42 THE LABEADOE PENINSULA. CHAP. m. 



sink back exhausted, leaning on the bars of the canoe 

 which is gently carried towards us by the returning stream 

 and caught as it touches the shore. 



The variableness of the climate showed itself this 

 morning : at nine it was clear, warm, and bright ; at half- 

 past ten a slight shower of snow fell, just sufficient to 

 whiten the hills. By noon ah 1 was bright and green 

 again, and after dinner we took the canoes along the 

 Grand Portage, and moved camp to our baggage on the 

 summit level. The men found the labour very distress- 

 ing, and required much encouragement to make them 

 perform the appointed distances for the day ; neverthe- 

 less, we succeeded by the following evening in carrying 

 everything to within a few hundred yards of the end of 

 the Portage. The desolation on the Gneiss Mountain was 

 very impressive. No birds were visible except some gulls 

 sailing high in the air above us ; no animal life of any 

 description, and of insects only a single butterfly was 

 seen wandering from one sweet Alpine flower to another ; 

 the ants had not yet come from their winter resting- 

 place, and when their hills were disturbed they were 

 found coiled in a half-torpid state a few inches below the 

 surface, or moved sluggishly about as if just awakening 

 from a long winter's sleep. Still this wilderness has its 

 charms ; the air is delightfully pure and exhilarating. 

 The distant mountains look green and tranquil, the wind- 

 ing river sparkles brightly in the noonday sun, delicate 

 wild flowers blossom in every hollow where a little soil 

 has accumulated, and in the shallow depressions of the 

 surface rich mosses and lichens form a soft carpet green 

 and gray, red or pale yellowish-white, according to the 



