The Au Tourt is one of the finest rivers in the north-western parts of America. Its banks are covered with a rich soil, and, in many parts, are clothed with groves of oak, maple, and cedar-trees. The southern bank is low, and displays the maple, the white birch, and cedar; with the spruce, the alder, and various kinds of underwood. Its waters abound in fish, particularly in sturgeons. In the low grounds, betwixt Lake Superior and this river, are seen vast quantities of rice, which the natives collect, in the month of August, for their winter stores. _Lake Winipic_, which the traders next approach, is the great reservoir of several large rivers. It is bounded, on the north, by banks of black and grey rock; and, on the south, by a low and level country, occasionally interrupted with ridges or banks of limestone, from twenty to forty feet in height, bearing timber, but only of moderate growth. From its peculiar situation, this lake seems calculated to become a grand depot of traffic. It communicates, in a direct and short channel, with the southern shores of Hudson's Bay, by the rivers Severn and Nelson; and it is connected with the countries at the head of the Mississippi and Missouri, by the Assiniboin and Red rivers. The Indians, who inhabit its banks, are of the Knisteneaux and Algonquin tribes. Beyond lake Winipic, the canoes have to pass along many rapids, and through several small lakes, called _Cedar lake_, _Mud lake_, and _Sturgeon lake_. This part of the country is frequented by beavers, and numerous animals, valuable on account of their furs; and the plains are inhabited by buffaloes, wolves, and foxes. On the banks of the rivers, there are factories for the convenience of trade with the natives; and near each of these are tents of different nations of Indians; some of whom are hunters, and others deal in provisions, wolf, buffalo, and fox-skins. From the mouth of the _Saskatchiwine river_, the canoes proceed, in a northerly direction, through _Sturgeon lake_, and _Beaver lake_. The banks of the river are high, and clothed with cypress-trees; and the inhabitants of the adjacent districts are chiefly Knisteneaux Indians. This description of country, with some variation, prevails as far as the trading establishment of Fort Chepewyan, on the south-eastern bank of the _Lake of the Hills_. _Fort Chepewyan_ is the residence of a considerable number of persons, who are employed by the North-west Company. Except during a short time in the spring and autumn, when thousands of wild-fowl frequent the vicinity of the lake, these persons subsist almost wholly on fish. This they eat without the variety of any farinaceous grain for bread, any root, or vegetable; and without even salt to quicken its flavour.