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times on another, according as our courfe lay upon 

 the river. 



There is a fpecies of wild cats called Pijoux? 

 very numerous in thefe parts. Thefe bear a great 

 refemblance to ours, but are larger. I obfer- 

 ved that fome of them had very fhort tails, and 

 others again much longer and thicker: they 

 have iikewife a very fierce look, and I have been 

 informed they are very ravenous and good hunters. 

 The forefts are full of wall-nut-trees, refembling 

 thofe of Canada, and their roots have feveral pro- 

 perties not obferved in the others. They are very 

 foft, and their bark affords a black dye ; but 

 their principal life confifts in medicine. They 

 flop a loofenefs, and furnifh an excellent erne- 

 tick. 



On the twentieth, there fell a great deal of fnow, 

 fo that we did not ftir from the place where we 

 were, all that day 5 next day it grew milder, but 

 the following night a wind at fouth-weft cleared 

 the fky, and the cold began afrefh. Next day in 

 the morning, the brandy left in the pirogue was 

 found as thick as frozen oil, and the Spanifh wine 

 I ufed for mafs, was quite frozen. The further 

 we defcended the more windings we found in 

 the river, the wind followed all its meanders, 

 and from whatever fide it came, the cold ftill 

 continued exceffive. In the memory of man 

 nothing like it had been feen in this country* 



This day, we perceived a poft erected, on the 

 right fide of the river, on taking a near view of 

 it, we found it was a monument fet up by the Illi- 

 nois, on account of an expedition they had made 

 fometime ago againfl: the Ghicachas.- There were 



two 



