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Title: The Georgian Bay. An account of its position,
inhabitants, mineral interests, fish, timber and other
resources. Papers read before the Canadian Institute.
Author: Hamilton, James Cleland (1836-1907)
Cartographer: Browne, H. J. (fl. 1862-78)
Illustrator: Jameson, Anna Brownell (1794-1860)
Photographer: Cassels, Richard Scougall (1859-1935)
Date of first publication: 1893
Place and date of edition used as base for this ebook:
   Toronto: Carswell, 1893 (First Edition)
Date first posted: 11 July 2008
Date last updated: 11 July 2008
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #143

This ebook was produced by: David T. Jones, Charlene Taylor,
Rnald Lvesque & the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

This file was produced from images generously made available
by the Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries




[Illustration: Noonday--passing the Island of
 St. Joseph July 28th 1837--30 miles long]

THE GEORGIAN BAY

AN ACCOUNT

OF

ITS POSITION, INHABITANTS, MINERAL INTERESTS,
FISH, TIMBER AND OTHER RESOURCES

WITH

MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

    *    *    *    *    *

PAPERS READ BEFORE THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE

BY

JAMES CLELAND HAMILTON, M.A., LL.B.,

CHAIRMAN OF THE HISTORICAL SECTION,

Author of "The Prairie Province."


TORONTO:

THE CARSWELL COMPANY, LIMITED.


Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one
thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, by JAMES CLELAND HAMILTON, in
the office of the Minister of Agriculture.


TO

THE CREW OF THE "WHITE SQUALL"

AND

TO ALL THE JOLLY FISHERMEN

WHOSE NETS ARE CAST 'MONG THE ISLES OF

THE GEORGIAN BAY.

_Rosedale, Toronto,
May, 1893._


 _____________________________________________________________________
 The photograph of Champlain's astrolabe is from the original, through
 the courtesy of R. S. Cassels, Esq. The other illustrations are from
 original pencil sketches made by Mrs. Jameson during her "Summer
 Rambles" of 1837, in possession of Mr. Robert Bain, who has kindly
 permitted their reproduction in this volume.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    "_And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
    Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
    Sermons in stones, and good in everything._"




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

 INCIDENTS OF A CANADIAN MIDSUMMER EXCURSION.--The 'White Squall'
 and her crew start from Wiarton--They visit Parry Sound--The Minks--Join
 in the fishermen's gayeties--See the vessels and mode of life there and
 at the Bustards--French River--Fishermen and fish stations--Killarney--
 Squaw Island--Club Island--Tamarack Harbour--The Manitoulins--Rattlesnake
 Harbour--Half Breeds--Indians--Rattlers--Camp-fire fun--The South
 Channel--Tobermory--The Big Tub and the Little Tub--The Flower
 Pots--Wingfield Basin--Cape Croker--Saugeen Peninsula--Back to
 Wiarton                                                               9-27


CHAPTER II.

 HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL.--Mr. David Thompson and his labours
 as traveller and astronomer--The Bay described--Its strategic
 importance--The Saugeen Peninsula--The North Channel--Collingwood--
 Thornbury--Meaford--Wiarton--Penetanguishene and Sir John Franklin--Ste.
 Marie and the Jesuits--The Christian Islands--Railway from Parry Sound--
 Names of places--How derived--Some from the Hurons--Some fanciful, as
 _Flos_, _Tiny_ and _Tay_--Others in honor of soldiers, seamen and
 statesmen--The "Temporary Judicial District of Manitoulin," how
 bounded--The Island railway                                          28-38


CHAPTER III.

 GEOLOGICAL FORMATION AND MINING INTERESTS.--The Laurentians--
 Graphite, appatite and mica--The Huronian formation--The "Folding
 process"--Early volcanic activity--The Silver Islet and Bruce
 mines--The Ophir Gold Mine--Nickel deposits--Their great
 value--Professor Williams' discussion of the volcanic agencies north
 of the Georgian Bay--Nickel known to the Chinese and ancients--Found
 in meteorites--The "Copper Devil"--Cronstedt's views--Composites of
 nickel--Its various uses--The Sudbury nickel belts and mines--Emmens'
 Tables of nickel-iron-sulphides, gersdorffite--Mr. George Mickle's
 opinion--The Wallace mine--A long watch--Use of nickel by the English
 Admiralty and United States navy--They buy it at Sudbury--Important
 experiments made by United States Government and great metal
 firms--The result--Public and domestic uses of nickel increasing
 fast--Gold mining--Platinum--Other metals--The Bird's Eye
 formation--Trenton limestone--Hudson River formation--Medina
 marls--The Clinton and Niagara limestones--Deposits of a Silurean
 sea--Spencer's views--Chains of lakes--Runways--Indian trails--Falls
 and cascades--Proposed railway from French River to the C. P. R.     39-62


CHAPTER IV.

 NATIVE INHABITANTS.--The Assikinacks--Distinguished chiefs and
 warriors--Charter of Indian rights--Customs--Shooting Matsi
 Manito--Mode of government--Land of the Hurons, their remains--Ottawas
 and Chippewas--Patriotic sentiments--Mr. S. J. Dawson's
 story--Education--Wards of Government--C. T. Keejek--Francis
 Assikinack--Macinac massacre--Fort Dearborn--Chicago--Taken by
 Ottawas--The place described--The "Black Partridge Medal"--Assikinack's
 activity in war of 1812--The "Tigress" and "Scorpion" captured--Archdeacon
 McMurray's narrative--Mrs. Jameson's story, as to Macinac--the "Soo" North
 Channel and Manitoulin Indians--Schoolcraft's Algonquin researches   63-83


CHAPTER V.

 INDIAN LIFE AND TRADITIONS (continued).--The origin of the "Song of
 Hiawatha"--The legends of Manabozho--Alexander Henry's version--The
 Isle of Nanibojou still venerated--Rev. W. M. Beauchamp--Dr. A. F.
 Chamberlin, Mr. J. McIntyre and others refer to the Canadian demi-god
 Manabozho or Nanibojou--Assikinack the Ottawa "Blackbird" once a pagan
 warrior, becomes a Christian of sterling character--Captain Anderson
 gives him a severe lesson--Career of Francis Assikinack, a "warrior of
 the Odahwahs"--He claims an Asiatic origin for his people--Romantic
 characteristics--The Mohawks as warriors--Sahgima's watching tower--Oratory
 and legends                                                          84-99


CHAPTER VI.

 PIONEER VESSELS.--Climatic influences--The fisheries--Excellence
 of the white fish--Size of the salmon trout--Opinions of travellers--The
 industry described by the fishermen--Fish-oil making--A man of
 Lewis--Proulx's great luck--The fishing stations--Official and other
 statistics as to value of the catch--Number of men and vessels and
 fathoms of net employed in the Georgian Bay and Lake Huron--Depletion
 of supply--Opinions as to this and the remedy by D. W. Port
 and others                                                         100-113


CHAPTER VII.

 WILD ANIMALS OF THE REGION--FRUIT, FLOWERS AND FORESTRY.--The
 moose, deer, wapiti and other large game--Birds and small game--The
 gulls, owls, grosbeaks, swans, ducks, geese, pigeons, partridges,
 rabbits--Varieties of wild fruit--The trees described--Age of maples,
 oaks and pines--A great forest fire--Beauty of the vegetation in
 autumn--Forestry and lumbering--Fire-rangers--Value of the timber
 interest--Extent of the lumber region of Ontario--The old voyageur
 route described, as used by Champlain and Sir George Simpson--The
 Railway adopts it--Canals proposed--The Hurontario Ship Railway    114-137


CHAPTER VIII.

 CHAMPLAIN'S ASTROLABE, lost on the Ottawa, found after 254
 years--History and description of it--Land and timber north of North
 Bay, as described by J. C. Bailey, C.E. and others--James
 Bay--Ontario's broad expanse--A National Forest and Park
 proposed--Territory recommended for the purpose--Its situation and
 extent defined--Fisherman desire a McKinley policy--Conclusion--"'Mong
 the isles of the Georgian Bay"                                     138-157


APPENDICES.--A. Census of Indians of Ontario and Quebec; B.
 Shinguacose, the Chippewa chief; C. Captain Thomas George Anderson; D.
 Official signatures of F. B. Assikinack and his son Francis; E. The
 Algonquin language--Indian Names of Persons and Places--Totems
 or Dodaims                                                         158-170

[Illustration: map of the Algoma District]

THE GEORGIAN BAY & VICINITY
PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
CANADA

COMPILED BY

H. J. BROWNE,
O. L. SURVEYOR

JAMES BATH & SONS, Toronto.

    *    *    *    *    *




THE GEORGIAN BAY.




CHAPTER I.

INGREDIENTS OF A CANADIAN MIDSUMMER EXCURSION.

    Deus nobis haec otia fecit.--VIRGIL.

[Illustration: kingfisher and reeds]


"Push her off;" cried Ernest, the Skipper; "cast free the painter,
'Misery,' my boy; look after the mainsail, Jack, and 'Ninety' haul
away on the peak halyard. Up with the fo'sail. Here, she goes round.
Now clear the sheets; all hands down on the thwarts." And so on a hazy
August afternoon, the staunch little vessel, the 'White Squall,'
started out from the harbour of Wiarton, bound for a cruise round the
beautiful inland sea, which bears the name of his late Majesty, King
George the Third--The Georgian Bay.

The Skipper, an accomplished, though amateur sailor, had his compass
and box of government charts of these waters as prepared from survey
by Commanders Bayfield and Boulton, R.N. This is the vessel we were
in, usually called a Macinac. She was 32 feet from stem to stern, 8
feet 4 inches beam, her fo'castle was 10 feet 6 inches, and a small
locker was also at the stern, which was pointed as the bow. The two
masts carried six hundred feet of canvas. Large stones and wooden
railway ties formed the ballast. A tent, oval in shape, 7 feet 6
inches by 10 feet, lay rolled up ready to be raised as night fell, and
fastened with hooks to the deck. A sixteen foot skiff was towed behind
as a dingy. The Dominion flag flew from the peak of the mainsail. The
craft had been used as a fishing smack, but was cleaned and refitted,
under our good Skipper's direction, for this trip. We were seven, but
one waited till the port of Parry Harbour was reached and there joined
the party. For personal comfort, each had his valise and bag of
blankets. Alfred the Steward had charge of the provisions; and well
filled boxes under the fore-deck attested his assiduity. To the
Skipper we owed much for brilliant foresight; 25 yards of cotton at
five cents a yard, made into narrow cases and filled with hay, formed
comfortable mattresses at night and, during the day, were stowed in
the fo'castle, or used as seats. Old and warm clothing was in order.
'Misery' had his guitar, 'Ninety' had his little flutes in three keys.
We started on an even keel, with even tempers, and dull care and
Colpoy's Bay were soon left far behind.

The sails are full: wharfs, pretty villas and farms are past. High
limestone cliffs rise up in the west; Cape Croker is in view, and we
sheer off eastward, past Hay Island. The open is soon reached. As
night comes on, the lights of Owen Sound and Cape Rich are seen, but
the course is through the centre of the big Bay and with the Christian
Islands far on our starboard.

The wind for a time blows a gale and double reefs are taken in the
sails; still on she goes with us all up on the weather gunwale, and
the water giving an occasional dash over the coamings as she heels
over to the freshening gale. This lasted for a couple of hours, then a
calm fell, and we almost drifted and got some sleep, with a lantern
hung out. When the sun rose, we were pretty seedy, but a cup of
coffee, concocted over the coal-oil stove, steadied our nerves and a
good breeze generally bore us along till we came to the Red Rock
lighthouse, where we hailed a fishing smack and asked for the course
to Parry Sound. "If you will haul up a bit I'll go with you," answered
a young fisherman. Glad of his company, we soon had Adam Brown on
board and in charge of the tiller. A jolly fisher was he; every rock
in the bay and each short cut, through the mazes of the islands, was
familiar to him. We were tied up in Parry Harbour as the sun set. Here
we had our first supper, using a vacant shed for dining room. Some
rested on board, others in the shed, and all slept soundly and awoke
ready for our bath and breakfast. Then we went up through the village,
had a fine view from the hotel site--a beautiful spot set high over
the bay--waited till some showers passed and, with Adam and sunshine,
were off for the Minks soon after noon. We stopped an hour at
Kill-bear Point, and, after a fine sail, got to the Minks about 9 p.m.
The fishermen welcomed us heartily and gave us the use of a shanty,
where supper was soon spread. We were invited to the gaieties going on
near by, where appeared a house full of a merry party. A visiting
fiddler made music, and shoes, not the lightest, beat the floor, not
the smoothest, and happy couples performed, as they were called,
cotillions, quadrilles and Sir Roger. 'Misery,' our amiable musician,
brought his guitar, and all went merry as a marriage bell.

"Take your places," "First couple advance," "Promenade all," were some
of the orders of the young fisherman, with broad weather-beaten face,
full of enjoyment, who acted as dance master. The guitar's sweet tones
aided the fiddler. Little ones dozed in the arms of their smiling
mothers, sitting on hard benches, and the rugged features of the men
relaxed as they looked on. Such fun had not been at the Minks for many
a night. All was laughter and music and hammering of feet. It was a
strange contrast to the quiet scene before us, as we passed the open
door. Waves splashed and sparkled in moonlight so clear that we could
see the roses and hyacinths that sprung from crevices in the rocks.
Orion was up in the east. The Aurora flashed and danced to and fro in
the north-west horizon, and the red shield of Mars, nearer to us that
night than he would be for many a year, held guard over the south.

All aboard again, a young fisherman took the helm, the breeze caught
the sails, a quick run was made across a little bay, then a tack was
taken, the painter thrown out and our vessel was run up on a shelving
rocky shore. A vacant cabin was given us, where we were soon settled,
and in bunks, for what remained of the night.

In the morning we found the Minks to consist of a number of rocky
islands, on parts of which was sufficient soil to sustain grass,
bushes and flowers, among which were the single pink rose, violet and
strawberry, red raspberry and whortleberry plants. A solitary cow
roamed through the bushes. Next morning we arose late, had breakfast,
some fished; a party took the 'White Squall' and sailed to Franklin
Island. They got back at 9 p.m., without game, but had seen some ducks
and partridges, an eagle on a high pine, and a rattlesnake. A
fisherman brought in a snake, which looked like the Fox-snakes in the
Canadian Institute collection. He called it a Copperhead. It was five
feet long, and swam towards his boat holding up it head, when he shot
it. In the evening, some of the young men came and joined our camp.
They were intelligent and pleasant companions. One of them had fished
off the Orkneys, but most of those at this station were Canadians from
Collingwood, Meaford or Owen Sound. All were excellent sailors and
could, without a chart, steer their boat on the shortest course
through the mazy channels of the Bay. The arms of some were tatooed,
sailor fashion, with boats or anchors. Their songs were of the salt
water: 'Tom Brown,' 'Charley Taylor, Ruler of the Sea,' 'The Three
Brothers, a sad tale of the Spanish Main.' Their management of the
vessels was interesting. They moved among the islands and over shoals,
as a bicycle on the asphalt. Flocks of gulls, grey and white, and of
the smaller red-legged species, here called "garnets" flew about or
rested tamely on the rocks; when the fish are cleaned, they come and
greedily devour the offal, here thrown away, but at other stations
utilized for the oil which it yields.

The weather was windy, so that the men did not go to their nets, nor
were we successful with our lines. We took the dingy and went from one
to another of the Minks islands, throwing our hooks into the pool. Our
want of success was to some extent, perhaps, due to the fact that the
watchful fishermen, when they find a pool full of fins, haul a seine
in it and secure even the bass and pickerel. They never use a rod, but
sometimes throw a troll. We walked about and picked flowers on the
parts of the islands covered with verdure. Wild roses and hyacinths,
or blue bells, and violets were common, and of fruits, the raspberry,
whortleberry, a dark currant and small gooseberry, haws, bil-berries
and pin-cherries were ripe, and there were many vines of the
strawberry, pigeon-berry and wintergreen. "Is your fishing off the
Orkneys like that here?" we asked of the young Orkney man. "Oh, no,"
he said; "here we sometimes have a little rough and foggy weather, but
the men know how to manage and don't often get into danger. The nets
may have to be out a few days longer than we wish, but off the Orkneys
we go in rather bigger vessels, set our nets for the herring, and
then, as the tide goes out we must stay by and follow them, rain or
shine, haul and bring them in, as the tide turns and comes with us.
Here we fasten the nets to anchored floating buoys and leave them,
until we have good weather to go out to them, from five to fifteen, or
even twenty miles away, as the weather permits. The nets go down to
the bottom, ten to forty fathoms, but when so far down it is hard work
hauling them." There were no steam craft used here, but the vessels of
some of the men, notably the Messrs. Farr, were rigged with top-sail
and jib and fitted up almost as yachts. Their centre-boards were of
wood and were found safer and easier to manage than if of iron. These
vessels were all pointed, fore and aft, like our own, and none more
than 35 feet long; while the crafts of Lake Huron fishermen which we
met were almost invariably square in the stern, but of a like tonnage.
Some of them were of "partridge build," the prow sharp and rising
gracefully above the water.

On Saturday p.m. we steered away with a good wind, took the outer
channel northward, passed the lights of Point au Baril and Byng Inlet,
made more than fifty knots, with scarce a tack, until we neared the
light off the Bustards. It was dark, so we did not venture through
the shorter but intricate channel, but went round the rocky reef to
the west and tied up opposite the wharf of Yankee island, had supper
and slept on board. Next day we visited French River, three miles
across the Bay, a great lumber centre, with two mills, immense piles
of pine boards, and long elevated tramways for the removing and
hauling of the lumber. We returned to the Bustards, tying up at
'Highland Home,' another island. Here were many shanties but most of
the fishermen were gone, as the season was waning. Some of them were
from Lake Huron and will fish there in October. One of them said that
he and his partner had taken 25 tons of fish this season. He was
unusually fortunate, from 8 to 10 tons were as much as most of those
here admitted to have secured. They got $70 a ton from the Buffalo
Fish Company, whose agent is here. As the smacks come in from the
grounds they are unloaded, the fish dressed by removal of their
entrails, weighed, and then packed in ice in the waggons, or boxes set
on wheels, ready to be removed, as each box is filled, on the
tugs--'The Clark' or 'The Jones.' Each box contains 1200 pounds of
fish. Here, too, "the barbarous people showed us no little kindness."
We used a shanty for dining-room and had good company and music from
the active young agent in charge of the store, and others. We left the
Bustards on Tuesday morning, had a good run on a westerly course,
landed for dinner on a rocky island which rises very bold and large
out of the water. It was the resort of innumerable gulls that rose,
screaming, as we approached. The top of the rock gave an excellent
view of the surrounding bay and of the shore lying to our north, with
rocks and islands innumerable stretching into the misty distance. This
region has not yet been surveyed or fully delineated on the government
charts, and it is hoped that Commander Boulton will be permitted to
complete his admirable work, so invaluable to all navigators of these
waters.

We arrived at Killarney at 11 p.m., in rain, and tied up at a wharf.
Three of us went to the Algoma Hotel, the others had the more room for
comfort on board, under cover of tent and sails. Next morning the
interesting village was seen. Three large steamers came in on their
way to or from the Soo'. Many Indians were strolling about, dressed as
white folk, all comfortable and happy in appearance. They were from
the Reserve on Manitoulin Island, called Wikwemikong. I conversed with
two of them, Tom Salter, or Skeabunk, and Edward Selko, and found that
the language of the Missisaugas, of Scugog, as given in the thesis of
Dr. A. F. Chamberlain, of Clark University, was well understood by
them. They are mostly Chippewas. Several Macinacs were at the wharf
owned by Indians and used in fishing. Now they carried squaws and
papooses and bushels of whortle-berries, picked by them. The young
squaws were bartering on the wharf, stout old dames held the babies
and kept order in the vessels among the little red folk and their
dogs. There are many half breeds at Killarney, mostly French and Roman
Catholic, and there is a small Roman Catholic church. Killarney is at
the eastern termination of a rich mineral region, as yet little
developed, but very interesting to geologists. The scraping of the
ice, as the great bergs ground slowly along in a remote age, from the
north-west to the south-east, is distinctly visible on the flat rocks
in the steamboat channel. The formation is Huronian. The nickel
deposits, now worked with much profit, are in the Sudbury district,
north of Killarney, and will be further referred to.[1]

Leaving Killarney, we made sail along the coast easterly a few miles
and entered a pretty cove. Here we anchored; some fished and others
wandered over the land with guns for awhile. The moss, covering rocks
and stumps, here and elsewhere on this shore, was deep and yielding to
the touch, and in hue, rich and varied, from soft sea-green to
heathery purple. As the sun shone on its dewy spires, they glistened
like gems.

With wind astern, we next struck south for Squaw island, going for a
time with sails 'wing-a-wing.' Many islands were passed, rocky and
barren, but Green island appeared to our left as an oasis clad with
verdure of trees, shrubs and flowers. We entered Squaw Island harbour,
in shape a horse-shoe, 500 yards across. The houses, the usual summer
shanties, are on the south side. As our boat passed in, a score of men
and boys came to meet us. We ran upon a stony neck of land to the
east and proceeded to prepare for supper. The fishing begins at the
end of April and ends about the middle of August. There had been
forty-seven smacks and three tugs employed here. Twenty-seven of the
vessels had left. There were many nets on reels and spread on the
rocks. Men were unrolling them, women and children were about the
houses, all looking happy and comfortable. The island is of limestone,
two miles long and half as wide. A light soil has formed over part of
the rock, and this is covered with low cedars, spruce, balsam and
juniper bushes. Among these may be found some wild fruit. The people
are from various parts of the Bay, Collingwood, Lion's Head, Meaford
and Killarney. Though of diverse creeds, all here, including a good
Chippewa, joined in building a Mission Church, of which the missionary
was architect and chief carpenter. The women do not work at the
fishing or nets. The children go to a school conducted by Mr. Menzies,
the excellent young Presbyterian missionary stationed here for the
summer.

August 11th. Dashed out of the heel of the horse-shoe, with a spanking
breeze on a south-west course. Grand Manitoulin was before our prow,
with Cape Smith on its north-east, and the Killarney and La Cloche
mountains covered with clouds beyond.

Club island appears to the east, a large fishing station, which we did
not visit. The green Rabbit island is also seen. Far off in the Bay,
is the long and low Lonely island, a desolate spot to which a tale is
attached. It is reported that, somewhere among its rocks, there is a
human skeleton in a pine box or rude coffin, but anything more of the
poor fellow lying there, under the scream of the gulls and amid the
dashing billows, we could not learn. We ran into Tamarack Harbour, a
sheltered cove, found a tripod of three sticks, left by former
visitors, whereon we hung our kettle and had dinner. This was the only
point on the Great Manitoulin touched. Then, across the Bay, for
Rattlesnake Harbour, on Fitzwilliam, or Horse island, which stretched
before us, large and covered with verdure. Entered this romantic spot
at 6 p.m., crossed through the heart-shaped harbour in four fathoms of
water and ran upon a stony beach. Behind us was a rising ground
covered with small boulders, smooth and polished, and ending in a
steep limestone cliff. We had left the Laurentian ranges behind on the
north shore. The cliff was full of fissures and little caves. Across
the harbour, nets were drying. There was a small shop, a fish-packing
and ice house, two or three shanties, then a large tent occupied by a
half-breed family, the father a fisherman, with sons who aided him,
and two pretty daughters, who have been at school at the Manitowaning
Convent, and are now remaining with their father, who is a widower and
likes to have his dear ones about him. Beyond that were four conical
tepes, of bark and slabs, occupied by red folk from the Reserve, the
squaws making mats of sweet-scented grass and birch bark colored with
diamond dyes, girls cleaning fish, and little fellows, fat and jolly,
playing themselves. An old Nokomis, blear-eyed, bent and wrinkled,
looked out of a tepe and smiled at us. Pots and drying fish were hung
on tripods, over fires before the tents, and, though the weather was
warm, a little fire burned on the floor of one of the tents, the smoke
circling in it, till it passed out through an opening at the top.
Three fishing smacks, belonging to the Indians, lay at the shore; one
came in with a fine lot of white fish, taken with a troll, made of a
big hook baited with a herring. Nine of these fish weighed 80 pounds
when dressed, and were sold at the packing house at three cents a
pound. A great raft of logs filled one end of the harbour; a strong
tug was working it into shape for a tow to Detroit. We were warned of
troublesome neighbours on our side, rattlesnakes from the limestone
cliff behind.

A young man was pointed out who had killed thirteen this summer. One
of the Bois-bruls girls stepped with a bare foot, on a rattler, but
escaped and the deadly rattler was killed by her brother. These
reptiles are, in this climate, sluggish and will not attack unless
hurt or angered. When roused, they shake their tails and rattle, and
then prepare for fight by coiling, and projecting the fangs hidden in
their jaws, and as this takes half a minute or so, an agile person can
soon jump clear of danger; but woe to him who comes unaware on the
angry and alert snake, if the fang strikes a vein or artery!

We had supper on the beach and a quartette played their favorite game
by the camp fire; but we all slept on board as usual and had snakes in
our dreams. The morning broke with a beautiful sunrise. The playing
quartette were hard to arouse. By 8.30 a.m. we bowled out amid adieus
from our friends on the beach. A quarter breeze took us along the
north side of Horse island at a great pace, the mainsail had to be
lowered, then the foresail was double reefed, as the mast bent like a
sapling. The Manitoulin shore was soon lost to view as we wended
southward into the open water, arrived opposite the fine Cove island
light at 11.50; but as there was a stormy sea, passed on and into the
south-west arm of Tobermory harbour. Turning to the right, we entered,
in twelve fathoms, a wonderful natural harbour, extending half a mile
between limestone rock. Its breadth is one hundred and fifty yards and
depth from three to eight fathoms, unimpeded with shoal or rock.

No wharves are used, rings are fastened to the natural stone walls and
to these vessels are made fast. This beautiful refuge has, as
breakwaters near its mouth, the small green Doctor island, the large
Russell island and the Flower Pots. This is usually called the 'Big
Tub.' Another bay, the 'Little Tub,' or east arm, is around a point
from the lighthouse. Here are a few houses, a telegraph office and
fish station. We are on the north end of the Saugeen Peninsula. Under
the clear water of the 'Big Tub' may be seen the ribs of a large
batteau, said to have carried guns eighty years ago, and to have been
sunk and abandoned here when peace became permanent. The like remains
of two old gunboats may be seen in the Penetang harbour. They were
sunk after the war of 1812, their guns and tackle being previously
removed; a careless way of disposing of them, as they, to some extent,
impede navigation, and are hard to raise, when imbedded and
waterlogged.

After dinner, four of the party went with guns to Hay harbour to look
for game. They lost their way, in returning after nightfall, so
retraced their steps back to the water's edge, made a camp fire, slept
under an abandoned macinac, and held the fort until morning, when they
caught sight of some ducks and two deer. A lynx had enlivened the
night with his music. The boys came in tired and hungry, as the
breakfast camp fire was blazing.

Struck camp at 9.30, August 13th, and with a good breeze and a couple
of tacks, bowled out past the light. The old keeper, a tall man with
wrinkled weary face and black pipe, but with his bright girl of ten
and barking dog beside him, waved us farewell. Passed between the
Doctor and Russell islands, and, to our left, a couple of miles out of
course, to observe the Flower Pots, two rocks that rise like great
urns at the end of a wooded island. Then struck for Wingfield Basin,
where we arrived at 2.30 pm. This is a heart-shaped harbour, lying
between high picturesque rocks and woods. It had formerly a fishing
station, which was burned. The entrance is not protected and is
shoally; its sides are covered with "the panther-peopled forests,"
and rise in places to hills of some height, wild and unsettled. The
growth of trees, shrubs and flowers was very complete. There were vine
trellises, garlanded with a species of clematis, and we gathered red
pin-cherries, small gooseberries, sugar-plums and pigeon-berries for
dessert.

