98 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



guishable at a distance, and the glow of 

 autumnal colours was wanting to render 

 the variety beautiful. 



Having crossed two portages at the dif- 

 ferent extremities of the Island Lake, we 

 ran under sail through two extensive sheets 

 of water, called the Heron and Pelican 

 Lakes ; the former of which is fifteen miles 

 in length, and the latter five ; but its extent 

 to the southward has not been explored. 

 An intricate channel, with four small port- 

 ages, conducted us to the Woody Lake. 

 Its borders were, indeed, walls of pines, 

 hiding the face of steep and high rocks; 

 and we wandered in search of a landing- 

 place till ten P.M., when we were forced 

 to take shelter from an impending storm 

 on a small island, where we wedged our- 

 selves between the trees. But though we 

 secured the canoes, we incurred a personal 

 evil of much greater magnitude in the tor- 

 ments inflicted by the musquitoes, a plague 

 which had grown upon us since our depar- 

 ture from Cumberland House, and which 

 infested us during the whole summer; we 



