or four hundred feet in height, is a fort, containing several
houses, erected for the accommodation of the North-west Company and
their clerks. This place is called the _Grande Portage_. The traders,
who leave Montreal in the beginning of May, usually arrive here about
the middle of June. They are met by men who had spent the winter in the
establishments; towards the north, and from whom they receive the furs
which had been collected in the course of their winter traffic. Upwards
of twelve hundred men are thus assembled, every summer, in this remote
wilderness; and live together, for several days, in a comfortable and
convivial manner. After their accounts are settled, the furs are
embarked for Montreal; and the rest of the men proceed to the different
posts and establishments in the Indian country. The canoes which are
used from the Grande Portage, upwards, are but half the size of those
from Montreal. They are each navigated by four, five, or six men,
according to the distance which they have to go.

Having embarked on the river _Au Tourt_; and, having overcome numerous
obstacles, in cataracts, and other impediments to their course, the
persons proceeding on this voyage, reach a trading establishment, on the
north side of the river, in 48 degrees 37 minutes, north latitude. Here
they are met by people from the Athabasca country, and exchange lading
with them. This place also is the residence of the grand chief of the
_Algonquin Indians_; and here the elders of these Indians meet in
council, to treat of peace or war.

The Au Tourt is one of the finest rivers in the north-western parts of
America. Its banks are covered with a rich soil, and, in many parts, are
clothed with groves of oak, maple, and cedar-trees. The southern bank is
low, and displays the maple, the white birch, and cedar; with the
spruce, the alder, and various kinds of underwood. Its waters abound in
fish, particularly in sturgeons. In the low grounds, betwixt Lake
Superior and this river, are seen vast quantities of rice, which the
natives collect, in the month of August, for their winter stores.

_Lake Winipic_, which the traders next approach, is the great reservoir
of several large rivers. It is bounded, on the north, by banks of black
and grey rock; and, on the south, by a low and level country,
occasionally interrupted with ridges or banks of limestone, from twenty
to forty feet in height, bearing timber, but only of moderate growth.
From its p