Left at 3 p.m., with fair wind. Cabot's Head and Dyer's Bay are
passed, and Cape Croker comes in sight in the blue distance. As we
pursue our south-east course, Lion's Head, Barrow Bay, Hope Bay with
Barrier island off its mouth, are in the great bay, called Melville
Sound, all the east side of the Saugeen Peninsula, so jutting out in
long limestone cliffs. Behind is McGregor's harbour. On turning Cape
Croker, we ran close-hauled with both sails, south-west, with the
three Giants' Steps, large green protuberances on the peninsula, in
view. Met the Canada Pacific Railway steamer 'Manitoba,' going north,
and entered Colpoy's Bay. Camped on the west side of Hay island.

The critical may ask why two of our number were given names so
peculiar, and this may be a suitable time to rise to explain.

'Ninety' was a member of the loyal battalion bearing that number
during the Riel episode in our North-West. The figure was emblazoned
on part of his attire and stood out on his manly breast. He held rank
on our trip as "captain of the dingy". 'Misery,' being the soul of
good humor had received that cognomen by way of contradiction. It
fitted so well that no other was thought of.

During nearly every day of our sailing, there were hours when our
vessel glided smoothly along in the sunshine; while Ernest, the
skipper, held the helm, an extempore table was made over the
centreboard, on which lunch was spread or "pedro" played. The guitar
would then come from its case under the quarter deck, 'Ninety's' flute
joined in the melody, which floated over the waters, or he would tell
us of the gallant dash with his battalion down the woody slope, where
the rebel bullets were flying at Batoche. The skipper, too, had his
yarns of the bay, and described a sad calamity which he had witnessed
but a fortnight ago. A happy party of nine had come from Cape Croker
in an Indian Macinac. The vessel had got safely into Wiarton Bay and
lay in sight of wharfs and dwellings, when a sudden rushing wind
coming down overturned her with the loss of seven of her passengers
before help came.

The days of 1812-14 were remembered, when, after the naval engagements
on Lake Erie, some of the war schooners came up to these waters, and
the boom of their cannon and the shouts of warriors were echoed back
by the rocks of the North Channel and the lofty pines and spreading
elms along the banks of the Nottawasaga. Then the hardy loyal
voyageurs, and their painted and feathered allies, sped in swift
canoes over these waters, hundreds of miles through the channels, past
the Sault and St. Joseph, to attack the enemy at the Michillimacinac
stronghold.[2] Now each produced his book or pipe, or, when more socially
inclined, gave a story or a song.

While all were not equally placid in temperament, or agreed in
opinion, it was in good time remembered that "Love is hurt with jar
and fret." Little kindnesses and constant consideration were shewn,
and he was held a Jonah who disputed. Thus was avoided

    "The little rift within the lute,
     That, by-and-bye, will make the music mute
     And ever widening, slowly silence all."[3]

We were resting in the "White Squall" for the last night, in view of
the lights of the Indian houses on Cape Croker.

The moon shone over the water between us and the Cape. The dark green
of the trees stood up as a wall behind. An anchor held our vessel's
stern so that the waves passed by and broke monotonously on the shore.
Jumbo, the little black spaniel, which had been our companion
throughout the trip, and well guarded our belongings, lay curled on
the deck. For a time the lights of the Indian houses glimmered and
then went out. The moon, too, sunk down, Mars, Arcturus and the
Pleiades, moved over head; the tent above the deck protected our
couch, and we thought of the lines of the Mohawk poetess Pauline
Johnson:

    "O little lake with night-fall interlink't,
     Your darkling shores, your margin indistinct,
     More in your depths' uncertainty there lies
     Than when you image all the sun-set dyes;
     Like to a poet's soul you seem to be,
     A depth no hand can touch, no eye can see."

The next morning we prepared our attire for civilized society, then
the anchor was hauled in, the sails were set, and with a light wind
and many tacks, we made Wiarton in the afternoon.

And now a few words as to the region traversed and its interests.

[Footnote 1: See Chapter III.]

[Footnote 2: See chapter IV.]

[Footnote 3: Tennyson.]




CHAPTER II.

HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL.

[Illustration: village and bridge]


David Thompson was born in Westminster, England, 30th April, 1770, was
educated as a "Blue-coat School" boy, and was perhaps a short time at
Oxford. He entered the service of the Hudson Bay Company, in October,
1789, and spent the main part of his life as a surveyor and
astronomer, for that Company and the North-West Company. He surveyed
the shores of Lake Superior and passed the Falls of Ste. Marie, in
May, 1798. He again visited this region and surveyed the north shore
of that lake in August, 1812. He then retired, living in Lower Canada
for some time, employed in preparing a map of Western Canada on a
scale of fifteen miles to an inch, which map is in possession of the
Ontario Department of Crown Lands, and is entitled "Map of the
North-West Territory of the Province of Canada, 1792-1812, embracing
the region between latitudes 45 and 56 and longitudes 84 and 124,
made for the North-West Company, 1813-1814."

Mr. Thompson then engaged in defining the boundary, on the part of
Great Britain, between Canada and the United States. In 1837 he made a
survey of the canal route from Lake Huron to the Ottawa River. He died
in Longueil, opposite Montreal, on 10th of February, 1857 at nearly 87
years of age. H. H. Bancroft gives the following account of his
personal appearance: "David Thompson was an entirely different order
of man from the orthodox fur-trader. Tall and fine-looking, of sandy
complexion, with large features, deep-set, studious eyes, high
forehead and broad shoulders, the intellectual was well set upon the
physical. His deeds have never been trumpeted as those of some others,
but in the westward exploration of the North-West Company, no man
performed more valuable service, or estimated his achievements more
modestly."[4]

Mr. Thompson gives in his journals, now almost a century old, an
account of the Georgian Bay, which he treats as the eastern part of
Lake Huron. He also left a MS. treatise on the area and drainage of
the lakes and rivers of the continent, and as this has not before been
in print, we give the part relating to our subject as follows:

    "Lake Huron is next in order to Lake Superior, the discharge
    of this latter lake is by the Falls of Ste. Marie or more
    properly rapids, of about three-quarters of a mile in length.
    Their descent is 15 ft. 10 in., which, with the current
    below, may give a difference of level of 17 ft., down to Lake
    Huron. The sides of this lake are, in places, of moderate
    height, but a great part of them is lowland. By a strait at
    Cabot's Head, it may be said to be divided into two lakes,
    the eastern part is called the Georgian Bay. The lake is
    remarkable for its great number of islands and islets. Of the
    former, several are large, they lie along the north shore,
    but the islets are in general small, of low rock, and very
    many not 100 yards square. Lieutenant Collins, who was on the
    survey of the lake, counted 47,500 islands and islets. The
    islets lie so close on the east shore, southward of the
    French River, that the main shore is not known. The north
    part of the east side has also much copper ore, its value is
    not yet known, but accounted the best mine. At the north-west
    corner of this lake is the once far-famed Island of
    Michil-a-Mac-a-Naw (The great Tortoise). From its shape it
    commands the strait to Lake Michigan. The French very early
    erected a fort and a trading house. The Indians were then
    very numerous. The country everywhere abounded with game, to
    and beyond the Mississippi. However dispersed in winter, the
    then numerous tribes of Indians, early in summer assembled in
    this island, at times to upwards of two thousand men. A great
    trade was carried on, French manufactures exchanged for furs,
    maize, maple-sugar, and some wild rice. The French fort was
    twice taken and destroyed by strategem. The Indians all
    declared they had never given permission to erect a fort,
    which was only a few neat log houses, surrounded by stockades
    of about 12 feet above the ground, sharp-pointed, with two
    gates. It was the depository of the goods of the fur traders,
    from whence they drew the supplies they wanted, as the fur
    trade required. It was natural to the French garrison to keep
    their gates closed when such an overwhelming force was on the
    island, but this the Indians did not pretend to understand,
    and it is curious to remark, that while the Indians
    destroyed the fort, the fur traders in their temporary
    cabins, covered with birch-rind, exposed to every turn of
    fortune, were respected by the Indians, not the value of a
    copper was taken from them. The fact is, that had the French
    garrison thrown open their gates and allowed the Indians free
    admission to hold their councils and consider the ground to
    be theirs, however builded upon, all would have been well.
    But the French brought garrison duty with them, which the
    Indians could not understand. At the cession of Canada to
    England, the British took possession of the island, and its
    trade continued as before, though the Indians were not so
    numerous, from the small pox, yet the trade was considerable,
    especially in maple sugar, which was made into what is called
    muscovado, a close imitation of the West India sugars. The
    area of Lake Huron is 14,862 square miles."

The Georgian Bay has a length from north to south of one hundred and
twenty miles. Its southern boundary is 95 miles by rail, north from
Toronto, the capital city of the Province of Ontario. The 46th
parallel of north latitude passes along its upper end; on either side
are the 86th and 82nd meridians of west longitude, its average breadth
being 50 miles. It is separated from Lake Huron by the Saugeen
Peninsula and the Grand Manitoulin Island. Between these is a channel
through which the Canadian Pacific Company's steamers and other
vessels pass on their corse to the upper lake ports. There is another
passage, the North Channel, between the Grand Manitoulin and the north
shore, and on this, at the north-west corner of the bay, is the
Village of Killarney.

The bay has, on its south shore, the important towns of Collingwood,
Thornbury, Meaford, Owen Sound and Wiarton; on the east, are
Penetanguishene and Midland. Near the last is the site of the old Fort
Ste. Marie on the Wye, occupied by the Jesuit Fathers and their Huron
converts, 243 years ago. Twenty miles from them, are the Christian
Islands, to which they were driven by the ferocious Iroquois, who
still pursued and harried them to destruction. Here too are the
remains of another Fort Ste. Marie, put up by the fugitives on the
island. History has no sadder tale than that of the weary exodus, from
the rude wilderness home they loved so well, across these waters under
the command of Father Ragueneau, on the 14th of June, 1649. The flames
flew up over the fort and refuge they left, consuming in half an hour,
the work of nine or ten years. They passed down the Wye into the bay,
only to meet more trials, disaster and death.[5]

From the "Shining sands" of Penetanguishene, as the name implies, Sir
John Franklin passed on St. George's Day, 23rd April, 1823, to join
his party on his second journey to the shores of the Polar Sea. His
party comprised thirty-three men in two large canoes provided by the
Hudson Bay Company, and they paddled over the bay we have described,
and along the Grand Manitoulin, to Sault Ste. Marie, where they
arrived on the first of May.

Penetanguishene is now a town of some importance, easily reached by
rail from Toronto. A Roman Catholic church commemorates the Jesuit
martyrs. A large hotel, having a beautiful outlook over the bay and
spacious grounds, attracts many summer visitors. Near this is the
well-conducted juvenile prison or reformatory for boys.

Penetanguishene was, during the troubles with the United States, of
1812-14, a Royal Naval Station. Barracks for soldiers and marines, and
store-houses for supplies, were erected here, and for some years
after, these quarters were occupied by a few army veterans. Armed
vessels took their departure from this port for the protection of
British interests on lakes Huron and Superior.

It cannot be doubted that the Georgian Bay is of strategic interest
from a military point of view. It is on the water route through the
upper lakes and has now the Canada Pacific Railway at no great
distance from its easterly and northerly shores. The Manitoulin group
shields it and the North Channel from exposure. Its islands and inlets
afford cover and concealment for vessels and there are no better
sailors than the hardy fishermen upon these waters.

It was with much interest that, as we moved away from the Minks, a
hale old sailor was pointed out. He was standing before a new shanty,
his white hair blown by the breeze, and we were told that he was in
one of the later polar exploration expeditions and could spin many an
interesting yarn about ice-floes, white bears and walrus, but our
sails were full and we could only salute him at a distance. Passing
north, we came to the beautiful village of Parry Sound and along this
shore are, on islands and peninsulas, the vacation cottages of
families from Toronto and elsewhere, who, with sail or steam craft, or
in house-boats, enjoy in summer the most exhilarating of fresh air,
and pleasures only to be found around the camp fire, and at an
elevation of 578 feet above the sea. The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry
Sound Railway, now in process of construction, will make Parry Sound
an important port on a direct route between Chicago and Montreal. It
is opposite the main channel through which vessels come from lakes
Huron and Superior, and it is almost due west from Ottawa. At the
north-east end of the bay is French River, which was so impeded with
logs as to hinder our passage through it to the rapids and falls a few
miles above, which impede further navigation. Other visitors may be
more fortunate. It unites the waters of the bay with Lake Nippissing.
A Government surveyor says of it: "The scenery of the Thousand Isles
of the St. Lawrence is tame and uninteresting as compared with the
endless variety of island and bay, granite cliff, and deep sombre
defile, which mark the character of the beautiful solitary French
River."

The Grand Manitoulin is a beautiful island, in length 80 miles and in
breadth 20 miles, with numerous inlets. It has various elevations on
its surface, but none more than 350 feet above the level of Lake
Huron.

The names of places, met about the Georgian Bay, remind us of the
ancient inhabitants, and indicate the land whence its present people
came. Some, such a Ossosan, an important Huron village on the east
side of the bay in early days, are forgotten. Later Indian names are
mostly of Ottawa, Chippewa or Iroquois origin. A township in the
County of Peel bears the name of the Chippewa chief, Chinguacos,
which means "The Small Pine." The Jesuits left many spots called after
saints, such as Ste. Marie on the Wye and Ste. Marie on St. Joseph,
the chief Christian island. These islands were also in later days
called Faith, Hope and Charity. They are occupied by an excellent body
of Christian Chippewas.

In the centre of the Huron territory, between Waubashene Bay and Lake
Simcoe, were St. Louis and St. Ignace, where Brebeauf and Lalemant,
Jesuit missionaries, suffered martyrdom at the stake. When this
beautiful region was mapped out, nearly two centuries later, into
three townships, a governor's lady was requested to name them, "Pray
call them after my dear little pet dogs," she said; so they were
christened Flos, Tiny and Tay. The great bay bears the name of
royalty. French River was so named because of the nationality of the
early white traders. This river would with propriety be called by its
ancient name, The Nipissing. Lake Simcoe and its surrounding county
also are so called from the first Governor of Upper Canada, the loyal
General John Graves Simcoe, Commander of the famous corps, the
"Queen's Rangers," in the American Revolutionary War. The adjoining
county from Earl Grey, Barrie, the chief town of the County Simcoe,
bears the name of a brave naval hero, as does its bay, that of the
ill-fated Captain Kempenfeldt, who went down at his post on the _Royal
George_ off Spithead, 29th August, 1782, as sung in the verses of
Cowper.

    "His sword was in its sheath,
     His fingers held the pen,
     When Kempenfeldt went down,
     With twice four hundred men."

The road leading from Toronto to Lake Simcoe was mainly opened out by
the Rangers, many of whom settled along it, and is called Yonge Street
from the Engineer officer in charge of its construction. The naming of
a mountain, river, lake or town was too often esteemed a light matter,
and the significant Indian names were forgotten or discarded in favor
of a local magnate, or for some merely casual circumstances. Yet we
have an historical nomenclature of good proportions. The Crimea gave
Alma and Inkerman; Port Arthur and Fort William are called from the
present dynasty. Confining our remarks to the Bay, we find Cockburn
island in the Manitoulin group, called after the naval officer by
whose command the city of Washington was burned in 1814, in
retaliation for the destruction of our little town of Niagara and
other places on our frontier. Drummond island reminds us of the hero
of Lundy's Lane, a battle fought from sunset to midnight within a
short distance of the Niagara Cataract. Captain Parry, R.N., has given
his name to the Sound, island, and district through which the rivers
Muskoka, Musquosh and Meganetawan pass to the Georgian Bay. The inlet
at the mouth of the last named river is named from the unfortunate
Admiral Byng; the town of Collingwood from Nelson's second in command
at Trafalgar, Owen Sound from Captain Owen, R.N. The English peers St.
Edmund, Sydenham, Albemarle and Derby gave their names to townships on
the south and west of the Bay; and on Manitoulin island, Lords
Cockburn, Campbell and Carnarvon are similarly remembered. Franklin
island commemorates the daring north sea navigator, who, as stated,
passed through this Bay on the way to undertake his second Arctic
voyage. Cabot's Head reminds us of the famous Venetian family, of whom
Giovanni was the head, and of his son Sebastian, who was distinguished
both in the Spanish service and in that of Britain under Henry VIII.
and Edward VI. It is indeed claimed that he discovered the American
continent some months before it was seen by Columbus. Sir John Barrow,
the author, and for many years Secretary of the Admiralty, gave his
name to Barrow Bay, in front of which is the cape called after the
Scottish family of Dundas.

The Manitoulin Island Railway, soon to be built from Nelson on the
Canada Pacific Railway, across the La Cloche islands to the village of
Little Current, and thence to Gore Bay and other places on the Grand
Manitoulin, will make that important island easily accessible at all
seasons.

The "Temporary Judicial District of Manitoulin" comprises the Great
Manitoulin island, the islands named Cockburn, Barrie, Fitzwilliam,
Lonely, Club, Wall, and Rabbit, and the small islands lying between
any of these and the Great Manitoulin. Sittings of General Sessions of
the Peace and of Division Courts are held in the Grand Manitoulin. The
telegraph was, late in 1892, extended across from the mainland, and
this group of islands will, ere many years pass, occupy the full
status of a judicial county or district.[6]


[Footnote 4: A brief narrative of the journeyings of David Thompson in
North-Western America, by J. B. Tyrrell, B.A., F.G.S. Proceedings of
Canadian Institute, Vol. 24, 135. October, 1888.]

[Footnote 5: Relation des Jesuites, par le Pere Paul Ragueneau, 1650.]

[Footnote 6: See the Ontario Statute of 1888, 51 Vic. ch. 14: The
Indian status and government will continue to coexist as explained in
Chap. IV.]

[Illustration: handwritten caption: In the Georgian Bay Aug 1837]




CHAPTER III.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION AND MINING INTERESTS.

[Illustration: lake and marsh]


From the village of Killarney, at the north-west corner of the
Georgian Bay, to the river Severn at its south-eastern end, is a
stretch of land covered with original forest trees, supported by a
soil formed of layers of leaf-mould underlaid by Archan rocks,
granites, gneisses, and overflows often known as the Upper Laurentian
formation. Rivers descend to the Bay here and there, forming points,
small bays and coves. The shore is fringed with innumerable islands,
often so numerous that the actual coast line is hidden from view. The
islands of the Bay, large and small, are estimated to be fully thirty
thousand, some of them of considerable size and wooded, but most of
them of small dimensions and having only a thin vegetation. Along the
north shore, the mass of islands extends for some ten miles into the
Bay. The channels between them are the chosen breeding grounds for the
white fish, here caught in immense quantities, as also for the large
lake trout, sturgeon and other fish. The islands are of granite,
syenite, gneiss, or trap, with an occasional limestone peculiar to
this formation. The Laurentian sub-structure extends south-easterly to
the Severn and generally north and north-east, far beyond the
boundaries of the Province. Bedded in this, are found near the mouth
of the Ottawa the great graphite, apatite and mica deposits, producing
rich out-puts of mineral, disclosing untold wealth for the future.

The Laurentian formations form, as far as we know, the foundations of
the earth's crust and are separable from the rocks lying above them.
The Lower Laurentian is held to be the oldest and deepest the world
over. The Upper formation has been estimated to be fully twenty miles
in thickness in the Ottawa valley. It discloses sixty-one species of
mineral, the Lower barely any.

Most geologists admit that no fossils have been found in the
Laurentians, which some interpret as indicating their igneous origin.
The "folding process" of the earth's crust can be seen to advantage in
the Huronian formation, commencing at its south-east boundary a little
west of Killarney. In that it is usual to find a layer of one kind of
rock overlapping another of a different kind. Great volcanic activity
took place during the Huronian period. Ashes, tufa broken rock and
other matters were thrown out, often with explosive violence. Evidence
of water abiding on the earth's surface now appears, and of the wear
and tear of the sea on the solid rocks. The surface remained covered
by shallow seas, hot and full of dissolved mineral matter and unfit to
support animal or vegetable life.

"As a rule the Huronian rocks are less contorted, or corrugated on the
small scale, than the Laurentian, but on a large scale they partake of
the same foldings which have affected the latter."

"The Huronian occurs in the midst of the Laurentian in the form of
more or less completely separated areas, or with straggling
connections between them."

"Huronian rocks often occupy spaces with elongated or even angular
out-lines in the midst of the Laurentian areas, both sets of rocks
having been thrown by pressure into sharp folds, standing at high
angles to the horizon, the Huronian often appear to dip under the
older Laurentian, but this is merely the effect of over-turning and
does not shew that a part of the Laurentian is newer than the locally
underlying Huronian."[7]

The most extensive Huronian formation in Ontario is that north of the
Georgian Bay, extending from Killarney north-east crossing the
Canadian Pacific Railway in the immense Algoma district.

The great copper and nickel deposits are in this region. The Director
of the Dominion Geological survey, Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn, in his
evidence before the Ontario Mineral Commission in 1890, states that
the "Western limit of the Huronian area is on the upper branches of
the Vermilion and Spanish Rivers. Everywhere I know of in Eastern
Ontario, gold is associated with the Huronian rocks. Wherever they
occur, you are likely to find gold-bearing veins and other mineral
deposits."

Were we to go, on the north shore, a few hundred miles west of the
Georgian Bay, we would come to the Bruce and Wellington Mines, worked
for thirty years ending in 1876, during which copper ore taken out was
estimated to be worth more than $6,000,000. The work was only
discontinued owing to the low price of that metal. High smoke stacks
and large buildings, surrounded by a mountain of mineral debris, are
seen now on the place formerly so busy and full of the noise of blast
furnaces and rendering-mills. The price of copper remains so low that
it is being more extensively used in building and other mechanical
work. The eave-troughs and rain conductors of the new parliament, and
other public buildings in Toronto are made of it.

The Ophir Gold Mine is in the township of Galbraith, fifteen miles
north of the Bruce Mines, between the Missisauga and Thesalon rivers.
It is owned by Duluth capitalists. The ore is in a bluish quartz.
There are two veins. A depth of 100 feet has been reached. The
indications are promising.

Persons connected with this work, have tested the tailings of the
Bruce Mines and found considerable traces of gold in them, so that it
is not improbable that they may be worked over for the richer metal.
Dr. Selwyn states, "They are now finding gold-bearing veins down the
Thesalon and all through that region, from the north shore of the
Georgian Bay to north of Sudbury."

The Silver Islet mine, on Thunder Cape in Lake Superior, was worked
from 1870 to 1884, reaching a depth of 1230 feet. The value of the
out-put of silver was $3,250,000. The vein still continues unexhausted
but the shaft is filled with water which flooded the mine.[8]

One of the most interesting and remarkable features of the country
north of the Georgian Bay is a basin of Cambrian formation, extending
from the west side of Lake Wahnapitae to the centre of Trill township,
a distance of thirty-six miles, with a breadth of eight miles in its
broadest part. This formation can be best observed in the southern
part of the township of Balfour, and has attracted the attention of
eminent geologists. Proceeding from the crossing of the Vermilion
River by the main line of the Canada Pacific Railway, a walk southward
of two miles on the Government Road, brings the traveller to a
noticeable ridge of black slate and conglomerate. This ridge is a
quarter of a mile in width; on one of its sides is seen a volcanic
breccia, on the other an agglomerate schist. Dr. Bell refers to this
in the Ontario Report of 1891. Prof. Geo. H. Williams has examined the
breccia and says it is composed of sharply angular fragments of
volcanic glass and pumice, which still preserve every detail of their
original form. "The fragments, even down to those of the smallest
dimensions, have the angular form characteristic of glass shreds
produced by explosive eruptions."

"After a careful study of this rock, I find it possible only to
interpret it as a remarkable instance of a very ancient volcanic
glass-breccia, preserved through the lucky accident of silicification.
Nor did this process go on, as is usual through devitrification and
loss of structure, but rather like the gradual replacement of many
silicified woods whose every minute detail of structure is preserved.
The rarity of such rocks in the earth's oldest formations is readily
intelligible; but, for this very reason, the exceptional preservation
of a rock like this is all the more welcome proof that explosive
volcanic activity took place at the surface, then as now, and on a
scale, if possible, greater than that with which we are familiar."[9]

NICKEL.--This most important of Ontario ores, was known to the
Chinese. Baktrian coins, bearing the inscription of King Euthodymus,
who lived 200 B.C., are found almost identical in composition with the
nickel coins of the present day. It is often found in meteorites in
conjunction with iron, cobalt, silver, copper, phosphorus and other
materials; the iron is generally the chief component, but in the
meteorite from Octebbeha, the nickel was 60 per cent. and iron 30 per
cent. of the mass. German miners endeavored in vain to produce copper
out of nickeliferous mineral, and angrily called the product,
_kupfer-nickel_, or copper-devil, which name it still bears.

In 1751 Cronstedt showed the true nature of this metal, but his views
were controverted until, in 1775, celestial aid was given to settle
the argument. Many meteors containing considerable quantities of
nickel fell in various places, and these being analyzed, its existence
as a distinct metal was admitted, and its properties became better
understood.

Nickel is found in combination with oxygen as Bunsenite, with carbon
as Texasite, but its most important position is as a silicate, and in
conjunction with other metals, in various shapes and under many names.
The physical properties of nickel make it of great value; one gram can
be drawn out into 600 feet of wire. It can be welded on iron or steel
with a covering of only .00039 inch. Its strength is greater than that
of iron and equal to that of Bessemer steel. It does not oxydize at
ordinary temperatures, even in moist air. Reference will be made to
the important qualities nickel possesses and imparts as an alloy with
steel, and which are only now becoming fully understood.[10]

Nickel enters into the composition of coins of most countries of the
world. In Germany cooking utensils have lately been made of pure
nickel. In the arts it is used, alloyed with copper and zinc in making
_German silver_; the same metals with a percentage of iron, make
_silverine_, and with silver _argent de Mousset_ is made.

The most productive nickel mines heretofore, have been those of New
Caledonia. Their ore contained from seven to fifteen per cent. of
metal. The mean of removing the matte to the sea coast, having been
improved; ores of less value are there mined now with profit.

The Ontario nickel mines, though in their infancy, are as perfect in
their equipment, and as scientifically managed as any in the world. As
the uses for nickel increase, this industry will still further
develop. It is already one of great importance and promises to reach
vast proportions.

There are three great nickel belts in the Sudbury district; the first
extending from the township of Carson, through the townships of
Blezard, McKim and Snider. In this are the Blezard, Sheppard, Murray,
Copper-Cliff, Evans and Stobie mines. The last three are the property
of the Canadian Copper Company. The Dominion Mineral Company works on
lot 4 range 2 of Blezard, a mile north of the Stobie mine. Near these,
and in the same run, are the Russell and McConnell locations. The
second belt runs for several miles almost parallel to the Sault branch
of the Canada Pacific Railway. The third extends from Geneva Lake
through the townships of Moncrief and Craig, and the unsurveyed
territory to the north. It is crossed by the railway about forty-eight
miles west of the Spanish River near Blue Water Lake. All these belts
run north-east and south-west. In addition, there are several
important minor belts, such as that near Lake Wahnapitae and those in
the townships of Graham, Denison, Drury, Hyman and Nairn. It is
estimated that more than four-fifths of the known nickel deposits of
the world are in this region, so that the Georgian Bay district has a
practical monopoly of the world's supply of this useful metal.

