CHAP. ix. THE ' TOP OF THE EIDGE LAKE.' 139 



years. Out of this nest we took ten eggs. On another 

 occasion a voyageur said to rne, ' There is a saw-bill's nest 

 on that point : I have taken eggs front that nest for two 

 years past ; if we go there now we shall perhaps find 

 some.' Anxious to see whether his prediction would 

 turn out to be true, as well as to get some fresh eggs, I 

 turned the canoe ashore, and found seven eggs in the 

 saw-bill's nest. 



We made a cache of a bag of flour on the Dividing 

 Eidge, carefully protecting it from bears and wolverines. 

 The old Montagnais path was in excellent condition over 

 this portage, and at its northern extremity we found an 

 abundance of wild currants and raspberries in flower, 

 growing luxuriantly near masses of ice which remained 

 in fissures of the rocks. 



The ' Top of the Eidge Lake ' is two miles and a 

 half broad where we crossed it, and contains a few 

 trout. It is drained by A-ta-chi-ka-mi-shish, or Cold- 

 water Eiver, which falls in a series of cascades a little 

 more than 500 feet in a distance of two miles and a 

 half. 



The mosquitoes and black flies were terrible after the 

 rain of yesterday in the wet woods. We were compelled 

 to breakfast in a cloud of smoke in order to drive away 

 our tormentors. 



Before us lay the dreaded mountain portage, which the 

 Nasquapee called the ' Top of the Eidge.' The mountains 

 around the beautiful lake are worn and rounded, but in 

 the distance, towards the west and north, apparently very 

 much peaked and of great height. 



The valleys are well wooded with spruce and birch, but 



