86 FRUIT RAXCHIXG. 



ply up and down the lake every day. Now and 

 then we have opportunity to watch a big boom of 

 cut logs floating on their way to the saw-mills at 

 Nelson. Barges, laden with mineral ores or cord- 

 wood, sawn timber or general stores, pass frequently, 

 pushed, not pulled, by fussy little tugs with stern- 

 wheel paddles. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of a 

 canoe, our admiration excited by the swift, short 

 strokes of the Indians and their rapid swing of the 

 paddles from side to side, generally after cverv two, 

 three, or four strokes. And when there are two or 

 three Indians in one canoe, it is wonderful how 

 cleverly they keep time with their leader, both in 

 paddling and in changing over. 



In the spring and early in summer the lake is 

 often thickly strewn with floating lumber, branches, 

 tree-trunks, and all sorts of disjecta membra of the 

 woods and watercourses. These are washed down 

 by the freshets which flow out of the rapidl_v-melting 

 snows, and are eagerly sought after for firewood by 

 people dwelling on the lake side. Men even go out 

 in boats " log-hunting." In the course of a few days 

 a man is sometimes able to tow to land sufficient wood 

 to serve him for firing for the whole year. For some 

 time there lay on our foreshore a forest giant running 

 to 150 feet in length and nearly three feet in thickness 

 at the butt. It took a man nearly a fortnight to saw 

 it up and split it into quarters. 



A broad garden path, shaded by half a score of 

 rose arches, rims down from the front of the 

 house to the edge of the lake, a distance of little more 

 than 100 yards. The path is flanked by broad flower 

 borders, behind which stand on the one side a triple 