The ore is much the same wherever occurring in the Sudbury district,
being a mixture of nickeliferous pyrhotite, or magnetic pyrites, with
the chalcopyrite or copper pyrites. The usual site of the formations
is at the junction of greenstone with some other rock, such as
granite, gneiss or felsite.

The word 'greenstone' is used by geologists to include a variety of
trappean rocks which can not always be distinguished from one another
in the field. In the Sudbury district they consist of diabases,
diorites and gabbros.[11]

All the deposits of nickeliferous copper ore of the district,
examined, says Dr. Bell, occur in diorite rocks, and in most cases the
diorite is brecciated or holds angular and also rounded fragments of
all sizes of rocks of various kinds, the prevailing varieties being
other kinds of diorite, quartz-syenites, crystalline schists,
grey-wack and quartzites. The general geological position of these
ores is therefore in diorite and more especially brecciated diorite
with either gneiss or quartz-syenite near one side.[12]

The occurrence of dykes of crystalline diabase near some of the
deposits is noted as remarkable. These dykes cut through all the
stratified Huronian rocks of the district. Some run west, north-west,
others south-west, and one at the outlet of Ramsay lake, runs about
west, or towards the Copper-Cliff mine. The composition of the dykes
is newer than any of the rocks through which they pass, and appears on
microscopical examination, to be apparently identical with the diabase
overflow of the Animikie formation of Lake Superior, which includes
the silver producing rocks. The various nickeliferous ores have been
analyzed by Mr. C. T. Mixer and described by Mr. S. H. Emmens, the
able expert of the Emmens Metal Company, who has given a table
exhibiting the composition of each. FOLGERITE is so named after
Commodore Folger, chief of the United States Bureau of Ordnance, in
recognition of his distinguished services in the utilization of
nickel-steel.

In BLUEITE we find the name of Mr. A. Blue, director of Ontario mines.
WHARTONITE is named after Mr. Joseph Wharton, of Camden, N. J., on
account of his position as head of the nickel industry in America. The
table indicates the relations of the known nickel and nickel iron
sulphides to each other. Of the very high grade species given,
specimens are but rare, the four of lesser grade are the staples of
the mines of Sudbury.

MESSRS. EMMENS AND MIXER'S TABLE.

_Nickel and Nickel Iron Sulphides._[13]

 ================================================================
     NAME.   |      PERCENTAGE        |    MOLECULAR
             |     CONSTITUTION.      |   CONSTITUTION.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
             |   Ni.  |  Fe   |  S    | NiS | NiS_2 | FeS | FeS_2
             |        |       |       |     |       |     |
 Millerite   |  64.72 |       | 35.28 |  1  |       |     |
 Polydymite  |  59.47 |       | 40.53 |  3  |  1    |     |
 Beyrichite  |  57.90 |       | 42.10 |  2  |  1    |     |
 Ferriferous |} 44.92 | 14.26 | 40.82 |  3  |       |     |   1
 Polydymite  |}       |       |       |     |       |     |
 Folgerite   |  32.87 | 31.30 | 35.83 |  1  |       |  1  |
 Pentlandite |  22.03 | 41.95 | 36.02 |  1  |       |  2  |
 Horbachite  |  11.24 | 42.81 | 45.95 |  1  |    1  |  1  |   1
 Inverarite  |  10.44 | 49.72 | 39.84 |  1  |       |  4  |   1
 Whartonite  |   6.10 | 40.68 | 53.22 |     |   1   |     |   7
 Blueite     |   3.76 | 42.96 | 53.28 |     |   1   |     |  12
 ----------------------------------------------------------------

In this table no mention is made of a valuable and new mineral in
Canada, Gersdorffite, found in the third concession of Denison
township. Assays of this have given fifty-five per cent. of nickel.
Analyses of twenty European samples made by Dana average 29.77 per
cent. of nickel.

In the able paper by Mr. George Mickle of Toronto read before the
Canadian Institute[14] it is shown that the Sudbury nickeliferous
deposits increase in richness as depth is reached, and it is
noteworthy that this conclusion has so far been verified in every case
by practical experience. Mr. Mickle closes his paper with the
assertion that the Ontario nickel mines will in time assume the
position which those of New Caledonia have occupied heretofore.

Mr. J. M. Clark, LL.B., of Toronto, is of the same opinion. He is well
versed in the mineralogy of this region. Mr. Archibald Blue, the
accomplished director of the Ontario Bureau of Mines, states in his
official report for 1891, referred to, that nickel is the most
important of all our ores, and that there are inexhaustible supplies
of it in the country north of the Georgian Bay. Fifty years ago nickel
was found with copper on what is known as the Wallace location near
the mouth of Whitefish river. The properties of the metal were then
little known or appreciated. The proprietors of the location left it
in charge of an honest man who agreed to watch over it until they
returned to develop the property. Year after year passed but they did
not return. For a time his wages were sent him, but for many years he
received no pay, yet held his shanty at the river's mouth and made his
living by hunting or fishing. When met by the voyageur or Indian,
passing down the Whitefish river, or paddling along the north shore,
with his gun and traps or net, it was known that he was returning to
his charge, and so, for nearly forty years, his lonely watch was kept
until new proprietors came. Little did the simple-minded sentinel
dream of the wonderful spirit hidden under the dark rocks, the
"Copper-devil," destined at last to emerge there and at Sudbury, clad
in armour of Vulcan, able to resist the force of cannon of the
heaviest calibre.

The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway led to the important
discoveries that have been made in the district of which Sudbury is
the centre. When blasting an open cut four miles north-west of
Sudbury, the engineers struck an unusually hard and troublesome rock.
On investigation it proved to be nickeliferous. H. H. Vivian & Co., of
Swansea, Wales, secured this property, now known as the "Murray Mine,"
and many shipments of matte have been made to Wales. By the use of
approved methods a matte containing 35 per cent. of nickel has been
secured. A large working force is employed. The Canadian Copper
Company have erected Bessemer furnaces and are so enabled to greatly
increase the per-centage. The Director of Mines states generally as to
this nickel region, that "Eight mines are being worked, three large
smelting plants are in operation."

Commodore Folger and Lieutenant Buckingham, two officers of the United
States navy department, made an early visit to the Sudbury district
and after inspecting, reported many millions of tons of ore in sight.
The value of nickel when united with steel, producing an alloy which
combines hardness, strength and freedom from fracture under heavy
blows, has been so amply demonstrated, that both the British Admiralty
and United States navy have decided to use it largely. Their example
has been quickly followed by other European countries, notably France
and Germany.

During the year 1890 the United States Secretary of the Navy obtained
4,536 tons of nickel matte from Sudbury, containing one-fifth that
number of tons of nickel, which were used in the conducting of a
series of experiments, by which the value of the alloy as armour for
ships has been amply demonstrated. The reports of the United States
Secretary of the Navy for 1891 and 1892 give detailed statements of
the experiments made. Early in 1889 the department had decided to use
all-steel plating. Subsequently its attention had been directed to the
possibilities of nickel-steel as a material for armour. Professor Jas.
Riley had raised the question in a paper read before the Iron and
Steel Institute in May, 1889. The promise held out, says Mr. Secretary
Tracy, seemed too great to be ignored by a government requiring
20,000 tons of armour for its new fleet. Then followed at Annapolis
in September 1890, the trial of compound and all-steel plates of
amazing strength, but they were shattered to pieces by projectiles
from the eight-inch gun used, while the nickel-steel, though slightly
more penetrable than the all-steel, remained unbroken, and "the
integrity of the plate as the covering of a ship's side was
practically as perfect at the close of the trial as if no shot had
been fired." (Report of 1892, p. 16).

Other tests took place in October and November, 1891, and in July,
1892. At the last a plate of "Harveyized" nickel-steel, 10 inches
thick, was fired at with five Holtzer forged steel shells out of an
eight-inch gun. All these shells were smashed on the surface of the
plate, which showed little sign of injury.

In consequence of the high efficiency of nickel-steel, so
demonstrated, Congress appropriated $1,000,000 for the purchase of
nickel matte, which the territory of the United States, as far as
known, did not afford. Contracts were then made with the Canadian
Copper Company, for the delivery at Sudbury of this material, which
should contain not less than an average of fifteen per cent. of
nickel.

The U. S. Navy report shows that the Canadian Company received for
nickel ore sold to the United States Government in 1891, $321,322.
They are stated to have received more than $400,000 in 1892. The
Secretary of the Navy claims in his report for 1891, that the "nickel
Harveyized plate" and the high carbon nickel plate, used in the test,
proved superior to all the foreign plate used at the Annapolis trial,
and that "the high carbon Harveyized plate is undoubtedly the best
armour plate ever subjected to ballistic test." A triumphant spirit
pervades the Secretary's reports as he sings pans in praise of
American steel when tempered by Canadian nickel. The proportion of
nickel used in making this armour is 3 per cent.

The work is done for the Government at the great establishment of
Carnegie, Phipps & Co., and of the Bethlehem Iron Company.

The Carnegie Company are now constructing several immense furnaces at
their works in Homestead, Pennsylvania, for use solely in the making
of nickel-steel armour plate.

The Cleveland, Ohio, Rolling Mill Company caused important experiments
to be made during the autumn of 1892, under direction of an
experienced French engineer, to determine the relative quality of
steel, with and without the addition of nickel. The deductions from
the results obtained are stated to be as follows: (1) Nickel-steel has
an average higher limit of elasticity of more than thirty per cent.
(2) Its tensile strength is increased over unalloyed steel by about
twenty per cent., and (3) the ductility is not reduced by the presence
of nickel.

The public and domestic uses to which this alloy will be put are
constantly increasing. The Director of the Bureau looks forward to
great activity in the working of the Ontario nickel mines, and with
this anticipates an awakening interest in the mining and smelting of
iron also, of which there are ample stores in this region.

GOLD MINING.--Reference has been made to gold mining on the Thesalon
river, some thirty miles north of the Georgian Bay. A series of quartz
veins has been found, which may in time play an important part in the
mineral history of Canada. Most of these veins are within a triangle
formed by the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, its branch to
Sault Ste. Marie and the western boundary of Fairbank township
produced. In the centre of this triangle is a remarkable lake, more
than one hundred feet higher than the Vermilion river into which it is
emptied by a stream less than a mile in length. This is called Gordon
Lake from J. R. Gordon, C. E., the engineer who explored the district.

The largest of these veins, proved to be more or less auriferous,
presents, as Mr. J. M. Clark states, a remarkable spectacle. The lead
of quartz can be traced for several miles, ranging in width from 15 to
150 feet. Its strike is north 10 east, and the dip about 40. On an
outcrop of the vein, a mile east of the Vermilion, a shaft has been
sunk to a depth of 112 feet, and from this, drifts have been run, all
in vein matter, white quartz, popularly known as "California quartz."
Though the produce is of low grade, it is stated to be of large
quantity. There are three other like veins in the townships of
Fairbank and Creighton. Similar indications are found in adjoining
townships. The work of development has given very encouraging results,
and those interested regard the future of these deposits with sanguine
anticipations. One of these gold veins is found about half a mile
south of Vermilion lake in the township of Fairbank. The others are in
the vicinity of Gordon lake. The ore is said to be free-milling and
easily treated. A mining expert of extensive American experience, who
has examined these localities, affirms that several of the quartz
veins in Fairbank strongly resemble the Homestake mines of the Black
Hills. Modern improvements, in methods and means for reducing and
treating ores, have so diminished the cost, that gold ore of the
character found in the district north of the Georgian Bay can be
mined, milled and treated for less than $3 a ton. The mining of these
veins gives employment to about one hundred men at present.

PLATINUM.--Next in interest to the gold deposits, are the
platiniferous ore of this region. It is found either in a free state,
or in a curious chemical compound first discovered here and called
Sperrylite. Professor H. L. Wells, of Yale College, examined a
specimen of such ore, from the Vermilion mine in Denison township, in
1889, and declared it to be a distinct mineral species, containing
52.57 per cent. of platinum. It has since been found, in limited
quantity, in the Huronian formation. A platiniferous vein runs for
several miles east and west, about two miles south of the main line of
the Canada Pacific Railway, through the townships of Balfour, Dowling
and Fairbank. Rich traces of this metal, now more valuable than gold,
are also stated to be found west of Sudbury, along the Sault branch of
the railway. Traces of antimony, rhodium, and palladium are found with
the platinum. Other metals, including tin, lead, copper, and zinc,
have been discovered in this region. No doubt some of them will be
found in considerable and profitable quantity.

The Huronian area, like the Laurentian, is destitute of all trace of
organic life, unless it be the "Eozoon Canadense," claimed by Sir W.
Dawson to have been of that character. The name owes its origin to Sir
Charles Lyell, and refers to the dawn of being. Many geological
authorities, including Professor Bell, treat this as a scientific
myth. The Huronian is Archan or Azoic, and its origin is attributed
largely to volcanic action. The term Huronian, derived from Lake
Huron, was given by the Geological Survey officers, forty years ago,
and has been understood to include all the rocks lying between the
Laurentian below it and the Cambrian or earliest fossiliferous rocks
above. The prevailing dark green and grey colors offer a marked
contrast to the lighter grey and reddish greys of the Laurentian.

Leaving the south boundary of the Upper Laurentian, a few miles south
of the little Severn River, which is the outlet of Lake Simcoe into
the Georgian Bay, the "Bird's eye" formation presents itself. The term
is derived from a fossil found in these rocks. It consists of bluish
and dark grey limestones, with interstratified grey shales. It occurs
on some of the islands on the North Channel also, and skirts the
southern edge of the Laurentian area, from Penetanguishene to
Kingston. The width of this deposit is but a few miles. Building and
lithographic stone is derived from it.

Next easterly is a belt of Trenton limestone, Lake Simcoe is imbedded
in it. The Christian Islands are formed of it and it crops out at
Little Current on the Grand Manitoulin. It affords excellent building
stone and is valuable for natural gas and petroleum. This formation
extends eastward to Kingston on Lake Ontario and appears again at
Ottawa, the cliffs about the Capital being formed of it. Adjoining the
Trenton on the west is a narrow belt of Utica shale, the name being
derived from a town in New York State. Tarry oil was distilled from
this shale, which yielded three to four per cent. of its weight at a
cost of fourteen cents per gallon. When free petroleum was discovered
in Canada in 1858, this enterprise was abandoned. Still passing
westward from Collingwood is the Hudson River formation, about 700
feet thick, which consists of drab marls, clays and shales,
interbedded with layers of limestone and sandstone.

Next is a belt of Medina red and green marls, with a fine grained
light grey, sometimes reddish sandstone, called the "grey band," at
top. This and the Clinton formation, both being named from places in
New York State, extend to Owen Sound.

Lastly, as we surround the Bay, comes a great belt of Niagara
limestone, having a thickness of 400 feet. It is one of the most
marked fossil deposits in the Province. It forms the sides of the
gorge of Niagara Falls, whose waters have cut through the limestone
164 feet, and half as far below it into the black shale beneath. This
formation then curves, past and under the west end of Lake Ontario,
through five counties, and in its northerly course becomes the Blue
Mountains in the county of Grey, rising 1200 feet over Lake Huron, or
1800 feet above the sea, and is the main formation of the Saugeen
Peninsula and Manitoulin Islands. It is valuable building stone and
burns to good lime. The geological terms used are those found in the
report of the Ontario Royal Commission of 1890, though American
geologists now generally class under Archan both the Laurentian and
Huronian. Laurentian includes the Archaic gneisses and granites;
Huronian includes secondary granites, quartzites and slates. Beside
these come old sandstones, with conglomerates of various kinds.

On these Archan rocks, which were at some period more submerged than
they are now, the Silurian sea deposited limestone, so that the Lower
Silurian, or Ordovician, and Huronian often lie on each other, with a
bed of iron or quartz between. The west side of the Bay is, as has
been shown, Silurian, the north and east Azoic; but here and there an
outlier of limestone crops out on the Azoic side, as evidence that it
once extended across the Bay.

It is thought, by Spencer and others, that there was a pre-glacial
river entering the Bay north of the Indian Peninsula, and passing down
by Collingwood through Lake Simcoe into Lake Ontario, near Port Hope.

Great numbers of lakes are found in all Canadian areas of Laurentian
and Huronian formation. From one-half to one-third of the surface is
covered with water. Through vast regions, these lakes, from 100 miles
in length, to the size of ponds, exist in thousands.

They are generally in chains or groups, and form the means of
travelling by canoe, with connections by streams and occasional
portages, in any direction. Each watercourse is connected with those
on either side, by trails made and worn in the soil by wild
animals--deer, moose, caribou, bear and foxes. The Indians used them
as they sought game, stealing along silently on soft moccasins or snow
shoes, or journeyed with canoe raised over the head. The trail remains
visible, especially when protected by overhanging trees, for years
after wild animals have ceased to use it as their run-way. These
narrow winding courses are trod with security by the explorer, hunter
and voyageur, as they know they are sure to lead to some part of the
watercourses. In maps of the new townships, the trails are indicated
by dotted lines. In the prairies of the West they are followed by the
half-breeds' creaking ox-cart.

Falls, some of them of considerable height, cascades and rapids, are
found in the rivers and streams, connecting the lakes, of great
variety and beauty. While there is no tide in these inland waters, yet
when the wind prevails with strength for a few hours, it causes a rush
of water from one inlet to another. There is an instance of this at
the Minks Islands, where a long narrow channel between high basaltic
sides, ran during our visit like a mill-race, and a village on the
Grand Manitoulin is called Little Current, from a like phenomenon on a
larger scale.

From various causes a breeze is seldom wanting on the bay. The
yachtsman will never lie long becalmed on its surface.

Numerous places throughout the area we have circumscribed, have marks
of extensive glaciation, which took place in these Archan regions
during the drift period. The surface of the rocks bears these ice
marks in flutings, furrows and grooves, and these are as plain on the
tops of the hills as in the valleys. Not only have the beds of streams
and ponds been so hollowed out, but the basins of the lakes have been
enlarged by glacial action.

In the metamorphic regions in the northern parts of Ontario, says Dr.
Bell[15] the rounded glaciated surfaces of the tops and sides of the
hills have been left almost or quite bare in some parts. In most
places the smoothed and grooved or striated rock surfaces are covered
by a thick deposit of stiff clay, mixed with sand, gravel, stones and
boulders. This is known as boulder-clay or hard pan. In Scotland it
is called _till_, and this name is being generally adopted. An
erroneous impression attributed these phenomena to icebergs, but says
Dr. Bell, "The glacial phenomena of the drift period in these
latitudes correspond, in every way, with what may be observed on a
small scale in connection with modern glaciers and there can be no
doubt that they are due to land ice."

The stril on rock surfaces were, it is conjectured, not all produced
at the same time, but by different glaciers. As the great mass moved
on, it became divided into smaller bergs, which would follow the
valleys or be guided by their sides. The region of the Georgian Bay,
as one of the great mineral depositaries of Ontario is, and will
continue to be, of increasing interest and importance. A railway is
proposed to be constructed from the mouth of the French River to
Whitefish Station on the Canada Pacific road. This project has a very
considerable bearing on the mining and lumbering interests and will do
much for their development. Whitefish was formerly an important Hudson
Bay Company post.


[Footnote 7: Professor Bell in report of Royal Mineral Commission of
Ontario, 1890, p. 7 and 17; also in the report of the Provincial
Bureau of Mines, 1891; p. 63.]

[Footnote 8: An excellent account of the Silver Islet Mine, an
undertaking of historic interest, is given in the evidence of the late
Mr. A. J. Cattanach, in the report of the Royal Commission of 1890, p.
195. Mr. Simon J. Dawson, C.E., M.P., also there gives his opinion as
to it and other important North-Shore mines, concluding thus: "Where
work has been done systematically, it has been very satisfactory, and
where mines have been abandoned and work stopped, it has generally
been on account of the want of capital." As to the Bruce and
Wellington copper mines, see the evidence of Wm. and W. H. Plummer, in
same report, p. 101.]

[Footnote 9: Bulletin of Geological Society of America, 1890, p. 138.]

[Footnote 10: The discovery of the process was announced
simultaneously by J. F. Hale, of Sheffield, and M. Marbeau, of France,
in the journal of the Iron and Steele Institute, No. 1, 1881.]

[Footnote 11: Dr. Bell, Report of Bureau of Mines, 1891, p. 75.]

[Footnote 12: Dr. Bell, Royal Commission, Ont., 1890, p. 434.]

[Footnote 13: See Canadian Mining Review of Ottawa, volume 12, page 6,
January, 1893, for Mr. Emmens' article and this table.]

[Footnote 14: Notes on Nickel by Geo. Mickle, B.A., 20th March, 1891.
Transactions of Canadian Institute, vol. 11, p. 77.]

[Footnote 15: Ont. Mineral Report 1890. 49.]

[Illustration: camping by a lake]




CHAPTER IV.

NATIVE INHABITANTS; THE ASSIKINACKS AND OTHER
DISTINGUISHED CHIEFS AND WARRIORS.

[Illustration: forest]


The Charter under which the Indians of the Province enjoy their
rights, is the royal proclamation issued by King George III, in 1763,
after the Treaty of Paris. Trespassing on their lands, and purchasing
of them by the king's other subjects, were thereby forbidden. Indian
lands were only to be purchased for the public use, at public meetings
of the Indians to be held for that purpose by the Governor of the
Province. The Quebec Act of 1774, and the Constitutional Act, forming
the Dominion in 1867, contained similar provisions. The care of the
Indians, and their reserved lands, is now vested in the Dominion
Government.

The object of the Crown, as explained in the instructions by the
Colonial Minister, Lord Glenelg, to Sir F. B. Head, when Governor in
1838, was to segregate the red from the white population until the
former were, by education and paternal care, raised to a level and
made able to compete with the latter. "The first step to the real
improvement of the Indians," says Lord Glenelg, "is to gain them over
from a wandering to a settled life, and for this purpose it is
essential that they should have a sense of permanency in the locations
assigned to them, that they should be attached to the soil by being
taught to regard it as reserved for them and their children, by the
strongest securities." Before the appropriation of reserves, the
Indians have no claim, except upon the bounty and benevolence of the
Crown. After the appropriation, they become invested with a recognized
tenure of land. They are wards of the State under pupilage. They have
the advantages and safe guards of private citizens, having the present
right to the exclusive usufruct, and a potential right to become
individual owners in fee after enfranchisement. Such part of their
ancestral estate as is not required for reserves, is generally sold,
as demand arises, under treaty arrangements, by the Government and the
interest derived from investment of the proceeds is annually divided
among the members of the various bands entitled.[16]

The paternal care and fairness exercised by the officer under Royal
and Canadian authority, in the conduct of their affairs, have almost
uniformly secured the good will of the aborigines, and have saved our
soil from the horrors of Indian massacres from which our Southern
neighbors have often suffered. On Grand Manitoulin Island, and at Cape
Croker, are large settlements of civilized Indians, some of whom we
met. The Chippewas, otherwise known as Ojibewas, and the Ottawas, of
Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay, are divided into fifteen bands,
settled on as many reserves on the shores of the lake and bay. Most of
them are Christians in faith with here and there a pagan family. When
meeting the whites, they are generally reserved and reticent. We had
evidence of their taciturnity towards strangers, when approaching
Killarney in the dark, and seeking the channel, we hailed some Indian
vessels, using English and French, and finally our best Chippewa, but
not a word would they reply to our call of "_Friend! Amis_!" or
"_Bo' jou' Nitsi_!" There is probably no region where folk-lore and
old tales, of war and romance, more abound than in the isles and on
the shores of the Georgian Bay. The ancient customs are not forgotten
and beneath every dark skin, though clad in "store clothes," there is
a remnant of inbred and inherited superstition, which is exhibited at
certain seasons to a marked degree. Many of them assembled this summer
at the Shawanaga Reserve, on the east side of the bay to attend a war
dance. Even after interment with Christian burial rites, the grave is
often at night strewn with blankets, tin cups, pots, kettles, bowls,
spoons and bits of cloth, articles which, according to their old
superstition, would be useful to the shades in the spirit world. The
Algic Manito is thus slow to give way before the white man's Theos.

The Grand Manitoulin Island is through tradition, believed to be the
dwelling place of both the Good Spirit, Gitci Manito, and of Matci
Manito, the Evil One. At a chosen time each summer, the different
Indian bands of the Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, meet at a selected
spot on this island to "shoot the Evil Spirit." After performing some
wild and fantastic dances, with much howling and contortions, each man
seizes his gun and a simultaneous volley is discharged, with great
shouting. Festivities follow, sometimes ending in noisy orgies, for
these red men are not all teetotalers. The following extract from the
report of the late Right Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, Superintendent of
Indian Affairs, dated 1st January, 1886, will be of interest for its
condensed information: "There are six day schools on Manitoulin Island
and five on the mainland. The Indians of Manitoulin Island keep the
roads, running through their reserves, in good order. This is
especially the case on the Wikwemikong Reserve. The Indian population
of the Superintendency of Northern Ontario is 3,343. They hold 3,120
acres under cultivation. Their crops amounted in the aggregate to
4,269 bushels and 1,290 tons of hay. The fish captured by them were
valued at $18,450, and the furs at $5,205.50, while the revenue
derived from the other industries is estimated to have amounted to
$5,850." By arrangement with the Government, the Indians of the
eastern part of Manitoulin have also, during 1889 and since, cut a
large amount of merchantable timber.

The land of the Hurons or Wyandots, lay between the Georgian Bay and
Lake Simcoe. It was a beautiful heritage with favoured surroundings,
pure water, fertile soil, game and fish in abundance.

This region is a prolific field for the work of the archeologist. When
single graves are opened, the skeleton is often found in a sitting
posture, objects in bone, shell, stone, copper and pottery are laid
beside it. The burial places were generally great ossuaries, pits,
containing the remains of from a hundred to several thousand bodies.
While burial sometimes took place in single graves, the usual custom
was, as each Indian died, to place the body on a stage raised above
the reach of wild animals. At periods of some years, fixed at solemn
councils, the remains were taken down simultaneously, the shreds of
flesh were carefully removed, large pits were made and into these all
the bones were cast with much wailing and noisy ceremony. These
ossuaries are easily found, the surface falling in as the decaying
bones cease to support it. Many of them have been opened, and
specimens from them, generally skulls, grace the collections of
various museums. It has been usually thought that the burial of
articles with the dead was a religious act. If it were, then the
custom would doubtless seldom have been omitted, but in many of the
graves no such articles are found, and of the ossuaries, one may
contain a thousand articles, and another scarcely a pipe or bead.

Mr. C. A. Hirschfelder, who is well known as an archeologist, says as
to this, "We know that the Indians lived up to their belief, and if it
had been an act of religion to thus bury articles, then in each and
every grave some article would be found.... My theory is this, if one
of these 'feasts of the dead' should occur during a propitious season,
many articles could be spared, but if a famine stared the Indians in
the face, which frequently happened, they would be too poor to spare
articles, and it appears to me that the act of burial was not one of
religion, but one of respect." This opinion is not entirely acquiesed
in by other authorities. The truth probably is that the rite of
leaving gifts with the dead arose both from affection and
superstition.

