A TRIP TO THE LA VAL. 77 



when, after accomplishing about a mile, he leaned it 

 upon a fallen log and slipped from beneath. Then the 

 warning my friend had so often given me never to wet 

 the bottom of the canoe, because it augmented its weight 

 BO terribly, came forcibly to mind. Fortunately Francois 

 waked up, and having volunteered to carry the canoe 

 over the next stretch, and it being ascertained, to every 

 one's astonishment, that he knew how, proved himself 

 for the first time of any value, and shortened our jour- 

 ney considerably. During the portage we saw our first 

 game, a spruce grouse so tame that no efforts we made 

 could induce him to fly. He escaped death, primarily 

 because we had no gun, and secondarily because it was 

 out of season. At last, after a trying journey for our 

 men, we passed a deserted lumbermen's shanty, and 

 found ourselves upon the sandy shore of the lovely Lake 

 la Yal. 



This beautiful sheet of water, lying amid high sterile 

 hills far from the abodes of man, has remained, and will 

 continue for centuries, unvisited except by the native 

 Indian or the adventurous sportsman. Homantic in its 

 location and appearance, it is remarkable for the num- 

 ber and apparently irreconcilable character of the fish 

 that inhabit its waters. "While the voracious northern 

 pickerel and giant mascallonge inhabit the upper part, 

 and the fierce, greedy and powerful salmon have appro- 

 priated the outlet, shad or mullet and lake trout, botli 

 comparatively inoffensive, dwell in the centre, and 

 doubtless prove an easy prey and grateful food to their 

 natural enemies on cither hand. Along the upper mar- 

 gin, weeds grow, and the bottom is in places soft and 



