Observing in the evening a large Indian camp, I requested the guide
to put ashore for a little. We were received kindly, but in a manner
quite different to what I had been accustomed. The young men were
drawn up on the shore, and eyed us with a savage _fierté_ in their
looks, returning our salutation in a way that convinced us that we
were at length among the "wild men of the woods." The weather being
extremely hot, we found them in almost a complete state of nudity,
with only a narrow shred of cloth around their loins. They speak
the Sauteux language; and I had much difficulty in making myself
understood by them. In their physiognomy and personal appearance they
exhibit all the characteristic features of the genuine aboriginal
race; and this party certainly appeared, one and all, to be "without a
cross;" but there had been long a trading post at Lac la Pluie, and I
noticed, in a neighbouring camp, a lass with brown hair and pretty
blue eyes. Where did she get them? After bartering some sturgeon with
the Indians, and presenting them with a little tobacco, we parted good
friends, and encamped so near them as to be annoyed the whole night by
the sound of their drum.

On the following morning we entered the Lake of the Woods, and next
morning White River, a very violent stream, full of falls and
dangerous rapids. The portages are innumerable, and often close
together. After crossing one of these portages, we observed, with
astonishment, a number of people on the next portage, La Cave, about
pistol-shot distance from us. They proved to be Mr. Hughes, formerly
partner of the North-West Company; Mr. Berens, a member of Committee,
and suite: they were painfully situated, in consequence of the loss of
their bowsman, who, by missing a stroke with his pole, fell into the
rapid, and was drowned: the steersman was saved with great difficulty.