Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/58

 ments of limestone, the great basis of the plain region; and quantities of little shells were strewed about in every direction. After travelling twenty-seven miles, we took up our quarters at sunset in a grove on a slight eminence, which my guide dignified by the name of "Le Grand Côteau."

On the 3rd we passed Shoal Lake, a place where the half-breed settlers kill a great many wild fowl in the fall and spring; after which our course changed from north-west to west, winding through a country agreeably varied with woods and plains. The former abounded in white hares (lepus Americanus); and, as our equipage moved leisurely on, we enjoyed an excellent and profitable day's sport. In the afternoon we reached the borders of Manitobah Lake, and procured a night's lodging in the houses of some "freemen," of whom we found eleven families resident there. These people subsist chiefly by hunting and fishing; they possess a few horses and cattle, and, though separated from their fellow-men, seemed to live quite happily. I ascertained the latitude of this spot, by a meridian altitude of Jupiter, to be 50° 22’ 45’’ N. I shall not fatigue the reader by always recording the result of my observations, which may appear more properly in an Appendix.