A TRIP TO THE LA VAL. 77 
when, after accomplishing about a mile, he leaned it 
upon a fallen log and slipped from beneath. Then the 
warning my friend had so often given me never to wet 
the bottom of the canoe, because it augmented its weight 
so terribly, came forcibly to mind. Fortunately Francois 
waked up, and having volunteered to carry the canoe 
over the next stretch, and it being ascertained, to every 
one's astonishment, that he knew how, proved himself 
for the first time of any value, and shortened our jour- 
ney considerably. During the portage we saw our first 
game, a spruce grouse so tame that no efforts we made 
could induce him to fiy. He escaped death, primarily 
because we had no gun, and secondarily because it was 
out of season. At last, after a trying journey for our 
men, we passed a deserted lumbermen's shanty, and 
found ourselves upon the sandy shore of the lovely Lake 
la Yal. 
This beautiful sheet of water, lying amid high sterile 
hills far from the abodes of man, has remained, and will 
continue for centuries, unvisited except by the native 
Indian or the adventurous sportsman. Romantic in its 
location and appearance, it is remarkable for the num- 
ber and apparently irreconcilable character of the fish 
that inhabit its waters. While the voracious northern 
pickerel and giant mascallonge inhabit the upper part, 
and the fierce, greedy and powerful salmon have appro- 
priated the outlet, shad or mullet and lake trout, both 
comparatively inofi'ensive, dwell in the centre, and 
doubtless prove an easy prey and grateful food to their 
natural enemies on either hand. Along the upper mar- 
gin, weeds grow, and the bottom is in places soft and 