The Chippewas and Ottawas were not much concerned with the internecine
strife between the Iroquois and Hurons of two hundred and fifty years
ago. They then resided to the west of the Huron territory. As the
Hurons and their relations of the Neutral and Tobacco nations, who
held the territory south of the Bay as far as Lake Ontario, and along
the north shore of Lake Erie, were driven out of their lands, the
ancestors of the present possessors came in and gradually occupied it,
the Mohawks and other Iroquois remaining in more southern regions.
The Ottawas had specially chosen Manitoulin Island, and the North
Shore and Channel, as the seat of their nation, and jealously guarded
them from Mohawk incursions and encroachment. The Ottawas had at one
time set up their tepees along the waters of the Upper Ottawa as far
as Allumette Island, and the site of the present large town of
Prescott, but had not attempted long to hold that disputed territory.

These people live in a tribal way, the regulation of their affairs is
in the hands of councils chosen by themselves. The oldest system of
government on the continent is in practical operation in their
council-houses. Their code of rules and regulations, when adopted and
approved by the Governor-General of Canada in Council, forms an
excellent quasi-municipal system, including the management of roads,
fences, ditches, schools and pounds. They generally exhibit much
interest in educational matters.

As any one may desire, there is legal provision for him, with the
consent of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to leave his band and
become enfranchised, when he takes the status of a white man with the
like privileges and obligations. This right was, until recent years,
rarely sought, but since the date of the incident about to be related,
Indian men in the older provinces have had the electoral franchise
extended to them on like terms as enjoyed by their white neighbours.

Mr. S. J. Dawson, for some years member of Parliament for Algoma,
relates that, when canvassing for votes at West Bay on the Grand
Manitoulin, he accosted a well-known Indian who was a fur trader and
had a general store, and asked for his vote. "Do you not know that I
am a member of my band," he replied. "But why not be enfranchised?
with all your means you surely do not value the dole you receive from
government!" "It is not that," said the native patriot, "all I so
receive is $8 a year. In that building is, I think, $10,000 worth of
goods, but I would rather give all that than abandon the position I
occupy among my people, or take any step that would separate me, in
the least degree, from them." It is from the residents along these
shores, of pure and mixed blood, that many of the hardy voyageurs,
raftsmen and axemen in lumber camps, or engaged in moving the great
tows of logs, covering many acres in extent, are gathered. They are a
jovial and hardy race. They are among the bravest hunters and
fishermen. The old French blood mingles in the veins of not a few of
those occupying these northerly settlements. Many of the families have
become known for their sterling character and independent
circumstances. They have interests in valuable mines, some of which
were discovered or developed by their heads, or are well to do traders
with extensive business ramifications throughout the wilder country to
the north and west. Their young people are educated at the schools at
Wikwemikong and elsewhere in the district, and at the Shingwauk and
Wawonosh Homes near Ste. Marie, and there are Metes ladies who have
taken courses of music and French in Toronto, Montreal or Paris. Among
such families the names of Sawyer, Corbeau, Biron and D'Lamorondiere
are prominent. As to the Indians living in tribal manner--if happiness
is to be secured by possessing a sufficiency, freedom from rent or
taxes, and from action in any civil court, all of which these wards of
the Dominion enjoy, then they may be considered signally favored.

On inquiry as to how this legal protection acted on the character, we
were told by white merchants, that while many of the Indians honorably
make good their engagements, some can not be trusted, and bargains can
only be safely conducted with them on a cash basis. The strict honesty
found by Henry, the old fur trader, among their ancestors, is not so
general now. He relates that he had the satisfaction of seeing all
those to whom he had advanced the price of peltries return, not thirty
skins remained unpaid, and this trivial deficit was occasioned by the
death of one of the Indians, for whom his family offered to make good
the loss, fearing that until that was done his spirit would not rest.[17]

In the neighborhood of the Georgian Bay Reserves wild animals abound,
the moose and red deer, black bears, foxes, beavers, water fowl,
partridge or grouse. The dread rattlesnake and copper-head disappear
when the pig is introduced. There is much excellent soil on the Grand
Manitoulin. In addition to the farms tilled by the Indians, are many
occupied by white residents in the neighborhood of the main
settlements, Little Current, Gore Bay, Mudge Bay and Manitowaning.
Shegwiandah is also an important and beautiful village. Hardwood is
found as well as the pine, poplar, spruce and hemlock, nor do we see
on the shore the destruction by fire, leaving the rocks bare and
black, so common in the more frequented region of Muskoka.

KEEJEK AND ASSIKINACK--INDIAN LIFE AND TRADITIONS.

    Ye who love the haunts of nature,
    Love the sunshine of the meadow,
    Love the shadow of the forest,
    Love the wind among the branches,
    And the rain-shower and the snow-storm,
    And the rushing of great rivers,
    Through their palisades of pine-trees
    And the thunder in the mountains,
    Whose innumerable echoes
    Flap like eagles in their eyries;
    Listen to these wild traditions.

                      --_Song of Hiawatha._

Two young men of one of the tribes, still represented by the Indians
of the Georgian Bay, became favorably known to many in Toronto more
than fifty years ago. Charles Tebisco Keejek entered Upper Canada
College, where he developed much skill as a linguist, and was well
thought of by those who knew him. He aided the late Rev. Canon
O'Meara, in translating the New Testament into Chippewa. Mr. O'Meara
was then a missionary to the Indians of the Grand Manitoulin. Keejek
settled at the Indian village of Wobonash, near Owen Sound, where he
cultivated a small farm, and, by writing and otherwise, gave much
attention to the affairs of his tribe. He also for a time acted as
interpreter to the Rev. R. Robinson, Congregational missionary. He was
an excellent scholar, retiring in manner and of finely cut features.
He married a woman of his people and died at Wobonash more than twenty
years ago, leaving an intelligent and industrious family.

Francis Assikinack, the other lad, also held high place in his
classes; was on the prize list in 1841 for good conduct and
map-drawing, and in 1843 was first form boy and first in writing,
general proficiency, Greek and geography. He was son of a Chief who
lived to a great age and who was present at the taking of Macinac on
the eastern shore of Michigan, four hundred miles north of Detroit. It
was sometimes called Fort Michilli-Mackinack, meaning the Great
Turtle, when a boy, on the 2nd of June, 1763, in the Pontiac war. It
was then that a hord of Sacs and Chippewa Indians gathered round the
fort in friendly disguise, but their sympathies were with the French.
Under pretence of a game of baggataway, or lacrosse, they induced the
unwary garrison to come, as spectators, beyond the palisades, seized
the weapons, which the squaws had meantime concealed under their
blankets, and then ensued a bloody massacre of officers and men.
Assikinack was then too young to take an active part in this affair,
nor did his tribe do so, though they, the Ottawas, were in the
neighborhood.[18]

Assikinack and his friend, Thomas George Anderson, were again at
Macinac when Fort Holmes, as the citadel was named, was taken by
Captain Roberts, early in the war of 1812.

On the prairie, now included in the State of Illinois, was a stockade,
built in 1685 by Durantaye, and in 1804 occupied by a small American
garrison. It was called Fort Dearborn in honor of the General of that
name. Father Marquette had been there in 1674 and planted a mission
station. It was in the path of the explorer. La Salle and Charlevoix
visited it. In 1796, Jean Baptiste du Sable, a colored man, settled on
the banks of the skunk-infested stream which cut its way past the
military post in the prairie down to Lake Michigan. The Indians used
to say that "the first white settler was a negro." Then a Canadian,
John Kinzie, from Quebec, opened trade here, and was for twenty years
the only white resident beyond the limits of the fort.

After Macinac was taken, Assikinack appeared as the leader of a
company of Ottawa and Pottawatomie Indians, at Fort Dearborn. He was
already known to General Harrison and other American authorities, and
his name had been introduced into historical documents relating to
Indian affairs, as "The Black-Bird," and sometimes as "The
Black-Partridge."

Captain Heald was in charge of Fort Dearborn in 1812. To him
Assikinack went and returned a silver medal he had received from his
Government, saying he was unable to restrain his young warriors, and
being compelled to act as an enemy, he could no longer wear the token
of friendship. On the 15th of August the garrison evacuated the place,
but did not escape an unfortunate attack from the Indians, who were
angered because of a breach in the conditions of surrender, the
soldiers having destroyed part of the ammunition and arms which they
had agreed to leave intact. Assikinack warned them of their danger. He
went to the interpreter, Mr. Griffith, and said, in his own tongue and
manner: "Linden birds have been singing in my ears to-day; be careful
on the march you are going to take." He restrained the Pottawatomies
and Ottawas with him, in as far as was in his power. He personally
saved Mrs. Helm, step-daughter of Mr. Kinzie, from the scalping-knife.
On the site of this post is now the proud city of Chicago. The place
of conflict with the savages and where the Americans surrendered to
Assikinack, is about fifty yards from the lake shore, south of North
street, and between Indiana and Michigan avenues.

The medal referred to was given to 'Black-Bird' at the treaty of Fort
Wayne, made by General Harrison on the 30th September, 1809. An
engraving of it, the size of the original, is given at page 306 of
Lossing's Pictorial History of the War of 1812. On one side is the
bust of President Madison, surrounded with the words "James Madison,
President of the U. S. 1809." On the reverse two hands are clasped;
there are also a tomahawk and pipe, and the motto, "Peace and
Friendship." It is entitled "The Black Partridge's Medal." There was a
distinguished Mandan Indian Chief called Black-Bird, who died about
the beginning of this century. Dressed in warlike paraphernalia, and
placed on his favorite white steed, the dead chief and living horse
were buried together on the banks of the Missouri river.[19]

Our Ottawa chief is not to be confounded with him. The Department of
the Interior at Washington has kindly furnished the writer with a copy
of the record of a conference between President Madison and an Indian
delegation, dated Washington, 5th October, 1811. The Ottawa Nation is
there represented by "Black-Bird or Siginoc, Chief of the Ottawa
Delegation." Much complaint is set out of breach of promises made by
American Indian Commissioners, and yet it is alleged peace had been
maintained and the efforts of the Prophet, brother of Tecumseh, are
referred to as of "one who has frequently endeavoured to stir up a
hostile disposition in our minds towards the American people, but our
ears are closed to these bad birds which sing around us, and we have
returned for answer that whoever listened to the advice of the Prophet
or his followers would be destroyed by the American people."[20]
Black-Bird was active during all the time of this war harassing the
enemy at Niagara, and elsewhere.

We find him attached to Captain Worsley's Company in September, 1814,
when that officer found it necessary to scuttle his schooner, the
_Nancy_, at the mouth of the Nottawasaga, where we believe her hull
still lies, he at once took canoes and passed through Lake Huron to
Macinac. Here he found the port blockaded by Commodore Sinclair with
two armed American schooners. These were gallantly boarded and taken.[21]

Assikinack, who is called 'Sackanaugh,' was observed just before the
attack, with tobacco pouch and bottle of rum, scattering part of their
contents on the waters of the bay. This was with devotional feelings,
and by way of invoking the "spirit of the waters." Then he rushed to
the attack and was among the first to leap on board one of the enemy's
vessels. "The action was crowned with success." This is all Morgan
narrates. Young Assikinack was told by his father, that he, and a
number of other Indians, boarded the vessel so noiselessly, that the
crew, who were in the cabin, only learned of the attack when the
war-whoop rang out, and finding themselves in the power of the red
warriors, surrendered at discretion. The loss of the _Nancy_ was
further avenged by the taking of the American schooners the _Tigress_
and _Scorpion_ on the third and fifth of September, 1814, in the North
Channel. Doubtless our red hero was at these events also, which were
the more notable as both these vessels had been in the famous
engagement under Commodore Perry and Captain Barclay in Lake Erie in
September, 1812. Morgan states that 'Sackanaugh' was a nephew of
Tecumseh, the famous Shawanoe warrior. If so, his blood was of right
royal strain. In Mr. Charles Mair's beautiful drama, "Tecumseh," that
heroic chief is the leading character. When he fell in battle after
the destruction of Fort Malden, General Harrison then in command of
the enemy, afterwards President of the United States, and grandfather
of the late occupier of the White House, pronounces his eulogy:

    Sleep well, Tecumseh, in thy unknown grave,
    Thou mighty savage, resolute and brave!
    Thou, master and strong spirit of the woods,
    Unsheltered traveller in sad solitudes,
    Yearner o'er Wyandot and Cherokee,
    Couldst tell us now what hath been and shall be!

The venerable William McMurray, now Archdeacon and Rector of Niagara,
was the first English Church missionary to the Indians of the north
shore of Lakes Superior and Huron, having been appointed by
Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Colborne, the late Lord Seaton, on the
2nd of August, 1832. His mission headquarters were at Sault Ste.
Marie. In an interesting note, of date 15th October 1892, addressed to
the writer, Dr. McMurray says: "I knew Assikinack. He was interpreter
to the Government, both at Manitoulin Island and along the north shore
as far as Penetanguishene. He was a noted man, and held a prominent
position among the Indians. The last time I saw him was in the summer
of 1837. Mrs. Jameson, the author of 'Winter Studies and Summer
Rambles,' paid us a visit at Sault Ste. Marie, and expressed a strong
desire to see the Indians receiving their presents at the Manitoulin.
Her wishes were complied with Mrs. McMurray and myself accompanied her
in a small boat to that island. On our voyage down to the island,
which took four days, we discovered a vessel on her way to the Sault.
We hailed her to ascertain the news, and were informed that the King
had died and that Queen Victoria had ascended the throne. On hearing
that, Mrs. Jameson exclaimed: 'Poor thing, she little knows the
troubles of those who wear the crown!' On our arrival at the
Manitoulin Island, we found the Indians gathered in large numbers from
the surrounding country. Mr. Samuel Peters Jarvis, who at that time
was the Indian Commissioner, had the Indians all assembled, and
through the aid of his interpreter, Assikinack, who had before this
become a convert and taken the Christian name of Jean Baptiste, their
presents were given them. We parted with Mrs. Jameson there, and she
returned to Toronto with Mr. Jarvis."

In the third volume of the book referred to, the talented authoress
gives a delightful account of her visit at the Sault, and of those
most interesting native ladies met there: Mrs. Schoolcraft and Mrs.
McMurray, and their aged mother, Mrs. Johnson, who was Neengai the
beautiful daughter of Waub Ojeeg, a famous Chippewa chief. The voyage
to Manitowaning was made in a small but compact and well-built boat.
The course was in the narrow part of Lake Huron, between St. Joseph's
island and the mainland, and through the North Channel to the east end
of Manitoulin Island. Thus they sailed, or rowed, past the mouths of
the Garden and Thesalon rivers; the Missisauga, which has its source
in the interior, 300 miles north of the waters of the North Channel,
and the Serpent river, where now are the great Cook lumber mills,
through an archipelago of islands, all clad in summer costume, and
with beautiful vistas, and ever changing scenes. They had four
voyageurs, Masta, Content, LeBlanc and Pierrott, "all Canadian
voyageurs of the true breed, that is, half-breed, showing the Indian
blood as strongly as the French." She was enchanted with the variety
and beauty surrounding her on the trip.

Writing of the young Queen, she says: "What a fair heritage is this
which has fallen to her! a land young like herself, a land of hopes,
and fair, most fair! Does she know, does she care anything about it!
While hearts are beating warm for her and voices bless her, and hands
are stretched out towards her, even from these wild lake shores!" They
came on the fourth day to a "beautiful basin," nearly an exact circle,
of about three miles in circumference; in the centre lay a little
wooded island, and all around the shores rose sloping from the margin
of the lake, like an amphitheatre, covered with wigwams and lodges,
thick as they could stand amid intermingled trees, and beyond there
arose the tall pine forest, crowning and enclosing the whole. Some
hundred canoes were darting, hither and thither, on the waters, or
gliding along the shores, and a beautiful schooner lay against the
green bank. Mr. Jarvis, the Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs,
and Captain Anderson, the Agent, received the party. It was a very
noted gathering of the wild bands which was witnessed here, and even
yet remembered and referred to as an historical event. There were many
chiefs of the Ottawas, Pottawatomies and Chippewas, whose prowess was
known from Thunder Cape to the Ohio. Their medicine men, squaws and
papooses were with them. Charles Keejek and Francis Assikinack, then
lads of ten or twelve years, enjoyed the affair as only boys can.

Wesleyan missionaries and Roman Catholic priests mingled with their
converts. Of the Chippewas, Aisence, the Little Clam, Wai-sow-win-de-bay,
Yellowhead and Shingua-cose, were most distinguished. Two Ears, a
famous Pottawatomie, was fantastically dressed and painted, two
clusters of swansdown depending from each ear. Waub-Ojeeg, son of
Wayish-Ky, was a splendid specimen of Chippewa manliness, six feet
three inches in height, his dress rich and tasteful, a surtout of fine
blue cloth, under which was a shirt of gay colors, his father's medal
fastened on his breast. His scalping knife and pouch hung from a
magnificent embroidered belt of wampum. His leggings were of scarlet,
embroidered with rich bands, or garters depending to his ankles. Four
eagle's wing feathers were placed in an embroidered band around his
head, in proof of his martial prowess. He held a tomahawk in his hand.
His fine features were almost femininely soft. Then followed the
distribution of presents and an address by Mr. Jarvis, who explained
that Governor Sir Francis Head, left Toronto intending to preside, but
hearing on the way of the king's death, had found it necessary to
return. Old As-si-Kinack, the Black Bird, was chief interpreter,
translating the meaning of the Superintendent's address to the great
assembly, raising his voice to a high pitch, and speaking with much
oratorical emphasis. "He is, Mrs. Jameson states, the most celebrated
orator of the Ottawa nation." She was told with pride that, on one
occasion, he began a speech at sunrise which lasted without
intermission till sunset. Mokomaunish, an Ottawa chief and Shinguacose
the eloquent Christian Chippewa, made long speeches in reply,
Shinguacose, the Small Pine, was father of Shingwauk from whom the
"Shingwauk Home" at Sault Ste. Marie, an important Church of England
Indian school, received its name. A flag on which the lion and beaver
were worked, was given on the occasion, the Indians choosing the old
Ottawa chief, Kish-Kenick, to receive it. Then followed canoe races,
the light barks paddled by squaws only, with a man to steer, and a war
dance, inimitably described by this talented brave woman. All went on
with good humour, and even good order, in the midst of confusion. "We
are twenty white people, with 3,700 of these wild creatures around us,
and I never in my life felt more security." Word was brought the
Superintendent that a trader from Detroit, with a boat laden with rum,
lay concealed in a cove, ready to waylay the Indians and barter his
fire-water for their new blankets, guns and trinkets. Mr. Jarvis
detailed Assikinack with a canoe full of stout men, who soon boarded
the intruder and threw his stock in trade of "ickutewabu," to the
fishes.

"The Black Bird is, she says, a Christian, and extremely noted for his
general good conduct and his declared enmity to the dealers in
fire-water." A few years after Mrs. Jameson's visit, Mr. Longfellow
spent some time in the region of the upper lakes. He had doubtless
before this become familiar with the writings of Henry R. Schoolcraft,
who was brother-in-law of Rev. Dr. McMurray, and celebrated as the
great delineator of native life and character. His volume of Algic, or
Algonquin, Researches, was published in 1839. It is also stated that
Mr. Longfellow met some of our north shore chiefs, and bards, and had
from their mouths legends of the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies,
as they smoked pipes of peace together. All these were soon after
embodied in the Song of Hiawatha.


[Footnote 16: The Five Nation Indians, Iroquois, are specially
referred to in the Treaty of Utrecht sec. xv. See also the St.
Catharines Milling Company v. The Queen, Ontario Law Reports, vol. 10,
and Appeal Cases, Law Reports vol. 14, 45; Houston's Constitutional
Documents 72.]

[Footnote 17: Henry's Travels, part 1, cap. v.]

[Footnote 18: Pontiac was principal chief of the Ottawas. Tecumseh
adopted him as his model. The action of June, 1763, is described in
Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac," Vol I., p. 276; also in Henry's
Travels, Part I., ch. ix.]

[Footnote 19: Geo. Catlin's Travel, vol. 2, 5.]

[Footnote 20: For the treaties referred to see U. S. Statutes at
large, vol. 7, pp. 113-115, and Am. State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol.
1, p. 761. See also Appendix to this chapter.]

[Footnote 21: Morgan's Guide to Canada. Longman & Co., 1824.]




CHAPTER V.

INDIAN LIFE AND TRADITIONS CONTINUED, "CENSUS of
1867 AND 1891," SHINGUACOSE AND
CAPTAIN ANDERSON.

    "From the Forest and the prairie,
     From the great lakes of the Northland,
     From the land of the Ojibways,
     From the land of the Dacotahs."

[Illustration: cooking in the camp]


The scene of the poem is laid by this American patriotically among the
Indians, chiefly Chippewas, of the south shore of Lake Superior, but
the life described was that of those who met at the great gathering at
Manitowaning. The legend of Hiawatha, or rather Taounyawatha, the God
of the Waters[22] is a collection of the myths and folklore of the
Indian demi-god called Manabozho by the Algonquins, including the
Chippewas or Ojibways, Ottawas and Pottawatomies, and Hiawatha by the
Iroquois. Schoolcraft states that these stories were first related to
him by the Chippewas of Lake Superior in 1822[23]. He was then Indian
Agent at Michillimackinac. Manabozho was the embodiment of the Algic
conscience and manly virtue. Whatever the wisest and strongest of men
could do, he could do; like Hercules, he rid the earth of monsters;
his birth and parentage were mysterious, his grandmother was daughter
of the moon, and his father was the west-wind.

Alexander Henry, in 1767, gave a version of some of the Manabozho
legends. The Algic demi-god was called also Michabou, Messou, Shectac,
Nanibojou and Nanibozho, and represented as the founder, and indeed
creator, of the Indian nations of North America. His burial place is
on an Island, called Nanibozho, on the eastern side of Michipocoton
Bay on the north shore, and was held in reverence by the natives in
Henry's day. "I landed, he says, and found on the projecting rocks, a
quantity of tobacco, rotting in the rain, together with kettles,
broken guns and a variety of other articles. His spirit is supposed to
make this its constant residence, and here to preside over the lake,
and over the Indians in their navigation and fishing. This island lies
no farther from the main, than the distance of 500 yards."[24]

Such is the last resting place of the mythic Hiawatha, or Manabozho.
It is on Canadian soil about 100 miles north-west from Sault Ste.
Marie. The place is still held in veneration as the chosen burial
place of the hero-god, whose name has for hundreds of years been a
household word in the wigwams of our Canadian aborigines.

Longfellow claimed him as American in the same spirit that the late
poet Laureate made the "foremost Captain of our time, England's
greatest son," not deeming it necessary to state that the great Duke
first opened his eyes at Dungan Castle in the Emerald Isle.[25]
Canada may as certainly claim to have on her soil the grave of
Hiawatha as can Ireland to contain the birth place of the conqueror of
Napoleon.

In a late learned article by Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, the archeologist,
on _Hiawatha_, he states, "When Longfellow's Hiawatha appeared, I was
prepared to greet an old friend, and surprised at being introduced to
an Ojibway instead of an Iroquois leader. The change however gave a
broader field for his beautiful poem, a gain to all readers, but, as
he retained little beyond the name, it may be needless to refer to
that charming work."[26]

Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha, here called the "Holder of the Heavens," is
distinguished in this article from Hiawatha, "the very wise man," who
was an Onondaga Indian. Much attention has of late been given by other
scholars to the study of folk-lore. The myths of the Ojibways,
Missisaugas, Ottawas and other Algonquins have been so well collated
and analyzed by A. F. Chamberlain, Ph. D., that it is only necessary
to refer to his published work.[27] From this we learn that a rock on
the south-east shore of Michipocoton Bay marks where Manabozho rested
after jumping across that piece of water.

On the north shore of the lake, eastward from Thunder Bay Point, is
his grave, according to another legend given in the journal of the
late Peter Jacobs. The name of Manabozho (or Nanibozhu) has also been
given to a mountain overhanging the waters of Lake Superior and to a
point of land close by. Near to that is stated to be a large
impression resembling that left when a man sits down in the snow.
Whenever the Indians pass by any of these places, they invariably drop
some tobacco, so that Manabozho may smoke in his kingdom in the west.
These are not to be confounded with the figure of the Manito seen from
Port Arthur, as he lies in his long sleep, bold and grand, under the
sky, forming the crest of Thunder Cape, three miles long and nearly
one thousand feet above the lake. On a smooth rock on the shores of
the Ottawa river, there are prints of human footsteps and near by a
round hole, about the shape and size of a kettle. These the Ottawas
and Chippawas believe to be the track of Manabozho and the kettle
which he dropped. Into these tobacco is thrown as a luck offering.

Mr. John McIntyre, of Fort William, one of the oldest employes of the
Hudson Bay Company, informs me that a mountain in Black Bay, Lake
Superior, is called Nanibozhu, and the Indians are never known to pass
it without throwing in a piece of tobacco.

In Mr. Paul Kane's valuable book, "Wanderings of an Artist," an
account is given of Manitowaning in 1845, as a village of forty or
fifty log houses, built by the Provincial Government for the Indians,
a mission with a church, a pastor, Indian agent, doctor and
blacksmith, all paid by Government. Mr. Kane was an eminent painter,
who spent several years among the Indians of the Canadian North-West.
The Canadian Government purchased many of his pictures of Indian life,
but most of these were unfortunately consumed by fire. Others, forming
an interesting collection, are possessed by Senator Allan of Toronto.
The artist found nearly two thousand Indians awaiting the arrival of
the vessel freighted with their annual presents, comprising guns,
ammunition, axes, kettles and other implements useful to the Indians.
Assikinack, called here "Sigennok," was, Mr. Kane says, an acute and
intelligent Indian, appointed to distribute to his tribe their due
share of the presents annually consigned to them. He was styled
Interpreter, though he could not speak English, but his natural
eloquence was such that he possessed great influence over his tribe;
"indeed," says Mr. Kane, "it is to the untiring volubility of his
tongue that he owes his name, 'The Black Bird.'"

Captain Anderson, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs, related to
Mr. Kane a sad tale of Assikinack's depravity in his younger days,
through excessive drinking. He was, when under such influence, a
maniac, only to be controlled by main force, which was attended with
danger owing to his Herculean strength. His attendants therefore, when
he was so crazed, plied him with more spirits, until he sank into
insensibility. Captain Anderson found him once in such besotted state,
lying in front of his lodge in drunken oblivion, and bound him hand
and foot with strong cords, placing a decrepid boy to watch near him.
When Assikinack awoke, he angrily demanded of the boy, who had dared
to treat him with such indignity? The boy, without replying, called
the captain, who coming told the chief that he had been bound by the
boy by his order, and left exposed to the derision of the camp, a
shameful position for one who pretended to be a leader of his people.
Then followed a severe lecture on intemperance, which the fettered
warrior took so well to heart, that he promised to forever abandon his
degrading habit. Captain Anderson then unbound him, and Assikinack is
said to have never been known to violate the promise so made. He is
also said to have used all his eloquence in endeavours to persuade his
people to renounce heathenism for Christianity, and at a protracted
council or meeting, to have spoken almost without ceasing for three
days. A gentleman, who met him at an Indian Treaty gathering at
Penetanguishene about 1856 found him still active and influential but
much bent and aged. He died on the second of November, 1866, at the
age of 98 years, and was interred at Wikwenikong, as we are informed
by the Rev. D. Duranquet of that mission.

