ST. JOHN'S LAKE. 87 



waterfall. Along the bank of this river I 

 noticed many small spruce trees which had 

 been beaten to pieces by caribou stags when 

 rubbing the velvet from their horns in the 

 early autumn. This fact convinced me that 

 there were deer which passed the simimer in 

 this district, and did not migrate in the spring to 

 the northern part of the island. On questioning 

 Stroud on this subject, he told me there could 

 be no doubt that a considerable number of 

 deer passed the whole year to the south of the 

 railway. In his opinion the oldest and heaviest 

 stags in the island would be found amongst 

 this number. I made a mental note of all this, 

 and determined to act upon it should I ever 

 visit Newfoundland again. 



On the afternoon of November 5th we 

 decided to turn back, as we then had nothing 

 left in the way of provisions but a few biscuit 

 crmxibs and a little tea, and the caribou seemed 

 to have gone right on westwards. We had 

 determined to camp that night at the western 

 end of St. John's Lake, which, however, we 

 did not reach until late at night after a most 



