82 



But time was precious and we could not stay to enjoy the beauties 

 of Lake Nipissing. 



It had been decided that the canoes should be launched at the 

 head of Trout Lake or Turtle Lake as it is sometimes called, and in a 

 short time they were j^acked on a waggon with the rest of the outfit 

 and en 7-oute for that point. The usual course taken from Lake Nipis- 

 sing by voyageurs is by way of the Yase River, but this distance is five 

 miles with three portages one round a fall of twenty feet while by 

 the waggon road from North Bay the distance is not much over three 

 miles. 



Arrived at the head of Trout Lake, Camp No. 1 was soon pitched 

 and we proceeded to take in the surroundings. 



Upper Trout Lake looked a charming little sheet of glass, eight 

 and a half miles long, with an average bieadth of about one mile, 

 dotted with heavily timbered islands. It is hidden away among hills 

 covered with semi-hardwood bush, chiefly maple, birch and hemlock, 

 the light and dark shades of which jiatched here and theie with the 

 bright crimson of autumn's paint brush looked very pretty. The lake 

 has three peculiar features about two miles from its head a narrow 

 peninsula juts out from the north shore and practically divides it into 

 two ])arts. This peninsula is four miles long, and is so narrow in 

 places that you can see either sheet of water from the other. 



The second feature that I allude to, is situated at the lower 

 extremity of the lake near its exit. Here the width is about a quarter 

 of a mile and at regular intervals across this space, with the exception 

 of about forty or fifty yards near the south shore, nature has placed 

 large boulders, whose tops jutting out above the water create the im 

 pression that in olden days they were used by giants for the purpose of 

 crossing from one side to the other with, as is generally the case, a big 

 jump at the last, and this appearance has no doubt suggested the name 

 they bear " The Stepping Stones." The third peculiarity is the exit 

 of the lake, or rather the channel that connects it with Lower Trout 

 Lake. This channel is at the highest water no wider than twenty-five 

 or thirty feet, but at the time we passed through was only three feet in 

 width, and so shallow that it was found necessary to remove some 

 stones to let the canoes pass, To return to camp. The first afternoon 



