INDIAN LODGES. 



91 



abundance to admit of a mound being made without 

 difficulty. Over very extensive areas on the north shore 

 of Lake Huron this could not be easily accomplished, in 

 consequence of the rocky character of the country and 

 the general absence of loose earth, except in the valleys of 

 rivers liable to annual overflow. 



The modern graves of Indians are numerous on Eainy 

 Eiver ; they have each a little birch bark roof placed 

 over them, and facing the south a small opening is left, 

 through which the relatives introduce tobacco, rice, or 

 other offerings at their periodical visits. 



About three hundred yards below the second rapids, 

 which have a fall of three feet at the present high stage 

 of water, twenty-three skeletons of Indian lodges were seen, 

 all clothed with the wild convolvulus, and now serving 

 as records of the love of change which seems to form a 

 leading characteristic in the habits of the barbarous race 

 who possess, without appreciating or enjoying them, the 

 riches of this beautiful and most fertile valley. Limestone 

 fragments and boulders, more or less water worn, with 

 pebbles of the same rock, are found everywhere on the 

 beach, at the foot of the clay or loamy banks. 



As we approached the Lake of the Woods the river 

 increased in breadth, and at each bend a third low terrace 

 was in process of formation, often from 200 to 300 acres in 

 area, and elevated above the present high water level 

 from one to three feet. Coarse grasses grow in great 

 abundance upon many of these rich outlying alluvial de- 

 posits, and it appeared very probable that in ordinary 

 seasons they would furnish some thousand acres of rich 

 pasture land, as the grasses they sustain are like those 

 which on the Kaministiquia the settlers cut for their 

 winter supply of fodder for cattle. Near the mouth of the 

 river the tall tops of a few red and white pine may be 

 seen, which rise far above the aspens occupying the lower 



