16 



which thousands of logs are piled up. Above this the river for 30 miles 

 is a succession of falls with sluggish water between. 



These portages culminate in one 10 miles long, the first 4 miles 

 being up a mountain 1,000 ft. high, and unavoidable, as the river in 

 this distance breaks through a high range of hills, and falls 500 ft. 

 through a deep canyon with perpendicular walls. 



In 1870 a great fire passed through this country, destroying 

 hundreds of thousands of square miles of valuable timber, the area 

 burnt reaching from the St. Maurice river on the west to beyond the 

 Bersimis on the east, and from Lake St. John to the Height of Land. 

 This vast region has a very desolate appearance, the blackened tree 

 trunks standing or partly fallen on barren sandy soil or bare rocky hills, 

 which have been whitened by the kaolinising action of the fire on their 

 felspathic ingredients ; a second growth, of small spruce and banksian 

 pine is beginning to replace the old forests, and a profusion of blue- 

 berries grow everywhere, the only and great consolation for the desolate 

 scenery. When the river was again reached, but one portage wa3 

 encountered to Lake Pipmaukin, 40 miles distant. 



Hei'e our meagre diet of pork and flour was augmented by a supply 

 of fish, large pike being taken on the troll below, while above the 

 portage quantities of fine brook trout, averaging 3 lbs in weight, rose 

 readily to the fly. These fish had apparently come out of the lake to 

 deposit their spawn on the shallow gravel bars, in the swift running 

 water of the river. 



The date was the last week in August, and as I have since re- 

 marked these fish on the spawning grounds everywhere about this time, 

 I think it would be well to have the present close season advanced a 

 month, as now, the fish are taken upon the spawning beds with great 

 ease in the open season. 



Lake Pipmaukin is full of deep bays, and has an area of over 1,000 

 square miles. We were delayed here until Sept. 19th, partly owing to 

 equinoctial gales which prevented us from crossing the lake in our small 

 canoes. During the month of September the temperature fell every night 

 to near or below freezing point, and sheet iron stoves were put up in the 

 tents, which greatly added to our comfort. 



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