 did not appear to be in anv danger of sinking. 



Over against this is a very high, rocky ridge, on the south side, called Marten 

 Portage, which is but 20 paces long, and separated from the Perche Portage, which is 

 480 paces, by a mud pond covered with white lilies. From hence the course is on 

 the lake of the same name," west-southwest 3 miles to the height of land, where the 

 waters of the Dove or Pigeon River terminate, and which is one of the sources of 

 the great St. Laurence in this direction. Having carried the canoe and lading over it, 



a Little Cherry Portage.— J. M. C. 



ti Watab Portage on Minnesota geological survey maps. — J. M. C. 



(•This is Rove Lake.— J. M. C. 



d This phenomenon is very familiar to every one who has used a cauoe. After paddling over 

 one of these muddy bottoms, apparently barely making the canoe move with the greatest exertion, 

 there is a remarkable sense of relief and an increase in the rapidity of the canoe's motion when there 

 is a change to a sandy or gravelly bottom. An increase in depth of the water between the top of the 

 mud and the bottom of the canoe will have essentially the same effect. The cause of this is that the 

 canoe is actually floating in a thin mud, and the friction between this mud and the canoe is very much 

 greater than between the clear water and the canoe. — J. M. C. 



« Now called South Lake.— J. M. C. 



