98 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



the thinly populated district round Lake St. John 

 entirely so. 



Mr. Cummings and his wife waved me a kindly 

 adieu from the shore as we paddled off on our tour 

 round the lake. My luggage was piled in the centre : 

 not very weighty, and consisting mainly of provisions 

 for three weeks, tents, and the usual outfit. I, myself, 

 on a couple of air-cushions, sat on the floor of the 

 canoe, and the two men were seated at either ex- 

 tremity, Thomas steering from the stern, neither his 

 tongue nor his paddle ever stopping for one moment. 



So large is its expanse of water, that Lake St. John 

 possesses an horizon like the sea, and, except at its 

 narrowest part, the eye cannot distinguish the oppo- 

 site shore. The country presents a monotonous uni- 

 formity, and is clothed throughout with pine and birch 

 woods; it lies low and level, and no mountains worthy 

 of the name are visible except towards the north, 

 in the farthest distance. The water was a good six 

 feet above its usual level, and as we coasted along the 

 edge, half- submerged bushes appeared far out in the 

 lake, and occasionally the twigs of some hidden tree 

 grated unpleasantly along the bottom of the canoe, 

 making one wonder if some broken branch might not 

 rip up the delicate birch bark skin. 



The first river to be reached was the Mistassini.* 

 Near the inflow is situated S. Prive, the most 



* Many miles to the north lies Lake Mistassini, concerning which 

 such marvellous reports had been lately spread, as though it were almost 

 unexplored and of enormous extent, by persons ignorant of the fact that 

 it has been surveyed and 'that the Hudson's Bay Company have had a 

 trading-post there for years. 



