Leech Lake

“ Some of these thoroughfares float the steamboats that ply on the river to transport the hay; others are mere ditches, through which only canoes can be shoved. Two m. below (N. N. E. of) the Leech Lake fork, the Mississippi receives an important affluent, namely, the discharge of Ball Club l., which enters at about the middle of the S. border of Sect. 31, T. 145, R. 25, 5th M., and thus only about 4 m. due W. of Deer River (town) . The difference in level between this lake and the river is so slight that sometimes, when the latter is full, it backs up into the former. ”

“ We had how crossed the summit between Leech Lake and the source of the Crow Wing River. We commenced the descent on the morning of the 19th, and passed successively through eleven lakes, connected by a series of short channels. The names of these in their order, are Kaginogamaug, Little Vermilion, Birch, Ple, Assawa, Vieu Desert, Summit, Longrice, Allen's, Johnston's, and Kaitchibo Sagitawa. Two tributary streams enter the river in this distance, the principal of which is Shell River; the stream assumes an ample size, and there is no further apprehension of shallows. ”

“ The first portage was found to be 950 yards. It lies over a dry sand plain. A small lake, without outlet, is then crossed; and a second portage of 4100 yards terminates at the banks of another small lake, which has a navigable outlet (for canoes) into an arm of Leech Lake. We accomplished the entire route, from the island in Cass Lake to the Guelle Plat’s village in Leech Lake, between ten o’clock A. M. and ten P. M. of the 16th July. Although the night was dark, and the Indians had retired to their lodges, a salute was fired by them, and an eligible spot for encampment pointed out. ”

“ From Fond du Lac he proceeded with the expedition up the St. Louis river, crossing the falls by a portage, and ascending to the point nearest Sandy lake, which was reached by a portage. The expedition proceeded up the Mississippi to Leech lake. ”

“ Thence you follow the river a quarter of a mile to the fourth lake, which is a circular one of about five miles in circumference. Thence you pursue the river one day's sail to a small lake; thence two days' sail to a portage, which conveys you to another lake; whence, by small portages from lake to lake, you make the voyage to Leech Lake. The whole of this course lies through ridges of pines or swamps of pinenet [épinette [VII-20] ] , sap pine, hemlock, etc. From the river De Corbeau to this 320 place the deer are very plenty, but we found no buffalo or elk. ”

“ Lawrence, it pursues its course south to the Falls of Pakagama, a distance of two hundred and thirty miles, through natural meadows or savannas covered with wild rice, rushes, reeds and coarse grasses, and aquatic plants. During the distance, it is extremely devious in its course and width, often expanding into lakes which connect themselves through a vast system of reticulated channels. Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and Lake Andrúsia would themselves be regarded as small interior seas, were they on any other part of the continent but that which develops Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. ”

“ Captain Glazier's party proceeded in canoes via Leech Lake to Lake Itasca, and, accompanied by an old Indian guide, pushed down to the new lake, which is of considerable size, and is named after the discoverer, Lake Glazier. It is 1,578 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. ”

“ The leech is found in the lakes and rivers of the interior, as well as in Zanzibar and on both coasts of Africa; according to the Arabs they are of two kinds, large and small. The people neither take precautions against them when drinking at the streams, as the Somal do, nor are they aware of any officinal use for the animals ”

“ Farther on we came to a second hole better supplied, and to a third; and at last Charley cried out, "Look there, Sir! what big water!" and a long broad sheet of water stretched in sweeps through a dense Bauhinia and Bricklow scrub, which covered its steep banks. It is a singular character of this remarkable country, that extremes so often meet; the most miserable scrub, with the open plain and fine forest land; and the most paralysing dryness, with the finest supply of water.
Swarms of ducks covered the margin of the lake; pelicans, beyond the reach of shot, floated on its bosom ”

“ As there is a prejudice among the country people that Leeches never breed well till they have tasted blood, it is said that they drive their horses and cows into the water inhabited by the Leeches, and consequently that the Leech districts are remarkable for their wretched-looking horses and cattle. Leeches must be five years old before they are fit for medical purposes; and they are caught in shallow water in spring by people going in with naked feet and ankles, to which the Leeches adhere, when they are picked off and put in baskets provided for the purpose. ”

“ Along the S. W., S., S. E., and E. shores of Leech l. is a succession of affluents, some of the larger of which respectively establish waterways of communication with Crow Wing r., with Pine r., and with Willow r. The largest of these Leech l. tributaries is Kwiwisens or Boy r., which offers by its system of lakes and portages the most direct route by way of Willow r. to Sandy l. Some of the lakes along this line are by Nicollet named Hassler, Gauss, Deluot, Eccleston, Brûlé, and Rosati. One of the communications with Pine r. is made by Sandy r., which falls into Leech l. ”

“ Briggs goes to Scotland after salmon, as well as deer and grouse. As a fisherman he is more successful with the rod than he was as a deer-stalker with the gun. A huge salmon, for which "he would not take a guinea a pound," rewards him for a long and desperate struggle, in which he encounters obstacles in the shape of the slippery rocks and deep-water holes that distinguish a Highland river.
In Scottish scenery Leech is as much at home as he is in the turnip-field or the covert. ”

“ It is not artificial, but a natural lake, that is partly fed by the water of the Jussuf canal; its utility is as good as non-existent; no fishing-boat enlivens the hard and desert-circled water mirror, as the brackish water contains scarcely any fish, and is not even favourable to the vegetation at the shores; when the Nile is high and there is plenty of water flowing in, it does swell, but it is by far too deep to allow a drop of the water that flows into it to flow out again ”

