210 



FOREST AND STEEAM. 



tlie flics drift down to where an old log lay lengthwise 

 against the hank. They were tumbling along, when out. 

 Came a grand slab-sided fellow, and sucked in the second 

 fly, doing it as he had probably done the same to thousands 

 of the real insect. Hooks were evidently unknown to him, 

 and as he was going under his kennel again, he looked as 

 a doe does when he comes out to pick up a bone and then 

 crawls back dragging hi:s chain. I have sometimes seen 

 the same lazy movements repeated in private ponds, but 

 very seldom in stream-fishing; trout are usually so quick. 

 Of course I struck this fellow hard, for as he turned I had 

 seen his yellow and crimson spols, and he was a Gsh to 

 work for." But if 1 had followed or tried to follow that 

 fish when he went for the falls again, Philadelphia would 

 have lost one of her most ardent Citizens, albeit he is an 

 obscure, one. It was like fishing in a gigantic wash basin 

 with one outlet. If you fell in, there was no gelling out, 

 except through that outlet, and you would necessarily be 

 canlSd over The lower fall. If I wanted that trout, I must 

 drown him where I stood, or I would get drowned myself; 

 BO 1 lowered the butt again, and although the rod bent like 

 a whip, he swayed around again, and the water run- 

 ning swiftly through his open gills brought him up to the 

 surface gasping. Then, just as I supposed him safe 

 enough, a bass of about a pound or so grabbed the tail fly 

 and started the dance around the pool again. I played 

 those two fell for nearly half an hour; I gave my trout up 

 once entirely, hut he hung on as if glued, and at last reeled 

 them into the shore. I oivjointed the rod, and taking only 

 the tl'OUt, started back for breakfast. Out came one of my 

 fellow room-mates of the night before, looked up at the 

 clouds, spit, scratched a little, but never a word about the 

 fish. Miller came nest, said "Good morning," and went 

 to the log stable. I was about to call their allention to my 

 fish when I heard "Good morning" from my rear, and there 

 was lumbermau number two. 



"Had any lucky" then, as he saw my trout, "Well, you 

 did get one' small one, anyway," said he. 



"Small!" said I. "If you call a trout, that weighs a 

 pound and three quarters, if an ounce, small, what in the 

 name of sense du you call large up here." 



"Why, sir," replied he, "we ketch 'cm here as big as six 

 of him, and plenty of 'em, too; but not on a little stick 

 like that," (picking up my bamboo.) "We takes a stout 

 line and a bit of pork or fish and go in a canoe under them 

 falls," (pointing to the lower Omic,) "and hold the line in 

 our hands and ketch as many as we want; but you're a 

 little late for the big 'uns." 



"Good enough," thought I, "if there are any there they'll 

 come out." 



I stayed around the falls one day, fishing with good luck. 

 and on Thursday we set out for the upper lakes. ,\ hen I 

 was down at Orillia a lively stableman, Jackson by name, 

 told me if I went up the Magnetewan to get a hunter by 

 the name, of Ed. Jenkins to go along as guide, whom I 

 succeeded in finding after some difficulty. F told him my 

 desire to start, on the morrow for a ten days camp, and 

 that I Wished to secure his services. He readily agreed to 

 go, and promised to be at the post office (Miller's) on the 

 following morning. 



Prompt to time he came, carrying on his head, inverted, 

 the bark canoe that was to carry us many a watery mile. 

 In the canoe we put our small stock of stores, viz: — nine 

 pounds of pork to fry our venison with, twelve pounds of 

 bread and crackers.' one pound of black lea, and some 

 pepper and salt; then wo had in addition each a Ballard 

 rifle, the best gun for deer. We. had also each a blanket, 

 one axe, a coffee pot, two small tin dishes for the tea, one 

 bottle of Hennessey's "best"— which old John Maquabee, 

 the chief, and his squaw, nearly emptied at one drink— a 

 frying pan, and our precious box of matches. Our kit was 

 not large, but when you have to load aud carry it over the 

 portages, every ounce tells. People must not suppose, 

 When going on' a trip like this, that they will be waited on 

 and the guide do all the work. He does what his name ex- 

 presses, viz: — act as your pilot over lake and through 

 forest, but never does" he expect you to ait with folded 

 hands while he sweatB under double loads over carrys, and 

 cooks all the meals. Each man for hiinsof, and the lucky 

 one first. But I wander! 



