OR, THE LAKE LANDS OF CANADA. 2 ^I 



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therefore, it was not deemed necessary to bring with us 

 any venison this morning when we left Camp Lake. Here 

 we were again disappointed. During our absence the 

 ravens had taken possession of the venison and caused 

 it to disappear, notwithstanding the fact that there was an 

 abundance of moose-meat in the immediate vicinity. We 

 also relied on the bread which we had placed beneath our 

 blankets, but only for our dinner; this was frozen, and, 

 although we had brought flour with us, we could not tarry 

 long enough here to bake bread. Our dinner, therefore, 

 consisted of a cup of hot tea and some frozen cramper. 

 We are not, however, discouraged, since we are in pos- 

 session of our rifles and an abundance of ammunition. 

 Consequently we can very soon supply meat. Having 

 completed our frugal meal, we promptly started for our 

 destination. The immediate objective-point was Trout 

 Lake, which was reached in due time, and here we entered 

 once more our canoe. The paddling of this craft was even 

 more difficult now than it was in the morning, since the ice 

 was constantly becoming thicker. So great was the effort 

 to propel the canoe that it caused the captain and myself 

 to perspire freely. This was, however, a very pleasant 

 change from walking in the woods while the cold water 

 was coursing down our backs. There were still a few 

 places in the lake where ducks could succeed in finding a 

 small open space, and in one of these open spots we dis- 

 covered a flock of these fowls. At the moment we dis- 

 covered them I suppose we were fully six hundred yards 

 away. We continued to paddle forward cautiously until 

 we had shortened the range to about three hundred yards, 



