A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



of this was that during the entire trip the perspiring Canadian, 

 out of sheer pride, staggered along under enormous and bulky 

 packs. 



We spent an uncomfortable night in the house of the leading 

 inhabitant of the village, and shortly after daylight the next 

 morning launched our canoes and glided down the Mattawin 

 River. At noon we built a fire on a sand-point where the 

 Riviere de Poste joins the Mattawin, and here had luncheon in 

 a cloud of black flies. During the whole afternoon we paddled 

 steadily against the swift current of the smaller stream. The 

 scenery was completely hidden by a solid mass of high alders 

 on both banks, and we were surrounded and tormented by 

 swarms of voracious black flies. We camped on the river-bank 

 at the foot of the first rapids we had encountered, and the 

 black flies retired to give swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitoes a 

 chance at us during the night. The entire next day we worked 

 steadily up-stream, paddling across numerous small lakes, and 

 portaging canoes and baggage over many carries. About noon 

 it commenced to rain, and until dusk a heavy and continuous 

 downpour drenched us and all our belongings. Shortly before 

 dark we paddled out on the surface of beautiful Lac Clair, a 

 clear, deep sheet of water twelve miles in length and several 

 miles in width, nestling among hardwood-covered hills. • Dur- 

 ing the last heavy downpour of the storm we landed and made 

 camp in a grove of dripping balsams, and after an hour of hard 

 work we were able to sit down to a steaming meal in front of 

 a blazing fire, bounded by our two lean-to tents and a wall of 

 drying blankets. 



The next day dawned cold and clear, with a biting wind 

 lashing the waters of the lake into white-capped waves. Sev- 

 eral large muskalonge caught near camp furnished a pleasant 

 change in the breakfast fare. Later in the morning, while 

 fighting our way across the agitated surface of the lake in our 

 heavily loaded canoes, we noticed several gray animals lying 



so 