Young Francis was a noble specimen of his race, stood six feet one
inch in his stockings, was of lithe form, jet-black hair, somewhat
aquiline nose, piercing eye and had small and beautiful hands and
feet. He mastered languages with ease, and read history with avidity.
He left college after entering the sixth form, but continued his
readings under the care of Bishop Charbonnell, and some other
cultivated French clerics, then in Toronto, for he was a devoted
Romanist. He carried from the college excellent testimonials from the
principal, Mr. Barron, and from Dr. McCaul. His favorite pastime in
winter was the making of snow forts when, sides being taken by each
boy, the opposing forces attacked each other with snow balls, not
ceasing till the stronghold was taken. In agility and strength of body
he distanced most competitors but did not care for cricket or other
games of ball. Lacrosse had not then been introduced as a white boy's
game. He shot a robin on the wing with his bow and arrow and his aim
with a rifle was unerring. On one occasion he ran a race in the
Queen's Park with a mounted English Officer and got to Queen Street in
a half mile run, before the galloping horse. He was employed in the
Government Indian Department, his appointment as clerk and interpreter
being dated 10th August, 1849, where his knowledge of languages and
of his people proved of service. When filling the office of
interpreter to the Department, Assikinack, who styled himself "a
warrior of the Odahwahs," read four able and critical papers before
the Canadian Institute at Toronto. Three of these are in their journal
of 1858, the first on "Legends and Traditions of Odahwah Indians," the
second on their "Social and Warlike Customs" and the third, which is
completed in the volume of 1860, on their language. The late lamented
Sir Daniel Wilson, then editor of the journal, appended an editorial
note to the first article in which Assikinack is stated to have been a
fullblood Odahwah or Ottawa Indian, sent to the college by Mr. Samuel
P. Jarvis, Superintendent General of Indian Affairs in 1840, when
totally ignorant of the English language. In style of composition the
articles referred to are clear and eloquent and seem modeled after
Macaulay's historical essays. The proper name of his nation was
Odahwah, as given, but he submits to variation into _Ottawa_, by which
it is now generally known. His discussion of the nomenclature of the
numerous tribes of this nation, their customs "Ododams" or coats of
arms, their councils, marriage and funeral rites, feasts, modes of
government, religion, legends and myths are original and most
interesting. Among the last, are those of the creation of men from
"mere animals walking on four feet, mute, filthy, acorn-eating
savages, until, from constant fighting, scratching and what-not, they
learned to stand erect and walk upon their feet." The flood with
Manahbozho for Noah, is a longer story. This demi-god is of course
the same as Manabozho or Hiawatha, but Assikinack does not refer to
Mr. Longfellow's poem, then published for some time. We are given to
understand that he did not regard it as an entirely accurate
representation of the characteristics of his race. He felt perhaps
some jealousy or pique, as a warrior of the Odahwahs, because of the
author giving his hero the Iroquois appellation, instead of his native
Algonquin, Manabozho, thus honoring a nation which had been at enmity
with his own from time immemorial, and whom he regarded as but
interlopers or trespassers on the north shore. In the myth, as related
by Assikinack, Manabozho made of a piece of mud a large island which
he placed in the agitated waters where it continued to increase until
it formed the earth, as it is now. He continued to reside with men
some time after the flood, instructing them in the use of many things
necessary for their well-being. "He then told them that he was going
away from them; that he would fix his permanent residence in the
north, and that he would never cease to take deep interest in their
welfare. As a proof of his regard for mankind, he assured them that he
would, from time to time, raise a large fire, the reflection of which
would be visible to them. Hence the northern lights are regarded by
the Indians as the reflection of the great fire, kindled occasionally
for the purpose of reminding them of the assurance made of old by
their benefactor. Another legend was, that the tribes were one and the
same people at the beginning. Then great disputes arose, as to the
foot of a bear which was a favorite Algonquin viand, second only to
roast puppy, and when they could not make up their differences, they
quietly dispersed in various directions, and their children became
distinct nations under different names. A myth heard by him in
childhood was, he thought possibly a tradition or Indian account, of
the rescue of the Israelites and the drowning of the Egyptians, by the
waters of the Red Sea. It is usually told, he said, as follows:
"Several brothers, or a body of men of the tribe, were pursued and
hard pressed by fierce enemies, and being driven to the end of the
earth. When it was impossible for them to retreat any further, one of
them suddenly turned round and struck the earth with his stick, which
immediately opening, all their pursuers were swallowed up in the
yawning abyss, the earth closed again, and thus he saved his
companions and himself from death."

Assikinack expressed the opinion that his remote ancestors entered
America from Asia through what is known as Russian America. Referring
to the name of his village, Manitowaning in the great island of the
bay, he shewed that the Odahwah word for god was Manido or Mahnido,
the personation of terror and irresistable power. He called attention
to the remarkable circumstance that the Seiks of Hindostan, and other
Hindoos call their supreme God Mahadeo when viewed in the light of
Destroyer, that these words, _Mahnido_ and _Mahadeo_, should resemble
each other in sound and in signification, was, he reasoned, not
altogether the work of chance. The remainder of the word, _waning_,
means hollow or cave. There is a part of the adjacent bay in which the
Indians say they could never find bottom by their longest trolling
lines. From this circumstance that spot in the bay received the name
Manitowaning. On this island his ancestor were settled when Columbus
first sighted the Western World, from this they sent a party of
warriors to Montreal, on learning of the arrival of the French there.
When the party returned their canoes were laden with strange articles
which they had received from the Wamitikgooshe, as they called the
foreigners, from the fact that they kept their goods in boxes of wood,
as that word implies. There was a sad romance in his life. He became
engaged to an English lady of culture and position. Then he fell ill
and consulted a physician, who found him suffering from decline, and
could not entirely conceal his anxiety, yet feared to speak the truth.
The young Assikinack sought a friend and begged him to learn all. To
him the doctor said, "Yes, the Indian will die." On meeting him,
Assikinack read his fate in his friend's sad face and said: "I see my
friend I must die." Then he manfully put his affair in order, wrote a
touching farewell to the lady whom he had hoped soon to be his bride,
obtained leave of absence from his office, and went home to his people
on the Isle of the Manito. As he discussed his sad fate with his
Toronto friends he said: "There is a beautiful maple grove in my
people's old camping ground, I will put up a wigwam and end my days
there." Soon a white marble slab at Wikwemikong marked, as it still
does, his last resting place. He died on the 21st November, 1863. The
township, in which the village is situated has been given his tribal
name Assikinack. Romance is often said to form no part of the Indian
character, but we know how chivalrous, as also how cruel, the warrior
could be. Assikinack would sometimes refer in sadness to the decadence
of the Spartan character, and the vices which were destroying his
race. Of their oratory he once said: "There were good speakers among
the Indians formerly, but I have too much reason to believe that there
are no such speakers to be found among them at the present day. In my
opinion it was chiefly owing to their deep contemplation in their
silent retreats in the days of youth, that the old Indian orators
acquired the habit of carefully arranging their thoughts; when,
instead of the shoutings of drunken companions, they listened to the
warbling of birds, whilst the grandeur and the beauties of the forest,
the majestic clouds, which appear like mountains of granite floating
in the air, the golden tints of a summer evening sky, and all the
changes of nature, which then possessed a mysterious significance,
combined to furnish ample matter for reflection to the contemplating
youth."

He would also relate to his friends, with earnestness and flashing
eye, the valorous traditions of his race. He was the youngest son of
his father's third wife. Late in life the old man, blind with age,
told his boy many incidents of Ottawa and Iroquois conflicts. It was a
tradition of his nation that they had, hundreds of years ago, come
from the south-west ascending by the Mississippi and its
tributaries.--Representatives of both the Ottawas and Chippewas occupy
the reserves of the Georgian Bay in peaceful pursuits. Yet they were
slowly disappearing and fading away, and this was more apparent in his
day than now. Discussing this with young Assikinack, once in Toronto,
he answered, "Yes, we are going it is true, and when we are gone our
deeds will still fill pages in the white man's history. We have in
Canada mingled in his wars, first against him, then with him, against
the common enemy."

Desirous of learning the facts as to the prospects of the Indians
under Government care in the older Provinces, inquiry made of the
Minister having Indian affairs under his charge has elicited the
valuable table giving the relative numbers in 1867 and 1891 in Ontario
and Quebec, shewing a gratifying result. This table is appended.

Being in a communicative mood, speaking of the Mohawks, and of the
slaughter of the Hurons, young Assikinack said, "They were great
warriors, and masters of the art of war, as they understood it. They
drove the Hurons systematically from the lakes and from Canada West.
They attacked the French and Hurons at La Prarie, within sight of
fortified Montreal. They plundered the great warehouses and burned
their victims before the eyes of the inhabitants and garrison, and
left as quietly as they came, for their homes in the old province of
New York." He probably referred to the invasions of the Five Nations
in 1689.

There is, he said, a legend I learned from my father of an affair
between the Odahwahs and the Mohawks, which took place near where a
town is now being laid out on the Georgian Bay, and a railway built
from Toronto. It is a high piece of land, having a good outlook
eastward and westward. The Mohawks and other Iroquois, to the number
of one hundred or more, were here encamped. They used to come north,
to the vicinity of the Blue Mountains, by the Nahdowa-Sahgi river, now
called the Nottawasaga. The Odahwahs occupying the Manitoulin and
Saugeen Peninsula, resented their encroachments. Sahgimah, their great
warrior chief, found the Mohawks on this high land called then, and by
the Indians to this day, Sahgimah's watching place. He spied out their
camp and found them feasting and dancing, suspecting no danger. He
then gave his men orders to be ready. After night fell, he entered the
camp alone and removed the arms, the short stiff bows, and the guns of
the sleeping warriors. The Odahwahs then crept through the woods and
in canoes, in shadow and darkness, along the coast, and gained the
highland at midnight. The Mohawks were sleeping in circles round their
extinguished camp fires. Behind each warrior was his property pole,
on which, in a buckskin bag, hung his pemmican and other effects. The
war-whoop rang out over the beautiful bay, and was echoed back from
cliff to island, when the Mohawks found themselves before a foe
remorseless as panthers. A few only escaped. The heads of the slain
were cut off and fixed, each on his property pole, with ghastly faces
toward the lake, in a mocking watch of horror. Sahgimah then loaded a
canoe with provisions and ammunition, and giving it to the captives,
ordered them to go home and never to return and to tell their people
that Sahgimah held watch on the Blue Mountains, and would place the
head of every Mohawk who would there intrude, on his pole with face
turned toward the lake. The site of this massacre was, as Assikinack
understood from his father, on the high land overlooking the Georgian
Bay, a little west of the present town of Collingwood.

Francis Assikinack was an interested student of the late war between
the Northern and Southern States. When the fighting approached the old
battle-grounds, where his forefathers had contended, his martial
spirit was intensely aroused. More than this, he seemed to have
inherited something of the power of his famous grand uncle, the
Prophet, brother of Tecumseh. On the morning of the seventeenth of
September, 1862, he said to a friend in his office: "There is trouble
somewhere, there is a great battle going on. I feel it in the air."
Soon the telegraph announced the terrible conflict at Antietam,
between the forces under McClellan and Lee. Had he lived in earlier
days he would, no doubt, have been a noted leader of his race. In the
few years passed among white people, his ability, industry and amiable
character won him many friends, and proved him fitted to take an equal
place with men of refinement. It has been a pleasure to his few
surviving friends, who aided in collecting particulars of his career,
thus to keep his memory green, as it is to the writer to make known
some of his excellent qualities and the manner of his end, at once so
sad and so characteristic of his heroic race.

The school record of Keejek, whose name signifies the sky, and of
Assikinack is given from reference to the college register by the
present Principal, George Dickson, M.A. He infers that Assikinack was
the cleverer of the two. The names appearing on the class lists with
these boys are of such men as Adam Crooks, who lived to be a
distinguished lawyer and statesman; J. J. Kingsmill, a judge; Norman
Bethune, an eminent physician, and William Wedd, M.A. the classical
scholar.


[Footnote 22: Parkman Conspiracy of Pontiac, Vol. I, 12.]

[Footnote 23: Introduction to "Hiawatha Legends" by Schoolcraft].

[Footnote 24: Henry's Travels, part 2, cap. iv.]

[Footnote 25: Tennyson's Ode on the Death of Wellington.]

[Footnote 26: Journal of American Folk-lore, vol. iv. 295.]

[Footnote 27: Ibid, 193.]




CHAPTER VI.

PIONEER VESSELS; CLIMATIC INFLUENCES; THE
FISHERIES.

[Illustration: sailboats]


The following account of pioneer shipping on the Georgian Bay is given
by Mr. A. C. Osborne, of North Bay. Two vessels, the _Nawash_ and
_Tecumseth_, were built at Chippewa in 1818 and were brought to
Penetanguishene in 1819. The next year Dr. Tarte, first military
surgeon, was buried on Magazine Island which is opposite the present
Juvenile Reformatory. The dock-yard was built that year. Two
side-wheel steamers and one sloop-rigged vessel were built in the
years 1821, '22, and '23. They were named respectively _Experiment_,
_Minos_ and _Bull-Frog_. The last was commanded by Commodore Wooden.
Each of these crafts was supplied with one cannon and manned by royal
navy seamen. The _Wanderer_ was afterwards brought over from
Nottawasaga by Jeffery to carry stone for the barracks. The
_Water-Witch_ also came from Nottawasaga or Macinac, having been taken
from the Americans. Her exact history is not known. She, with the
_Nawash_ and _Tecumseth_, are sunk in the harbour of Penetanguishene.
The other vessels were taken out of commission and dismantled. In 1822
Lieutenant, afterwards Admiral Bayfield, commenced the survey of Lake
Huron in a vessel called the _Recovery_, furnished by the Government.
It is not known where she was built. The _New Recovery_ was built at
Fort William in 1825, and furnished with two weeks' provisions to
continue the survey of Lake Superior. The old Magazine was built at
Penetanguishene in 1826-27. Its remains are still on Magazine Island.
Mr. Osborne procured the above information from Mr. John Cowan, who
was born in 1806 and died in 1892, in the Township of Tiny and who was
with Admiral Bayfield from 1822 to 1825 inclusive. Mr. Cowan assisted
Admiral Bayfield in building the _New Recovery_ at Fort William and in
launching and rigging her. "What became of the vessel ultimately I
have," says Mr. Osborne, "no means of knowing. Mr. William Fraser
tells me he frequently saw the _Minos_ and _Experiment_ pass up the
Wye River past old Fort Ste. Marie, and into Mud Lake. This was years
before the bridge over the river was built."

[Illustration: camp and canoes]

In winter the Georgian Bay is locked in ice, from two to three feet in
thickness. It may be imagined that its aspect would then be dreary.
But one who has often traversed its surface, in winter, on snow
shoes, as well as in canoes in summer, affirms that such is not always
the case. The margin of the bay, and the islands, produce a relieving
back-ground of evergreens. The maples, elms, ashes, and other
deciduous trees, show their bare trunks. The colors of the rocky
sides, where the snow has no hold, reveal the syenitic red, and
silurean and granitic grey, and the darker traps. The thousands of
islands, which fringe the north-shore, for many miles, are blended in
the view of the coast line. The light snow upon the ice is driven in
all directions, under a clear sky. Then clouds of frozen vapour
reflecting the sun's rays produce novel effects, as they are whirled
upwards, and then onwards, on their courses, by the currents of air.
Watched from the window of a cosy homestead, or from an eminence, they
afford subject-matter for contemplation and admiration. It must not be
assumed that the waters beneath the white blanketing, are motionless.
The currents move in their courses as they did in summer, with the
variation caused by protection from the direct action of the wind on
the bay itself. The currents from the many rivers are soon lost in the
mass with which they mingle, but the winds upon Lake Huron blow up the
waters into this bay, and the lesser bays are affected by the pressure
caused by these greater currents. A south-west wind will force the
warmer and deeper waters of the lake through the sixteen mile
entrance, between Cape Hurd on the Saugeen Peninsula, and the Grand
Manitoulin, and thence it will pass along the north-shore to the head
of the bay, when, meeting current from the North-Channel and rivers,
it will be distributed towards the centre. The waters beneath the ice
are thus always in motion and of varying temperatures. This uneasiness
of the water, in connection with the wind pressure from above and
expansion, causes the ice to crack and to overlap, and force itself on
points and islands. Hence long seams appear from headland to headland,
most dangerous to teamsters and snow-shoers.

In April the bay is clear of ice; the woods give up their snow, the
gulls return and the fields again assume their verdure. Warm May
brings out the vegetation in its early summer dress. The birds have
come back, the humming-bird is preparing for household duties, in
sunny coves, and insect life is every where active.

When the United Empire Loyalists emigrated from the revolted colonies,
now the United States, Canada was held to be a northern Siberia, but
the peach stone was planted and the tree fruited. The region they had
come to, proved to be equal to that they had abandoned. Now we know
that our Great North-West is the natural home of the wheat plant, and
also excels in root crops. The finest fruit is raised on the south
shore of this bay. Apples of delicate flavour and free from blemish,
have been produced at Sault Ste. Marie, at the west end of the North
Channel. In a few years as good will be raised at the head of the
Nipissing, 100 miles north of Owen Sound. Potatoes are ripe on the
first of July on the Manitoulins. On the south shore of James' Bay,
the Windsor bean flourishes in perfection. At Temiscamingue, 150 miles
north of the Georgian Bay, maize, potatoes, barley and oats are
produced, all of fine quality. Much climatic influence is to be
attributed to the heat-preserving power of the inland lakes, which
tempers the cool night air. The Georgian Bay is, as will be seen,
south of the latitudinal centre of Ontario. The fact is established,
that with proper cultivation, including drainage, farming can be
carried on with good results, in the enormous fertile area south, east
and west, of James' Bay. The day will come when cattle, root-crops,
barley and other grains will be largely produced and exported from
that country.[28]

The white fish and salmon trout of the Georgian Bay are highly
esteemed and the business carried on, in the taking of them and other
fish, is extensive. "There are more than 2,000 miles of nets in the
Georgian Bay and Lake Huron," said an intelligent fisherman of the
Minks. His estimate was not thought extravagant by his fellow
craftsmen.

Mrs. Jameson in her "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada,"
refers with enthusiasm to the whitefish of the upper lakes. "I declare
to you that I never tasted anything of the fish kind half so
exquisite. If the Roman Apicius had lived in these latter days, he
would certainly have made a voyage up Lake Huron to breakfast on the
white fish of St. Mary's River, and would not have returned in
dudgeon, as he did from the coast of Africa." "It is really," she says
again, "the most luxurious delicacy that swims the waters." And she
speaks of the enormous quantities caught here, and in bays and creeks
around Lake Superior, "Besides subsisting the inhabitants, not less
than eight thousand barrels were shipped last year." Her visit was in
1837, and at that time the business had not assumed the important
proportions which it has now attained.

We have the evidence of Alexander Henry given 130 years ago to the
like effect[29]. "The whitefish, which exceed the trout as a
delicious and nutritive fish, are here in astonishing numbers. In
shape they somewhat resemble the shad. Those who live on them for
months together preserve their relish to the end."

Let us inquire as to some of the details of this industry,--the
fishermen gave them, as they unrolled their nets from the reels, or as
we sat on the shingle beside them at the camp-fire. The cost of an
outfit is, boat with sails and other gear, $225, three gangs of 12
nets at $300, $900, in all $1125. This is a very complete outfit and
should, when worked by two or three men, take, in the season, 18 or
20 tons, worth at the stations $70 to $80 a ton. The net is of four
and a-half inch mesh, according to law, is five feet broad, weighted
with lead, and has oiled, wooden floats. The mesh is made in
Kilbirnie, Scotland, and is worth $2.60 a pound. It is hung on No. 82
cotton cord. It takes five hanks of cotton to hang one 7 lb. net.
This would make the length of the gill net 1560 feet, or the small
gang of six nets would reach 9360 feet. Each proprietor has his own
color of buoy, one of which, with a little flag attached, is placed at
each end of the gang and anchored. The nets are left out two or three
nights, or more if the sea be rough. The fish caught are white fish,
lake trout, pickerel, catfish, herring, bass, and an occasional
sturgeon.

The fishermen pay no rent or taxes and are under regulations of the
Dominion as to the time and mode of fishing. They pay an annual
license fee. November is the close season, and this is objected to
because the Americans have not the same close season and so get the
benefit of our law, as the fish know no boundary line. The large
whitefish, of from 8 to 10 pounds in weight, come into the shoals in
November.

At some of the fish stations the entrails are boiled down and fish oil
made. At Squaw Island between 40 and 60 barrels, at the Bustards half
that number, or, on the average, one barrel to each vessel is made
annually, worth in Toronto $10 to $12 a barrel. So malodorous is the
process, that it is always carried on at a distance from the places of
residence. At Squaw Island we saw the oil factory across the Bay. On
the Bustards the perfume carried about by an old man from the Lewis
Islands, proclaimed him master of the vats. He told us in broken
English of his cottage, garden and two cows in a pleasant lake-side
village, where his good wife had charge in his absence. Nor had he
forgotten Stornoway and the herring fishing in his younger days off
the Butt of Lewis in his native Hebrides. His calling here had a
wonderful interest for the simple-minded old man, and he insisted on
our visiting his den. Sitting in an oily scow, he took the oars, and
passing out among some islands, and into a little bay enclosed with
high rocks, we came to a shanty, with an iron crane over the doorway,
and empty barrels about it. Landing, he ushered us into the rude
laboratory. Noisome messes stewed slowly in two iron vats, crude oil
rising to the surface. The good man proudly exhibited his apparatus,
crane, vats, barrels and stock on hand. He stirred up the simmering
rich stuff, in which he seemed as interested and as unconscious of any
unpleasantness, as a painter mixing colors on his palette. Alas! our
unaccustomed senses could not abide the terrible odors that arose.
Waiting till his back was turned, we escaped and were soon breathing
purer air on an adjacent mossy rock-top.

The largest salmon trout taken in recent years in the Bay were two
caught in 1892, by Messrs. Brown and Farr while fishing with nets on
Snake Island shoals. Their joint weight was 110 pounds, "and I
think," writes Mr. Adam Brown, "that there was not a pound of
difference between the two fish." Alexander Henry refers to trout
taken by his men with lines through holes in the ice in Lake Huron,
weighing sixty pounds and upwards. While the catch is generally but a
moderate recompense for the outfit and labour and some are
disappointed, there are occasions when fortune smiles, so that the
nets break with the contained fish. One such instance occurred last
July; William Proulx, a fisherman from Sarnia, upon the river St.
Clair, worked for some time in the channel near Killarney. He was
about to return home disappointed, when he perceived a school of
whitefish, and at once hauled a seine and caught a ton, he threw again
and so worked for about fourteen days with three assistants, bringing
to the agents of the Buffalo Fish Co., Messrs. J. & C. Noble, who
verify this statement, in one trip 4800 lbs. in another 4770 lbs. and
in all 18 tons, which realized $1350 or more. Messrs. Noble state that
"There has been no other such catch of fish in recent years."

In the autumn, pickerel are worth more per pound than any other fish
here taken, for the peculiar reason that they can be exported
undressed and so keep longer than the others. The Jews therefore buy
them as the Rabbinical law prohibits the use of any meat, except such
as the Hebrew butcher has prepared.

An attempt is made, under an Act of the Dominion Parliament and
inspectors appointed to visit the fishing grounds, to hinder the
wholesale destruction of the finny tribe. Seines are prohibited in
certain seasons, trap and pound nets at all times, yet we heard
sufficient to make us fear that many tons of fish are unlawfully taken
in bays and rivers, and on shoals, where if allowed to spawn, they
would add many thousand fold to their kind, and even in deep waters, a
person alert, and with local knowledge, could find many pound and trap
or fyke nets and many mischievous trespassers. A change in the mode of
surveillance was suggested, by one who knows the circumstances,
namely, the appointment of resident inspectors--one in charge of each
station of thirty or more vessels, smaller stations to be grouped;
each tug used in fishing to be counted as three sailing vessels, and a
well paid and reliable visiting Captain with steam-cutter, to be
placed over all in the lake and bay to enforce the law. The fishermen
regard with favor the restocking of the waters from the Government
Pisciculture stations, but this cannot keep pace with the loss caused
by the fouling of the rivers and bay by the lumbermen with saw-dust
and lumber refuse. The present wholesale destruction goes on, with but
short cessation in November, and greedy evasion of the law. The
fisheries, and the forests and land game, are under different
jurisdictions, the first are controlled by the Dominion, the others by
the Province, otherwise one set of Inspectors could look after, if not
all, probably the fish and game with profit to the country.[30]

The use of steam and American capital in our inland fisheries is every
year increasing. It would be well if the same time could be agreed on
as the close season for the American, as well as the Canadian fishing
in these waters.

As to the value of these fisheries Mr. George Johnson, Statistician of
the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Ottawa, has kindly
furnished the writer the following information of date August 29th,
1892.

"The fisheries of the Georgian Bay and Lake Huron for 1880 and 1885,
show the following result:

                                  1880.            1885.
                                   lbs.             lbs.
 Whitefish                     4,813,978        4,079,640
 Trout                         3,555,300        6,519,780
 Herring                         442,600        2,835,650
 Sturgeon                        209,000        1,041,300
 All other kinds               2,881,195        7,275,600
 Total pounds                 11,902,075       21,751,970

 Total value                    $406,461         $903,795

 Persons employed                  1,047            1,967
 Steam tugs employed                  12               25
 Value steam tugs employed       $16,700          $95,100
 Boats, number                       307              890
 Boats, value                    $38,008          $80,346
 Nets and seines, value         $125,177         $241,253

The above includes both the American and Canadian catch."

Referring to the Government returns as to the fisheries for 1890, we
find that, in the Georgian Bay Division, there were then employed 15
tugs, valued at $39,400 and 152 boats valued at $29,040. There were
738,600 fathoms of gill nets valued at $116,205; and 465 fathoms of
seines worth $550. The total value of the catch is stated to be
$530,500. The whitefish taken weighed 2,858,000 pounds. Next in value
were the trout, 2,444,000 pounds, then the pickerel 464,300 pounds,
and the remainder of the catch was made up of bass, sturgeon, herring,
pike, maskinonge and "coarse fish." In the Lake Huron Division for the
same year there were 10 tugs and 131 boats employed. The total catch
was worth $223,752, of which the whitefish and trout made up the
largest proportions.

In the fisheries of the Province 3045 men are employed, 436 being in
the Georgian Bay, 427 in Lake Huron, and the Manitoulin section had
387. The Bay had the greatest number of fathoms of gill nets in use.

The overseers complain of gangs of fishermen from the United States
who carry on extensive illegal fishing with spears and fyke nets,
"They are," one official report states, "protected by fish dealers,
who are mostly agents for American firms. Some seizures were made but
it is hard to locate the nets and seize them with this class of
poachers."

The total annual value of the fisheries in the Georgian Bay Division
for 1890, is officially stated as above, out of a total in the
province of $2,009,637. The Georgian Bay stands at the head of the
list in whitefish and lake trout. The revenue derived by the Dominion
Government from rents, license fees and fines, within the Province of
Ontario, amounted in 1890 to $23,666, out of a total in the Dominion
of $57,000.

