72 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



look around in silence. Three or four minutes are al- 

 lowed to pass away when one of them rises and arranges 

 the fire, adding fresh wood and blowing the embers into 

 a flame. He calls a French voyageur by name, who leaps 

 from his couch, and in a low voice utters " leve, leve." 

 Two or three of his companions quickly rise, remain for 

 a few minutes on their knees in prayer, and then shout 

 lustily "leve, messieurs, leve." In another minute all is 

 life, the motionless forms under the canoes, by the camp 

 fires, under trees, or stretched before the tent doors, spring 

 to their feet. The canvas is shaken and ten minutes given 

 to dress, the tent pins are then unloosened and the half 

 dressed laggard rushes into the open air to escape the 

 damp folds of the tent now threatening to envelope him. 

 Meanwhile the canoes are launched and the baggage 

 stowed away. The voyageurs and travellers take their 

 seats, a hasty look is thrown around to see that no stray 

 frying pan or hatchet is left behind, and the start is made. 

 An effort to be cheerful and sprightly is soon damped 

 by the mist into which we plunge, and no sound but the 

 measured stroke of the paddle greets the ear. The sun 

 begins to glimmer above the horizon, the fog clears slowly 

 away, a loon or a flock of ducks fly wildly across the 

 bow of the first canoe, the Indians and voyageurs shout 

 at the frightened birds or imitate their cry with admi- 

 rable accuracy, the guide stops, pipes are lit, and a cheer- 

 ful day is begun. 



After leaving Eattlesnake Portage, rapids and falls fol- 

 low one another in quick succession. The most important 

 are Crow Portage, with 9*88 feet fall; the Grand Palls 

 Portage 16 feet, and the great and dangerous Nameaukan 

 Eapids, letting the river down in steps between fifteen and 

 sixteen feet. In descending the Grand Eapids, my canoe 

 had a narrow escape. Lambert acted as steersman, and 



