LAKE DWELLERS. 171 



berers, who were rafting their logs down to the sea, and 

 made frequent excursions up the affluent waters of the 

 lake in search of beavers and their works. With regard 

 to the latter, I will here again introduce a few pages of 

 my journal : — 



"August 30th. 



" A bright morning, very hot. After breakfast as- 

 cended the Tobiaduc stream at the north-west end of 

 the lake. Here the scenery becomes very beautiful. The 

 river is broad and still ; the woods on either side much 

 inundated ; and the maple brightly coloured with orange 

 and scarlet — probably more from unhealthiness produced 

 by the high water than by early frosts. Pass some 

 exquisite island scenery ; the reflections perfect. A 

 snake swims across under the bows of my canoe, its 

 head carried an inch above the surface. Passing a steep 

 bank, a beaver rushes out of a dense patch of king-fern, 

 and takes to the water with a plunge ; and we follow his 

 track, faintly indicated on the surface, towards an old 

 beaver-house a few rods up stream. ' I heard him dove,' 

 observed Glode, on arriving : the animal had mistrusted 

 the strength of his fortress ; and pursuit was hopeless. 



" Five or six miles from the lake, we come to the car- 

 rying place or portage, whence a woodland path leads by 

 a short cut to Tobiaduc lake, and saves many a mile of 

 heavy poleing against the rapids of the river. The road 

 lay through a dark mossy forest of hemlocks, soft and 

 pleasant walking when unencumbered by loads, but very 

 fatiguing under the weight of canoes and all the para- 

 phernalia of a camp. * Indian mile, long and narrer,' 

 drily observed old Glode, on our casual inquiry as to 

 how much further we had to trudge. The forest gloom 



