and the white expanse of
the great Lake Winnipeg opened before them, stretching northward far
beyond the range of their vision. Norman knew the lake, having crossed
it before, but its aspect somewhat disappointed the Southern travellers.
Instead of a vast dark lake which they had expected to see, they looked
upon a whitish muddy sheet, that presented but few attractive points to
the eye, either in the hue of its water or the scenery of its shores.
These, so far as they could see them, were low, and apparently marshy;
and this is, in fact, the character of the southern shores of Winnipeg.
On its east and north, however, the country is of a different character.
There the geological formation is what is termed _primitive_. The
rocks consist of granite, sienite, gneiss, etcetera; and, as is always
the case where such rocks are found, the country is hilly and rugged.
On the western shores a _secondary_ formation exists. This is
_stratified limestone_,--the same as that which forms the bed of many of
the great prairies of America; and, indeed, the Lake Winnipeg lies
between this secondary formation and the primitive, which bounds it on
the east. Along its western shores extends the flat limestone country,
partly wooded and partly prairie land, running from that point for
hundreds of miles up to the very foot of the Rocky Mountains, where the
primitive rocks again make their appearance in the rugged peaks of that
stupendous chain. Lake Winnipeg is nearly three hundred miles in
length, but it is very narrow--being in its widest reach not over fifty
miles, and in many places only fifteen miles from shore to shore. It
trends nearly due north and south, leaning a little north-west and
south-east, and receives many large rivers, as the Red, the
Saskatchewan, and the Winnipeg. The waters of these are again carried
out of it by other rivers that run from the lake, and empty into the
Hudson's Bay. There is a belief among the hunters and voyageurs that
this lake has its tides like the ocean. Such, however, is not the case.
There is at times a rise and overflow of its waters, but it is not
periodical, and is supposed to be occasioned by strong winds forcing the
waters towards a particular shore.

Lake Winnipeg is remarkable, as being in the very centre of the North
American continent, and may be called the centre of the _canoe
navigation_. From this point it is possible to travel _by water_ to
Hudson's Bay on the north-east, t