86 RECENT HUNTING TRIPS. 



Lake, came on a fine river running into the 

 north-west corner of the lake. This river has 

 no name, so far as I could learn, and is only 

 indicated l3y a dotted line on the most recent 

 maps. 



It seems absurd to talk about getting into 

 unknown country close to a railwaj^ line in a 

 comparatively small island like Newfoundland — 

 an island, moreover, which was discovered more 

 than four hundred years ago ; but the fact re- 

 mains that much of the interior, both of the 

 southern and northern portions of Newfound- 

 land, has never yet been surveyed, although it 

 has been traversed in various directions along 

 its chief waterways. But between the rivers 

 there are stretches of country which may be 

 said to be absolutely unknown — pathless wastes 

 of marsh and forest, studded with countless 

 little lakes and ponds, never yet looked upon 

 by the eye of civilized man ; wild and desolate 

 solitudes, at present absolutely uninhabited. 



We followed the course of the river I have 

 mentioned for some distance westward to a 

 point about three miles beyond a pretty little 



