distance—­for about fifteen miles.  At this distance, rapids commence, and the bed of the river exhibited greenstone and gneissoid boulders.  We counted ten of these rapids, which our guide called the Metoswa, or Ten Rapids.  They extend about twenty miles, during which there is a gradual ascent of about forty feet.  The men got out at each of these rapids, and lifted or drew the canoes up by their gunwales.  We ascended slowly and with toil.  At the computed distance of forty-five miles, we entered a very handsome sheet of water, lying transverse to our course, which the Indians called Pamidjegumag, which means crosswater, and which the French call Lac Traverse.  It is about twelve miles long from east to west, and five or six wide.  It is surrounded with hardwood forest, presenting a picturesque appearance.

We stopped a few moments to observe a rude idol on its shores; it consisted of a granitic boulder, of an extraordinary shape, with some rings and spots of paint, designed to give it a resemblance to a human statue.  We observed the passenger-pigeon and some small fresh-water shells of the species of unios and anadontas.

A short channel, with a strong current, connects this lake with another of less than a third of its dimensions, to which I gave the name of Washington Irving.  Not more than three or four miles above the latter, the Mississippi exhibits the junction of its ultimate forks.  The right hand, or Itasca branch, was represented as by far the longest, the most circuitous, and most difficult of ascent.  It brings down much the largest volume of water.  I availed myself of the geographical knowledge of my Indian guide by taking the left hand, or what I had occasion soon to call the Plantagenian branch.  It expanded, in the course of a few miles, into a lake, which I called Marquette, and, a little further, into another, which I named La Salle.  About four miles above the latter, we entered into a more considerable sheet of water, which I named Plantagenet, being the site of an old Indian encampment called Kubbakunna, or the Rest in the Path.

We encamped a short distance above the upper end of this lake at the close of the day, on a point of low land covered with a small growth of gray pine, fringed with alder, tamarisk, spruce, and willow.  A bed of moss covered the soil, into which the foot sank at every step.  Long moss hung from every branch.  Everything indicated a cold frigid soil.  In the act of encamping, it commenced raining, which gave a double gloom to the place.  Several species of duck were brought from the different canoes as the result of the day’s hunt.

Early the next morning we resumed the ascent.  The river became narrow and tortuous.  Clumps of willow and alder lined the shore.  Wherever larger species were seen they were gray pines or tamarack.  One of the Indians killed a deer, of the species C.  Virginea, during the morning.  Ducks were frequently disturbed as we pushed up the winding channel.  The shores were often too sedgy and wet to permit our landing, and we went on till twelve o’clock before finding a suitable spot to breakfast.