57 



CHAR III. 



THE HEIGHT OF LAND TO RAINY LAKE. 



The Height of Land Lake. — Savanne Lake. — Savanne Portage. — Savanna 

 River. — Mr. Bell from the Mackenzie. — A youthful Traveller. — Milles 

 Lacs. — The Seine River. — Character of the Seine. — Baril Lake. — An- 

 cient Forest. — Cannibal Lake. — Cannibalism. — Brule Lake. — Pickerel 

 Lake. — Portage des Morts. — Death of a Voyageur. — Dore" Lake. — French 

 Portage. — Sturgeon Lake and River. — Picturesque Character of Sturgeon 

 Lake. — Lac de la Croix. — Rattlesnake Portage. — Morning in the Wil- 

 derness. — Nameaukan Rapids. — Narrow Escape. — Nameaukan River. — 

 Nameaukan Lake. — Rainy Lake. 



The marshy lake which stretches along the narrow 

 level plateau forming the Height of Land in this region, is 

 about one-third of a mile broad, but its length from the 

 north-west to the south-east could not be determined on 

 account of the vast expanse of rushes, with islands of 

 tamarack, which seemed to blend it with an extensive 

 marsh stretching far in both directions. Its elevation 

 above the sea is 1485 feet. A portage about half a mile 

 in length, letting us down 16 J feet, brings Savanne Lake 

 into view. The shores of this small but reedy expanse of 

 water are fringed with Labrador and Indian tea, and here, 

 for the first time, the beautiful Indian Cup or Pitcher 

 Plant (Sarracenia purpurea), once so common at the 

 Grenadier's Pond near Huinber Bay, Lake Ontario, was 

 seen in great profusion. From the topmost branches of a 

 pine tree which I ascended, a slight depression to the 

 north and north-east of the dividing ridge was observed 

 in the generally level outline of the horizon ; by this de- 



