The Soil From Isle A La Crosse To This Place Is Sandy With Some Portion Of Clay And The Trees Numerous; But The Methye River Is Stony And So Shallow That, To Lighten The Canoes, We Made Two Portages Of Five And Two Miles.

The paths were overflowed with cold spring water and barricaded by fallen trees; we should have been contented to immerse ourselves wholly had the puddle been sufficiently deep for the mosquitoes devoured every part that was exposed to them.

On the 4th we crossed the Methye Lake and landed at the portage on the north-west side in one of the sources of the Missinippi. The lake is seventeen miles in length with a large island in the middle. We proceeded to the north side of the portage with two men carrying a tent and some instruments, leaving the canoes and cargoes to be transported by daily journeys of two or three miles. The distance is fourteen statute miles and there are two small lakes about five miles from the north side. Several species of fish were found in them though they have no known communication with any other body of water, being situated on the elevation of the height. The road was a gentle ascent, miry from the late rainy weather and shaded by pines, poplars, birches, and cypresses, which terminated our view. On the north side we discovered through an opening in the trees that we were on a hill eight or nine hundred feet high and at the edge of a steep descent. We were prepared to expect an extensive prospect, but the magnificent scene before us was so superior to what the nature of the country had promised that it banished even our sense of suffering from the mosquitoes which hovered in clouds about our heads. Two parallel chains of hills extended towards the setting sun, their various projecting outlines exhibiting the several gradations of distance and the opposite bases closing at the horizon. On the nearest eminence the objects were clearly defined by their dark shadows; the yellow rays blended their softening hues with brilliant green on the next, and beyond it all distinction melted into gray and purple. In the long valley between, the smooth and colourless Clear Water River wound its spiral course, broken and shattered by encroaching woods. An exuberance of rich herbage covered the soil and lofty trees climbed the precipice at our feet, hiding its brink with their summits. Impatient as we were and blinded with pain we paid a tribute of admiration, which this beautiful landscape is capable of exciting unaided by the borrowed charms of a calm atmosphere, glowing with the vivid tints of evening.

We descended to the banks of the Clear Water River and, having encamped, the two men returned to assist their companions. We had sometimes before procured a little rest by closing the tent and burning wood or flashing gunpowder within, the smoke driving the mosquitoes into the crannies of the ground.

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