112 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. vii. 



' Away, then, for Cold-water Eiver Portage ; and 

 good-bye for a while to the dreadful current of the 

 Moisie.' 



' Hup ! hup ! hup ! ' shouted the Indians, as they dipped 

 their paddles in the water, some of them little dream- 

 ing of w T hat was in store for them, and very far from 

 thinking that the Moisie, notwithstanding its currents, 

 would soon be remembered with regret, in the midst of 

 greater troubles and severer toil. 



Another hour brought us in sight of Cold-water Eiver 

 and the old Montagnais portage clearly marked on its 

 banks. 



A very remarkable remnant of the drift which formerly 

 filled the whole valley of the Moisie, to a height varying 

 from. 120 feet at the Cold-water Eiver to 70 feet below 

 the Grand Eapids, lies under the shadow of a mountain 

 about 700 feet in altitude. 



Cold-water Eiver is not more than thirty feet broad 

 at its mouth. Trout abound in it, and we soon caught 

 enough to furnish us with an excellent dinner and supper. 

 The remains of old Montagnais lodges, and a well-worn 

 path, showed that this was once a favourite resting-place, 

 and even now it is one where the few families who pass 

 up or down the Moisie always stay a day or two to fish 

 and hunt. 



Eain set in soon after our baggage was landed ; but 

 fortunately it did not last long. Late in the afternoon we 

 all started to examine the portage, and clear the path of 

 the trees which had grown upon it, for the passage of the 

 canoes. About fifty yards from our camp, which was 

 made at the mouth of the river, the portage ascends the 



