146 LABRADOR 



and can vouch for the excellence of the trout-fishing from 

 that time until the ice becomes so thick that it is impossible 

 to cut holes through it. Dr. Grenfell reports that the trout 

 bite freely all summer. The fish appear to be sea-run, al- 

 though their sojourn in salt water is probably short, for 

 they do not lose their markings as do the trout of the St. 

 Lawrence. Large fish, up to six and seven pounds in weight, 

 are caught in the lower stretches and at the mouths of all 

 the streams flowing into Melville Lake, and take the fly 

 freely until the waters freeze over. My knowledge of the 

 Hamilton River from its mouth to the Grand Falls is con- 

 fined to the conditions prevailing in late winter and early 

 spring. We left Northwest River early in March and 

 reached the falls on the 1st of May. The great length of 

 time taken on the trip was due to our small party having 

 to draw on sledges the outfit, tents, canoes, and provisions 

 sufficient for the following summer's work in the interior. 

 This amounted to four loads of two hundred pounds for 

 each member, and a consequent sevenfold lengthening 

 of the original distance of two hundred and fifty miles. 



The Hamilton River is the most important stream of the 

 eastern watershed of the peninsula. It is upwards of five 

 hundred miles in length, and extends westward halfway 

 to Hudson Bay. To the north and west its tributaries 

 interlock with those of the Northwest River and with the 

 head waters of the George and Koksoak rivers, both of 

 which flow north into Ungava Bay, while to the south the 

 Hamilton is separated by a low, sinuous watershed from 

 the rivers flowing southward into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



At the Grand Falls, some two hundred and fifty miles 

 above its mouth, the river is naturally divided into two 



