256 A SPORTING PARADISE 



passed without any important incident, and beyond 

 an occasional stumble and fall, that provoked 

 more mirth than injury, there was nothing 

 to record. We were now rapidly approaching 

 our destination. We were expecting delays at 

 the large lakes on account of the weather. It 

 had suddenly become warm during the day, 

 though toward evening the temperature fell. It 

 is at this time of the year that lives are frequently 

 lost. Persons who may travel over the lake-ice 

 at early dawn upon a thick, smooth crust find 

 it becomes slush and water at noon. The ice 

 does not break as an ice-pond in the Old Country, 

 upon which we may safely skate after a few nights 

 of hard frost. The lakes of Canada are in 

 March coated with four to six feet of solid 

 frozen surface, composed of good ice, which 

 would be the frozen lake-water, then snows partly 

 melted and partly frozen solid, then snows melted 

 and entirely frozen, covered with thick snow upon 

 which a coating of ice has been formed a few 

 inches thick. Hence it is a common sight to 

 see a man driving over lakes that appear entirely 

 water. 



I shall never forget walking from Gregory 

 to Port Sanfield during the month of April, 



