CAMPING 165 



of the lower branches, which so often hang with their ends 

 buried in the moss on the ground, make walking through them 

 a difficult task, unless one happens to find a good Caribou 

 road, when it is sometimes fairly easy. On the mountains there 

 are many great stretches of fine open country, more or less 

 stony, or tracts of smooth-faced rock sparsely covered with 

 scanty vegetation. In such regions good walking may be 

 counted on, except in the narrow valleys between the 

 ridges, or through thickets which are in the sheltered spots, 

 chiefly on the southern slopes of the hills, where they are 

 protected from the biting winds. These thickets are made 

 up of dwarf black spruce, composed to all intents and purposes 

 of barbed wire and steel springs, warranted to tear the strongest 

 clothing ever manufactured, and try the very best of tempers. 

 All of this may sound as though I were trying to discourage 

 the man who thinks of going to Newfoundland. This is not 

 at all my object. What I want to do is to show how 

 important it is to go light in a country where travelling by 

 foot is anything but easy. Unfortunately, in the regions 

 where the waterways are unavailable, everything has to be 

 carried on men's backs as horses cannot be used owing to 

 the soft bogs in which they would very soon be mired. 



A great part of the country may be reached by 

 water, for probably no place of its size has so many rivers 

 and lakes as Newfoundland. These have already been 

 described, so I shall not go into details regarding names and 

 sizes. Some of the rivers allow of easy canoeing, others are 

 too rough, and many of them are so filled with boulders 

 that canoeing or boating in any form is difficult and some- 

 what risky, especially when heavy loads are carried. The 

 lakes, which are quite large, are usually good for boating, 

 but owing to the sudden storms, especially in the hilly 

 districts, canoeing is likely to be unpleasant, and at times 



