FOREST FIRES. * 227 



it not that the whole surface of the country has been de- 

 vastated by fire. This wanton destruction, besides deform- 

 ing the face of nature and wasting immense quantities of 

 valuable timber, will probably cost the Canadian Govern- 

 ment large sums every winter. In the green forest there 

 is little or no drift. When it is burnt the snow piles up 

 to an almost incredible extent, and nothing short of costly 

 snow sheds in all the levels and cuttings will tend to keep 

 the line clear in winter. 



I do not know a more melancholy sight than a burnt 

 forest. In this district nothing meets the eye on every 

 side but blackened stumps and half-charred rampikes. 

 This dead and weird-looking forest gives the idea that one 

 has got into some enchanted land under the spell of evil 

 genii. 



These fires are mainly caused by the carelessness of the 

 stream drivers in the spring of the year. In driving their 

 logs down the river the hardy lumbermen camp each 

 night, when darkness overtakes them, on the edge of the 

 stream. They steam all night before an enormous fire, 

 and often leave it burning when they decamp at daybreak. 

 The Indian never leaves a spark behind him, he is too 

 good a woodsman ; and instinct warns him that his fate 

 is bound up with that of the forest. 



The Metapedia lake is a fine sheet of water, about the 

 centre of the peninsula. All this region bears traces of ice 

 action. In the bed of the lake and on its shores the course 

 of immense boulders may be traced for many yards by 

 their furrows in the solid rock. The only habitable land 

 in the whole of this district lies round the Metapedia lake, 

 and is locked out from settlement. The old seigniory of 



