68 ON THE GREAT CHURCHILL RIVER 



the original surveyor I think I would have chosen 

 " Eerie Lake " as name for this strangely silent 

 expansion of dark water, wherein were closeted 

 ghost-like citadel islands, and wherein I never 

 quite threw off the impression that I had in- 

 truded on a sanctuary of spooks and fairies of 

 long-past ages. 



June 15. — Day again fine. Noonday sun high 

 overhead, giving the broad earth fulness of 

 summer, and its living season of growth. How 

 blithely it lifts the spirit ! How different this to 

 the sun's low, short circuit in winter over land 

 then dormant ! 



Characteristic of the country are the cone- 

 peaked tops of Black Spruce on the sun-lit hill- 

 sides, their branches drooping down a little in 

 extending horizontally outward ; in this respect 

 differing from the White Spruce, which is more 

 straightly outgrowing. 



Passed the rapid at Birch Portage about 3 p.m. 

 and entered Trout Lake. We let the canoe 

 down through the troublesome current at the 

 top of this rapid and ran the remainder. We 

 camped for the night on Trout Lake. 



It is now twenty -four days since we left lie a 

 la Crosse Post. 



Joe to-night caught a pike weighing seven and 

 a half pounds when trolling with a small blue 

 phantom minnow. 



June 16. — Spent till noon to-day looking for 

 right course on Trout Lake. Yesterday headed 

 out north-easterly in following the small survey 

 map in my possession, but found no outlet. To- 

 day, in the forenoon, canoed down the east shore, 



