ROSEAU LAKE. 



159 



of ducks and geese ; and the noise of their shrill cries, with 

 the flapping of wings as they would rise to take their morn- 

 ing flight to the north or south, according to the season of 

 the year, were almost the only sounds he heard, save the 

 sighing of the wind through the reeds, during his dreary 

 abode in the waste of Eoseau Lake. The altitude of Eoseau 

 Lake above Lake Winnipeg probably does not exceed 170 

 feet ; and as the elevation of the Lake of the Woods is at 

 least 370 feet above the same level, there must still be a rise 

 of 200 feet to be overcome before reaching the height of 

 land. Our guide described the Eoseau Eiver, before it 

 enters Eoseau Lake, as stretching to the south in the terri- 

 tories of the United States. He also said, that issuing from 

 the Great Muskeg, or swamp, occupying so much of the 

 height of land between Eed Eiver and the Lake of the 

 Woods, was a narrow rapid stream fifty miles long, emptying 

 into Eoseau Lake, thus forming a route by means of which 

 none but the smallest sized canoes can pass from Eoseau 

 Lake, through the Great Muskeg, to the Lake of the Woods. 



The ancient Lake Eidge is a continuation of the one re- 

 ferred to on page 132 • it extends in an unbroken line, 

 except where the river from the higher level in the rear 

 has cut . channels , through . it, j from . near Lake Winnipeg, 

 far beyond the international boundary. At the crossing- 

 place on the Eoseau, about forty-six miles from Eed 

 Eiver, its height was estimated to be the same as at the 

 Middle Settlement ; it forms a beautiful dry gravel road 

 wherever traversed, and suffers only from the drawback 

 of being the favourite haunt of numerous badgers, whose 

 holes on the flank, and sometimes also on the summit, are 

 dangerous to horses ; it is, apparently, perfectly level for 

 a hundred miles, and everywhere, as far as my obser- 

 vation enabled me to judge, shows the same even rounded 

 summit ; it may yet form an admirable means of com- 



