ea River, the lower part of Play Green Lake
and, entering Little Jack River, landed and pitched our tents. Here there
is a small log hut, the residence of a fisherman who supplies Norway
House with trout and sturgeon. He gave us a few of these fish which
afforded an acceptable supper. Our voyage this day was thirty-four miles.

October 6.

Little Jack River is the name given to a channel that winds among several
large islands which separate Upper and Lower Play Green Lakes. At the
lower end of this channel Big Jack River, a stream of considerable
magnitude, falls into the lake. Play Green is a translation of the
appellation given to that lake by two bands of Indians who met and held a
festival on an island situated near its centre. After leaving our
encampment we sailed through Upper Play Green Lake and arrived at Norway
Point in the forenoon.

LAKE WINNIPEG.

The waters of Lake Winnipeg and of the rivers that run into it, the
Saskatchewan in particular, are rendered turbid by the suspension of a
large quantity of white clay. Play Green Lake and Nelson River, being the
discharges of the Winnipeg, are equally opaque, a circumstance that
renders the sunken rocks, so frequent in these waters, very dangerous to
boats in a fresh breeze. Owing to this one of the boats that accompanied
us, sailing at the rate of seven miles an hour, struck upon one of these
rocks. Its mast was carried away by the shock but fortunately no other
damage sustained. The Indians ascribe the muddiness of these lakes to an
adventure of one of their deities, a mischievous fellow, a sort of Robin
Puck, whom they hold in very little esteem. This deity, who is named
Weesakootchaht, possesses considerable power but makes a capricious use
of it and delights in tormenting the poor Indians. He is not however
invincible and was foiled in one of his attempts by the artifice of an
old woman who succeeded in taking him captive. She called in all the
women of the tribe to aid in his punishment, and he escaped from their
hands in a condition so filthy that it required all the waters of the
Great Lake to wash him clean; and ever since that period it has been
entitled to the appellation of Winnipeg, or Muddy water.

Norway Point forms the extremity of a narrow peninsula which separates
Play Green and Winnipeg Lakes. Buildings were first erected here by a
party of Norwegians who were driven away from the colony at Red River by
the commotions which took place some