In North- West Own<i<l<i. 11 



holes over which the current runs swiftly, lie the big trout, 

 ready to dart at the gaudy fly. 



At Red Rock, we see several Indians in their canoes. Upon 

 the waterways, the red man's conveyance has invariably been 

 the birch-bark canoe, and nothing has ever been constructed 

 by man more perfectly adapted to the purpose required. A 

 skin of the tough outer bark of the white birch, sewed together 

 with the fibrous roots of the spruce, tightly stretched over a 

 thin lining and ribs of cedar, the seams daubed with the 

 resinous gum of the pine or tamarack such is the Indian 

 canoe light, strong and buoyant, simply constructed and 

 easily repaired. Modelled somewhat after the fashion of a 

 duck's^breast, it floats like a bubble on the water, easy to be up- 

 set by a novice, but in experienced hands it is the safest of 

 crafts, and it is of all the most picturesque, exquisitely grace- 

 ful in form and curvature, the varied orange and brown of its 

 exterior contrasts brightly with the transparent reflections of 

 the. river. Stealing noiselessly along by the banks of a river, 

 under the overhanging branches, or appearing unexpectedly 

 round a point, it forms just the spot of colour, and touch of 

 life and human interest, which make the wild and lonely 

 scene a picture. Leaving Red Rock, the railway takes a 

 straight course for Port Arthur, and we soon get delightful 

 views of Thunder Bay. The scenery here is more diversi- 

 fied and beautiful than any we have yet seen. The wide, 

 emerald-green waters of Thunder Bay are enclosed by abrupt 

 black and purple basaltic cliffs on the one side, and by hills 

 rising one above another on the other. Here the Kaministiquia 

 river, broad and deep, emerges from a dark forest, and joins 

 the waters of Lake Superior, giving little token that a few 

 miles back it has made a wild plunge from a height exceed- 

 ing that of Niagara itself. 



Arriving at Port Arthur, we leave the train for a short 

 time, and view the surrounding country from an elevation 

 close by. 



Before us is Thunder Bay. At its entrance is Thunder Cape, 

 the extremity of a long, rocky peninsula, rising abruptly to 



