SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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peckers, and many other interesting birds. The 

 numerous creeks and lakes are teeming with fish, 

 and include white-fish, chub, pike, cat-fish and eels, 

 the white-fish being very plentiful in Great 

 Opeongo, Cedar and several other lakes, and it is 

 proposed to introduce other species which are 

 known to be suitable for these waters. 



The park forms part of the great forest which 

 formerly covered the whole of Ontario, and which 

 even now extends over many thousands of square 

 miles. It contains a great variety of trees, includ- 

 ing, amongst the hardwood species, beech, birch, 

 maple, iron wood and ash, all of which are found 

 in groves or intermingled with pine. It is the 

 home of the black birch, which grows to 

 magnificent proportions. In the neighbouring 

 district, I have frequently met with perfectly 



flora generally is rich in species and characteristic 

 of this great virgin forest. Many species of wild 

 flowers and shrubs possessing medicinal and other 

 virtues are very plentiful, not the least important 

 being that popular herb, the sarsaparilla, but near 

 the older settlements the majority of these plants 

 are almost forgotten where once they were the 

 common objects of the forest glades. In the new 

 park many species will be saved from extinction, and 

 others adapted to the locality will be introduced. 



As regards the land itself, it may be stated 

 briefly that " owing to its situation on a watershed 

 it possesses little agricultural value, being rough, 

 broken and stoney. There are few high hills, the 

 surface being mainly composed of rocky ridges 

 alternating with valleys, swamps and marshes. 

 Rocks of the Laurentian formation everywhere 



Map of Algonquin National Park. 



sound trees of enormous size and have measured 

 specimens from fifteen feet to eighteen feet in 

 circumference. Hemlock is common, also balsam- 

 fir, cedar and basswood, and the white and 

 red pine although much diminished in quantity 

 by the operations of the lumbermen are yet well 

 represented. Spruce and tamarack in the swamps 

 abound, and there is a dense undergrowth of 

 balsam, cherry, hazel and ground hemlock, the 

 last-named furnishing splendid bedding for the 

 camp of the solitary hunter. Alders are found 

 along the creek-beds everywhere and in the 

 marshes. It is worthy of remark that after a fire 

 the ground is rapidly covered with a second 

 growth of poplar, white birch, cherry, maple and 

 pine. Vast quantities of raspberries spring up, 

 and these, with the bilberries and other wild fruits,, 

 constitute a very welcome addition to the simple 

 fare of the hardy trapper or isolated settler. The 



protrude above the soil, and granite, or gneiss, dip 

 at various angles towards the south-east, the 

 ' grain ' of the strata being north-east and south- 

 west. No limestone, so far as is known, occurs, 

 and indications of minerals hitherto met with are 

 few, comprising chiefly iron ore." Many rivers 

 have their rise within the reservation, the more 

 important being the Muskoka, Petewawa and 

 Madawaska, the elevation of their sources 

 averaging about 1,400 feet above the sea level. 

 The lakes vary in size, from the Great Opeongo, 

 which extends over many square miles, to tiny 

 ponds of a few acres. In their rapid course the 

 rivers frequently widen into picturesque lakes, 

 and are fed by innumerable streams. Viewed 

 generally, the aspect of the park presents 

 many interesting features. The whole dis- 

 trict is covered with a complicated network of 

 streams and lakes, stretches of dry forest and 



