h in the long-tried pilotage of our guide, Tom
Shaw, down we went, rushing at times like a thunderbolt, then turned by
a dab of the pole of our guide, on a rock, shooting off in eschelon, and
then careering down another _schute_, or water bolt, till we thus dodged
every rock, and came out below with a full roaring chorus of our
Canadians, who, as they cleared the last danger, hoisted our starry flag
at the same moment that they struck up one of their wild and
joyous, songs.

_22d_. I have questioned the Indians closely for the names of Sault Ste.
Marie and Lake Superior. They are destined to hold an important rank in
our future geography. But the result is not agreeable to preconceived
poetic notions. When the French first came to these falls, they found
the Chippewas, the falls signifying, descriptively, Shallow water
pitching over rocks, or by a prepositional form of the term, at the
place of shallow water, pitching over rocks. Such is the meaning of the
words Pa-wa-teeg and Pa-wa-ting. The terms cover more precisely the idea
which we express by the word cascade. The French call a cascade a Leap
or Sault; but Sault alone would not be distinctive, as they had already
applied the term to some striking passes on the St. Lawrence and other
places. They therefore, in conformity with their general usage, added
the name of a patron saint to the term by calling it Sault de Ste.
Marie, i.e. Leap of Saint Mary, to distinguish it from other Leaps, or
Saults. Now as the word Sainte, as here used, is feminine, it must, in
its abbreviated form, be written Ste. The preposition _de_ (the) is
usually dropped. Use has further now dropped the sound of the letter _l_
from Sault. But as, in the reforms of the French dictionary, the ancient
geographical names of places remain unaffected, the true phraseology is
SAULT STE. MARIE.

Having named the falls a _Sault_, they went a step further, and called
the Odjibwa Indians who lived at it, _Saulteurs,_ or People of the
Sault. Hence this has ever remained the French name for Chippewas.

In the term Gitchegomee, the name for Superior, we have a specimen of
their mode of making compounds. _Gitche_ signifies something great, or
possessing the property of positive magnitude. _Gomee_ is itself a
compound phrase, denoting, when so conjoined, a large body of water. It
is the objective member of their term for the sea; but is governed by
its antecedent, and may be used in describing other and minor,