268 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xvii. 



and some of them weighed sixteen pounds. At the same 

 time, and on tlje same shoals, greatly to the annoyance of 

 the lessees, four boats of Indians and half-breeds were 

 similarly occupied, tacking about the shoals, with two 

 trolling lines attached to each boat. I was told that in 



1858, on the same shoals, an Equimico Indian in one day 

 caught 250 trout of about the same weight. ' In October 



1859, E. Boucher, of Vail's Point, in two hours caught, 

 with trolling tackle, fifty-eight trout. On the 27th of 

 the same month, round and amongst the islands at the 

 entrance of the Georgian Bay, Indians and half-breeds 

 were catching, with the trolling hue, two or three barrels 

 of trout per day. 



During the night of July 3rd, ice formed on the canoes ; 

 the morning was bitterly cold until the sun rose. We ah 1 

 hoped that the frost had killed the mosquitoes, but this 

 hope was vain : they soon appeared again in millions, and 

 allowed us no rest. During the day we descended many 

 rapids, up which we had toiled wearily or portaged round, 

 but in one instance the large canoe was nearly swamped, 

 and had it not been for the presence of mind of the men 

 she would have been lost. Wholly regardless of themselves 

 they sprang into the water, and the lightened canoe 

 bounded over the rock against which she had struck. Two 

 of the men held on to her sides as she cleared it ; but one 



unfortunate fellow was too late, and he was left standing 



& 



in the middle of the stream, just able to keep himself 

 from being swept down by the force of the current. 

 The depth was so small that he might easily have 

 escaped with a ducking, but the force of the current was 

 such that he would have been swept against some of the 



