SISKOWIT LAKE is a considerable body of water lying near the center of the island, which apparently has no outlet. Other small lakes and picturesque inlets and bays abound in all parts of the island. Hills, rising from 300 to 400 feet above the waters of the lake, exist in many localities throughout the island.

FORT WILLIAM, an Hudson Bay Company's post, situated at the mouth of Kaministequoi River, is a very important locality. Besides the fort and Company's buildings, here is a Roman Catholic Mission and some 200 resident inhabitants of a mixed character, mostly in the employ of the gigantic Company, which here holds undisputed sway. Here commences the Portage road to Pembina and the Red River Settlement.

The KAMINISTEQUOI RIVER is a large and rapid stream, with a fall of about 200 feet perpendicular descent some 30 miles above its mouth. Canoes descended from this point in about four hours; but the ascent is long and tedious. The river is represented as containing many beautiful rapids and islands, also as abounding in fish of various kinds. It empties its pure waters into Thunder Bay. The scenery around Thunder Bay is very grand, the mountains, rising 1,000 feet and upward above the surface of the water, have a very imposing effect.

BLACK BAY and RIVER is another important locality, being in part surrounded by high elevations, presenting a romantic and picturesque appearance.

NEEPIGON BAY and RIVER, situated at the north extremity of Lake Superior, is a wild and almost unknown region of country. The bay contains several islands, and the river is represented as being a large and rapid stream rising far toward the north, and from thence flowing through a wilderness of great picturesque beauty.

RED RIVER OF THE NORTH.

THIS interesting section of country being closely connected with the trade of the Upper Lakes, and attracting much attention at the present time, we subjoin the following extract from "MINNESOTA AND DACOTAH," by C. C. Andrews-1857:

"It is common to say that settlements have not been extended beyond Crow Wing, Min. This is only technically true. A few facts in regard to the people who live four or five hundred miles to the north will best illustrate the nature of the climate and its adaptedness to agriculture.

"There is a settlement at Pembina, where the dividing line between British America and the United States crosses the Red River of the North. It didn't extend there from our frontier, sure enough. If it extended from anywhere, it must have been from the north, or along the confines of that mystic region called Rainy Lake. Pembina is said to have about 600 inhabitants. It is situated on the Pembina River. It is an IndianFrench word meaningCranberry? Men live there who were born there, and it is in fact an old settlement. It was founded by British subjects, who thought they had located on British soil. The greater part of its inhabitants are half-breeds, who earn a comfortable livelihood in fur-hunting and farming. It is 460 miles northwest of St. Paul, and 330 miles distant from Crow Wing. Notwithstanding the distance, there is considerable communication between the places. West of Pembina, about thirty miles, is a settlement called St. Joseph, situated near a large mythological body of water called Miniwakin, or Devil's Lake.

"Now let me say something about this Red River of the North, for it is beginning to be a great feature in this upper country. It runs north and empties into Lake Winnipeg, which connects with Hudson Bay by Nelson River. It is a muddy and sluggish stream, navigable to the mouth of the Sioux Wood River for vessels of three feet draught for four months in the year, so that the extent of its navigation within Minnesota alone (between Pembina and the mouth of Sioux Wood River) is 400 miles. Buffaloes still feed on its western banks. tributaries are numerous and copious, abounding with the choicest kind of game, and skirted with a various and beautiful foliage. It can not be many years before this magnificent valley (together with the Saskatchawan) shall pour its products into our markets, and be the theater of a busy and genial life.

Its

"Red River Settlement is seventy miles north of Pembina, and lier on both sides of the river. Its population is estimated

at 10,000 souls. It owes its origin and growth to the enterprise and success of the Hudson Bay Company. Many of the settlers came from Scotland, but the most were from Canada. They speak English and Canadian French. The English style of society is well kept up, whether we regard the church with its bishop, the trader with his wine-cellar, the scholar with his library, the officer with his sinecure, or their paper currency. The great business of the settlement, of course, is the fur traffic.

"An immense amount of buffalo skins is taken in summer and autumn, while in the winter smaller but more valuable furs are procured. The Indians also enlist in the hunts; and it is estimated that upward of $200,000 worth of furs are annually taken from our territory and sold to the Hudson Bay Company. It is high time indeed that a military post should be established somewhere on Red River by our government.

"The Hudson Bay Company is now a powerful monopoly. Not so magnificent and potent as the East India Company, it is still a powerful combination, showering opulence on its members, and reflecting a peculiar feature in the strength and grandeur of the British empire-a power, which, to use the eloquent language of Daniel Webster, has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of martial music.' The company is growing richer every year, and its jurisdiction and its lands will soon find an availability never dreamed of by its founders, unless, as may possibly happen, popular sovereignty steps in to grasp the fruits of its long apprenticeship."

