POSSIBILITIES OF COUNTRY 85 



trend of thought one is apt to try to look into the 

 far-distant future and wonder what changes 

 another century will bring and to what industries 

 mankind will turn when they assail this virgin 

 country. Lumbering, though the timber is 

 small in comparison to the great trees in British 

 Columbia and elsewhere, will probably be the 

 first industry to be taken up, while rich minerals 

 may be found, and good agricultural land ; 

 though on the river bank I saw no promise of the 

 latter, much of the ground surface of the forest 

 being bare rock and boulder where sand takes 

 the place of soil. But no living white man yet 

 knows what the interior of the vast northern 

 territory holds ; inland there may be great 

 tracts of soil suitable for agriculture. Only the 

 waterways, where summer canoeing is possible, 

 have been roughly surveyed. Beyond them the 

 maps remain a great blank space. 



During the day I collected some specimens of 

 birds and found a number of nests. In the 

 evening I caught a pike weighing 3|lbs., which I 

 was astonished to find had an adult Cedar Wax- 

 wing in its stomach. Dissolution had not set in, 

 the bird was intact, and easily identified. Wax- 

 wings prey much on insects, and I fancy this 

 bird had dipped to the water surface in pursuit 

 of a beetle or shadfly, and the ravenous pike had 

 on the instant risen and seized it. 



At dusk I took my rifle and went quietly back 

 on the portage path to the top Grand Rapid in 

 the hope of seeing bear, but had no luck, though 

 bears at this season of the year frequent such 

 places if they are in the neighbourhood to prey 



