BLACK BEAR ISLAND LAKE 67 



green plant. At the edge of the forest was an 

 eighteen-inch growth of green grass and weeds. 

 Forested hills sloped upwards from the north 

 shore of Black Bear Island Lake, and at the 

 summit in some cases an outcrop of rock and 

 large boulders protruded prominently. The lake 

 was some fourteen miles in length, and while 

 we remained on it we never quite forgot its some- 

 what frowning, shut-in aspect. Even birds 

 seemed to shun the neighbourhood, for few were 

 seen, and I recorded it the worst I had so far 

 travelled through in that respect. It has not 

 been common with me to hear the red squirrel's 

 chatter in this territory, but here I heard one 

 to-day. While speaking of creature sounds, I 

 am reminded that it was on this lake that I 

 first noticed the absence of frog-croaking in the 

 evenings, and it was not until reaching Stanley 

 Mission on June 23 that they were again heard. 

 Unfortunately I was too busily employed with 

 other subjects to investigate their apparent 

 absence from this area — a stretch of about seventy 

 miles of watercourse. No black bears were seen, 

 and in supporting its nomenclature this lake was 

 as disappointing as Pelican Lake. Probably, 

 when the course of the Churchill was mapped, a 

 black bear was seen on one of the islands of the 

 lake, and therefore the name— a name selected on 

 the spur of the moment, without perhaps grasping 

 any very great and permanent characteristic. 

 On the other hand, I, in my haste onward, might 

 easily miss such a characteristic, did it in reality 

 exist, therefore it is merely a passing personal 

 impression that I at present record. Had I been 



