72 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



surrounded with beautiful trees in the most picturesque 

 way. On these ponds I again saw the loon once or 

 twice. The beds of the rivers, and the bottoms of the 

 lakes were generall}^ muddy, and fish abounded in all 

 of them ; fish of species already mentioned, with the 

 addition of one or two others. 



Of these new fish the most notable was the sturgeon 

 on account of its size, and the " golden-eye," for its vast 

 numbers, there being myriads of them in some of the 

 rivers. It seems to be a kind of perch, and is very good 

 eating, though it does not grow to any great size. Of 

 neither of these fish have I anything of interest to record. 



During the journey I caused the Indians to travel 

 at any easy rate, as I was by no means in a hurry to 

 pass through the land, and endeavoured to make collec- 

 tions of small birds, eggs, and insects en route. In this 

 work I was only partially successful. The space to 

 spare in the canoe was so limited that accidents to my 

 collections were provokingly frequent, the more so as 

 my Indian friends had no sympathy with my hobby, and 

 used but little care. A great deal of what I collected 

 with great pains was spoilt or lost. 



Butterflies, moths, and beetles, as the most attractive 

 of the insect tribes, were my most eagerly sought victims 

 in this branch of Natural History, but these are not 

 particularly striking in this northern region. I was 

 struck, however, with the fact that there is a small 

 butterfly here of a blue colour, as there seems to be in 

 every district of America, North and South, though 

 differing in species, and another of a bright red, prettily 

 marked. None of the species are identified, and it is 

 only possible to give an intelligible idea of them, and the 

 beetles, by means of coloured plates. Among the dragon- 

 flies was a very handsome pink and green species with 

 golden marks. 



I made excursions of a few miles in extent into the 

 country as we passed through it, always returning to 



