90 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



the N.E. it is said, for forty miles. We 

 crossed it at a narrow part, and pulling 

 through several winding channels formed 

 by a group of islands, entered Cedar Lake, 

 which, next to Lake Winipeg, is the largest 

 sheet of fresh water we had hitherto seen. 

 Ducks and geese resort hither in immense 

 flocks in the spring and autumn. These 

 birds were now beginning to go off, owing 

 to its muddy shores having become quite 

 hard through the nightly frosts. At this 

 place the Aurora Borealis was extremely 

 brilliant in the night, its coruscations dart- 

 ing, at times, over the whole sky, and as- 

 suming various prismatic tints, of which the 

 violet and yellow were predominant. 



After pulling, on the 14th, seven miles 

 and a quarter on the lake, a violent wind 

 drove us for shelter to a small island, or 

 rather a ridge of rolled stones, thrown up 

 by the frequent storms which agitate this 

 lake. The weather did not moderate the 

 whole day, and we were obliged to pass the 

 night on this exposed spot. The delay, 

 however, enabled us to obtain some lunar 



