m'KENZIe’s EXPEDITION'S* 321 
man bis load, every one being obliged to carry 
so many packs. 
At the Grand Portage., and along that im¬ 
mense chain of lakes and rivers, which extend 
beyond Lake Superior, the company has re¬ 
gular posts, where the agents reside ; and with 
such astonishing enterprise and industry have 
the affairs of this company been carried on, 
that trading posts are now established within 
five hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. One 
gentleman, indeed, a partner in the house at 
Montreal, which now holds the greatest part 
of the shares of the company, has even pene¬ 
trated to the Pacific Ocean itself. The jour¬ 
nal kept by this gentleman upon tbe expedi¬ 
tion is, it is said, replete with information of 
the most interesting nature. That it has not 
been laid before the public long ago, together 
with an accurate map of his track, is to be 
imputed solely to an unfortunate misunder¬ 
standing which took place between him and 
a noble lord high in the confidence of govern- 
ment. 
In the first attempt which this adventurous 
gentleman, a Mr. MTCenzie, made 1 to pene¬ 
trate to the ocean, he set out early in the 
spring from the remotest of the posts belong¬ 
ing to the company. He took with him a 
single canoe, and a party of chosen men ; and 
after passing over prodigious tracts of land* 
VOL, I. 
Y 
