and several small ones pass into this bay. The Bay of Thunder lies near the Straits of Michilimackinac, is nine miles in width and very shallow. Here terrible storms of thunder and lightning are frequently experienced.
On the Canada side of Lake Huron, from Lake St. Clair to the river Severn, which passes near Lake Simcoe and enters the first mentioned Lake, the country is but little known, and is covered with thick forests. These forests reach far beyond the Severn, and indeed are separated from the unexplored wilds, which probably extend to the Pacific Ocean, only by the lakes, rivers, and portages which lie in the track of the British Fur Companies. The rapids upon these rivers are very numerous. The lakes too, in this part of the country, are numerous, but small. The principal houses of the British Fur Companies are established at the Lakes Abitibee, Waratouba, and Tamiscamine.[78] The North-West Fur Company send every year from one hundred to one hundred and fifty canoes, laden with merchandize, to their posts on Lake Superior. These canoes are made of very light materials, generally of birch, are flat on the bottom, round on the sides, and sharp at each end. They carry about four tons each, and are conducted by about ten persons. These boats generally move from Montreal about the beginning of May. Before the canoes arrive at their place of destination, they are repeatedly unladen and carried, together with their cargoes, across many portages. The course is toilsome and perilous; but the prospect of {129} gain, and the habit of enduring fatigue render the employment tolerable. The principal food of the navigators is Indian meal and the fat of bears. In the trade with the Indians, the beaver skin is the medium of barter. Two beaver