Mr. D. W. Port, of Toronto, who deals largely in fish, estimates the
catch in the Georgian Bay for 1892 at nine millions of pounds.
Averaging the value at four cents a pound, which is less than the
government valuation just quoted, the receipts of the Bay fishermen
for 1892 would be $360,000. He states that about one-third of this is
consumed in Canada; the other two-thirds are shipped to the United
States and are taken in free of duty, as they are represented or
assumed to have been taken with American outfits, boats and nets,
although not one-tenth of the men employed are Americans. The catch on
the Canadian side of Lake Huron was, in 1892, as he thought from
information received, about equal to that in the Georgian Bay. The
Dominion Government has notified the fishermen that after the season
of 1893, they must use five inch mesh, and not more than 6000 yards of
nets to each boat.

Mr. Port admits that it is very hard to enforce restrictive measures
on our shores, when the Americans give their fishermen full liberty to
use small mesh nets and have practically no close season. He concludes
with the suggestion that a strong effort should be made to have the
same regulations enforced on both sides of the lakes, and then our
valuable fisheries would continue to be profitable. The causes of loss
or depletion in the fish supply, are to some extent uncontrollable;
such as the changes in the conditions of life incident to the opening
of the country, the removal of the forests and the resulting variation
in the rain-fall. It is to such causes that the disappearance of
salmon, once abundant in Lake Ontario, is attributed.

Spawning and feeding grounds are largely injured by sawdust and by
decayed fish and offal. The laws requiring the consumption of mill
refuse are sufficiently explicit, but too often fail in the
enforcement.

The fishing is sometimes impeded in the Bay and North Channel by a
fossil coral, having the appearance of a petrified sponge, in which
the nets get caught. It is also found in abundance on the shores of
the Grand Manitoulin. This fossil is the _Favosites hemispherica_.


[Footnote 28: See Evidence of J. C. Bailey, C. E., and others in the
Report of the Royal Mineral Commission, Ontario, 1890; also the
Ontario Government pamphlets on "The Algoma District," 1878. The
Report of Wm. Ogilvie, P. L. S., to Minister of Interior, on Peace
River Country, 7th April, 1892.]

[Footnote 29: Henry's Travels and Adventure in Canada, 1760 to 1776,
Vol. 1, 54.]

[Footnote 30: Proof of official activity has been amusingly given
since the "White Squall" was returned by our skipper to her owner. The
vessel and outfit were seized and tied up for alleged poaching.]




CHAPTER VII.

WILD ANIMALS; BIRDS; FRUIT; FORESTRY; EXTENT AND
VALUE OF THE TIMBER; RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT;
CANALS PROPOSED; THE HURONTARIO SHIP RAILWAY.

[Illustration: lake and marsh]


The _fer natur_, which formerly abounded in this part of Ontario,
have become less plentiful on the south shore, but the north and east
sides of the Bay are still the paradise of hunters. The moose, Alce
Americanus, is generally conceded to be identical with the Swedish
elk. He never frequented the south shore from choice. A country well
watered by small lakes and streams, with ridges and upheavals, such as
are common in the Laurentian ranges of hills, is chosen by him, as
from these he obtains good views of the surrounding region.

He is found by the prospector voyageur and hunter in Northern Ontario,
from the south edge of the Laurentians to the Height of Land. During
the heat of summer he stands at mid-day in water in some quiet cove,
or inland lake, cooling his feet and enjoying immunity from the
annoying flies. On such occasions he appears motionless, but with eye
intent on every intruder. In October the bull moose is to be avoided,
as that is his honeymoon, and he is ready to fight for his mate with
all who adventure near. He is then dangerous to approach, even when
isolated, and many explorers, when not armed, have had narrow escapes,
owing to his morose temper during this period.

Later in the autumn, he herds with his fellows, all discords are
forgotten, the bulls feeling bound in honor to defend the cows and
calves. A "moose yard" is then a bonanza for the hunter, generally an
Indian, or half-breed, who may lay in his winter supply of meat, to be
used fresh as long as the frost lasts, or smoked for later use.

Moose-hunting tests the sportsman's utmost skill. The moose is fleeter
and more crafty than the deer. He has been tamed when caught young,
and used as the reindeer by Hudson Bay employees and half-breeds in
the North-West. The bellow of the bull moose is loud as the lion's
roar, and can be heard from two to three miles across the lakes.

The full-grown bull is the size of a large horse. He is fully five
feet in height, and weighs from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. He browses on
the leaves and twigs, and he likes the lily roots growing at the
bottom of ponds. With his long upper lip he reaches under water for
them, his body often entirely disappearing for some minutes. His
antlers are a striking feature. They are most fully developed after
the fifth year, measuring five feet from root to tip. They are cast in
December or January, but so rapid is the growth, that a complete new
set is formed by the following August.

The skin sells at 40c. per pound, but is generally used in making
mocassins. From eight to twelve pairs can be made from each hide, for
the use of the household or to sell at a good price.

A few wapiti, or American elk, and an occasional caribou, are found in
the region under discussion, but are rapidly becoming extinct. The
wapiti is also as large as a horse, with magnificent horns, and has
been called the "antlered monarch of the waste." Red deer are very
plentiful about the north and east sides of the Georgian Bay. The
great hunting ground for them is north of it, and following easterly
by the rivers coursing through the Muskoka and Parry Sound Districts,
and the stretch of country between the South Ontario settlements and
the Ottawa River and its tributaries, to, and into, the Quebec
Province.

In a part of this region east of Muskoka, there is as much water as
land, and this attracts the deer, who may avoid the wolf by escaping
on the run-ways to the innumerable lakes, and drive off the tormenting
fly by wading in the shallows. Here, too, he roams over the broad
plateaus of Archan rocks, covered with sweet herbage and shrubs.

Hunters hide near the run-ways, leading from lake to lake, and shoot
as he passes, or watch with canoe at the coves, and secure the game as
it takes the water. For the protection of the larger game, which was
becoming scarce, an act, passed in April, 1892, prohibits the hunting
of moose, elk, reindeer, or caribou in Ontario, until after the first
day of November 1895.

The season for deer-hunting is also limited to the first fifteen days
of November. In Ontario, still hunting is much in vogue, which
requires a noiseless tread and alertness of eye and ear. The Indians
and professional hunters and trappers, take bear, lynx, wild-cat,
sable or marten, mink, ermine, weasel, fox, otter, fisher, wolverine,
skunk, raccoon, musk-rat, and an occasional wolf. Indians are exempt
from game laws, and may hunt when and where they please. So, also,
settlers in unorganized districts may capture game for their families'
use at all seasons.[31]

BIRDS OF THE GEORGIAN BAY.--While it is not intended to attempt a
full ornithological account, or even list, of the birds of this
region, we cannot pass without a glance at the most remarkable of
them. The attention of the casual passenger is first attracted by the
gulls, which fly in the wake of vessels, picking up such food as may
be thrown on the water. The common white gull is the American herring
gull (Larus Argentatus). It is abundant on all the lakes. Its young
are grey in color. The largest gull is the great black-back gull
(Larus Marinus). It visits Ontario generally in the winter and spring,
going far north to breed. Bonaparte's gull (Larus Philadelphiae) is a
small, but plentiful, species that comes from the south in spring and
breeds in Canada. The gull called by the fishermen the "garnet," is
the common tern (Sterna Hirundo); it has bright red bill and
feet--Bonaparte's gull also has some red on the feet. Fishermen gather
gulls' eggs in large quantities in early summer, and find them
palatable so long as there are not more than two eggs in a nest, after
which they are rancid.

There are three large owls which are more plentiful in the Georgian
Bay District than farther south,--the great grey owl (Ulula Cinerea),
the great horned owl (Bubo Virginianus), and the snowy owl (Nyctea
Nivea, or Surnia). The commonest small owls are the short-eared owl
(Surnia Brachyotos), the hawk owl (Asio Accipitrinus), the screech owl
(Megascops Asio), and Richardson's owl (Nyctea Richardsoni).

The American hawk owl (Surnia Ulula), which is very hawk-like in
appearance is plentiful in Muskoka and the Georgian Bay, though quite
rare about Toronto. There is no auk usually found there, as this bird
confines itself to the sea coast, only an occasional straggler
visiting the lakes. We have, in the museum of the Canadian Institute,
a specimen of the razor-billed auk (Alco Torda), which was taken about
three years ago at Toronto.

There are two woodpeckers found around the Georgian Bay, that are
rarely seen in South Ontario; the arctic three-toed [Picoides
Arcticus] and the Pileated [Ceophlocus Pileatus]. The former, as its
name implies, is a strictly Northern species; the other, our largest
wood-pecker, used to inhabit the whole province, but with the
destruction of the forests, has retreated to the Northern part. The
French call him _coq des bois_, cock of the woods.

The Canada jay or "Whiskey Jack" is common in Northern Ontario, though
not found in the South, and in winter, frequents the lumber camps to
pick up anything it can find in the way of food.

Many of the finches and warblers, that pass north in the spring, breed
in the Georgian Bay District, and call on us again in the fall on
their way to the South. The pine grosbeak is a regular visitor there,
though it only comes south to Lake Ontario once in five or six years.
These birds were plentiful in Toronto in the winter of 1889 and 1890.
The more beautiful evening grosbeak (_Coccothraustes Vespertina_),
also then visited Southern Ontario, but has not been seen here in any
numbers since. This bird will dwell contentedly in captivity, but its
habitat being strictly northern, it droops as the warm weather comes
on, and seldom lasts in its cage through the summer.

The loon or great northern diver, is common on all these waters, but
Lake Nipissing is its favorite resort. Its plaintive note is known to
all. So quick are its movements that it generally escapes the rifle
ball by diving. Thirty years ago and more, wild pigeons selected the
shores of the Bay as their breeding ground. Early settlers remember
large areas of virgin forests appropriated for the purpose. The noise
and odor were perceived a mile off. Twenty nests were often on one
tree, three or four on a single bough. The people of Toronto
frequently witnessed in the spring, clouds upon clouds of pigeons
coming northwards across Lake Ontario. Flocks a mile in length by a
hundred yards in breadth, were seen passing over. Many rested in the
suburban woods, after their long flight of nearly forty miles across
the lake, and a hundred miles or more beyond, going to the northern
breeding grounds. Their course has been changed to a route west of
Lake Superior in consequence of the grain wave developing west-ward.
The naturalists, Wilson and Audubon, describe masses of pigeons,
migrating in countless swarms, eclipsing the sun, breaking trees as
they alighted amid the shouts of people, the screeches of hawks and
eagles and the howls of wild beasts. Wilson estimated one flock to
contain some millions of birds. Their flight was at the rate of fully
sixty miles an hour. The young were fed in their nests with seed grain
lately planted, carried by the parents, who went, one at a time, to
distances of five to ten miles to get it. The farmers found them very
troublesome, and had often to plant their grain crops twice.

Before grain was grown, on what did they feed it may be asked! The
pigeon berry, omni-present on the Laurentian, as well as on the
Huronian formation, indeed from the great lakes to Labrador, was their
main reliance. This plant grows in areas miles in extent, and is often
in close clusters. The berry, when ripe, is scarlet and the size of a
pea. When a handful is eaten, a pleasing pine-apple flavour is
perceived. The flower has a slight perfume when in its first bloom. It
retains, in most soils, its delicate appearance for two months. The
pigeons also fed on cranberries and red ash berries, and on the dark
purple seed of nana fruit, or shad berry, found in marshes. The shad
berry may be classed with the medlars, and is like the lilac in size
of its bush, leaf, and habit; the bloom in spring is a creamy white
and very fragrant, not dissimilar to the elder-berry in appearance.
The fruit is heart-shaped of the size of a water-melon seed, and held
in large clusters. It is a variety of the _Amelanchier Canadensis_.

The "honk" of wild geese is heard over the Bay in the early spring and
autumn, but their breeding ground is farther north. They feed on the
wild vetch bean and vine of James Bay, and of the Hudson Bay and its
tributary waters and islands.

The Anserin of Ontario are divided into the Canada goose, or
Bernicula Canadensis; Hutchin's goose, the brant, the snow-goose,
blue-winged-goose and American white-fronted goose. They come north in
March and April, returning in November. During the journey they stop
at feeding grounds for a week or two at a time, and it is then they
may be seen on the Georgian Bay, and its tributary waters. Within
fifty years past they were well known in the Toronto Bay.

Mrs. Jameson relates, in the story of her Canadian residence referred
to, that as she sat at her window overlooking the water on the 19th,
May, 1837, she saw flights of wild geese passing over, and great black
loons, skimming diving, and sporting, on the bosom of the Bay.

These birds seem to have then spent some time on the lower waters, as
they generally came with the breaking up of the ice and remained until
the summer set in. In the season referred to Mrs. Jameson states that
the ice had been broken and swept out of Toronto harbour, and the
first steam vessel of the year had entered it, on the fifteenth of the
previous April.

Swans fly over Ontario, to their breeding grounds in the north, but
generally pass further west than the Bay, and are very seldom taken in
its waters. They are of two varieties, the whistler swan [Olor
Columbianus] and the trumpeter swan [Olor Buccinator.]

The duck family is very largely represented in Northern Ontario. They
come from the rice fields of Georgia and Mississippi, from the marshes
of Maryland, from the Pacific Coast, the Isthmus of Panama, Guatemala,
Cuba and the West Indies. Among them are the mallard, the black duck,
the gadwell or grey duck, the widgeon, the spoonbill, the blue-winged
and green-winged teal, the wood duck, the canvas back, the American
golden-eye, and the longed-tailed duck or old squaw.

The grouse, called partridge in Canada, is common in Ontario. The
ruffed grouse is that generally met with. Its habitat is the forests
and swamps, from the United States to the Arctic Sea. It is generally
in flocks of eight to ten. When disturbed they fly into trees. In
summer the food of this bird is berries of various kinds, in the
winter the buds of spruce and fir. The spruce partridge, a smaller and
darker bird, has the same range, but is less common. Plover and snipe
gather on the shores of the Bay, in the autumn, and remain some weeks
before migrating to the South. Large black ravens, often quite tame,
are about the lumber camps, and are made pets of by the hardy axe-men.
Humming-birds of an exquisite plumage hover over the flowers in sunny
nooks. The melancholy cry of the whippoorwill came through the woods
each night. Rabbits, so called, are numerous in many places. They are
grey, changing to white in winter. The species met are the Lepus
Sylvaticus, wood-hare or cotton-tail, and the Lepus Americanus, or
American hare. The pine-squirrel and ground-squirrel, or chipmunk are
the smallest of their kind north of the Bay, and take the places of
the large red and black varieties found south of Collingwood. The
flying squirrel, and grey squirrel are seldom seen in this region.

FLOWERS, FRUIT AND FORESTRY.--The flowers and wild fruit met with have
been referred to in the previous narrative. Were we to describe the
mosses of Northern Ontario, a volume would be needed, there being
hundreds of varieties of moss on trees and rocks and springs. Their
little spires each stand out and shine as rosebuds, and the weary foot
rests on the lovely bed softer than eider down.[32] But we cannot do
more than glance at some of the more important plants here found. Next
to the whortle-berry, pronounced "huckle-berry," and the raspberry,
the pigeon berry, already referred to, is probably the most valuable
of the native fruits, its bright green carpeting large areas, and
covering a succulent nourishing berry which is of great service to any
one out of food and ammunition. The South shore of the Bay is among
the best fruit regions in Canada; its apples, pears, plums, cherries
and grapes are of the best. The timber, which grows on the shores of
the Bay, is mainly white and red or Norway pine, spruce, cedar,
hemlock, tamarack, white and black birch, beech, maple and poplar. On
the North Shore these maintain their size and vigour. The old forests,
on the banks of the Nottawasaga, Beaver and Sydenham rivers, were
noted for their stately elms, oaks, hickories, beeches and maples,
large in girth, tall and straight in stem, till they soared above the
silver-skinned birches, iron-woods and other smaller trees. Then the
branches spread out their foliage, which interlacing, largely excluded
the summer rays from the soil beneath, preserving moisture in the
ground until late in the spring, an essential condition of tree life.
Most of the forest trees are nourished at the earth's surface, the
thick layers of fallen leaves collecting one upon another, year after
year, furnishing the potash and other food absorbed by the ganglia of
roots spread out laterally beneath them. In the rich compost below
these trees, the delicate hepatica, violet, trillium, wintergreen, and
other wild flowers, spring. The dark green of the may-flower or
trailing arbutus, also called ground-laurel, spreads a sweet-scented
carpet over the rocks. This creeping vine was the first flower that
attracted the Pilgrim Fathers on their landing in New-England. They
called it the May Flower after the vessel which had brought them to
America. It inhabits rocky and sandy soil. In sunny glades are the
wild cherry, pinberry, currant, plum, shadberry, gooseberry and
strawberry. As the standing timber is removed, the sun's glare reaches
the light leafy soil covering the clays, gravels and marls, and the
carbonates developed by nature's alchemy. The north-east winds get
full play, and the remaining trees also cease to flourish, and in
time, make way for a new growth of poplars and evergreens. Sugar
maples which have reached fully 200 years, are found in the primeval
forests, oaks and elms of twice that age, and pines and spruce older
yet as shewn by the rings of annual growth. Some of the green monsters
still standing had celebrated their first centennial, when Columbus
crossed the Atlantic, and may have sheltered Champlain and his Huron
hordes, as they passed this way.[33] When the older timber is
removed, the tulip tree and English elm may be introduced, along the
southern margin of the Bay, as they have been on both sides of Lake
Ontario. Forty-five year ago, during a remarkably warm and dry summer,
an extensive fire began in the Lake Superior country, and advancing
easterly, ran along the north shore continuously during the entire
season. It swept over an area of five hundred miles in length and one
hundred in width. The smoke materially interfered with navigation on
the lakes and Bay. Animal, as well as vegetable life, was destroyed,
the soil itself being in many places burned down to the rock. Traces
of the ravages so wrought are visible still on the north shore. The
fire was only arrested in the low lands by the Autumn rains. Entire
forests of dead pines upon elevated ridges still stand with blackened
trunks and attest the wholesale devastation. During the construction
of the line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad along the north shore,
forest fires were frequent and very destructive.

Meliboeus happily addressed his friend as he reclined under the
spreading beech:

    "Tityre, tu, patul recubans sub-tegmine fagi."[34]

nor have we any shade more refreshing in the dog-days than that of the
beech, with its outstretched horizontal boughs, and green mat of
leaves, palpitating in the August air. Probably the most beautiful
tree in our forest is the

    "Vast Elm, impervious to daylight's beams,
     Where live the Visions, and where haunt the Dreams."[35]

The Elm's festooning boughs hang down over the waters of the small
lakes and streams fifty to sixty feet, the leaves in Indian summer
being of mellow yellow in strong contrast with the vines, which cling
to their trunk, and whose foliage is scarlet.

The white oak, rising without a lateral branch for fifty feet, and
spreading out as far above with bushy dark green head rustling in the
breeze, is the synonym of majestic strength.

Charles G. D. Roberts, sings the praises of the maple, one of the
emblems of the Canadian flag.

    "Oh tenderly deepen the woodland glooms
     And merrily sway the beeches;
     Breathe delicately the willow blooms,
     And the pines rehearse new speeches,
     The elms toss high, till they brush the sky,
     Pale catkins the yellow birch launches,
     But the tree I love, all the greenwood above
     Is the maple of sunny branches.

     The maple, it glows, with the tint of the rose,
     When pale are the spring-time regions,
     And its towers of flame from afar proclaim,
     The advance of winter's legions."

When in the open, as at Tamarac Cove, shrubs and many colored flowers
were on all sides. Birds flew from twig to twig, butterflies and bees
hovered over their dewy cups. Passing a little from the shore, all was
still, save the occasional chatter of a squirrel, or the tapping of
the red-headed wood-pecker in the great ever-green groves about us.
Miss Johnston, our Mohawk poetess, expresses the feeling engendered by
the occasion--

    "The littleness of language seems the flower;
     The firs are silence, grandeur, soul and power."

Upon the islands, and the edges of smaller lakes, near the north
shore, the lesser vegetation puts on, in early autumn, a very varied
dress of scarlet, rich yellow, dark red, and brown. The greens of the
pine and spruce in the back ground, intermingle with the brighter
colors and frame a picture exhibiting nature's most artistic skill.
These lakelets seem then, as the western sun shines on them, like
emeralds set among other richest gems. A river which crosses the
Canadian Pacific, twenty miles west of Sudbury, and passes into
Vermilion Lake, one of the reservoirs of the north branch of the
Spanish River, is named Vermilion from the color of its creeping
vines.

In Mrs. Jameson's description of her excursion through the Bay in
1837, in the canoe of Mr. Jarvis, Indian Superintendent, she expresses
frequent delight at the exhibition of beauty among the rocks; "In the
clefts and hollows grew quantities of gooseberries and raspberries,
wild roses, the crimson columbine, a large species of harebell, a sort
of willow, juniper, birch and stunted pine; and such was the usual
vegetation." (Vol. 3, 326.) This traveller's experience related only
to the productions of the rocky shores and islands and not to the
interior.

The timber interest is now more important in this region than the
fishing industry. Ontario gets for this valuable product a large
annual income. It is, indeed, a main source of revenue of the
Province. Many lumbermen have done well in the business; some of them
have become millionaires. The wholesale cutting and deportation goes
on apace, and necessarily so under present conditions, as the
encroachment of settlements renders bush fires more common. The
surveyors often find that a considerable portion of the timber has
been scorched and more or less injured. In the township of Porter,
surveyed in 1891, one thousand acres are reported as _brule_, and the
proportion is often larger than in this case.

The employment of fire Rangers, about one hundred in number, at joint
expense of the Province and timber licensees, has proved beneficial.
These officers go through the great woods and use every means to
protect them against the ravages of fire. When timber is scorched, but
still standing, they can secure most of its value, by having it made
into logs and taken to market before the busy "borer" insect commits
its ravages, and decay ensues. The Rangers are also of service in
guarding the forests from poaching lumbermen, who, in old times,
removed millions of feet of lumber without license or payment of any
fee. The fact that only a very limited supply of timber remains in the
formerly great pineries of Michigan and Wisconsin, and that much
American capital now seeks investment in our northern limits, makes
their preservation and proper use yearly more and more a matter of
capital importance.

The timber on the public lands may be placed on the market as soon as
the lands are surveyed. It is usual to sell by auction, after public
notice, the right to cut and remove the timber within a township or
other considerable space, called a timber limit or berth. In addition
to the sum paid at the time of purchase, the buyer pays an annual
ground rent of $3 per square mile, so long as he works the limit, and
$1.25 for each thousand feet, board measure, for the timber taken. In
October, 1892, the Government sold two limits, the township of Morgan,
of 35 square miles, which realized $373,650, and the township of
Lumsden, 31 square miles, for which the sum of $96,875 was received.
These limits are about fifty miles north of the Georgian Bay. The
difference in price realized is attributable to the quantity and
quality of the timber, which depends largely on the nature of the
soil. Lumsden being more rocky and sterile than the better wooded
Morgan limit. The total collections of the Government for 1891 in the
Woods and Forests branch throughout Ontario, amounted to $1,022,619,
which sum includes $172,551 for bonuses, showing the revenue for
timber dues, rent, etc., to be $850,068.[36]

In 1892 the pine on other limited areas north of the Bay was sold,
together with timber in other districts, the Provincial Treasury so
realizing a sum exceeding $2,250,000 by way of bonuses, the prices
paid being high beyond precedent.

The great lumber region of Ontario extends to the north of Lake
Abbitibbe and westward fully seven hundred miles to the Lake of the
Woods and Rainy River country. The town of Rat Portage is at its
western extremity and possesses unrivalled water power for saw-mills
and grist-mills. It is on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway
between Lake Superior and Winnipeg.

The white pine region again extends eastward as far as the head
waters of the Madawaska and Bonnechere, which rivers largely drain the
country east of the Pettawawa, which is a tributary of the Ottawa
river. Thus the base line of the timber region of the Province is
about one thousand miles in length.

If a line were drawn from the mouth of the Severn, on the East side of
the Georgian Bay, due north, such line would pass by North Bay, the
chief Town on Lake Nipissing. It would thence go through Lake
Temiscamingue; over the Height of Land and through Lake Abbitibbe to
the south margin of James Bay. The country on either side of this line
to North Bay is wholly Laurentian, containing many lakes and streams
upon the sides of which there is a considerable quantity of
agricultural land, moderately settled. Much timber is annually taken
from this region.

Many towns and villages have sprung up, sustained by the lumbering
interest. These are mostly along the course of the Northern and
Pacific Junction Railway which joins the main road near North Bay.
This Town is so called from the Bay of that name on Lake Nipissing,
and numbers 2500 inhabitants.

The Nipissing is a somewhat shallow sheet of water containing
white-fish and salmon trout. Upon its shores is some excellent land.
Its water escape through the picturesque Nipissing, or French River
into the Georgian Bay. They flow over a mass of islands and ridges of
rocks which sometimes span the entire width of the stream. This lake
and the various channels of French River were surveyed by the late
Alexander Murray, F.G.S. and he gave the names they bear to many
places in the country north of Lake Huron, which he was the first to
lay down correctly on the map. Of the rivers flowing into Lake
Nipissing, the Sturgeon has a length of about one hundred miles and is
much used in moving timber. A creek, at the north-east end of the
lake, together with the three small lakes, called Trout, Turtle and
Talons, and the Mattawan River, which connects them with the Ottawa
River, have had an historic past. For many centuries the Algonquins
and their predecessors passed by this route in their birch canoes, to
attack rival tribes on the debatable ground to the south of the
Georgian Bay.

On the ninth of July, 1615, Samuel de Champlain embarked at the isle
of Ste. Helene, opposite Hochelaga, passed with his party up the
Ottawa, entered the Mattawan and through it and the water course
mentioned, reached Lake Nipissing. Thence he coursed along the
Easterly shore of the Georgian Bay to the Huron Territory. Here he
joined the warriors in hunting, and in their memorable expedition
against the Iroquois in the State of New York. Sir George Simpson,
Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, took the same route to the mouth
of French River, and then along the North Shore and Channel to Sault
Ste. Marie and the western posts. North Bay was an important Hudson
Bay Station. The creek referred to is called _Riviere de Vase_. It is
a muddy stream, and may be found four miles east of the Town of North
Bay, where the Northern and Pacific Junction road join the main line
of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The route referred to was part of the
northerly main line of communication between the waters of the
Atlantic and the Pacific coast. It was through a game country where
meat and fish were in great abundance. In July and August the whortle,
or blue-berry, could be gathered in handfuls from bushes knee-high, on
all the ridges and rocks. Raspberries and other wild fruit came to
maturity in August, and these were a fair substitute for a more
complete vegetable diet. The Mattawan route has many portages, and in
returning from the west by this river, the trading canoes were unladen
and borne around the obstructions on the shoulders of the crew,
usually composed of seven men.

Some articles were carried in the canoe, and some in the hands of the
voyageurs, but the heavy packs of skins, proceeds of the winter's
hunt, were left at the beginning of the portage, necessitating a
return of the men for that purpose.

On the return trip, the fur packs were exchanged for bales of cloth,
of scarlet, red, blue and black, and other goods used in trading for
peltries.

The long frail crafts could, with skilful management, withstand the
heavy seas of the large lakes, which they had often to encounter, as
in many places no landing could be made for several miles owing to the
rocky character of the coast. These canoes were confined to the great
lakes and rivers. At the head of Lake Superior bulk was broken, and
the packages destined for Red River and the Saskatchewan were
transferred to smaller canoes.[37] The canoes sailed in brigades for
mutual protection, six to ten in a fleet, whose crews might, as
occasion arose, aid each other, and in case of mishap to any vessel,
transfer its cargo and distribute the packages amongst the other
canoes.

