228 THE HALCYON IN CANADA. 



the denuding of the land of its forest covering, until 

 he goes into the primitive woods and sees how bound- 

 ing and athletic they are there. They are literally 

 well fed and their measure of life is full. In fact, 

 a trout-brook is as much a thing of the woods as a 

 moose or deer, and will not thrive well in the open 

 country. 



Three miles above our camp was Great Lake 

 Jacques Cartier, the source of the river, a sheet of 

 water nine miles long and from one to three wide ; 

 fifty rods below was Little Lake Jacques Cartier, an 

 irregular body about two miles across. Stretching 

 away on every hand, bristling on the mountains and 

 darkling in the valleys, was the illimitable spruce 

 woods. The moss in them covered the ground nearly 

 knee-deep, and lay like newly fallen snow, hiding 

 rocks and logs filling depressions, and muffling the 

 foot. When it was dry one could find a most de- 

 lightful couch anywhere. 



The spruce seems to have colored the water, which 

 is a dark amber color, but entirely sweet and pure. 

 There needed no better proof of the latter fact than 

 the trout with which it abounded, and their clear and 

 vivid tints. In its lower portions near the St. Law- 

 rence, the Jacques Cartier River is a salmon stream, 

 but these fish have never been found as near its 

 source as we were, though there is no apparent rea- 

 son why they should not be. 



There is perhaps no moment in the life of an an- 

 gler fraught with so much eagerness and impatience 



