228 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAI-. xiv. 



its moral on our hearts ; we have no time to meditate here. 

 We spent a quiet night in the burnt country, but we looked 

 rather dingy in the morning. The river now began to 

 get very shallow, with scarcely water enough to float the 

 canoes. The bottom was composed of fine and coarse 

 sand, beautifully sorted and ripple-marked by the action of 

 the current. We were evidently approaching the source 

 of the river, for when we came to the next portage the 

 Nasquapee said we could not go any farther with the 

 canoes ; there was not water enough on the other side 

 of the carrying place. Anxious to judge for ourselves, 

 we proceeded about a mile farther, to Caribou Lake, in 

 the middle of the broad valley in which the river flowed, 

 and weU known to Michel, who said that he had fre- 

 quently been there last winter. We then decided to go 

 to the summit of a hill which appeared to be about four 

 miles distant. While breakfast was preparing, I crossed 

 the portage and examined the river. It was quite clear 

 that there was not enough water to float loaded canoes. 

 The Indians in descending had to exercise the utmost 



t_- 



caution even in their little craft, which did not draw more 

 than five inches, and in ascending beyond the spot at 

 which we had arrived they were accustomed to drag and 

 lift their canoes through the water, except during freshets. 



I directed Pierre to make a cache of flour and what- 

 ever other articles were not absolutely required, intending 

 to leave the canoes in charge of four men, and push on- 

 wards on foot with the rest as far as we could go. 



In this solitary lake, connected with the river we had 

 left by a dry channel, probably a small watercourse in 

 the spring, there were some fine trout, a few of which we 



