I04 In the Canadian Forests v 



Minnlscan, the half-breed, gives of the scars which 

 we find on the tree trunks, some of them as high as 

 I can reach with the tips of my fingers, showing the 

 size of the inflictor. It may be that they are the 

 effects of mere cat-Hke claw sharpenings ; at any 

 rate, there they are, and the bear is the only animal 

 that I know of, except man, who " blazes " his 

 track. Caribou are getting very scarce here now. 

 The chase seems hardly worth the trouble, though 

 people talk enthusiastically of running them down 

 on snow-shoes in the winter, alone, generally for 

 fear of shooting their comrades ; even the oldest 

 runner may get mat de racquet. 



' October 2nd. — Silver Islet, that potentiality for 

 growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice, is a mere 

 bare rock, some few yards wide, lying about a mile 

 from the shore of a sheltered bay on the N.W. 

 shore of Lake Superior. The vein of quartz is 

 visible on the mainland, and crops up again at this 

 place, which has been made the principal point of 

 attack on the riches below. Situated as it is, exposed 

 to the really terrible seas of Lake Superior, it would 

 be unworkable were it not literally cribbed, cabined, 

 but not confined by vast " cribs " formed of mighty 

 pine logs morticed together and sunk so as to form 

 breakwaters. Even with these safeguards the surf 

 flies high and wild around it in a gale ; and we have 

 just arrived to find great portions of these bulwarks 

 fairly twisted from their foundations by the force of 

 the water. On the islet are a few wooden buildings. 



