chevreuil!"_ were
continually in the men's mouths.

CHIPPEWA RIVER.--At twelve o'clock precisely we came to the confluence
of this fork with the main stream. The Chippewa is a noble mass of
water, flowing with a wide sweeping majesty to the Mississippi. It
excites the idea of magnitude. Wide plains, and the most sylvan and
picturesque hills bound the view. We abandoned our smallest canoe at
this point, and, pushing into the central channel of the grand current,
pursued for six hours our way to its mouth, where we encamped on a long
spit of naked sand, which marked its entrance into the Mississippi.

SNAKE.--The only thing that opposed our passage was a large serpent in
the centre of the channel, whose liberty being impinged, coiled himself
up, and raised his head in defiance. Its colors were greenish-yellow and
brownish. It appeared to be of the thickness at the maximum of a man's
wrist. The bowsman struck it with a pole, not without some trepidation
at his proximity to the reptile, but it made off, apparently unhurt, or
not disabled.

MONT LE GARDE.--The picturesque and grass-clad elevation called _Le
Garde_ by the canoe-men, attracted our notice. It is a high hill, the
top of which commands a view of the whole length of Lake Pepin, where
Chippewa war parties look out for their enemies. It was from this
elevation that Kewaynokwut's party spied poor Finley and his men in
1824, and there could have been no reason whatever for mistaking their
character, for he had a linen tent and other unmistakeable insignia of
a trader.

The Chippewa enters the Mississippi by several channels, which at this
stage of the water, are formed by long sand bars, which are but a few
inches above the water. The tracks of deer and elk were abundant on
these bars. We had found something of this kind on a bar of the
Folleavoine below the mills, where we landed to dry the doctor's
herbarium and press, which had been knocked overboard in a rapid. The
tracks of elk at that spot were as numerous as those of cattle in a barn
yard. There are high hills on the west banks of the Mississippi opposite
the entrance, and an enchanting view is had of the foot of Lake Pepin
and its beautiful shores.

Deer appear to come on to these sand bars at night, to avoid the
mosquitoes. Wolves follow them. We estimate our distance at forty miles,
inclusive of the stop at the mill. We had the brant roasted on a stick
for supper.

DESCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--We emb