rve the motions of the enemy. The route lay
between a range of low islands, and a shelvy beach, very monotonous and
dreary. We remained at the entrance of the aforesaid river till the
25th, when the fleet of loaded canoes, forty-seven in number, arrived
there. The value of the furs which they carried could not be estimated
at less than a million of dollars: an important prize for the Americans,
if they could have laid their hands upon it. We were three hundred and
thirty-five men, all well armed; a large camp was formed, with a
breast-work of fur-packs, and we kept watch all night. The next morning
we began to ascend French river, and were soon out of reach of the
dreaded foe. French river flows from the N.E. and empties into Lake
Huron, about one hundred and twenty miles from Saut Ste. Marie. We
reached Lake Nipissing, of which it is the outlet, the same evening, and
encamped. We crossed that lake on the 27th, made a number of portages,
and encamped again, not far from _Mattawan_.

On the 28th we entered, at an early hour, the river _Ottawa_, and
encamped, in the evening, at the _Portage des deux Joachims_. This is a
grand river, but obstructed by many falls and rapids on its way to join
the St. Lawrence; which caused us to make many portages, and so we
arrived on the 31st at _Kettle falls_.

The rock which here arrests the course of the _Ottawa_, extends from
shore to shore, and so completely cuts off the waters, that at the time
we passed none was seen falling over, but sinking by subterranean
channels, or fissures in the rock, it boiled up below, from seven or
eight different openings, not unlike water in a huge caldron, whence the
first explorers of the country gave it the name of _Chaudiere_ or
Caldron falls. Mr. P. Wright resided in this place, where he had a fine
establishment and a great number of men employed in cultivating the
land, and getting out lumber.

We left the _Chaudieres_ a little before sunset, and passed very soon
the confluence of the _Rideau_ or _Curtain river_. This river, which
casts itself into the Ottawa over a rock twenty-five by thirty feet
high, is divided in the middle of the fall by a little island, which
parts the waters into two white sheets, resembling a double curtain open
in the middle and spreading out below. The _coup d'oeil_ is really
picturesque; the rays of the setting sun, which struck the waters
obliquely as we passed, heightened exceedingly their beauty, and
rendered it