For the mess kettle was ever most amply supplied, and not according to the scanty pattern which these couriers de bois often encounter in the Indian trade on these summits, when they are sometimes reduced to dine on tripe de Roche and sup on buton de rose; but they bore in mind that their employer, namely, Uncle Sam, was a full-handed man, and they kept up a most commendable mental balance, by at once eating strong and working strong. [68] Expedition to Hasca Lake in 1832. During the first twenty-seven miles, above the inlet of Sandy Lake, we passed six small rapids, at distances of three, four, three, one, five, and eleven miles, where the river sinks its level twenty-nine feet, in the estimated aggregate distance of seven hundred yards.[69] Above the latter, extending twenty miles, to the point of our encampment, there is no perceptible rapid. It was eight o'clock when we encamped, having been eleven hours in our canoes, without stretching our legs, and we had ascended forty-six miles. [69] _Vide_ Appendix--Elevations. CHAPTER X. Proceed up the Mississippi River--Its velocity and character--Swan River--Trout River, and Mushkoda or Prairie River--Rapids ascended--Reach, and make a portage around Pakagama Falls--Enter a vast lacustrine region--Its character and productions, vegetable and animal--Tortuous channel--Vermilion and Deer Rivers--Leech Lake branch--Lake Winnipek--Ascent of the river to Upper Red Cedar, or Cass Lake--Physical character of the Mississippi River. Our encampment was near the mouth of Swan River, a considerable stream, originating in Swan Lake, near the head of the St. Louis River of Lake Superior.