Kitchi-Gami: Life Among the Lake Superior Ojibway

CHAPTER XII

L'ANSE. 167 CHAPTER XIT. L'ANSE-KEWEENA Pli.OMONTORY- THE VOYAGEUR -l'ORTAGES - WALit THROUGH A l'OREST-IlliSH SQUATTERS-Sl'RUCE·:BEER-THE TORCH LAKE -:SEAl!. TRAl'B-THE 1lAli.K. CAli'OE-LE l'ETIT l!'RAli'ftOIS-SCAli'TY l!'AREHISERE -A WINTER JO'ORNEY-ALONE ON THE ICE-THE GREAT TRA• VEBSE-THE Jl(lSSIONA:BY-THE CROSS Ol!' THE TRAVERSE-THE LO'Ol'ESBEA .R l'OTATOES-LE :BOURGEOIS-MUSK•BATS-THE LOON :BIRD-THE VOITURE-SAli'DSTONE ROCKS-:BEAUTll!'UL SoENEBY-THE JUB.AGE-THE l\USSION-THE RECEl'TION. IT was four o'clock on a lovely September morning, when one of the elegant steamers which now traverse Lake Superior by the side of the Indian canoes and the old brown "Mackinac barks," put us ashore on the sandy beach of the great peninsula of Keweena. We landed here with the intention of crossing this wild country, and reaching the Indian missions at the south end of the great pointed bay which, with the continent, forms the said peninsula, and which the Canadians named l'Anse. The English give it the pleonastic name of l'Anse Bay, or, as they pronounce it, Leonce Bay. Sometimes it is called after the peninsula , Keweena Bay. The point of the bay runs so deep into the interior of the land, and is so remote from the great lake 168 EAGLE RIVER. routes, that a large vessel rarely finds it worth while (only once a year) to visit the missions there. Hence, any one who wishes to go to them at other times is obliged to cross the peninsula a la Voyageur, partly on foot and partly in a bark canoe on some lakes and rivers. The American pedlars who had settled at our little landing-place, Eagle River, could afford us no assistance , and we therefore proceeded to the bark lodge of the Canadian Voyageur Du Roy, who, though settled at the Upper Mission, had come down to the coast for the sake of the fishing. He landed almost simultaneously with us: we from our nocturnal steam voyage, he from his nocturnal fishing expedition. He brought home a quantity of handsome wbite fish, and while his Indian wife was getting these ready for our breakfast, he immediately prepared for the journey, when we begged him to be our voyageur and interpreter in our journey of inspection to the missions on the Anse. In order to make our good Du Roy's "paqueton"thus the Voyageurs call their knapsack-as small and light as possible, we calculated every piece of paper, every pair of stockings we could possibly do without, and left the rest of our traps " en cache" with his squaw and half-breed children. She assured us that everything was as safe in her rickety wigwam as if locked up in a cellar, and did not deceive us, for when we returned in ten days she counted over every article with the utmost scrupulousness. Du Roy thrust all our indispensable articles into his blue woollen " couverte," tied it round with his leathern "collier," and hung the whole on his back, while fastening the broad band of the "paqueton" THE VOYAGEUR. 169 round his head, for the Voyageurs carry with their foreheads and backs, like our oxen drag with their heads. The weight only half lies on the back. Du Roy, although married to a brown Indian squaw, who looked like his grandmother, was still a young and almost handsome man. He was powerfully built, and walked before us swinging a knotted stake, with a light and elastic step, although, after all, we had fastened a considerable load to his forehead. The weights these Voyageurs can carry are surprising; one hundred and fifty pounds is the ordinary and almost legal weight packed on every Voyageur in these lands, and is the rule throughout the Hudson's Bay territory. Still, they frequently carry a heavier load, and walk along paths on which any European animal, unless it could borrow the qualities of the squirrels or birds, would have quite sufficient trouble in dragging itself along. The canoes have often heavy loads of poultry, provisions, flour, salted meat, and other heavy goods, and owing to the complicated water system of tht:lse countries, portages are frequently reached, or places, where the cargo as well as the boat itself has to be carried through the forests...