o the Atlantic Ocean on the east, to
the Gulf of Mexico on the south, to the Pacific on the west, and to the
Polar Sea on the north and north-west. Considering that some of these
distances are upwards of three thousand miles, it will be perceived that
Lake Winnipeg holds a singular position upon the continent. All the
routes mentioned can be made without any great "portage," and even a
choice of route is often to be had upon those different lines of
communication.

These were points of information communicated by Norman as the canoe was
paddled along the shore; for Norman, although troubling himself but
little about the causes of things, possessed a good practical knowledge
of things as they actually were. He was tolerably well acquainted with
the routes, their portages, and distances. Some of them he had
travelled over in company with his father, and of others he had heard
the accounts given by the voyageurs, traders, and trappers. Norman knew
that Lake Winnipeg was muddy,--he did not care to inquire the cause. He
knew that there was a hilly country on its eastern and a low level land
on its western shores, but it never occurred to him to speculate on this
geological difference. It was the naturalist Lucien who threw out some
hints on this part of the subject, and further added his opinion, that
the lake came to be there in consequence of the wearing away of the
rocks at the junction of the stratified with the primitive formation,
thus creating an excavation in the surface, which in time became filled
with water and formed the lake. This cause he also assigned for the
existence of a remarkable "chain of lakes" that extends almost from the
Arctic Sea to the frontiers of Canada. The most noted of these are
Martin, Great Slave, Athabasca, Wollaston, Deer, Lake Winnipeg, and the
Lake of the Woods. Lucien further informed his companions, that where
primitive rocks form the surface of a country, that surface will be
found to exhibit great diversity of aspect. There will be numerous
lakes and swamps, rugged steep hills with deep valleys between, short
streams with many falls and rapids. These are the characteristics of a
primitive surface. On the other hand, where secondary rocks prevail the
surface is usually a series of plains, often high, dry, and treeless, as
is the case upon the great American prairies.

Upon such topics did Lucien instruct his companions, as they paddled
their canoe around the edge of the