Thus organized, we left the camp at the head of the portage, the following morning, at six o'clock. Each one carried provisions for five days, a knife, a musquito bar, and a blanket or cloak. There were a few guns taken, but generally this was thought to be an incumbrance, as we expected to see little game and to encounter a toilsome tramp. The guides, taking their course by the sun, struck west into a close forest of pine, hemlock, and underbrush, which required energy to push through. On travelling a couple of miles, we fell into an Indian path leading in the required direction; but this path, after passing through two ponds, and some marshes, eventually lost itself in swamps. These marshes, after following through them, about four miles, were succeeded by an elevated dry sandy barren, with occasional clumps of pitch pine, and with a surface of shrubbery. Walking over this dry tract was quite a relief. We then entered a thick forest of young spruce and hemlock. Two miles of this brought us to the banks of a small lake, with clear water, and a pebbly shore. Having no canoe to cross it, our guides led us around its southern shores. The fallen timber and brush rendered this a very difficult march. To avoid these obstructions, as they approached the head of the lake, we eventually took its margin, occasionally leading into the water. While passing these shores, I picked up some specimens of the water-worn agates, for which the diluvians in this quarter are remarkable. We now fell into an old Indian path, which led to two small lakes, similar in size, to the former one, but with marshy borders, and reddish water. These small lakes were filled with pond lilies, rushes, and wild rice. At the margin of the second lake, the path ceased, and the guides could not afterwards find it. The path terminated abruptly at the second lake. While searching about this, Chamees,[63] one of the Indian guides, found a large green tortoise, which he and his companion killed in a very ingenious and effectual way, by a blow from a hatchet on the neck, at the point where the shell or buckler terminates. After leaving this water, they appeared to be in doubt about the way; almost imperceptibly, we found ourselves in a great tamarak swamp. The bogs and moss served to cover up, almost completely, the fallen trees, and formed so elastic a carpet as to sink deep at every tread. Occasionally they broke through, letting the foot into the mire. This proved a very fatiguing tramp. To add to its toils, it rained at intervals all day. We were eleven hours in passing this swamp, and estimated, and probably over-estimated ourselves to have past twenty miles. We encamped at five o'clock near the shores of a third small lake, each one picking out for himself the most elevated spot possible, and the person who got a position most completely out of the water was the best man. It is fatigue, however, that makes sleep a welcome guest, and we awoke without