146 LABRADOR 
and can vouch for the excellence of the trout-fishing from 
that time until the ice becomes so thick that it is impossible 
to cut holes through it. Dr. Grenfell reports that the trout 
bite freely all summer. The fish appear to be sea-run, al- 
though their sojourn in salt water is probably short, for 
they do not lose their markings as do the trout of the St. 
Lawrence. Large fish, up to six and seven pounds in weight, 
are caught in the lower stretches and at the mouths of all 
the streams flowing into Melville Lake, and take the fly 
freely until the waters freeze over. My knowledge of the 
Hamilton River from its mouth to the Grand Falls is con- 
fined to the conditions prevailing in late winter and early 
spring. We left Northwest River early in March and 
reached the falls on the Ist of May. The great length of 
time taken on the trip was due to our small party having 
to draw on sledges the outfit, tents, canoes, and provisions 
sufficient for the following summer’s work in the interior. 
This amounted to four loads of two hundred pounds for 
each member, and a consequent sevenfold lengthening 
of the original distance of two hundred and fifty miles. 
The Hamilton River is the most important stream of the 
eastern watershed of the peninsula. It is upwards of five 
hundred miles in length, and extends westward halfway 
to Hudson Bay. To the north and west its tributaries 
interlock with those of the Northwest River and with the 
head waters of the George and Koksoak rivers, both of 
which flow north into Ungava Bay, while to the south the 
Hamilton is separated by a low, sinuous watershed from 
the rivers flowing southward into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
At the Grand Falls, some two hundred and fifty miles 
above its mouth, the river is naturally divided into two 
