132 The Nepigon and Saguenay. 



there in their present form to test our 

 faith, and they have done it. Moose and 

 caribou sometimes leave tracks among 

 the twin-flowers and adder-mouths along 

 the banks of both the Nepigon and Sague- 

 nay rivers, and one need not go very far 

 away to find abundance of such game. 

 Black bears swim the rivers at safe cross- 

 ing-places, and the voice of a gray wolf 

 may be heard above the sound of rushing 

 waters when all else under the stars is 

 still. Along both rivers the northern 

 hares furnish the principal food supply 

 for carnivorous animals and birds, just as 

 the ciscoes furnish a large food supply for 

 the predatory fishes of the region. Spruce 

 grouse and ruffed grouse fly into the bushes 

 near the fisherman, and look at him in 

 wonderment, and the cinereous owl catches 

 ptarmigans on the hills in winter. In the 

 Nepigon River brook trout find such an 

 abundance of food and such agreeably 

 cold water that they grow to an enormous 

 size, and are ready to spring after the fly at 

 almost any time of day after 10 o'clock in 

 the morning. Like fish in other very cold 