As the brigades approach their destination, having successfully made
the St. Lawrence, and are lazily dropping down on its broad bosom to
La Prairie, the fur-entrept of Montreal, gaudy shirts of blue or red,
worsted sashes, placed double round the waist, new deer-skin gaiters,
spotless white tanned mocassins and a gay _tuke_ or _bonnet rouge_,
are donned by the light-hearted voyageur. What now of the mothers,
sisters and other dear ones, who, as the home-coming is announced in
advance, hasten to meet and to greet him who, for two long years, has
been absent and perhaps unheard of? Has he gone with the Sieur de
Champlain to fight the Mohawk in the Oneida country? Has death claimed
him as he too hardily attempted to shoot the Winnipeg or Mattawan, or
braved the waves of Lake Superior? Or, has his heart been left with a
dusky maiden of the friendly Huron nation? How many thousands of
Indians have, in old days, traversed the great route between the St.
Lawrence and Lake Huron in war-paint and feathers, or later, as
voyageurs aiding their half-brothers, the _bois-brules_, in propelling
their light barks, or in carrying their packs over portages! Their
ancient course near the Nipissing is as well marked on the rocks worn
by the travel of innumerable feet, though always clad in soft
mocassins, as if made but a year ago.

Nor has the advancing spirit of modern commerce found any better
route, for the steam-engine seeks to follow, as nearly as possible,
the same course. Over it are now borne the wheat and cattle of the
prairies, the wares of European make, and the goods of China and
Japan. The various railways connecting Georgian Bay points now
constructed, or in contemplation, are subsidiary to the great central
line largely controlling the trade current of the upper half of the
North American continent. The fact that along our north-shore and by
the old voyageur route, was and is the true and natural course of
commercial exchange and travel from continent to continent, was boldly
stated not long since by a Canadian railway magnate of marked ability
and foresight, in the city of Boston. His assertion was not
contradicted, and could not be disproved. The opening of a route for
vessels through French River, Lake Nipissing and the rivers Mattawan
and Ottawa by the construction of the necessary canals, was advocated
at one time, but the plan proved impracticable owing to the vast
amount of granite in the way.

Then a Toronto and Georgian Bay Ship Canal was proposed as a means
for passing grain-laden vessels from the west to Lake Ontario, but the
great cost involved in this work was fatal to its construction.

A third plan is now before the public, the Hurontario Ship Railway
from Nottawasaga Bay to the mouth of the Humber River, on the western
boundary of Toronto. On this, when constructed, large vessels, with
their cargo, crew and passengers, are to be placed and transferred
from the Bay to the waters of Lake Ontario.

The late Captain J. B. Eads prepared a topographical model of the
proposed railway which was publicly exhibited. It has been pronounced
entirely feasible by eminent engineers, among whom are Messrs. J. W.
Babcock and E. L. Corthell of Chicago, and Mr. Kivas Tully, C. E., of
Toronto.

Referring to this project the _London Times_ said: "We have said this
scheme is a bold one, but it is not more remarkable for its boldness,
as well as for its originality, than for its engineering soundness....
A careful inspection of the details of this great work will convince
the most sceptical that the project is both possible and practicable."
The distance between the mouth of the Humber and the entrance to the
Nottawasaga River is 66 miles, and the route surveyed was declared by
Captain Eads to be remarkably favorable for such an undertaking.
Practical consideration of this interesting project awaits the result
of the completion of the Chignecto Ship Railway now in course of
construction in Nova Scotia, from Bay Verte, on Northumberland Strait,
to the Bay of Fundy.


[Footnote 31: We learn from Champlain's narrative, (Book III. 151,)
that the range of the buffalo extended farther east in his day than in
later times, even perhaps into the Nipissing district. He had not
himself seen any, but saw their skins used for clothing on the Upper
Ottawa, by Indians who described the animals and the places where they
were slain. The limit of the northern habitat of the buffalo is
generally stated to be 60, but it was sometimes found as far north as
63 or 64. The Hon. J. C. Schultz, of Manitoba, states that no
buffalo has been seen east of the Red River of the North since 1865.
The range of the musk ox is much farther north, seldom south of
latitude 67, and so well within the Arctic Circle.]

[Footnote 32: Note Virgil Ecl. VII. 45, Muscosi fontes, et somno
mollior herba.]

[Footnote 33: "The red pine near Barrie, and through all the
Penetanguishene country, grows to an enormous size. I measured one
near Barrie no less than 26 feet in girth, and its height at least 200
feet, and this was merely a chance one by the path-side."--Sir R.
BONNYCASTLE--_Canada and the Canadians in 1846_.

Mr. Linton counted the rings of an oak felled midway between Lake
Ontario and the Georgian Bay. He calculated that it had been a sapling
about the time when Sir William Wallace and Robert Bruce were
defending their native land.--_Life of a Backwoodsman._

The white spruce attains an age exceeding 400 years in the Arctic
altitudes before it shews signs of decay.--Sir J. RICHARDSON, Arctic
Expedition, Vol. II. 316.]

[Footnote 34: Virgil; Eclogue 1.]

[Footnote 35: Virgil; translated by W. B. Phipps in Report on
Replanting Forests, 1883, p. 11.]

[Footnote 36: Report of Hon. A. S. Hardy, Commissioner of Crown Lands,
Ont., 1891, VI.]

[Footnote 37: Twelve hundred men, says McKenzie, were sometimes
assembled at the Grand Portage, often indulging in the free use of
liquor, and quarrelling with each other, yet always respecting their
employers, who were comparatively few in number. Here the "Northmen"
or "Winterers" with their furs met the "Pork-Eaters" or "Goers and
Comers," as those were named who performed the journey between the
Grand Portage and Montreal.]




CHAPTER VIII.

CHAMPLAIN'S ASTROLABE; THE GREAT NORTH COUNTRY;
A NATIONAL FOREST AND PARK; CONCLUSION
"'MONG THE ISLES OF THE GEORGIAN BAY."

[Illustration: lake scenes and fern]


There is an incident of peculiar historical interest connected with
the old Ottawa route. The renowned Champlain made his first trip up
that river as far as the present site of Pembroke, about two years
before the journey already referred to. He left Ste. Helen's Island on
the 27th of May, 1613, with a party of four Frenchmen and one Indian.

Before proceeding far he exchanged one of the Frenchmen for an Indian,
who left a war party to join him.

[Illustration: CHAMPLAIN'S ASTROLABE--(Half Diameter of Original)
Lost June 1613 Found August 1867 on the portage from the Ottawa River
to Muskrat Lake.]

At various stages in his course he took observations for latitude,
which are noted in his journal. At Lachine he records the latitude
observed as 45 degrees 18 minutes, which is only 5 minutes less than
the true latitude of that place. Arrived at the Chaudiere, he
describes the great waterfall in all its grandeur. It was not then
encroached upon by bridges, saw-mills and acres of lumber-piles, as is
at present the case. At what is now the busy town of Hull, across the
river from the City of Ottawa, in full view of the Parliament
Buildings of the Dominion, but then a primeval forest, he notes an
observation which differs from the true latitude by about 12 minutes.
The errors stated are insignificant, when the imperfection of the
instruments then in use is considered.

On the 6th of June, Champlain and his party passed the island called
by him St. Croix, where the river was a league and a half broad, made
some portages, and paddled by a number of other islands of various
sizes. "Here," he writes, "our savages left the sacks containing their
provisions and their less necessary articles, in order to be lighter
for going over land." They had proceeded along the west side of the
Ottawa, up the Cheneux Rapids to Goold's Landing, about two miles
below Portage du Fort. Here they disembarked to take the route by the
Muskrat Portage and Lake, to avoid the rapids and falls in the main
river. The course from this was very irksome, owing to the many
portages necessary, and to a windfall of uprooted trees in the way.
Four small lakes were passed, when the party rested for a night, and
then proceeded through Muskrat Lake, where they were entertained by
Nibachis, an Indian chief, and inspected the rude dwellings made of
the bark of trees, and the cultivated fields of his people, where
Champlain found Indian-corn, squashes, beans and peas growing.

He then visited Tessouat, the great Algonquin chief, and his
settlement, with its graveyard and gardens, on Allumette Island, in
the Ottawa. Here he disclosed to the warriors the main object of his
trip, namely, to obtain guides and a convoy to enable him to reach the
"North Sea." It was only three years previous that Henry Hudson, the
intrepid navigator, steering westward from Greenland, had entered the
great bay, since bearing his name. Here his crew mutinied, placed
Hudson, with his son and some others who adhered to him, in a small
boat and left them to the mercy of the waves and savages. No trace of
the unfortunate party was afterwards discovered.

Champlain hoped to reach the sea from the south. Properly supported he
might have done so, and raised the French flag on the shores of James
Bay, but to his mortification, the Indians, through fear of northern
tribes, which feeling he could not overcome, refused to venture with
him. Champlain, therefore, soon retraced his steps back to the St.
Lawrence.

At Goold's Landing, Champlain took an observation which is the last
noted on this voyage, and which is erroneous by more than a degree of
latitude. The reason for this seems to be that during the
difficulties of the toilsome march he had lost his astrolabe. It was
dropped on a portage, or left with other articles in a cache, in order
to lighten the burdens[38]. Here it lay, protected in the wilderness
by a pine tree which grew up over the spot, for 254 years. Then the
tree fell, its stump decayed, and a farmer plowing past it, disturbed
the relics hidden for two centuries and a half. The astrolabe was
found in 1867 on lot number twelve in the second range of the Township
of Ross, in the County of Renfrew, about two miles southerly from
Muskrat Lake. The railway station, called Cobden, is within a league
of the place. Mr. R. S. Cassels, now of Toronto, secured the astrolabe
from the man who had found it, and he has it still. The farmer's
children had used the figured disk as a plaything, and neighbors had
puzzled over it and pronounced it a strange surveyor's tool. For a
time Mr. Cassels was doubtful of its use and ignorant of its history.
Then his ingenious and learned friend, the late Mr. A. J. Russell, saw
and made a study of it. His interest was aroused; he discussed the
matter with instrument makers and with some French savants of
Montreal. He next went to Quebec, and in the Laval library, as Mr.
Cassels understood, read the records of the travels of Champlain, and
thus learned the story of the loss of the astrolabe.

It is of plate brass, dark with age, in diameter nearly six inches.
The date, 1603, is engraved on it. It is fully described by the
translator and editor, Mr. Otis, in the "voyages" referred to, as also
in three learned brochures, one by Rev. Dr. Scadding, one by Mr. O. H.
Marshall, and the third by Mr. Russell. Utensils of thin copper, much
oxydized, found with the astrolabe, had been used in repairing the
bottom of a canoe. Some silver cups, with an engraving on them,
probably a crest, were sold for a trifle to a Brockville pedlar, who,
not dreaming of their value, melted them for the metal.

The first application of the Astrolabe by Europeans to navigation was
made, according to Washington Irving, in 1481. Seamen could by its use
ascertain the distance of the sun from the equator. Four years later,
Columbus used it, and advanced into unknown seas with confidence,
being able to trace his course by means of the compass and astrolabe[39].
This instrument has since been improved and modified into the modern
quadrant.

Mr. Cassels' interesting relic is no doubt the only specimen of the
kind in America. A similar astrolabe was, it is reported, found in
Valentia harbour, Ireland, and is supposed to have belonged to a ship
of the Spanish Armada. A short treatise on the astrolabe and its use,
may be found in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. It is addressed to his
son Louis, a bright boy of ten years.[40] But this instrument is of
more ancient origin than any date quoted. Dr. W. Smith, late
archologist of the British Museum, relates in his published works
that he discovered in the palace of Sennacharib, excavated under a
village on the hill of Kouyungic, among other treasures of antiquity,
part of an astrolabe. Its circumference was divided into twelve parts,
corresponding with the signs of the zodiac, the degrees of each being
marked, and with an inner circle naming prominent stars.[41] It is
now evident, as Mr. Russell remarks in the pamphlet referred to, that
astronomical science and lore were not original with the Assyrians,
but inherited by that conquering race from a more ancient people whose
literature and arts of civilization they adopted, as Europeans have
since cherished the learning of Greece and Rome.

Mr. Russell further remarks: "The astrolabe was found in general use
among the Southern Arabians, by Vagues di Gama, when he discovered the
way round the Cape of Good Hope to India, known in the days of
Pharaoh Necho."... "While we look upon this astrolabe as a relic of
the founder of civilized society in Canada, her greatest man and most
daring explorer, and while we regard it with additional interest as a
memento of early adventure on what was, even then, Canada's great
interior highway of commerce, and is, by the same destiny now, the
site of our great Pacific Railway, we may also look upon it as a relic
of ancient and even prehistoric science and civilization."

Proceeding north from North Bay we have for our guidance the
observations made by an eminent engineer, Mr. J. C. Bailey, C. E., who
surveyed this region at the instance of the Nipissing and James Bay
Railway Company early in 1889. He has kindly placed his memoranda of
the trip at our disposal, saying: "It is a beautiful land full of
possibilities in mineral, agricultural, and other wealth. And yet,
with a heritage so rich, with its forests of pine and valuable
hard-wood, its buried treasures of minerals known to exist, its
millions of acres of the very finest land, why this should be allowed
to remain so long in its primeval state is a mystery to me. It is
almost within "rifle-shot" of civilization, still there are no means
to develop this valuable territory. The building of the railway will
open up this almost impenetrable region, will furnish timber in
exhaustless quantities, maintain a numerous and hardy population, and
add millions of productive acres to the assessment rolls of the
province!" The distance from North Bay to Moose Factory on James Bay
is 350 miles. Moose Harbour will be about the same distance from
Toronto as that city is from Quebec.

The products of the whale and other fisheries of Hudson Bay, as also
of the mines and forests on the islands and shores of James Bay, and
of the excellent dairy country between the Height of Land and James
Bay will, by this road, be brought to the markets of Canada and the
United States. Mr. Bailey's trip was preferably made in the winter, as
he has found that the best season for such surveys. Lakes and rivers
can then be crossed with facility on the ice, the trees are free from
foliage, which would obstruct the view, and there are then no flies to
annoy. Snow shoes were used and toboggans, on which the packs of
provisions, clothing, and other necessaries, were put and drawn. The
following is an extract from this remarkable account:

    "At our very start from North Bay we found good land, and it
    continued so in large quantities to the end of our journey.
    We were still more surprised to find much valuable
    timber--belt after belt of red and white pine, groves of
    tamarac and spruce, with black and yellow birch, together
    with black and white ash, maple and whitewood. The tamarac
    and spruce were the largest and finest trees I have ever
    seen, and would be very valuable manufactured into lumber.
    Railway ties of tamarac can be counted by millions.... There
    are innumerable water powers, which will no doubt, as the
    material is here, be utilized in various manufactures, such
    as pulp mills, saw mills, quarrying and dressing stone and
    slate. The country can boast, too, of magnificent scenery.
    Then with its endless chain of lakes--deep, pure and cool
    water--its fishing, shooting, and healthy climate, it must
    become one of the most attractive resorts for sportsmen,
    pleasure-seekers, invalids, and those immediately connected
    with the opening up of the mines, and when once made
    accessible by the railway, it cannot fail to attract tourists
    and others from all parts of the Dominion as well as the
    United States....

    "It is almost impossible to give any idea as to the number,
    extent and beautiful scenery of these lakes, all of which
    teem with fish. Lake Tamagamingue has been used for fifty
    years or more by the Hudson Bay Company, in supplying fish to
    the other posts. This and Rabbit Lake are full of the finest
    species of whitefish and salmon trout, and the small streams
    running into these lakes, as I was informed by the Indians,
    are full of speckled trout. As to the game, I can say a
    little about this myself. There are moose there by thousands,
    also cariboo and red deer. Fur-bearing animals, such as
    beavers, otters, minks, martens, foxes, wolves and wildcats
    are there in large numbers. We frequently met with little
    animals caught in the traps set by the Indians, taken them
    out, hung them up on trees and reset the traps; some of them
    were beautiful specimens of martens. Beavers were very
    plentiful there still."

Westward from Lake Temiscamingue about sixteen miles is Lake
Tamagamingue. Unlike the former lake, which is but an enlargment of
the Ottawa river, Tamagamingue is a large sheet of water with
extensive bays and many islands, some of them considerable in size,
and many of them mineral-bearing. The waters of this lake branch out
north and south about thirty miles, and more than half that distance
east and west. The Montreal river drains the country north-west of the
Ottawa between these lakes. There are immense tracts of agricultural
lands on the margins of these lakes and rivers. The Blanche, which
empties into Lake Temiscamingue, passes through a good agricultural
country and is navigable for twenty-five miles. The clay lands in its
valley are estimated to be from 500 to 600 square miles in area, or
equal to twelve townships, each of 32,000 acres.[42] The available
agricultural land on the Montreal River is equal in extent to fifteen
ordinary townships. Rabbit Lake which is between the two large lakes
just mentioned, is in the midst of a great white pine region. The
country south of Temiscamingue was found by Mr. Bailey to contain
excellent land with timber of white pine, black and yellow birch,
spruce and tamarac in large quantity. The temperature is dry, and the
cold is not felt as severely as at Ottawa. "I am satisfied," says Mr.
Bailey, "that as regards soil and climate, this country is well suited
for agricultural purposes." In March and April yellow butterflies were
flying about. In these months crows were common, and he heard the
rosignol, jay, swamp robin, and Canadian song sparrow.

At the Height of Land in the Nipissing District the winters are
severe, the summers warm. It is the great water shedding ridge on
whose south side the streams flow into the lakes, while on the other
slope they pass to the Ottawa.

The Height of Land stretches in a devious course from north-west to
south-east, from the middle of Lake Tamagamingue until it strikes the
St. Lawrence River near Kingston. It is the central line of a land of
clear streams, and beautiful lakes, with no lack of fish, game and
timber. Proceeding northward the climate improves owing to diminution
in the elevation. The temperature on the coast of James Bay rises in
summer to 90. The shallow water of that bay also exerts a favorable
climatic influence. The only place where it is deep is in a channel
which passes northward through its centre, elsewhere it is so shallow
that the bottom can be touched with an oar from a boat until it passes
almost out of sight of the low shore.

The summer sun has great power upon the broad expanse exposed to it.
The Albany and Moose Rivers and other affluents entering this bay have
also a moderating influence. The mean summer temperature at Moose
Factory is about 60, and the snow fall there is not as heavy as it is
south of Lake Nipissing. James Bay is often associated in the popular
mind with the Polar regions, yet no part of it is within the Arctic
circle, and the latitude of its southern extremity is south of London.
Its total area is 500,000 square miles, or half that of the
Mediterranean.[43]

An indication has now been given of the vast wealth in agriculture,
timber, mineral and other resources, held in Ontario's great
territory. Expectations of profit from riches so distant and at
present so difficult of access, as are those of this broad northern
expanse, may by many be regarded as sanguine dreams of the visionary.
Forty years ago the endeavors of Canadian statesmen to secure the
Hudson Bay region from the astute traders who held it was, by the
uninformed, spoken of as an attempt to obtain for mere pride of
empire, an icy waste, fit only for hunting grounds. Now the buffalo is
gone, and those broad hunting grounds form the great western provinces
and fertile territory of the Dominion. The prairies and hills are
crossed by railways, steam vessels ply on all the lakes and rivers,
many villages and thousands of happy homesteads deck the
landscape,--electric lamps lighten their cities and towns, and their
people enjoy the arts of European civilization. Foreign capital is
regarding each new discovery with interest, and is ready to develop
natural resources.

Children now living will see the day when the people and the interests
of James Bay will be referred to as frequently and as familiarly on
the streets and in the Exchanges of Toronto and Montreal, as are now
those of Lake Michigan or the Georgian Bay. So imperial is our fair
province in her proportions, so fitted is her climate for the home of
a free, intelligent and industrious race, so all-embracing are her
resources, so lavish has kind nature been, that her children, as they
regard their bountiful heritage, may well exclaim--

    "Far as the heart can wish, the fancy roam,
     Survey our empire, and behold our home."

A NATIONAL PARK.--The matter of setting apart a portion of our wild
and picturesque northern region, while yet in a state of nature, as a
forest reservation and national park, has been mooted and received
favorable consideration. Commissioners appointed by the Provincial
Government, have recommended the appropriation of a tract of about
750,000 acres, south of the Mattawan River, in the south-easterly part
of the Nipissing District.

The place selected will, it is believed, prove well adapted for such
Reserve. It is connected with the most romantic period of our
provincial history, the time of Champlain, the Hurons and the hardy
voyageurs. The Government which, with the friendly cooperation of the
state of New York, rescued the beauties of Niagara from vandalism and
made there a park which bears the name of Her Majesty the Queen, may
well follow up the excellent and popular precedent thus established.

In Quebec the Megantic Fish and Game Club, whose membership embraces
many Boston and New York, as well as Montreal, Sherbrooke and Toronto
gentlemen, secured a great tract of wild land and water, extending
from Lake Megantic over the Boundary Mountains into Maine. This
beautiful preserve is guarded by an efficient warden and rangers and
abounds with game. It is during the season the resort of many tourists
from both lands, who, often accompanied by their families, find here
various means of health giving recreation.

The National Park scheme has been well brought before the public in
former years by Mr. W. B. Phipps and Mr. A. Kirkwood, officers of the
Crown Lands Department.[44] In a communication by Mr. Kirkwood, in
August, 1886, to the head of the department, he thus refers to the
region selected as the source of many waters:

    "A glance at the map of the Ottawa and Huron Territory of
    Ontario shows that the Muskoka River which flows into Lake
    Huron and the Petewawa, Bonnechere, and Madawaska Rivers,
    which empty into the Ottawa, have their sources within a very
    short distance of each other. Island Lake at the head waters
    of the Muskoka, and Otter Slide Lake at the head of the
    Petewawa are not half a mile apart, and each is 1,406 feet
    above the level of the sea.

    The head waters of the Muskoka, after flowing in a circuit of
    1,000 miles through Lakes Huron, St. Clair, Erie, the Niagara
    River, Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence, meet and
    commingle in happy harmony with those of the Petewawa,
    Bonnechere, and Madawaska near the city of Montreal."

Mr. William Houston, late librarian of the Ontario Parliament, spoke
of the park scheme in a recent public address, from which the
following is quoted:

    To one acquainted with the growing craving of Americans, and
    especially of those who live far to the south of us, for a
    pleasant "summer resort," the first sight of the Laurentian
    region, as it was a century ago, would at once suggest that
    it should be reserved as a continental park. For such a
    purpose it is absolutely unique, not merely in America, but
    so far as we know, in the world. It is perfectly salubrious.
    It affords enough of sporting amusement at all seasons to
    stimulate to physical activity. It contains an endless
    diversity of scenery. It is easily accessible, or can be made
    so in every part. There are enough of good farming plots to
    maintain a constant supply of those animal and vegetable
    foods, that are too perishable for transport from a distance.
    Where the country has not been denuded of its evergreen
    forest covering, the climate surpasses that of any other
    place in the heat of summer. The United States Government has
    set apart a national park 400 miles square on the Yellowstone
    river, but its chief peculiarity is its volcanic character,
    which is incompatible with that sylvan beauty which forms a
    more enduring attraction. New York State, seeing with regret
    the disappearance of the Adirondack forests is endeavoring at
    great expense to check destruction, and partially restore the
    primitive condition; but the Laurentian region far surpasses
    the Adirondack district, alike in extent and in those
    physical characteristics which fit for park purposes.
    Preservation of the forest is not incompatible with the
    removal of trees that are valuable as the raw material for
    manufactures, or with the raising and smelting of metalic
    ores. In view of the possible development in the transmission
    of electric power, the vast aggregate of water power now
    useless for any local purpose may yet prove of great economic
    value, but its continued existence unimpaired, depends
    absolutely on the preservation and restoration of the forest.

    At the present rate of destruction of the pine forests the
    lumber industry will soon become greatly reduced in extent
    south of Lake Nipissing, and a once beautiful landscape of
    rock, wood and water, will be practically a barren
    wilderness. Along with the progress of settlement, has gone
    the destruction of game and the exhaustion of fish. It has
    always been, and will always be, found impossible to prevent
    settlers from killing game at any season. It is part of their
    food, and no system of police can ever keep them from
    appropriating it. All the game destroyed by fall hunters is
    insignificant in amount compared with what is destroyed by
    settlers, who kill all the year round. Detecting and
    punishing contraventions of the game laws by sportsmen will
    do something to check the waste. Meanwhile, though the
    "summer resort" idea has been left to spontaneous development
    it has reached immense proportions. Those waters that are
    most accessible by rail and steamer, are fringed with summer
    hotels and summer cottages, and "guiding" sportsmen and other
    tourists has become the regular calling of a large number of
    the residents. The remedy is apparent.

    The beginning of a more enlightened treatment of this
    district was made by the Legislature of the province last
    year, when it enacted a more stringent game law, based on the
    report of a commission of experts. A further and still more
    important step in advance will be taken if the report of the
    Park Commission should result in the reservation of a large
    area of land from settlement in the Nipissing district. The
    site suggested is well fitted for the purpose and object
    aimed at. Fish are abundant in its lakes and streams; the
    locality is the natural home of the moose and the red deer;
    smaller game of many varieties, including birds, are more
    plentiful than almost anywhere else; and fur-bearing animals
    of several highly-prized kinds are indigenous. The idea
    inaugurated by the commission, will, it is hoped, take root
    and grow rapidly in the public mind.

Reverting to the Georgian Bay and its immediate interests, we find
that most of the marketable pine and some of the hemlock and spruce
along the sides of the Bay, and for some distance up its tributary
rivers, have been stripped, but a great supply remains yet, as has
been shewn, in the interior. The roads, cut through the woods, by
former lumber men may be found half grown over, and are beautiful
pathways, from which glimpses of lakes are seen, and the hunter finds
them convenient when seeking his game. Here and there he comes to a
beaver meadow, but the busy colony is gone.

In some places, as at the mouth of the Musquash and French rivers, and
at the great mills in the North Channel, the round timber is brought
to the water's edge, sawed into boards or other lumber, and so
prepared for the market. But often all that is seen, as the result of
the work of an army of axe-men, is the great raft, covering several
acres in extent, tugged along to Bay City, Cheboygan, Saginaw or
other Michigan harbours, the logs grinding together and throwing off
much bark, which sinks, fouls the nets and drives the fish away.

Among the lumber-men in our northern forests are many citizens of the
United States; some estimate their number as high as four thousand.
Their families still reside in that country, whose alien laws debar
Canadians from such employment there, unless they foreswear allegiance
to Britain.

The American companies cutting on the Canadian side, bring their plant
and supplies with them, and the wages paid go back to the States. Why
do these lumber-men tow the logs to Michigan to be there manufactured,
instead of erecting and using mills on our shores for the purpose?

The answer is, _The McKinley Bill_. That Bill fixes an import duty of
two dollars per thousand on Norway pine, and one dollar on white pine
lumber. It also provides, that if any country should impose an export
duty on logs of any kind, the import duties shall remain as under the
former law, at two dollars per thousand. The export duties being
removed, it leaves the Georgian Bay manufacturer at a disadvantage,
the logs going to Michigan free, and the lumber paying a duty of two
dollars on Norway, two on spruce, and one dollar on white pine. The
difference more than pays the cost of towing.

This discrimination, of one and two dollars per thousand feet, enables
the lumbermen to tow and manufacture in Michigan at a profit.

We found matters of grievance among the fishermen, who complain of the
injury done to their industry by the sinking bark, as also by the
sawdust and refuse allowed to fall into the water from mills. They
desire the initiation by the Dominion of a Canadian policy, which
would compel the lumbermen to manufacture into lumber before removal
from the shore.

