water, a little more or less.  We were therefore obliged to cast anchor here with our pinnace, and went with our two boats to seek out some passage; and in one place we found four or five branches which seemed to come from the river of Hochelega into the lake; but at the mouths of these branches, owing to the great rapidity of the currents, there were bars or shallows having only six feet water.  After passing these shallows, we had 4 or 5 fathoms at flood tide, this being the season of the year when the water is lowest; for at other times the tide flows higher by three fathoms.  All these four or five branches of the river surround five or six very pleasant islands, which are at the head of the lake; and about 15 leagues higher up, all these unite into one.  We landed on one of these islands, where we met five natives who were hunting wild beasts, and who came as familiarly to our boats as if they had always lived amongst us.  When our boats were near the shore, one of these men took our captain in his arms, and carried him to the land with as much ease as if he had been a child of five years old.  We found that these people had taken a great number of wild rats which live in the water, which are as large as rabbits and very good to eat.  They gave these to our captain, who gave them knives and glass-beads in return.  We asked them by signs if this were the way to Hochelega, to which they answered that it was, and that we had still three days sail to go thither.

[Footnote 48:  Now called St Peters Lake, between which and Trois Rivieres, the St Lawrence river is narrow with a rapid current.—­E.]

Finding it impossible to take the pinnace any higher, the captain ordered the boats to be made ready for the rest of the expedition, taking on board as much ammunition and provisions as they could carry.  He departed with these on the 29th September, accompanied by Claudius de Pont Briand, Charles de Pommeraye, John Govion, and John Powlet, with 28 mariners, intending to go up the river as far as possible.  We sailed with prosperous weather till the 2d of October, when we arrived at Hochelega, which is 45 leagues above the head of the lake of Augoulesme, where we left the pinnace.  At this place, and indeed all the way up, we met with many of the natives, who brought us fish and other provisions, always dancing and singing on our arrival.  To gratify them and keep them our friends, the captain always rewarded them on these occasions with knives, beads, and such trifles to their full satisfaction.  On approaching Hochelega above 1000 natives, men, women and children came to meet us, giving us as friendly and hearty welcome as if we had been of their own nation come home after a long and perilous absence, all the men dancing in one place, the women in another, and the children in a third; after which they brought us great abundance of fish and of their bread made of maize, both of which they threw into our boats in profusion.