lx XX A GENERAL HISTORY
South, and entering a portion*'of its waters called the5 Grafs River, wbofe
meandering courfe is about fix miles, but in a dire&t line not more than
half that lepgth, where it receives its waters from the great river, which then
runs Wefterly eleven miles before it forms the Knee Lake, whofe dire&ion
is to the North o f Weft;- . It is M l ©fiftands for eighteen .mileSi ahd-its
greateft apparent breadth is not more than five miles. The portage of
the fame name is feveral hundred yards long, and over large ftones. Its
latitude ist^. 50.. and longitude 106; 30V • Two miles farther North-is
the commencement of the Crock© Rapid, which, is a fucceffion of *eaf-
cades fob about three miles, making a bend due South to the Lake
du Primeair, whole courfe is various, and through rflands, to the dif—
mime ofUboat fifteen miles. V p he b*tifis--of 'this,
and marfhy, whofe grafs and rufties, afford fhejter and food to great-
numbers of wild fowl. At its Weftern extremity is Portage la Poife,
from whence the river takes, a meandering courfe, widening and eon-
tra^ling at intervals, and is much interrupted by rapids. After a
Wefterly courfe of twenty miles, it reaches Portage Pellet!. From
hence, in the courfe of feven miles, are threerapids,to which fire (Seeds
the Shagoina Lake, which may be eighteen miles in circumference.
Then Shagoina ftrait and rapid lead into the. Lake of Ifle a la Croife, in
which the courfe is South twenty miles, and South-South-Weft fourteen
miles, to the Point au Sable; oppofite to which is the difeharge of the
Beaver-River, bearing South fix miles: the lake in the'diftance run, does’
not exceed twelve miles in. its greateft breadth. It • now turns Weft-
South-Weft, the ifle a la .Croife being on the South, and the main land
on the North ; and it. clears the one and the other in the diftanee
of. three miles, the water prefenting an open horizon to right and
left; that on the left formed by a deep narrow bay, about ten leagues
OF THE FUR.TRADE,.&e . lxxxi
in dep% and; that iJo^©. right by what is called :1a Riviere Cteufei
ór Dcfip* River, being, a. panafyoLftill. water, which is here four miles
.wideii, On folÉwingathe lafti couffc, Mte alaGroffe Fortappears on a
low ifthmus, at the .diftanceof five miles, and is in latitude 55. 25^ North,
and longitude tQ7;.4&:iWeft.
. This lake .and fort take their names from the ifland juft mentioned,
whiehijas has been already obferved, received it denomination from the
,game.,C[f the crofe which forms a principal amufement among the
natives,
The fituation of this lake, the abundance, o f the fineft fifh in the
.world to be found in its waters^ the richnefs of its furrounding banks and
forefts, in moofe and fallow deer, with thé v ^ minafeers ofKthe fmallef
.trih©§ ■<©£ animals,* whofd fktxis are 1 precious, and the numerous flocks o f
wild;, fowl thafc frequent it in the fpring and fall, make it a moil: defir-
able fpot for the: conftant refidenee o f lbme, and the occafional rendezvous
of others .óf. the inhabitants o f the country, particularly of the
Knifteneaux,-; fr
Whosthe * original' people were- that were driven5 from it, when fcöri-
aquered by th©Rniflfcfteau${ is nöt bWpknöWn, as rmt a firi^C véftige te-
maina’oEthem^ ": Th&latter; and the Ghè'pèW^ans, are the bdly^peo^lè that
have been known here;- and it is evident that thelaft'-mentioned confider
themfelvqs as ftrangers, anddeldom remainlonger than three or four years,
-without vifiring theiifrelaridris and friends M-hhe^barnetf^rbuhds; Which
-they term their native country. ••.IFhey wereTor fometime treated by
1 , the