RESERVES FOR WILD LIFE IN CANADA 245 



and adjoining land, to the extent of 14,750 acres, or about 23 

 square miles, was set aside as a special forest reserve. The 

 mountain is of great interest from a geological standpoint, 

 being ''sculptured out of a great mass of gneiss, uniform in 

 character from base to summit" (F. D. Adams). The In- 

 dian name is manitouge sootana, meaning Spirits' or Devils' 

 Mountain. Indians state that low rumbling noises fre- 

 quently proceed from it, and that it has sometimes been felt 

 to shake by those who have accidentally been upon it. 

 The Indian belief has established its French and English 

 names. 



Laurentides National Park {Plate XVIII). — In 1895 an 

 area comprising 2,531 square miles of the wild, forest-clad 

 mountainous country north of the city of Quebec, and south- 

 east of Lake St. John, was set aside by the provincial gov- 

 ernment as "a forest reservation, fish and game preserve, 

 public park and pleasure ground." Subsequently the area 

 was increased to about 3,700 square miles by the withdrawal 

 of further land from sale or settlement. The park contains 

 the headwaters of a number of rivers running north and 

 south of the mountains — ''the blue Laurentian hills" — ^which 

 attain a height of about three thousand feet. On the west 

 it is approached by the Lake St. John Railway, on the south 

 by the old Jacques Cartier road, and on the east by the St. 

 Urbain road. 



The wild life in the park is abundant, and, owing to the 

 protection it receives, it is increasing, in spite of the depre- 

 dations of the wolves which, from time to time, prove a 

 serious menace, particularly to the caribou. In November 

 the caribou congregate in hundreds in the Grand Jardin des 

 Ours, the largest of the moss-covered barrens in the park, 

 embracing an area of about 100 square miles. Being timid 

 animals and harassed by wolves, they apparently migrated 

 to the northeast, but a few remained, so I am informed by 

 Mr. W. C. T. Hall, the superintendent of the park, and they 



