32 A TRIP TO THE LA VAL. 
we commemorated the fact by undertaking to descend 
the La Yal from the outlet to our home ; a roundabout 
journey of some fifteen miles, in lieu of the portage of 
five. It was to be a final test of the depth of the water, 
as the com*se lay over bad rapids and falls, and we 
entered upon the journey with great imcertainty. Pack- 
ing our temporary bedding in a water-proof blanket, our 
party embarked and sped gaily along for the first mile 
or two, but soon found the bed of the stream one mass 
of huge rocks, over which the canoe had to be driven 
with sheer force, and which tore and strained the fragile 
bark till it leaked terribly. 
During this day our progress was necessarily slow 
and laborious, and to relieve ourselves we fished continu- 
ally. The trout rose beautifully — in fact, in one pool 
they were so thick, sweeping round in shoals, that we 
grew surfeited, and left it for a spot where they were 
less plenty. Still it required a long line and light fly to 
cull the largest — which were the ones we sought — and 
skill and patience to land them. "We might have taken 
hundreds had the time permitted, or our canoe been in 
condition to carry them ; but every strain had increased 
the leak till we could no longer keep it down by bailing, 
and had to land from time to time to turn the water out. 
In fact, it was a wet time altogether; there was a driz- 
zling rain, the canoe was three inches deep with water, 
we had both been wading part of the day, and had so 
arranged our water-proof blanket that it projected be- 
yond the temporary tent, and catching all the water that 
drained oif, would not permit it to soak through, but 
collected a miniature Lake la Yal in the middle of our 
