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white pine, rose like so many giants, swaying to and fro and wagging 

 their heads mournfully over the rising generation. This was the coun- 

 try of the rampikes. What are ranipikes 1 Well, I'll tell you. A 

 good many years ago, but well within the present century, tremendous 

 bush fires raged all along the country on both sides of the Ottawa, and 

 thousands and thousands of acres of the best pine country on this con- 

 tinent were totally destroyed, and now the former monarchs of the 

 forest raise their scarred and bleached limbs towards the sky a mute 

 protest against a cruel and undeserved fate mute did I say ; not alto- 

 gether so, for on a windy night they may be seen waving their ghostly 

 limbs and heard mourning to each other with many a dismal groan. 



Lower Trout Lake is four miles long and very narrow. Its great- 

 est width not being over half a mile. It is surrounded by bold and 

 rocky shores clad with second growth poplar and birch and the ghastly 

 and skeleton rampikes I have just spoken of. While paddling down 

 this stretch we caught another large maskinong^, twenty-five pounds 

 in weight. This one also was despatched by pistol bullets, not concus- 

 sion. There is a considerable difference among authors as to the correct 

 name for this fish. I have seen no less than eight different methods of 

 spelling it. Among them may be mentioneil " Masqu' allong6," 

 " Maskinonge," " Muskellunge," " Muscalinga," " Masquinongy," 

 and " Muscanonga," the most likely one is Masqu' allong^, meaning 

 long face, it is a French translation of the Indian words Masca-nonga, 

 long snout. Masqu' allonge {Usox estor) of twenty pounds weight are 

 common and they have been known to attain a weight of seventy 

 pounds with a length of six feet. They prey upon other fish and it is 

 not uncommon to find one of several pounds weight inside them. In 

 fact in the first one we caught was found a brook trout about twelve 

 inches long and | of a pound weight. 



Lower Trout Lake makes its exit into Lake Talon by way of the 

 " Lost River " but as this road is four miles long with five rapids in the 

 first two miles, it is easier and shorter to get into Pine Lake by way of 

 the Portage de la Mauvaise Musique and from Pine Lake to Lake Talon 

 by Portage des Pins. Lake Talon (or Tallow, as the natives call it) is 

 31 feet below Lower Trout lake, and is an uninteresting lake some 

 seven miles long with an average breadth of a little over half a mile. 

 With the exception of parts of the northern shore where slopes of semi- 

 hardwood are to be found, it is surrounded on ail sides by bold rocky 

 shores, covered with second growth jjoplar and birch and the everlasting 

 rampike. Along the south shore the blueberry grows in the greatest 

 profusion and to a very large size. Champlain in his voyage of 1615 

 makes mention of this profusion of blueberries. The chief feature of 

 the Lake, however, as far as we were concerned, was the homestead of 

 an English gentleman named Grasswell who has settled on a narrow 

 strip of land about the centre of the north side, and who gave us a kind 

 invitation to visit his establishment. 



Mr. Grass well gave us some kind information about the Mattawa 



