Nov. 23, 1857.] BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN EXPEDITION. 
43 
big men that were in the habit of giving good advice to the Queen, 
and so we parted good friends. 
All this, insignificant as it may appear, was of some importance 
to us, as the chiefs, with their old leader and orator, were highly 
excited. There were upwards of 200 Indians inside the fort, 100 
of whom were armed, and our party consisted of myself and inter- 
preter and my three companions, and the agent and storekeeper of 
the fort. 
The conference lasted 2f hours, in which period I heard and 
replied to five speeches, and the gentlemen in charge of the post 
seemed greatly relieved at the Indians quietly leaving the fort on 
the successful issue of the conference. 
On the 5th July we camped on Sturgeon Lake, at the mouth of 
what has hitherto been called Sturgeon Eiver, and, according to 
my instructions, I started with Dr. Hector to explore back again in 
a S.E. direction towards the White Fish Eiver. We had not pro- 
ceeded far when what appeared merely a river turned out to be a 
passage to a very large lake. 
We pushed across in an easterly direction and searched the 
opposite shore for an outlet ; found a very fine waterfall, and walked 
up the woods without much difficulty for about a mile and a half, 
when we came on another lake whose dimensions appeared not far 
inferior to those of the first. And from all I have seen both imme- 
diately on the route and whenever I have deviated (which I have 
often on foot for hours while the men were resting or cooking), I 
have come to the conclusion that the whole country between the 
waterparting and Sturgeon Lake is but a mass of lakes and islands. 
The traversing of this country can only be effected in winter by 
means of sledges and snow shoes when the lakes are frozen, and 
the underwood, the swamp, and fallen timber are filled up by the 
snow, over which there is then no difficulty in travelling on snow- 
shoes ; and I was aware that this was not the proper season for 
carrying out the investigation on account of the large staff of men, 
canoes, and provisions which I would have required, and the details 
of which ( i.e . those connected with running a road through a 
woody, swampy, and lake country) would be far better carried 
out by a professional engineer with a sufficient staff of assistants 
and lumberers — the providing of which would perhaps more 
immediately be the duty of the Canadian than of her Majesty’s 
Government at home. It is much to be regretted that so many 
miles of deep and valuable watercarriage should be rendered 
unavailable by so great a number of small insignificant portages. 
Many of these difficulties, however, are to be overcome by engineer- 
