for supper, the hunters returned to the canoe, carrying the skin
along with them.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

RUNNING THE FALLS--WILD SCENES AND MEN.

Next day the travellers reached one of those magnificent lakes of which
there are so many in the wild woods of North America, and which are so
like to the great ocean itself, that it is scarcely possible to believe
them to be bodies of fresh water until they are tasted.

The largest of these inland seas is the famous Lake Superior, which is
so enormous in size that ships can sail on its broad bosom for several
days _out_ _of_ _sight_ of land. It is upwards of three hundred miles
long, and about one hundred and fifty broad. A good idea of its size
may be formed from the fact, that it is large enough to contain the
whole of Scotland, and deep enough to cover her highest hills!

The lake on which the canoe was now launched, although not so large as
Superior, was, nevertheless, a respectable body of water, on which the
sun was shining as if on a shield of bright silver. There were numbers
of small islets scattered over its surface; some thickly wooded to the
water's edge, others little better than bare rocks. Crossing this lake
they came to the mouth of a pretty large stream and began to ascend it.
The first thing they saw on rounding a bend in the stream was an Indian
tent, and in front of this tent was an Indian baby, hanging from the
branch of a tree.

Let not the reader be horrified. The child was not hanging by the neck,
but by the handle of its cradle, which its mother had placed there, to
keep her little one out of the way of the dogs. The Indian cradle is a
very simple contrivance. A young mother came out of the tent with her
child just as the canoe arrived, and began to pack it in its cradle.
Jasper stopped for a few minutes to converse with one of the Indians, so
that the artist had a good opportunity of witnessing the whole
operation.

The cradle was simply a piece of flat board, with a bit of scarlet cloth
fastened down each side of it. First of all, the mother laid the poor
infant, which was quite naked, sprawling on the ground. A dirty-looking
dog took advantage of this to sneak forward and smell at it, whereupon
the mother seized a heavy piece of wood, and hit the dog such a rap over
the nose as sent it away howling. Then she spread a thick layer of soft
moss on the wooden board. Above this she laid a very neat, small
blanket, about two feet in leng