ACROSS NEWFOUNDLAND 201 



pleasant a sea. For my part I was glad when we landed with 

 only a little water in the boats. At once we entered the 

 Bale d'Est River, up which the men paddled, whilst McGaw 

 and I walked ahead in the hope of finding deer, but only 

 to find old summer spoor. 



After a short portage we reached Soulis Ann Lake, where 

 I caught some ouananiche for supper. During the night 

 the wind and rain came on, and we were detained all the 

 next day and till midday on the 8th, when the wind abating, 

 we made a start along the lake. We were now in a " burnt " 

 country, and found the surroundings far from beautiful. As 

 far as the eye could reach from the lake shore to the bare 

 mountain ridges was nothing but one gaunt sea of bare poles, 

 the result of a great fire in 1893. Here and there the woods 

 were recovering in the shape of short thickets of birch or 

 scattered groups of spruce, firs, and larch, but the whole 

 aspect was most mournful, and I longed to get on to "timber" 

 where we might reasonably expect to kill a stag. At four 

 we passed Soulis Ann Lake, and continued our journey up 

 to Bale d'Est. The river here looked suitable for trout and 

 ouananiche, so, getting out our rods, we fished for an hour 

 and a half in two likely-looking pools, with great success. 

 The ouananiche fought splendidly, but seldom reached a 

 pound in weight, whilst the trout were a little larger. I 

 killed three dozen, the largest a trout of two and a half pounds. 

 In the evening we walked up the river, where the canoes met 

 us, and took us to camp on a spot we named Sandy Point, 

 on Brazil Pond. The sun set in a blaze of glory as we sat 

 over the fire and ate our meal of fish and tea. 



The morning of the 5th September was beautifully clear 

 and sunny as we paddled merrily up Brazil Lake, until we 

 reached the short river which connects it with Little Burnt 



