A General History of the Fur Trade. 



47 



waters : the canoe and its contents are then carried one 

 thousand one hundred paces. The channel here is near a 

 mile wide, the waters tumbling over ridges of rocks that 

 traverse the river. The South bank is very high, rising 

 upwards of fifty feet, of the same rock as seen on the South 

 side of the Lake Winipic, and the North is not more than 

 a third of that height. There is an excellent sturgeon-fishery 

 at the foot of this cascade, and vast numbers of pelicans^ 

 cormorants, &c. frequent it, where they watch to seize the 

 fisth that may be killed or disabled by the force of the wa- 

 ters. 



About two miles from this Portage the navigation is again 

 interrupted by the Portage of the Roche* Rouge, which is 

 an hundred yards long; and a mile and an half from thence 

 the river is barred by a range of islands, forming rapids be- 

 tween them ; and through these it is the same distance to 

 the rapid of Lake Travers, which is four miles right across, 

 and eight miles in If ngth. Then succeeds the Grande D£- 

 charge, and several rapids, for four miles to the Cedar Lake, 

 which is entered through a small channel on the left, form- 

 ed by an island, as going round it would occasion loss of 

 time. In this distance banks of rocks (such as have already 

 been described) appear at intervals on either side ; the rest 

 of the country is low. This is the case along the South 

 bank of the lake and the islands, while the North side, which 

 is very uncommon, is level throughout. This lake runs 

 first West four miles, then as much more West-South- 

 West, across a deep bay on the right, then six miles to the 

 Point de Lievre, and across another bay again on the right ; 

 then North- West eight miles, across a still deeper bay on 

 the right ; and seven miles parallel with the North coast, 

 North- North- West through islands, five miles more to Fort 

 Bourbon,* situated on a small island, dividing this from 

 Mud Lake. 



The Cedar Lake is from four to twelve miles wide, ex- 

 clusive of the bays. Its banks are covered with wood, and 

 abound in game, and its waters produce plenty of fish, par- 

 ticularly the sturgeon. The Mud Lake, and the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Fort Bourbon, abound with geese, ducks, 

 swans, &c. and was formerly remarkable for a vast number 

 of martens, of which it cannot now boast but a very small 

 proportion. 



* This was also a principal post of the French, who gave it its name. 



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