will judge every man by the knowledge he hath. Superstition is a noxious plant, but it hath flourished in every climate from the torrid to the frigid zone. If its effects have proved so pernicious among civilized nations, as we know they have, is it to be wondered that barbarians have suffered by it? The poor untutored Indian will not incur a great degree of censure for obeying the dictates of his uninformed nature, and following implicitly the custom of his ancestors. Revealed religion has not been given to all, and it is a melancholy reflection that those who have been enlightened by it, are not so superior to the Savages as one should naturally expect to find them. In this rock there are several cavities near a mile in length, and about twenty feet in width, arched at the top. The lake freezes only close to the shore, the water being constantly in a swell, and the waves frequently mountains high, which is easily accounted for, when we consider its immense extent. On a calm day, a little distance from shore, sturgeon may be seen in very deep water. The surrounding land is high and rocky, and the woods extremely thick. The palm, birch, ash, spruce, and cedar, grow large, and in great abundance. The Northwest Company, established at Montreal, keep a vessel on {45} the lake to transport their goods from Michillimakinac to the grand portage on the northwest side, and return with the peltry collected in the inlands.[49] On the 4th of July we arrived at Pays Plat,[50] on the north east side of the Lake, where we unpacked our goods, and made the bales smaller, having, by the Indian accounts, one hundred and eighty carrying places to the part where I intended to winter. On our landing we discovered at some distance a number of Indians, which induced us to accelerate the arrangement of the cargo, in case of barter, and be prepared to embark when the business was finished. Every thing being properly secured, I made up to the Savages, and calculated their number at one hundred and fifty: most of them were of the Chippeway tribes; the rest were of the nation of the Wasses. They gave me fish, dried meat, and skins, which I returned with trifling presents. The chief, whose name was Matchee Quewish,[51] held a council, and finding I understood their language, proposed to adopt me as a brother warrior. Though I had not undergone this ceremony, I was not entirely ignorant of the nature of it, having been informed by other traders of the pain they endured in their adoption, though they declared they were favoured exceedingly; I determined however to submit to it, lest my refusal of the honour intended me should be attributed to fear, and so render me unworthy of the esteem of those from whom I expected to derive great advantages, and with whom I had engaged to continue for a considerable time.