1 20 In the Canadian Forests v 



Lake Windigoostigwan, which had been dammed up 

 to improve the navigation, and in consequence of 

 this there was a fringe of gray and ghastly dead 

 trees along its shores, whose grimness was by no 

 means relieved by the colour of the water, which, 

 under the cloudy sky, seemed as black as ink, 

 though, in reality, it is of a brown stone colour. 

 We camped at Matinis, and, on the next day, 

 started at half-past eight, and were soon lulled into 

 a state of dreamy beatitude by the pleasant mono- 

 tonous thud of the paddle handles against the sides 

 of the canoe. This state of mind, however, was 

 suddenly disturbed by our running Ker-shamsh ! 

 into a rock in the middle of a rapid, and cutting 

 two big holes clean out of the bottom. Luckily 

 we were able to reach the shore before she sank, and 

 she was soon unloaded and turned upside down, 

 and two pieces of birch bark were sewn neatly over 

 the holes with thongs made from the fibres of the 

 spruce root well sized with gum, and, in half an hour, 

 she was afloat again as sound as ever. Then we 

 crossed over " the height of land," the ridge which 

 divides the water running into the Arctic Ocean 

 from those which flow into the St. Lawrence. 

 Wherever we stopped in the woods we could hear 

 the queer creaking rasp of the big boring grub 

 which they call the screw- worm. We carried the 

 canoe over Island Portage to Lac-la-Croix, narrow, 

 and bright with birch-trees. Here I found a fox as 

 tame as a kitten, a perfect darling, and learnt that 



