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CHAPTER I.

THEIR COUNTRY.

THE extent of territory occupied by the Ojibway nation, is the largest of any Indian possessions of which there is any definite knowledge.

When the Champlain traders met them in 1610, its eastern boundary was marked by the waters of Lakes Huron and Michigan. The mountain ridge, lying between Lake Superior and the frozen Bay, was its northern barrier. On the west, a forest, beyond which an almost boundless prairie. On the south, a valley, by Lake Superior, thence to the southern part of Michigan. The land within these boundaries has always been known as the country of the Ojibways. It comprises some of the most romantic and beautiful scenery. There are crystal waters flowing over rocky beds, reflecting the mighty trees that for centuries have reared their stout branches above them. There are dense forests which no man has entered, which have never waked an echo to the woodman's axe, or

sounded with the sharp report of a sportsman's rifle. Here are miles of wild flowers whose sweet fragrance, is borne on every southern breeze, and which form a carpet of colors as bright and beautiful as the rainbow that arches Niagara.

The woodland is composed of a great variety of trees, mostly pine, hemlock, oak, cedar, and maple. As the traveller approaches the north, he will meet birch tamarach, spruce, and evergreen.

In going from east to west, along the borders of the lakes, the scenery is so changing and of such kaleidescope variety and beauty that description is impossible. There is room and opportunity for adventure among the bold, broken, rugged rocks, piled up one upon another in "charming confusion," on the shores, along the borders of the silent waters, or beneath the solid cliffs against which the waters of Superior break with a force which has polished their rocky surface.

The mountains, rivers, lakes, cliffs, and caverns of the Ojibway country, impress one with the thought that Nature has there built a home for Nature's children.

THEIR LAKES.

Ir is unnecessary for me to describe minutely every lake that exists in the Ojibway territory. I will mention those of greatest note, and which the traveller as

he stood upon the shore has viewed with an admiration bordering on idolatry; for, surely, were there anything besides the Creator worthy of worship it would be His works.

At one time the easternmost lake of the Ojibways was Huron. But they have, by their prowess, gained the waters of Ontario and Erie.

Lake Huron is of great depth. Its waters are known by their beautiful clearness, and by the fact of their rise and fall once in every seven years. Its shores were lined with their canoes at a period shortly subsequent to the introduction of fire arms into their midst. Rock abounds in great quantities, and the wood consists mainly of cedar, hemlock, pine, and tamarach. The hills rising in the south and in the north-east, present to the observer a very imposing appearance.

From the main there juts forth a point of land, on one side of which is Georgian Bay or Owen's Sound and the lake. The ledge of rocks near this has the appearance, at a distance, of a fortification. When the waters are calm and clear these rocks can be seen in huge fragments beneath their surface as if thrown there by some giant in other days.

The great depth of the water of this lake has induced the belief among the Indians that it has a connection with other lakes, and possibly with the sea, and it has been supposed that such is the cause of its rise and fall once in a certain number of years.

Many stories are told of monsters who are said to inhabit these waters and of the cause of the flowing of the water in the channel of the Manettoo Islands on the coast.

As before stated the water of this lake is very clear In the year 1834 while journeying upon its northern borders I dropped a small silver coin. It rapidly descended till it was lodged upon a rock. I could see it very distinctly. I attached a cord to an axe and lowered it till it touched the rock on which the money lay. On drawing it up and measuring the length of the cord I found, to my surprise, that the coin which I could see so distinctly was at a distance of seventy three feet from the surface of the water and about seventy five or eighty feet from where I stood.

The bays near this lake are the Pantonogoshene, (Falling-Sand Bay,) and the Thunder Bay. The islands are numerous, and a three days' journey among them would convince any one that they are numbered by thousands. They are very similar to those in the St. Lawrence, known as "the thousand islands," masses of rock, as if thrown up by some mighty convulsion of nature. Many, however, are covered with low cedars, imparting to them a somewhat lovely and attractive appearance.

The north-west and easterly winds cause an ebb and flow of water in the lake. The wind passes to one side of the chain of islands, which runs in a line

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