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CHAPTEE XV. 



THE BURNT COUNTRY AND THE TABLE LAND. 



An Excursion on Foot Aspect of the Country Elevation - 

 Scenery The Dividing Ridge The Burnt Country Numerous 

 Lakes Boulders Absence of Animal Life Ruin everywhere 

 Reflections Life in the Desert The Montagnais and the Nas- 

 quapees Bear Feasts Caribou Feasts Winter Life Michel 

 and his Cousins Caribou Hunt His Affray with Wolves 

 Starvation in the Winter Tripe de Roche and Birch Buds 

 Cannibalism The Advent of Spring The Geese The Value 

 of Gee.se to Indians The Number of Geese in Hudson's Bay killed 

 by Indians The probable Number of Geese in Northern America 

 Mode in which Domenique and the Nasquapees passed the Winter 

 Employment of the Women Shifting Camp Difficulty of 

 catching Fish Ojibway Mode of catching Fish in Winter 

 Return to Camp. 



THEEE of us started from Caribou Lake soon after 

 breakfast to attempt the ascent of a hill which 

 appeared to be about four miles off, and some 400 or 

 500 feet high. My brother, glad of the opportunity, 

 took his sketching materials to a favourable point of view, 

 with one of the men to make a smoke to drive off the 

 irritating mosquitoes, while he sketched, in all its sin- 

 gular detail of desolation and ruin, the wild surrounding 

 country. The rest of the men were engaged in repairing 

 the canoes, making a cache, and arranging the baggage. 

 In the direction of the hill, from our camp, a strip of 

 woods had most fortunately escaped the fire, so that we 



