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After this short preliminary sketch of the geography of the Province, some 
further details are necessary as to the waters bounding and inclosed by the sub- 
divisions described. Most important, of course, are the Great Lakes, indeed, it is 
they alone which are at present important from an economic standpoint, but it is 
desirable from a scientific point of view that both of the great water-systems 
should be considered with the view of eliciting information as to the differences 
in the fish-fauna of each. 
THE GREAT LAKES. 
These magnificent expanses of fresh water form part of a semicircle of lakes 
stretching from the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic concentrically with Hudson's Bay, 
i viz.—Great Bear Lake, Slave Lake, Athabase1, Wollaston, Deer Lake, Lake 
- Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba, Lake ot the Woods, Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario 
and the St. Lawrence. They are considered to represent the ancient shore of the 
ocean retiring before a rising continent. Many curious facts as to the inhabi- 
tants of these lakes are intelligible if we bear in mind the physical changes which 
geologists tell us they have undergone in the past. 
Lake Superior, the largest expanse of fresh water on the globe, forms an in- 
exhaustible reservoir for the St. Lawrence system, containing, as it has been es- 
timated to do, some 4,000 cubic miles of water. Its north shore is bold and 
picturesque, varying in heignt from 300 to 1,360 feet, and deeply indented in 
aa parts, where innumerable harbours facilitating commerce and fisheries are 
ormed. 
a Its greatest length is some 420 miles, measured on a curve from east to west ; 
its greatest breadth is 160, while its area has been calculated at 52,000 square 
miles. Taking into consideration its great depth (in some places it reaches 1,200 
feet), it is not wonderful that such a large body of water should materially in- 
! fluence the temperature of its shores, and should not be easily affected by sea- 
-__ sonal alterations. The temperature of its surface waters in July has been ob- 
served to be 39°F (= 4° C), that of the atmosphere being 51°: (10.5° C), while 
me eet at some distance in the interior registered 70° and 80° (=25°- 
6° C). 
The waters of the lake are derived from a basin drained by more than two 
hundred streams; several of these are of considerable size, but almost all are im- 
petuous torrents, descending from the height of land for 50 to 150 miles. Pro- 
ceeding from the head of the lake eastwards, the most considerable are the Kam- 
inistiquia, the Neepigon, the Pic on the north, the Michipicoten, the Agawa, the 
Montreal, the Batchawaung and the Goulais on the east side. Of these, the Kam- 
inistiquia is the only one navigable for large vessels for any distance from its 
mouth; it flows into Thunder Bay at Fort William. The Kakabeka Falls, 
situated near the fork of the branches draining Lake Shebandowan and Dog 
Lake, are said to be scarcely inferior in grandeur to the Falls of Niagara. 
i The Neepigon River, the largest on the north shore, takes its origin in Lake 
| Neepigon, an oval sheet of water 30 miles north-west of Lake Superior, and 313 
feet higher than that lake ; it discharges itself through several small lakes and a 
wide deep channel into Neepigon Bay. The water of this river and lake, so 
celebrated for the large speckled trout with which they swarm, has earned for 
_ the lake its Indian name, which signifies “Deep Clearwater Lake.” The lake, 
