THE PERIBONCA AND TSCHOTAGAMA 199 



Near the Brule, too, comes in the river Au Sable, 

 having a beautiful cataract, one hundred and fifty feet 

 in height, close to its mouth. Remarkably good trout 

 fishing is to be had three miles above these falls. 



The principal forest trees in the country immedi- 

 ately north of Lake St. John are pine, spruce, sapin or 

 balsam, maple, black and white birch, poplar, and 

 cedar. In the shadow of these woods and by the 

 margin of the river the chief flowers that we no- 

 ticed on our ascent of the Peribonca were the Ledum 

 latifolium, or Labrador tea, with its elegant umbrel- 

 like clusters of tiny white flowers at the summits of 

 slender sprays ; the blue harebell, found principally on 

 rocky cliffs; the wood -sorrel, a large blue flag that 

 loves a marshy soil, and whose seeds have sometimes 

 been used crushed by the Indians as a substitute for 

 coffee; the solidago or brilliant goldenrod, Michaelmas 

 daisies, and the graceful little twin flower borne aloft 

 on slender stems from a bewildering entanglement of 

 creeping vinery, and that bears still the name of its 

 devoted lover, Linnaeus. Of berries there were a pro- 

 fusion of raspberries and blueberries, large and luscious, 

 as well as occasional bushes of wild currants and 

 gooseberries of poor quality, besides pigeon-berries in 

 abundance, and the box -leaved wintergreen or bear- 

 berry, with its white and red berries the f raise d 

 Tours of the half-breed hunters, which extends through 

 the whole of Labrador to Hudson Bay, and which 

 has been suggested as a substitute for holly in this 

 country for Christmas decorations.* Numerous va- 



* Mrs. Traill, in Plant-Life in Canada. 



