250 DOUGLAS' JOURNAL 



as I observed last night, I found it to be eleven. Here were four Indians 



gathering from the pines a species of lichen, of which they make a sort of 



bread-cake in times of scarcity. In their camp were horns of Black-tailed 



deer and one pair of Red, or stag, the first I have seen since I left the coast. 



The last eleven miles of the lake due east. Drift-wood is seen on the rocks, 



10 feet above the present level. On leaving the lake the river returns to its 



natural breadth about 150 yards, and continues with a swift current for 



a mile, when it again gradually widens out into a second lake, neither so 



broad nor deep as the one already mentioned. For fifteen miles the shores 



are low sand and gravel, with low points or necks of land chiefly wooded 



with Pinus Larix ^ and P. canadensis ^ ; under their shade a species of 



Lunaria is just peeping through the ground. Pinus resinosa is no longer seen 



on the banks. This part the course is west of north. At the termination 



of the fifteen miles the country becomes still more broken ; bolder shores. 



The timber is of more diminutive size and the lake widens out into bays 



on both sides, about three to four and a half miles broad. The canoes of 



the natives here are different in form from any I have seen before ; the 



imder part is made of the fine bark of Pinus canadensis,^ and about 1 foot 



from the gunwale of birch-bark, sewed with the roots of Thuya, and the 



seams neatly gummed with resin from the pine. They are 10 to 14 feet 



long, terminating at both ends sharply and are bent inwards so much at the 



mouth that a man of middle size has some difficulty in placing himself 



in them. One that will carry six persons and their provisions may be 



carried on the shoulder with little trouble. Weather at noon pleasant ; 



thermometer 55° in the shade ; chilly towards evening. Camped on 



the right near a high rock of pure white marble. A mile on each side of 



the lake stumps and entire dead trees stand erect out of the water ; by 



some change in Nature the river has widened. The same thing occurs 



ten miles above the Grand Rapids, 148 miles from the sea. Our distance 



to-day is thirty-one mUes. 



Sunday, 22nd.— In the grey of the morn, at four o'clock, we were on the 



water and pleasantly pursuing our journey, it being cabn and the lake fine 



and smooth. Slight frost during the night ; noon fine and warm but 



cloudy, which continued throughout the day. Crossed over to the right 



side and passed two points a little beyond the latter in a gravelly bay 



where we stopped to breakfast at nine, having already gained fifteen mUea. 



This part of the lake has bold rocky shores. Course north and by east. 



Four miles further on the right there is a remarkable rock 240 feet high, 



perpendicular, of blue limestone on a substratum of granite. From this 



point one of the most sublime views presents itself : nine mUes of water 



about five miles in breadth, having on the left a projecting point resembling 



an island and a deep bay on the right, with lofty snowy peaks in all 



directions. Contrasted with their dark shady bases densely covered with 



pine, the deep rich hue of Pinus canadensis ' with its feathery cloudy 



branches quivering in the breeze, and the light tints but more majestic 



height of Pinus Strobus exalting their lofty tops beyond any other tree of 



^ Larix occidenialis, Mast, in Joum. R. Hort. Soo. xiv. p. 218. 

 ^ Tsuga canadensis. Mast., loc. cit., p. 255. 



