11 D 



QUI Bl • \M' NORTH BAST i kkki TOBY, 



1 The Dame tfistassini is formed from two AJgonkin words — " mista," 



signifying big, and " assine," a stone; and is so called because of the 

 boulders of gneiss Btrewn along the west Bhore. 



Lake Mistassini is :i long and narrow body of water, Btretching from 

 north-east to Bouth-west, with a perceptible curve between the ends, 

 the concavity of the curve being towards the Bouth-east. [1 

 between N. I. at. 50 and 51 24', W. Long. 72 16' to 7 1 20 

 length, in a straight line between the extremities of the north-east and 

 Bouth-west hay-, is nearly one hondred miles, the average breadth of 

 the main body being about twelve miles. At either end of the lake, a 

 long point stretches out, dividing the ends into two deep bays. 

 Between the points, and Beeminglya continuation of them, is a long 

 chain "t* rockj Islands, which, by overlapping each other, almost 

 divide the lake into two parts, bo that a view of the opposite Bide is 

 rarely obtained in going around the shore. A slight decrease in the 



present level of the lake would result in the product] >f1 



lake-, as the water between the islands is quite Bhallow, and forms a 

 contrast in 1 1 » i - reaped with the great depth between the islands and 

 shore on either Bide. Here the lake is very deep, an isolated Bounding, 

 made in crossing, having given .'IT I feet at a poinl which. 1 was 

 informed, was not the deepest part of the lake. 



The hay at the south-east end of the lake i- called Abatagush. This 

 hay. sixteen miles from its mouth, i- again divided bya long point into 



two other hay-. Ahout tour miles from the end oi this point, and on 



it, the Eudson Bay post is Bituated. 

 Cabutaohaan The eastern part, called Cabistachuan Hay. runs Blightly easl ol 

 south, in an irregular course, for ahout twelve miles, the Little Perch 

 River coming in at it- head. The western part is much Larger and more 

 irregular. It stretches south for sixteen miles, a small river from Lake 

 Wakiniche falling into it at thai distance. A side branch of the baj 

 run- to the westward for upwards of ten mile-. The general width of 

 A.batagush Bay is one and one-half mile-. The south-west, or Pooni- 

 chaun Bay, for a distance of twenty miles from its entrance, ha- an 

 average breadth of ahout five miles. Its shores are broken by smaller 

 hays, and it- surface is covered with islands, varying from six miles 

 long, by one and one half wide, to mere houldcrs. After the tirst 



twenty mile-, the bay narrows to an average breadth of less than one 

 half mile, and continue- in a BOUth-westerly cour.-o for a long distance, 



a- the end wa- not reached after ascending it fourteen mile-. The 

 Indians say that a largo river empties into the lake at the head of this 

 hay. The north-east and north-west bayB are not BO deep a- the -.nth 

 era Ones ; tin- distance from the end of the point to (he mouth of the 

 Northern rirei Papasqutsatee River, a large -tream coming in at tin' head of the 



