2 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



to trap and hunt in the neighbourhood of this lake 

 during the ensuing winter ; and I joined with them for 

 the sake of companionship and mutual help while ex- 

 ploring this district. 



I had intended to take up land in Upper Canada, and 

 went the length of applying for a quarter section (a 

 hundred and sixty acres) on a located township ; but my 

 youth, and the smallness of my capital, telling against 

 me, induced me to decide to wait a time, and meantime 

 to see something of the wilder regions of the country 

 and endeavour to increase my means. Consequently I 

 took a journey to Moose Factory ; and it was on the 

 return route that I picked up with my present com- 

 panions, and agreed to pass a winter with them on Wolf 

 Pond, as they called it, from the number of wolves they 

 had trapped in its neighbourhood. 



The lake swarmed with fish, as nearly all, even the 

 smallest, of them do. I have frequently found pools of 

 only an acre or two in extent crowded with fish ; and no 

 matter how small these woodland ponds may be, they all 

 seem to be permanent : I could never find that any of 

 them dry up, even in the hottest summers. 



There are at least a dozen different species of fish 

 inhabiting the small lakes and ponds. I do not mean 

 that the ponds are their exclusive habitat, or that all the 

 species are found in one lake. Many of them are found 

 only in certain lakes ; and most of them inhabit running 

 waters as well as lakes. 



The most abundant in Wolf Pond was the pickerel. 

 This fish seems to me to be a species of what the 

 naturalists call " pike-perches." It resembles the pike in 

 many particulars, such as shape, taste of the flesh, and 

 similarity of prey ; but not in size or habits : for it seldom 

 exceeds three pounds in weight, and it goes in numerous 

 shoals. It will be found in one or two favourite corners of a 

 lake, and perhaps in no other part ; but more singular still, 

 one lake may abound with them but others in the neigh- 



