n encampment called
Kubbakunna, or the Rest in the Path.

We encamped a short distance above the upper end of this lake at the
close of the day, on a point of low land covered with a small growth of
gray pine, fringed with alder, tamarisk, spruce, and willow. A bed of
moss covered the soil, into which the foot sank at every step. Long moss
hung from every branch. Everything indicated a cold frigid soil. In the
act of encamping, it commenced raining, which gave a double gloom to the
place. Several species of duck were brought from the different canoes as
the result of the day's hunt.

Early the next morning we resumed the ascent. The river became narrow
and tortuous. Clumps of willow and alder lined the shore. Wherever
larger species were seen they were gray pines or tamarack. One of the
Indians killed a deer, of the species _C. Virginea_, during the morning.
Ducks were frequently disturbed as we pushed up the winding channel. The
shores were often too sedgy and wet to permit our landing, and we went
on till twelve o'clock before finding a suitable spot to breakfast.

About five o'clock we came to a high diluvial ridge of gravel and sand,
mixed with boulders of syenite, trap-rock, quartz, and sandstone.
Ozawandib, our guide, said we were near the junction of the Naiwa, or
Copper-snake River, the principal tributary of this branch of the
Mississippi, and that it was necessary to make a passage over this ridge
to avoid a formidable series of rapids. Our track lay across a
peninsula. This occupied the remainder of the day, and we encamped on
the banks of the stream above the rapids and pitched our tent, before
daylight had finally departed. The position of the sun, in this
latitude, it must be recollected, is protracted, very perceptibly, above
the horizon. We ascended to the summit in a series of geological steps
or plateaux. There is but little perceptible rise from the Cross-water
level to this point--called Agate Rapids and Portage, from the
occurrence of this mineral in the drift. The descent of water at this
place cannot be less than seventy feet. On resuming the journey the next
morning (13th) we found the water above these rapids had almost the
appearance of a dead level. The current is very gentle; and, by its
diminished volume, denotes clearly the absence of the contributions from
the Naiwa. About seven miles above the Agate Portage we entered Lake
Assawa, which our Indian guide informed us was the source of thi