“ All leeches are very extensile and can contract the body to a plump, pear-shaped form, or extend it to a long and worm-like shape. They frequently progress after the fashion of a “looper” caterpillar, attaching themselves alternately by the anterior and the posterior sucker. Others swim with eel-like curves through the water, while one land-leech, at any rate, moves in a gliding way like a land Planarian, and leaves, also like the Planarian, a slimy trail behind it. Leeches are usually olive green to brown in colour, darker patches and spots being scattered over a paler ground. ”

“ Leech draws the backgrounds of his little pictures. The homely landscape, the sea, the winter road by which the huntsmen ride, the light and clouds, the birds floating overhead, are indicated by a few strokes which show the artist's untiring watchfulness and love of Nature. He is a natural truth-teller, as Hogarth was before him, and indulges in no flights of fancy. He speaks his mind out quite honestly like a thorough Briton. He loves horses, dogs, river and field sports. He loves home and children—that you can see. He holds Frenchmen in light esteem. ”

“ The great leech is still there in the deep hole, because when people look down they see something alive moving about on the bottom, and although they can not distinguish its shape on account of the ripples on the water, yet they know it is the leech. Some say there is an underground waterway across to Nottely river, not far above the mouth, where the river bends over toward Murphy, and sometimes the leech goes over there and makes the water boil as it used to at the rock ledge. ”

“ We passed our time while the mules were at bait in visiting the springs. There is a cold creek 200 yards below the station, and close by the hut a warm rivulet, said to contain leeches. The American hirudo, however, has a serious defect in a leech—it will not bite; the faculty, therefore, are little addicted to hirudination; country doctors rarely keep the villainous bloodsuckers, and only the wealthy can afford the pernicious luxury, which, imported from Spain, costs $12 per dozen, somewhat the same price as oysters at Nijni Novorod. ”

“ In all the lakes, the same species of shell as those thrown up by the spring, occur in abundance, and it seems more than probable that it is formed of the water collected from them by infiltration, or forms the subterranean outlet of some of them. The lakes themselves are merely reservoirs, containing the residue of the waters which fall during the rainy seasons, and contributing to supply the waters of the St. John's River, with which they all seem to communicate by similar means. This spring pours its waters into "Rees's Lake," through a deep and broad channel called Spring Garden Creek. ”

“ For some years before his death he suffered from sleeplessness, and at length he yielded to the suggestion of his friends and the order of his doctor—that change of air and scene should be tried as a remedy. Mark Lemon became his companion, and the two [Pg 268] went to Biarritz, staying a short time in Paris on their way.
"That Leech's pencil was not idle on this holiday," says Shirley Brooks, "two well-known pictures will testify. One of them is a general view of that now famous watering-place, with specimens of its curious frequenters. The other is a very remarkable drawing. ”

“ Swarms of sheldrakes were perching in the trees, and, as we approached, they rose with a loud noise, flying up and down the lagoon, and circling in the air around us. A chain of water-holes, fringed with Mangrove myrtle, changed, farther to the westward, into a creek, which had no connection with the river, but was probably one of the heads of the Nassau. We crossed it, and encamped on a water-hole covered with Nymphaeas, about a mile from the river, whose brushy banks would have prevented us from approaching it, had we wished to do so. ”

“ They are usually navigable from May to October, and furnish exceedingly interesting as well as novel features of cave scenery. The largest body of water is called the Dead Sea, embraced within a basin formed by cliffs sixty feet high, above which a path has been made which leads to a stairway and thence to the River Styx, a body of water that is four hundred feet long and forty feet wide. Lake Lethe is the next water-basin, enclosed by walls ninety feet high, below which is a path that conducts to a pontoon at the neck of the lake. ”

“ There can be no doubt, therefore, that a glacier once came down this canyon filling it 1000 feet deep, scooped out Fallen Leaf Lake just where it struck the plain and changed its angle of slope, and pushed its snout four miles out on the level plain, nearly to the present shores of Lake Tahoe, dropping its débris on either side and thus forming a bed for itself. In its subsequent retreat it seems to have rested its snout some time at the lower end of Fallen Leaf Lake, and accumulated there an imperfect terminal moraine. ”

“ In one place he writes that horses and bullocks never showed that instinctive faculty of detecting water so often mentioned by travellers, and that they seem to be guided entirely by their sight when in search of it—an assertion which seems incredible on the part of a man with any bush training at all. If Leichhardt had ever had to steady a thirsty mob of cattle during a pitch dark night, with a strong wind blowing from water, or even across the damp bed of a lagoon or river, miles and miles away, he would soon have found out by what sense cattle are guided in their search for water. ”

“ Red ironstone cropped out every where, and formed large shallow basins, surrounded by tea-tree thickets; like those swamps I have mentioned on several occasions. About eight miles from the camp, we crossed a good sized waterless creek, with drooping tea-trees, and groves of Pandanus; and about three miles farther, came to a large creek with some very long water-holes, which were all stocked with small fish. On our return, it became so dark that we missed our tracks ”

“ Along the valley, bare sandy and boggy plains alternated with tea-tree thickets and mangrove swamps, in one of which our horses got deeply bogged. After five miles we came on a large piece of salt water, which, according to Brown, was a tributary creek of the river. It flowed between low banks fringed with tea-trees. We followed a foot-path of the natives, who seemed very numerous, which led towards another range west by south; and crossed several tea-tree creeks, Pandanus groves, and swamps full of a high blady grass. ”

“ The Dubawnt river midway in its course expands into Dubawnt Lake, a great sheet of water some sixty-five miles long and forty miles broad. It lies in the same latitude as the south of Greenland. No more desolate scene can be imagined than the picture revealed by modern photographs of the country. The low shores of the lake offer an endless prospect of barren rock and broken stone. In the century and a half that have elapsed since Hearne's journey, only one or two intrepid explorers have made their way through this region. ”