In passing over the Grand Portage, the traveller has to resort to a conveyance which presents a striking contrast with the usual national works of her Ladyship, the Queen. It is the same establishment which conveys the Royal Mail from Quebec to Halifax, and consists of a common Canadian cart, a miserable Canadian pony, and a yet more miserable Canadian driver. Such is “the way they order things in Canada,” which, I fancy, is not exactly the way they do in France. The Grand Portage Road itself is all that one could desire, and as there is a good deal of summer and winter travelling upon it, it is surprising that the Government cannot afford a more comfortable conveyance.
The eastern termination of the Grand Portage road, is at Lake Timiscouta, where is situated a pleasant hamlet of Canadians, and a picketed fort, which is now abandoned. The views from this spot are unique and exceedingly beautiful, particularly a western view of the lake, when glowing beneath the rays of the setting sun. The Indian word, Timiscouta, signifies the winding water, and accurately describes the lake, which has a serpentine course, twenty-four miles long, and from two to three wide. Excepting the cluster of houses already mentioned, there is not a single cabin on the whole lake; and the surrounding mountains, which are, perhaps, a thousand feet high, are the home of solitude and silence. The only vessels which navigate this lake are Indian canoes, paddled by Canadians. Not only does the isolated settler depend upon them for the transportation of his provisions, but even the English nobleman, when travelling in this region, finds it necessary to sit like a tailor in their straw-covered bottoms.
The only outlet to Lake Timiscouta, is the Madawaska River, which is but a contraction of the same water, but reduced to the width of a stone’s throw, and leading to the St. John’s, a distance of some forty miles. The meaning of Madawaska, as I am informed, is, _never frozen_; and the river obtained this name from the fact that certain portions, on account of the current, are never ice-bound. The scenery of the river is precisely similar to that of its parent lake, only that it is occasionally a little cultivated. The waters of both are clear, but not very deep or cold. They abound with fish, of which the common trout, the perch, and pickerel, (not pike), are the more valuable varieties.