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Updated: May 19, 2025
The brown fishing-eagle had built its nest on one of the projecting cliffs. In the course of the day we surmounted this and another dangerous portage, called, the Upper and Lower Hill Gate Portages, crossed a small sheet of water, termed the White Fall Lake, and entering the river of the same name, arrived at the White Fall about an hour after sunset, having come fourteen miles on a S.W. course.
Only when the outfit was loaded did the old man whisper one sentence: "Beware o' Pierre Lapierre." Again Chloe questioned him, and again he remained silent. So, as the days passed upon the river trail, the name of Pierre Lapierre was all but forgotten in the menace of rapids and the monotony of portages.
The hardships of this journey were greatly and unnecessarily increased by Vignau, whose only hope was to discourage his leader. But Champlain, undeterred by portages and mosquitoes, kept on. Some savages who joined him said that Vignau was a liar, and on their advice Champlain left the Ottawa a short distance above the mouth of the Madawaska.
A boat of this kind, when the ice is smooth and the wind strong, will make fifteen miles an hour. They were interrupted frequently in their course by the falls and rapids, making portages necessary; nevertheless in three days and two nights they reached the mouth of the river.
On one of the portages we passed an old Indian, clad in a long blue blanket coat, with a red sash round his waist, and beaded leggings, and mocassins; his long hair was tied back, and a red silk handkerchief was loosely knotted round his brow.
How often have I been perplexed by the necessity of settling the synonyms of rivers, when I have sent for the most intelligent natives, to interrogate them, through an interpreter, respecting the number of tributary streams, the sources of the rivers, and the portages. Three or four languages being spoken in the same mission, it is difficult to make the witnesses agree.
Their only food was a pittance of Indian corn, crushed between two stones and mixed with water. The toil was extreme. Brebeuf counted thirty-five portages, where the canoes were lifted from the water, and carried on the shoulders of the voyagers around rapids or cataracts.
Canals and portages were the forerunners of the railroads by which every part of the country is now traversed, and the whole Republic is firmly united in bonds of mutual intercourse, which, it is fondly hoped will prove perpetual. The Legislature of Virginia seized the occasion afforded by the passage of these acts to signalize the affection and gratitude of the State towards her favorite son.
Thinking he could do better in selling his furs by going down the rivers and across many portages far away to a place where he had heard that white men had come, who wished to trade with the Indians, and who had sent word that they would give a good price for rich furs, he set off for that place.
Beyond, there would be two short portages, and then we should not again have to take them out of the water before reaching Seal Lake. After I went to my tent there floated out into the quiet night the sound of the men's favourite hymns, "Lead Kindly Light," "There is a Green Hill Far Away," "Abide With Me," and, as always, the singing ended with their Indian "Paddling Song."
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