136 CANADIAN ENVIRONMENT OF THE OUANANICHE 



north of the Labrador peninsula, if we can believe 

 what an Eskimo girl told Father Charlevoix, in 1720, 

 of the men of monstrous size whom she had seen in 

 her country, some of whom were amphibious, and 

 could remain under water for three-quarters of an 

 hour at a time. 



There are numbers of other large lakes in the north- 

 east territories besides Mistassini and Michikamaw, 

 including several that are larger than Lake St. John. 

 There are other large rivers running from the interior 

 of this vast peninsula to the north besides the Kok- 

 soak, and to the east in addition to the Hamilton. 

 But scarcely anything is known of them. The nu- 

 merous streams that drain the Labrador peninsula 

 towards the south into the River and Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence are worthy of a volume to themselves. Most 

 of them are fairly well known to salmon fishermen in 

 portions, at least, of their courses ; and as few of them 

 are now open to the public, they do not call for any 

 extended notice in this book. But a description of 

 this great peninsula would be incomplete without at 

 least a mention of some of the more important of 

 these far-famed salmon rivers. The most easterly 

 stream of this coast about which any white man pro- 

 fesses to know an}^ thing practical is the Natashquan, 

 which enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence at a distance 

 of nearly five hundred miles from Quebec. Four or 

 five years ago Mr. J. G. A. Creighton, of Ottawa, 

 while fishing the river with Senator Edmunds, of 

 Vermont, and other friends, upset his canoe in killing 

 a salmon at the head of a dangerous rapid, and nar- 

 rowly escaped with his life, his Indian guide going 



