72 NEWFOUNDLAND 



in this place in the hope of seeing the "muckle hart." That 

 night we slept at the end of Mollygojack, and next day the 

 troubles of the men commenced in earnest. 



I will not enter into details of all the rough work which 

 my guides had to undergo during the next four days. In 

 1 90 1 the river had been lower than it had been known 

 previously, and its passage difficult, but in 1902 it was 50 

 per cent, worse. The river bed was nearly dry save for 

 a rough and stony channel, down which it was impossible 

 to " run " the canoes for fear of staving them in. What 

 was a " rattle " when we came up was now nothing but a 

 series of jagged points of stone with a swift stream running 

 between them. When such were encountered, it was a case 

 of unloading the whole of the stuff, carrying the canoes for 

 a hundred yards, packing the goods and repacking them 

 again. This had to be repeated at intervals dozens of 

 times each day, and the work was extremely arduous and 

 trying to the temper, but not once did I hear my men 

 swear or show themselves put out. I know I was dog- 

 tired myself each night, for, though I did not go into the 

 water as they did, I assisted to the best of my ability in 

 all the " portages," and that was pretty heavy work in itself. 



But everything comes to an end in time, and we at last 

 arrived at the easy water near Penson's Brook, and our 

 troubles came to an end. Here I saw some nice trout rising, 

 and, getting out my rod, I took fourteen trout, char, and 

 ouananiche (land-locked salmon), the latter being still in good 

 condition and delicious eating. 



Next day, after a night of pouring rain, we passed the 

 Terra-Nova Lake after a hard paddle against a head wind, 

 and on a fine evening saw the end of our journey in the 

 shape of the Terra-Nova Station and the trestle bridge. 