It is doubtless of importance that these matters be arranged, through
the general and provincial governments, in a manner that will best
conserve the large interests involved.

However interesting such themes may be, it is on other topics that our
memories will most kindly dwell as we recall the happy days and nights
spent on the "White Squall." We will remember the majesty of forests
and granite shores. We will hear the scream of gulls and see the flash
of great fish struggling in the nets. We will see in fancy the jolly
fishermen steering merrily among the rocks. We will hear their songs
and stories, as each sat, with brown, weather-beaten, friendly face,
on a pile of nets or on a box in our camp. There still rises to our
ears the gay laugh of the Indian boys about the wigwams. We will not
forget the beauty displayed in winding, glassy coves among the
islands, in flowers and verdure in sunny nooks, the Aurora dancing
each clear night in the north, the kindly courtesy of our little
company, the chaff of the camp fires and the songs we sung, of which
the following is one, composed 'mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay:

'MONG THE ISLES OF THE GEORGIAN BAY.

    Some sing old Ocean's praise
    Where wild winds the billows raise,
    And the whale and the porpoise play,
    Some vaunt famed Biscay's Bay;
    And the fair for the South wind sigh.
    But give to me that shore,
    Where the North star shines most clear,
    And our devious course we steer
    'Mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay.
           CHORUS--Oh give to me; etc.

    And we think, as the "White Squall" glides,
    Or we rest on their mossy sides,
    What strange tales could these isles unfold
    Of the brave red men of old!
    The plaintive loon we hear;
    The dappled deer appear
    In the glades, as our merry bark flies,
    And our devious course we steer
    'Mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay.
                    Oh give to me, etc.

    Of the Genese Captain,[45] in quest
    Of new lands in the far sunny West,
    Of De. Champlain, with fleur-de-lis spread;
    Of the brave Arctic hero,[46] who sped
    O'er these waters, pray tell us great Pines,
    Ye whose heads the clouds piercing, arise;
    Ye too, surely remember the cries
    Of the Mohawk and Huron at strife
    'Mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay.
                    Oh give to me, etc.

    By the Clematis' fairy bower
    Blooms the Columbine's purple flower;
    While blue bells gay to the golden rod,
    Wild roses to violets nod,
    And smile down on the gem-spangled moss,
    The brown bee hums: "Your joys I hear,
    And bring sweets for your evening cheer,
    Pure as dew and as amber clear,"
    'Mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay.
                    Oh give to me, etc.

    With shrill scream from the rocks,
    Rise the white gulls in flocks,
    While far down in the deeps,
    With cold eye, the great sturgeon creeps.
    In the tangle of vine and dark spruce shade,
    Is the bed of the black bear made;
    From the coiled rattle snake,
    Manito! safe us make!
    'Mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay.
                    Oh give to me, etc.

    At eve, with sun-set beams,
    La Cloche's gray rock gleams,
    With bright spirits from Algic[47] skies,
    See, the swift Aurora flies.
    O'er the pines the pale moon smiles.
    All enwrapped in the beauty of night,
    We look on, by the camp-fire's light;
    Great Manito seeming near,
    'Mong the Isles of the Georgian Bay.
                    Oh give to me, etc.


[Footnote 38: _Voyages of Samuel de Champlain_, translated by C. P.
Otis, III. 63 to 74: _Champlain's Astrolabe_, by A. J. Russell,
Montreal, 1879.]

[Footnote 39: Irving's Life of Columbus, VI. 63.]

[Footnote 40: Chaucer's treatise on the astrolabe is in the old
English of the year 1391, and begins thus: "Little Louis, my son, I
perceive by certain evidence, thine ability to learn sciences touching
numbers and proportions, and have considered thy busy prayer in
special to learn the use of the astrolabie."... "I am but a poor
compilator of the labours of old astronomers, and have translated into
English only for thy instruction, and with this sword shall I slay
envy." As to the mode of holding the instrument, in taking the
altitude of the sun, Chaucer says: "Put the ring of thine astrolabie
upon thy right thumb, and turn thy left side against the light of the
sun."]

[Footnote 41: The present director of the Assyrian branch of the
British Museum does not share with the late Dr. Smith this opinion,
but informed Mr. Arthur Harvey, of Toronto, during a recent visit to
the museum, that the Assyrian relic referred to was now generally
regarded as a magical instrument only.]

[Footnote 42: Algoma report.]

[Footnote 43: The Algoma Report, 37, 38 and 45. For statistics of the
weather at Moose Factory for the years 1878 and '79, see report of
Canadian Geological Survey for 1879, '80; see also, Dr. Bell's
observations in subsequent reports of the Survey, as to valuable
deposits of coal and other minerals, found on the islands and shores
of James Bay.]

[Footnote 44: The name proposed is Algonkin Forest and Park. The tract
of land selected by the commissioners, contains the following nineteen
townships; Wilkes, Pentland, Boyd Biggar, Osler, Lister, Deacon,
Devine, Bishop, Creswick, Anglin, Hunter, McLaughlin, Bower, Dickson,
Peck, Canisbay, Sproule and Preston.]

[Footnote 45: Columbus.]

[Footnote 46: Sir John Franklin.]

[Footnote 47: Algonquin, including Ottawa and Chippewa.]




APPENDIX _A_ TO CHAPTER V.

    *    *    *    *    *

TABLE OF INDIANS OF ONTARIO AND QUEBEC, COMPILED FROM THE CENSUS.

                    ONTARIO.                              1867.      1891.

 Chippewas and Munceys of the Thames                       588        637
 Moravians of the Thames                                   254        309
 Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Ottawas of Walpole Island    748        852
 Wyandots of Anderdon                                       71         98
 Chippewas of Snake Island                                 130        127
 Chippewas of Rama                                         265        226
 Chippewas of Christian Island                             186        357
 Missisaugas of Rice, Mud, and Scugog Lakes                282        283
 Mohawks of the Bay of Quint                              664      1,120
 Missisaugas of Alnwick                                    212        243
 Ojibways of Sandy Island                                  174        ...
 Chippewas of Saugeen                                      280        579
 Chippewas of Cape Croker                                  352        396
 Christian Island Band on Manitoulin Island                 71        ...
 Six Nations of Grand River                              2,779      3,474
 Missisaugas of the Credit                                 204        253
 Chippewas of Lake Superior                              1,263      2,051
 Chippewas of Lake Huron                                 1,748      3,177
 Manitoulin Island Indians                               1,498      1,915
 Golden Lake Indians                                       164        367
 Chippewas of Sarnia                                       ...        479
 Pottawatomies of Sarnia                                   ...         34
 Oneidas of the Thames                                     ...        726

                   QUEBEC.                                1867.      1891.

 Iroquois of Caughnawaga                                 1,596      1,798
 Iroquois of St. Regis                                     797      1,218
 Lake of Two Mountain Indians                              593        375
 River Desert Indians                                      317        455
 Abenakis of St. Francis                                   268        378
 Abenakis of Becancour                                      67         62
 Hurons of Lorette                                         276        301
 Alalacites of Viger                                       170        121
 Micmacs of Restigouche                                    378        471
 Micmacs of Mara                                           113         94
 Montagnais of Lower St. Lawrence                        1,039      1,701
 Scattered Bands                                           ...      1,816

"From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been a considerable
increase during the past twenty-five years, and the re-arrangement of
the bands has been such that it is not always easy to place the proper
figure opposite each band."

A considerable addition should be made to those here classed as
Indians in respect of the Metis population in which the red man is
often lost in the newer race. Many also of those classed and living as
Indians are of mixed blood. The Hurons of Lorette, near Quebec, have
less physical trace of the aborigines, as known to Champlain and the
Jesuit Fathers, than any other band in Canada. They are shrewd in
business, and on a par with the French habitants about them. The
half-breed population of the bay and north shore has been already
referred to.


APPENDIX _B_ SHINGUACOSE.


As the Ottawa warrior has been referred to somewhat fully, it seems
but right to recall something of the brave and loyal Chippewa, whose
fame was in all the Lake Superior region, second only to that of his
predecessor Waub-Ojeeg. Mr. J. G. Kohl, the German traveller and
savant, soon after the decease of Shinguacose, in 1858, visited this
Indian region and found him celebrated throughout it. He had, with a
large party of Canadian Indians, joined the force which attacked and
took the Michigan stronghold, on the seventeenth July, 1812. When the
mode of attack was considered, Captain Roberts called on the Ojibway
Chief, for his advice. He took a night to consider, or as he said, to
dream about it. In the morning Shinguacose gave advice which was
adopted. The whites, with beating of drums and firing of guns,
attacked in front, while the red allies paddled out in canoes, climbed
the heights unnoticed, and made an unexpected attack upon the American
rear. This filled the enemy with terror; Fort Holmes was soon
surrendered. The event was one of much importance. The post was the
Gibraltar of North-Western Canada. The command of the upper lakes and
the control of the fur trade was secured to Canada. An attempt was
made to retake the place two years later, in which Assikinack was
concerned as already stated, but Macinac remained a British post and
Canadian soldiers held the fort, until given up when peace was
declared.

Had Shinguacose been a white man, he would have been decorated and
knighted. He had well won his spurs, and his loyalty, as also that of
Assikinack, were of manifest service to the Empire. As it was he
received a cheferie and a grant of land near Sault Ste. Marie as his
reward. He was given several medals for bravery which he never wore,
but gave to his young warriors. In the histories of the period, we
find the Indian allies massed together, with little regard to
individual actions or prowess. The names of minor officers of white
blood, are reported for every deed of any note, while the red men are
treated but as so many dogs of war.

Shinguacose was Son of a Scotch officer by a Chippewa squaw. When a
young man, he was taken by his mother to see his father, then serving
in the Detroit garrison. The officer gazed with pleasure on the young
savage. He was proud of him, and wished to educate and bring him up as
a white man. He proposed this, and promised to procure his son a
commission in the English service. But no; Shinguacose soon made up
his mind; he would not leave his faithful mother, Indian relatives
and customs. His father dismissed him with presents, and retained a
paternal interest in him until his death. When the war was over he
followed the British and came to Garden River, where a pine was
erected before his lodge, on which flew the red Union Jack. He was
long a leader of his people, and headed several expeditions into the
Sioux country from Lake Superior to the Mississippi. He was then a
pagan, and full of superstition; in a medicine bag he carried recipes
for magic incantations, which he valued most highly. For these he had,
at various times, paid in beaver and other skins, what was calculated
by Mr. Kohl, as amounting to $30,000. But, under the ministrations of
Dr. McMurray, he became a Christian, and settled at the Indian village
of Riviere au Desert, highly esteemed by his people and the English.
As he lay in his last illness, the red folk prepared and put up a
second flag-staff before his house, with a new flag upon it; but he
died, leaving a worthy family, one of whom, Augustin Shingwauk, gave
his name to the Shingwauk Home. It was found that the old chief had,
shortly before his death, destroyed all his papers and birch-barks,
painted dreams, songs and dances.[48]

[Footnote 48: Kitchi-Gami. By J. G. Kohl, cap. 23. The Canadian
Indian, p. 153 and 343.]


APPENDIX _C_.

THOMAS GEORGE ANDERSON.


Captain Anderson was one of the most noted and useful officers in the
early employ of the Canadian Government. He was well versed in Indian
languages and customs, and was the friend of the Assikinacks father
and son.

The Ottawa Indian Department states that its records show that Thomas
George Anderson was appointed to the position of Indian interpreter,
27th August, 1816, he being then 25 years of age. He served at
Drummond Island, and afterwards had his headquarters at Toronto and
Cobourg. He retired on account of ill-health, in July, 1858, on a
good pension. A letter from him, found in the Department, contains the
following:--"My Dear Sir,--You wish to know when I was appointed to
the Indian Department. In the early part of 1814 I raised a corps of
volunteers, and after the capture of Fort McKay, on the Mississippi, I
remained in command of the post for some time.

 "At the close of the war, I returned to Michillimacinac, in the
 commencement of the year 1815. From this I was sent back to the
 Mississippi, formally to announce the conclusion to our allies in that
 country. In the meantime my commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel, now
 Major-General McDowall, had recommended me for a permanent situation
 in the Indian Department, and after my return from this duty to
 Drummond Island, I received my appointment on the 24th September,
 1815, as Captain in the Department, and have remained in it ever
 since.

                      "I am, dear sir,
                         "Yours faithfully,
                             "T. G. ANDERSON.

 "TO GEORGE VARDEN, Esq."

The name of Anderson appears in Lossing's History of the war more than
once. On 28th May, 1813, at Sackett's Harbour, he states that
Lieutenant Anderson had forty Caughnawagas, who were landed at
Henderson's Bay, and helped to create a dread, which ended in a
disorganized retreat. He also appeared at Chrysler's Farm, November
11, 1813, in command of some Indians.


APPENDIX _D_.

THE ASSIKINACKS.

    An American version of the taking of Fort Dearborn is given
    in Drake's _Indians of North America_, v. 134.

The signatures of the Indian delegates who presented their case to the
Executive in 1811, are copied from the original, on fyle at
Washington, and kindly given through Mr. R. V. Belt, Acting
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, who
states: 'The treaty of Fort Wayne was sent to the United States
Senate, December 22, 1809, by President Madison, with explanatory
documents. It is impossible now to determine whether any reference was
made in these documents, to the presentation to "Black Partridge" of
the medal referred to, as the Capitol and its records were burned and
destroyed in 1814. I transmit herewith a copy of the talk or petition
of Barstow or Kimi-ne-tega-gan, and of "Black-Bird," or Siginoc, two
Ottawa chiefs, signed at Washington, which is the only paper I am able
to find that refers in any way to "Black Partridge," or "Black-Bird."'
The document last referred to ends thus:

[Illustration: hand-written note]

As to Francis Assikinack, the following is part of a communication
from the Department of Indian Affairs at Ottawa, including a facsimile
of his signature.

Francis Assikinack entered the Indian Office, at Cobourg, on the 10th
August, 1849, as clerk and interpreter, which position he continued to
hold, both there and in the Indian office, Toronto, up to the date of
his death, which occurred on the 21st of November, 1863.

The following is an extract from a letter received from Mr. W. R.
Bartlett, who was in charge of the Indian office, Toronto, reporting
the illness of Assikinack:

                                TORONTO, July 1st, 1863.

 "I very much fear the poor fellow will never live to come back. I
 sincerely trust he may recover, for he will be a great loss to the
 Department, and especially to this branch of it."

 "I attach to this letter an original signature of Francis Assikinack,
 as follows:"

        _I have the honor to be, sir_,

                    _Your most obedient humble servant_,

[Illustration: Signature]

WILLIAM SPRAGGE, Esq.,

     _Dy. Supt. Indian Affairs, Quebec_.


APPENDIX _E_.

INDIAN PROPER NAMES AND DO-DAIMS.


The names applied to places and persons by the Indians are full of
meaning and some knowledge of them is necessary to the understanding
of their history. The following, arranged mainly under authority of
Mr. J. C Bailey, C.E., are given as representative, and are mostly
found in the narrative or on the accompanying map.[49]

It is surprising to see how beautifully the language of the Algonquin
tribes is constructed. It has naturally a soft, smooth sound; the
letter F, L, Q, R, V and X not being in the alphabet of the Ottawa,
O-jib-way or Cree proper. Ideas are expressed in groups and a
complicated "word-picture" is formed. The language has been compared
to the Greek in its sweetness and in its construction. Many
differences of meaning are conveyed by changing or adding
terminations. With a few exceptions, all the words contained in this
list are in the O-jib-way and the kindred dialects of the Algonquins
(O-dush-gwah-gah-meeg), O-to-wah, Po-ta-wah-tah-mee, Me-no-me-ne. The
Algonquins occupied mainly the region north of the great lakes from
Nova Scotia to the Rocky Mountains, as far as Lake St. John in Quebec
and Hudson Bay in Ontario.

[Footnote 49: See also _Indian names of places near the Great Lakes_,
by D. H. Kelton. Detroit, 1888; _Meanings of Indian words around
Sudbury_, by Dr. Bell, Geological Survey, 1891, Appendix IV., and Dr.
A. F. Chamberlain's _Language of the Missisaugas of Scugog_.]


Ab-bi-tib-be, the half-way place, so called because midway between
    Lake Nipissing and Moose Factory on James Bay.

Ah-mik, a beaver,--Ahmik Harbour is Beaver Harbour.

Algonquins or Algonkins, also Alinconquins, Algics and Altenkins,
    so called by the early French, include the Chippewas, Otchipwais,
    or Ojibways, Ottawas, Adirondacs, Missisaugas, Micmacs, Abenakis,
    Delawares, Mohicans and some extinct nations formerly in the New
    England States, also the Pottawatomies, Blackfeet, Montagnais du
    Saguenay (Saguenay Mountaineers) and Crees.

Assikinack, the Black-bird.

Assiniboine-se-be is the Stoney Sioux River and should be As-si-ne-bwaun,
    Bwaun being a Sioux and assin a stone.

Aurora Borealis, Chibayag ninii-diwag, the dead are dancing.

Bobcaygeon should be O-bob-ka-je-wun and means a narrow place
    between rocks where the water comes through.

Cesebe Lake should be she-sheeb, which means a duck, or Duck
    Lake. In the Cree se-seeb is a duck.

Chicago means where skunks are; she-kahg being a skunk, ong or
    ongk being the dative of location, meaning at or to that place.

Coboconk should be Kah-be-kahnk or Kah-kah-be-kahnk, or Pwah-kah-be-kahnk
    and means falls over a smooth rock where the
    water falls straight down and not sloping.

Couchiching is an inlet as at Orillia. Orillia was and is now called
    by the Indians Me-che-kuh-neeng, which means narrows dividing
    two lakes; it is also the word for a fence.

The Credit was called from a trading place or store being there
    where Indians traded and got credit, hence it was called
    Mah-ze-nah-e-ga-sebe (se-be being a river), Mah-ze-nah-e-gun being
    a book where their debts were entered.

Etobicoke should be Wah-do-be-kaung, a place where many alder
    trees grow; Wah-dobe is an alder tree, Wah-do-be-ke a forest
    of alder trees, and the termination--ong or ing--meaning at, to,
    in or from such a place--as ne-be, water; ne-beeng, in the
    water.

Hamilton on Burlington Bay was called De-o-nah-sa-de-o, a Mohawk
    word which means a shallow place with a sand bar.

Iroquois or Six Nations, the most warlike native race of North
    America, embrace the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas
    and Tuscaroras. The last named were not in the original
    confederacy and before they joined it, the _bund_ or union was
    called the Five Nations. In O-jib-way the Mohawks are called
    Nah-dah-way, or black snakes.

Joseph, Lake, is Kah-wah-sha-gah-mik, or clear water.

Kaka-beka, see Coboconk.

Kaministiquia, at Fort William, should be Kah-me-niss-tah-qui-yah
    (se-be), and means a river with an island in it.

Keewatin is Ke-way-din, the true pronunciation being nearer the d
    than the t, and simply means north, both in the Cree and the
    Ojibway languages. Ke-way-de-ne-nodin is north wind, nodin
    is wind.

Kingston in Mohawk is Gah-da-o-qui, and Cataraqui is Kah-dah-rock-qui.

Mackinac or Michilimackinack, is derived from Me-zhe-ka, which in
    O-jib-way is a turtle, and the O-tah-wah Indians would say
    me-ke-nang, and in the Cree mees-ke-nauk; the O-jib-ways would say
    for a big turtle me-she-ne-mah-ke-naunk, and the people who live
    at that place me-she-ne-mah-ke-ne-goog; the Indian tradition being
    that a very large turtle was found there at the time when the
    Indians were fond of telling these stories around the camp fires
    to their children and others who believed in such
    narratives--(ah-duh-so-kaun).

Mahgenetewan is mah-gah-net-te-waung, a long open channel.

Mashquoteh, where the new Upper Canada College is now built,
    should be Mahsh-ko-da, and means a meadow or a prairie;
    also Mash-ko-se-kun, Mah-nahsh-ko-se-waun, etc.; the accent,
    as in most of these words, being strong on the last syllable.

Matawan is a Cree word and is Mah-tah-wawn, and means where a
    river falls into a lake or some place below.

Manitoba may mean several things. Mah-ne-to is a spirit, and in
    Ojibway Mah-ne-to-wah-pun or bun means a place where there
    is something supernatural or Mah-ne-to-bi--sitting God, or
    Mah-ne-to-wah-bah--a spirit in a strait.

Maskinonge is called no doubt from a fish of that kind, and which
    in Ojibway is mahsh-ke-non-je. Ke-non-je is a common pike,
    and mahsh is large or strong.

Matchedash should be Matche-dushk, and means a place where
there are rushes and drowned land.

Michigan means a big lake, the word being contracted; Sah-gah-e-gun
    being lake, and Mishi or Ma-tchau being large. This is
    about the same in Cree.

Michi-po-coton means a large mushroom.

Milwaukee should be Me-ne-wah-kee, which means good land--Me-no
    good, and ah-kee land.

Mississippi means simply a big river; see-be being river, me-sah
    being large. Hence the Ojibways would say, Me-sah-see-beeng,
    to, or at that river; hence the name in Cree Mis-si-se-be.

Missisauga means a river with many mouths.

Missouri, Mishonisibi, river of the big canoe tribe.

Muskeeg. This word so much used on the C. P. R., should be
    mush-keeg, and simply means a swamp where trees could
    grow. Mish-gwuh-si, being a softer kind of beaver meadow;
    mahs-kaik in Cree.

Mushquash should be Mush-kahs, and means a white stone or
    quartz.

Nassagaweya should be Na-zhe-sah-ge-way-yong, and means a river
    with two outlets.

Nipissing mean a small lake--ne-beens being the diminutive and
    ne-beens-ing--meaning to, at, or from the lake.

Nottawasaga is Nah-dah-wa-sah-ge, which means the mouth of the
    Mohawk River. Nah-dah-wa being a Mohawk, and sah-gee
    mouth of a river. Me-sah-sah-ge means the large mouth of a
    river.

O-me-me mean pigeon; hence O-me-me-se-be--Pigeon River.

Owen Sound is still called by the Indians Ke-che-we-quaid-ong.
    Ke-che is large and we-quaid is a bay, and the dative termination
    ong, as already explained, to, or at that place.

Parry Sound is called by the Indians Wah-sah-ko-sing, meaning
    white all around the shore.

The Sault Ste. Marie is called Pah-wah-teeg, which means falls or
    rapids.

Pembina is said to be a corruption of the Cree word Ne-pe-me-nah,
    which means the high bush cranberry. In Ojibway they are
    called uh-neeb-me-nun. The low bush cranberries growing
    in the swamps are called mahsh-keeg-me-nun. Nepimina got
    corrupted into its present shape by Hudson Bay Company employees
    and coureurs de bois.

Penage, Lake, is Wash-kah-gah-meeng, meaning Crooked Lake. Penage
    is the French word for a pair of deer's horns.

Penetanguishene is from two words and means the Rolling Sand.

Saguenay is a Cree word and is Sah-ge-ne-pe, meaning water going
    out.

Saugeen means mouth of a river.

Shing-wauk is a pine tree, the diminutive Shingua-cose or Shing-wauk-ons,
    is a small pine. The township Chinguacousy should
    be Shing-wauk-ons-e-ka--a pinery or where young pines grow.
    Holland Landing was called this by the Indians. The "Shing-Wauk
    Home" at the Sault Ste. Marie being called after the
    Indian chief of that name who formerly lived at Garden River
    and who was son of Shingua-cose.

Severn is Wai-nant-keche-aung, and means a river running about
    in all directions.

Scugog should be Pi-yaug-wash-kew-gaug and means a shallow
    muddy lake.

Spadina should be Ish-pah-de-nah and means a high hill or rising
    ground, Ish-pah being high; Ish-pah-me-gudt, it is high;
    Pe-kwah-de-nah, it is hilly; Ish-pah-be-kah, a high rock.

Sheboygan should be Shah-bo-e-gah-neeng, and means the place
    where the water can be used right through by a boat or canoe
    without making a portage (o-ne-gum).

Simcoe, Lake, was called by the Indians ah-shoon-ne-yongk, which
    name, as tradition says, was the name of a dog that continually
    went about crying out that name, but was never seen.

Shahwahnegah is a long bay or strait. Shah-wa-yah a long strait
    or shore.

Saskatchewan should be Ke-sis-kah-je-wun, both in the Ojibway
    and Cree, and means a rapid current; Pa-meche-wung being a
    current of water, Ke-se-je-wun is a swift current. Red River
    was called by the Indians Mis-ko-se-be, misko being red and
    se-be a river.

Superior, Lake, is Kit-che-gumme, or big sea.

Thessalon, on the Georgian Bay, should be Ta-suh-nong, and is
    derived from Ta-sin, a flat point of land jutting out into the
    lake.

Temiscamingue mean deep water, from timi or dimi deep, and
    gum-me lake or water.

Ta-ma-gamingue--Tamagaming, means a lake of bays.

Toronto is a Mohawk word and should be De-on-do, meaning trees
    in the water. There is some doubt about the meaning of this
    word, as the language of the various bands composing the
    Mohawks varies in dialect.

Wahnapitae should be Wah-nah-be-da-be, and means a row of teeth
    in a semi-circular shape.

The river Wisawasa should be We-sah-gah-mah-seeng, meaning
    rapids or water running towards a lake or some other water.

Wigwam should be we-ge-waum, and is a lodge, bark or otherwise.

Wah-we-a-yah-te-nong is Lake St. Clair, and means a round lake,
    a Wah-we-a-yah means round.

Washago should be Wah-sha-gum-me and means clear water. Wa-sha
    means clear; wah-sha-yah, bright, and wah-sa-yah, light;
    gum-me being an affix meaning water or lake.

Wawanosh is Wa-wa-naush, and means sailing well. Wa-wa-ne-well
    and nah-sheeng, sailing.

Winnipeg is from the Cree; wini, dirty, and pek, a swamp; pronounced
    we-ne-paik.


DO-DAIMS.--Each tribe has its crest, totem, or more properly dodm or
do-daim. Bands have also sometimes their particular do-daims, being
rudely carved or painted designs. These may be seen on canoes, paddles
and other articles. Their most important use was in the execution of
documents, such as treaties and deeds.

No trace of the employment of a do-daim by the Assikinacks can be
found in the Indian department at Ottawa nor in Washington. The other
Ottawa chief who signed with Assikinack the document of October 5,
1811, affixed his proper crest, a grey squirrel, as has been seen. The
following are examples of do-daims used by the tribes or bands
mentioned, both Algonquin and Iroquois:--

 Algonquins,            of Montreal                 a Green oak.

 Nipissings,            of Two Mountains            a Heron.

 Ottawas,               of Ottawa River             a Grey squirrel.

 Tabittikis,            of Lake Temiscamingue       an Eagle.

 Iroquois (Six Nat'ns)  of U. States and Canada     Wolf, bear, deer, small
                                                    bear, turtle and snipe.

 Hurons,                of Lake Huron               Cord, rock, etc.

 Ojibways,              of Lake Superior            Loon and bear.

 Missisauga Riv. Ind.   of St. Clair, Quint and
                       formerly also of Toronto     a Crane.

 Petuns,                of Georgian and Huron
                       Peninsula                    Wolf and stag.


[Transcriber's Note: Variations in spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and
use of accents have been retained as in the original.]


[End of _The Georgian Bay_ James Cleland Hamilton]