Then went on four _pauses_ over the portage and
encamped in sight of a pond. The next day we accomplished ten _pauses,_
a hard day's work. We encamped near a boulder of granite of the drift
stratum, which contained brilliant plates of mica. Water scarce and bad.
Our tea was made of a brown pondy liquid, which looked like water in a
tanner's vat.
We passed, and stopped to examine, Indian symbols on the blazed side of
a tree, which told a story to our auxiliary Indians of a moose having
been killed; by certain men, whose family name, or mark, was denoted,
&c. We had previously passed several of these hunting inscriptions in
our ascent of the Mauvais, and one in particular at the eastern end of
the four _pause_ portage. We were astonished to perceive that these
figures were read as easy as perfect gazettes by our Indian guides.
We were also pleased, notwithstanding the severe labor of the _apecun_,
to observe the three auxiliary Chippewas, with us, playing in the
evening at the game of the bowl, an amusement in which some of the men
participated.
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