132 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. vm. 



both large and small, were as yet of rare occurrence at a 

 distance from the river. 



We made the inside of our tents comfortable with fresh 

 spruce boughs, the most fragrant of beds. The Indians 

 peeled the bark from the birch trees growing in fissures, 

 and laid them on the rock under the canoes, to protect 

 them from the wet in case it should rain before morning. 

 The voyageurs followed their example, and covered the 

 floor of their tent with sheets of bark. 



It was late before we retired to rest ; we sat up longer 

 than usual to watch the change taking place in the 

 heavens. Light fleecy clouds came swiftly from the 

 west, followed by others more heavy and opaque ; before 

 midnight the sky was overcast, and a gentle moist wind 

 sighed through the scattered trees. When we bade each 

 other ' Good night,' the sky was black as pitch, and large 

 drops of rain began to fall. 



It rained until noon of the following day. The men, 

 jaded with their week's work, slept long and soundly. 

 We did not break our fast until the rain had ceased. In 

 the afternoon the clouds were dispersed, but mists rolled 

 up from the deep valleys and settled around the hill tops. 

 The mountains before us were invisible until towards 

 evening, when the sky and earth again became clear, and 

 even more beautiful than on the preceding day. 



Before nightfall the canoes were brought across the 

 portage, and the necessary preparations made for crossing 

 the third lake at break of day. 



I spent the afternoon in wandering over the gneiss ter- 

 races, five in number, the highest being about 1,000 feet 

 above the sea, and backed by a stunted birch and spruce- 





