CHAP. ix. BEAUTIFUL LAKE AXD SCENEKY. 143 



passed up the stream, but none of them were more than 

 ten inches in length. Hastening to the portage half a 

 mile farther on, we unloaded the canoes, and despatched 

 the men with a pack, instructing them to carry a mile, 

 and then return to pitch the tents, while we took a 

 canoe, and hurried back to the rapids to fish for our 

 supper. 



We caught 120 trout, sufficient for supper and break- 

 fast all round. The men did not return until late in the 

 evening, having found the Montagnais path very rough, 

 and in many places wet with rills coming from the 

 melting snow and ice in the clefts of the mountain, over 

 the lower part of whose flank the path runs. 



We all agreed that the lake was by far the most 

 beautiful we had yet seen ; the still and bright day, coupled 

 with the excellent sport we enjoyed and the absence of 

 insect tormentors, no doubt heightened our appreciation of 

 it. The mountains, green, purple, and grey, as the eye 

 wandered higher and higher, were most sublime ; the 

 river rippling over its gravelly bed was ' like a child at 

 play ! ' The brilliant crimson spotted trout, leaping 

 wildly at our gaudy flies, flashed in the evening sunlight. 

 The pure and invigorating air sighed past us, perceptibly 

 perfumed with the fragrant Labrador tea-plant ; and, 

 being all in excellent condition and in the enjoyment of 

 perfect health, we felt glad and thankful that we possessed 

 the rare opportunity of seeing Nature in these silent 

 and distant solitudes. 



' To-morrow will tell the tale,' said one ; ' we shall not 

 get over that mountain portage without a long and heavy 

 pull at it ; it 's 600 feet high if it's an inch.' ' It's 700,' 



