OF THE POLAR SEA. 



83 



rivers that run into it, the Saskatchawan in 

 particular, are rendered turbid by the sus- 

 pension of a large quantity of white clay. 

 Play Green Lake and Nelson River, being 

 the discharges of the Winipeg, are equally 

 opaque, a circumstance that renders the 

 sunken rocks, so frequent in these waters, 

 very dangerous to boats in a fresh breeze. 

 Owing to this, one of the boats that accom- 

 panied us, sailing at the rate of seven miles 

 an hour, struck upon one of these rocks. 

 Its mast was carried away by the shock, 

 but fortunately no other damage sustained. 

 •The Indians ascribe the muddiness of these 

 lakes to an adventure of one of their deities, 

 a mischievous fellow, a sort Robin Puck, 

 whom they hold in very little esteem. This 

 deity, who is named Weesakootchaht, pos- 

 sesses considerable power, but makes a 

 capricious use of it, and delights in tor- 

 menting the poor Indians. He is not, how- 

 ever, invincible, and was foiled in one of his 

 attempts by the artifice of an old woman, 

 who succeeded in taking him captive. She 

 called in all the women of the tribe to aid 