The charter of the Hudson Bay Company expires, by its own limitation, in 1860, and the question of annexing this vast domain to Canada, or forming a separate province, is now deeply agitating the British public, both in Canada and in the mother country.

THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY'S CHARTER.

From a Correspondent of the Toronto Globe, dated, July, 1856. SIR-In the year 1670 Charles the Second created nine individuals a corporate body, and granted them a charter under the style and title of the "Hudson Bay Company."

"The preamble of he charter sets forth, that whereas cer

tain parties had at their own cost and charges undertaken an expedition for Hudson Bay, for the discovery of a new passage into the South Sea, and for finding some trade for furs, minerals, and other considerable commodities, etc.; now know ye that we, being desirous to promote all endeavors tending to the public good and encourage the said design, have granted.'

"The words of the grant are these following:

"We do give, grant, and confirm unto the said governor and company, and their successors, the sole trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the strait commonly called Hudson Strait, together with all the lands and territories upon the countries, coasts and confines of the seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks and sounds aforesaid, that are not already actually possessed by the subjects of any other Christian prince or state; with the fishery of all sorts of fish, whales, sturgeon, and all royal fishes in the seas, bays, inlets and rivers within the premises, and the fish therein taken, together with the royalty of the sea upon the coasts within the limits aforesaid, and all mines royal as well discovered as not discovered, of gold, silver, gems and precious stones, to be found or discovered within the territories, limits and places aforesaid; and that the said land be from henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of our plantations or colonies in America called Rupert's Land. And furthermore we do grant unto the said governor and company, and their successors, that they and their successors, and their factors, servants, and agents for them, and on their behalf, and not otherwise, shall forever hereafter have, use and enjoy, not only the whole, entire and only trade and traffic, and the whole, entire and only liberty, use and privilege, of trading and trafficing to and from the territory, limits, and places aforesaid, but also the whole and entire trade and traffic to and from all havens, bays, creeks, rivers, lakes, and seas, into which they shall find entrance or passage by water or land, out of the territories, limits and places aforesaid, and to and with all nations and people inhabiting or which shall inhabit within the territories, limits and places aforesaid, and to and with all other nations inhabiting any of the coasts adjacent to the said territories, limits and places, which are not already possessed as aforesaid, or whereof the sole liberty or privilege of trade or traffic is not yet granted to any other of our subjects.'

'Who can say what constituted Rupert's Land; or where it was supposed to be situated? And who can undertake to explain or give a true construction of the meaning of the absurdly vague and indefinite language in which the grant in question is supposed to be made?

"If this grant of land is worth any thing at all, or if it con

veys any estate whatever to the Hudson Bay Company, it must be confined to those islands lying within the entrance of the strait, and can not be made to convey any other portion.

"The entrance of the strait is from the Atlantic, and the southern boundary of the strait is Labrador; its coast can not be said to be within the entrance of the strait, nor can Hudson Bay, distant some 800 miles from that entrance, in the common acceptation of the term, be said to be within the entrance of the strait; much less can the lands and shores of Hudson Bay be said to lie within the entrance of the strait.

"If ever the claims of the Hudson Bay Company are brought before a judicial tribunal for investigation, the interpretation which shall be given this charter (if charter it is) will be in the strictest and most limited sense, and not in the enlarged and extended one which that Company have given to it.

"At all events, within the strait' must mean such a prox imity to the strait as would give the lands spoken of an affinity or relation to Hudson Strait, and not such lands as from their immense distance have no such geographical affinity or relation to that strait. In this case the nearest point to Hudson Bay is 700 miles, nevertheless the Hudson Bay Company set up a claim to 1,500 miles beyond this point-2,200 miles from within the entrance of Hudson Strait.

"The immense extent of country claimed is not warranted by any possible construction of the charter, and is wholly inconsistent with the objects of a trading company, who evidently are not calculated to found kingdoms or establish states and empires.

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Although Henry Hudson is supposed to be the discoverer of Hudson Bay, for he sailed into the strait that now bears his name in 1610, and perished there that year, nevertheless France laid claim to all that territory as early as 1598. In that year letters patent were granted by Henry the 4th of France to Sieur de la Roche, creating him Governor-General of Canada, Hochelaga, Terres Nueves, Labrador, and the river of the great Bay of Norrembegue.

"On the 29th April, 1627, Louis the 13th granted a charter to a company called Le Compagnie de la Nouvelle France,' to which company was also granted the exclusive trade and possession of the country called La Nouvelle France, for a period of fifteen years. Now the boundaries of 'La Nouvelle France,' as described at that time, include the whole of Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, and in fact all that country extending to the Pacific Ocean which the Hudson Bay Company now claim.

"By the treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye in March, 1632, Charles the 1st of England resigned to Louis the 13th of France the sovereignty of Acadia, La Nouvelle France, and Canada.