Launching our frail canoe above where I caught my fish 

 of yesterday, we balanced her and got aboard. Although 

 Ned held her while I got In, my first impulse on entering 

 was to get out and swim, for I certainly expected I should 

 be compelled to do so. Whoever has tried his hand in a 

 shell for the first time will understand me. Ned directed 

 me to the bow, aud giving me a paddle said that if I 

 wanted to sleep in dry clothes that night to keep still, and 

 uot try to balance her alone. You can very seldom sit 

 down in a birch canoe. All the paddling is done in a 

 kneeling position, aud passengers must kneel also, before 

 anything else. It is easy enough to paddle a skill', or any 

 i boat, In comparison to a canoe. It is all done on 

 one side of the craft; a turn of the wrist at the end of the 

 stroke neutralizes the force that would otherwise send lite 

 canoe spinning around in a circle, but the "kink" is to get 

 that same turn in when it is wanted, and not before, or you 

 will make little headway. It can only be acquired by cou- 



i.ietice. Yet, I have seen Ned Jenkins send that 



same cauoe up to a deer so close that 1 could almost "tail" 

 him, without taking his paddle out of the water, and doing 

 it so quietly that I," who was sitting in the bow, could not 

 hear a ripple. But then, little force is required, for even a 

 lily pad will lurn the craft aside— so easily is it influenced. 



A few rods above where we started there was a rapid. I 

 expected a "carry," but Ned sent the canoe for it, and as 

 we shot into Hi- roaring, descending water, I thought it mad- 

 ness to try lo ascend, out although we were almosl station- 

 ary for some aeconds, muscle triumphed, and we glided out 

 into the broad bosom ,,| the Upper Maguelcwan. The 

 si ream broadened until I thought we were in Shesheep 

 :il laid !i - SUj tier) mSj so having settled my- 

 self for another Stretch, up we went. Here and there was 

 a small clearing, for we were yet in the domains of occa- 

 sional civilization. The river bauks receded gradually, 

 aud with few exceptions there were no elevations to be 

 teen. The dense forest came down to the very edge of the 

 water, and to think of being in that forest alone was to me 

 not very pleasant, for I knewft extended Nbrlheaal toan 

 unknown extent, and Southward for :j ,l least fifty miles, 

 with very few breaks, and if a man were once bewildered 

 and lost succor would be almost hopeless. On both sides 

 of the bank were every now and then reedy, marshy spots, 

 lull of lily pads aud yoiiie ti ider sprouts, Ducks would 

 scurry out when We brushed aUmgj for we kept cli e 

 ,„ nop Eoavoid the stronger mid current. Hounding a 

 woody point to the right, we stalled up from the marsh 



lease, shot 



knell in the eauo 



the vast foresls, I 



if nil care and anxiety was shuTout. 



lor joy, and as I lie water rippled fro 



beyond, a black bear, who, no doubt, had come down to rid 

 himself from flics, etc., in the water, and went off through 

 the brush at a lumbering gait that soon took him out, of 

 sight and sound. 



"Those fellows lose no time in getting away, I tell you," 

 said Ned, in reply to my stare of surprise. "A buck might 

 have waited a seeond, taken so at a start, but these bears 



Twenly minutes paddling brought us to Lake Shesheep. 

 This lake covers about two thousand acres, and seems, at 

 first, to he but a widening of the river; but afterward, 1 

 found that there were long reaches or bays extending in 

 different directions, very deep and generally very calm, 

 with white, sandy beaches. Here and (here are reedy, 

 marshy spols, never over thirty rods long, wherein the deer 

 come "day and night to feed, drink and bathe. It was 

 nearly noon, and [wanted very much to stop and rest; but 

 Ned knew of a spring further "on, and seeming insensible 

 to the grandeur of what to me was almost paradise, kept 

 tha canoe headed for the upper end, and we glided on. 



After a fast of twelve months from the rod aud gun, 

 after the grind of worry and toil in the struggle for exist- 

 ence in the past year, the reward of my three weeks' re- 

 :, came over me then like new wine. I 

 ml looking at the glimmering water, 

 ny delightful islands, it seemed as 

 I could have shouted 

 the delicate point of 

 our'canoe, the sound thrilled through me as only nature's 

 music can. For three weeks what to me were friends, 

 business cares, or the pulsations of the life behind me? I 

 was behind the curtain of the play, not to he nearer the 

 machinery of the farce nr tragedy, but to rest and forget 

 my part, aud when the curtain rose for me. to start again, 1 

 would go on as before, but thinking of my rest as of a 

 Summer's dream. You understand it, "and can express the 

 feeling belter, but how delightful it is to forget the day of 

 the week and month, and feel for even afewdays that hone 

 are richer than you. 



Al the, head of" t lie lake 1 saw a great smoke, and near it 

 Taylor's small log cabin, no lives there all alone, Summer 

 and Whiter. liunning the bark ashore, we got out, and 

 went up lo the cabin, but found no one near. 



"He's set lire lo his 'farvou'aud gone hunting," said Ned. 

 "I'll see him to-morrow." 



On we went, turned to the left, struck the Magnetewan 

 again, and after an hour's paddling, slopped to "fry some 

 bass for dinner, wluch we had caught on the way up with 

 a troll. 



"We'll be at the upper fall to-night and sleep there. 

 You'll ketch some big trout, and if you like we can stay 

 there a week, or come to Shesheep," said Ned; "or if you 

 like we can cut over to Horn Lake aud get some salmon- 

 trout." 



Kicking out our lire we started again. The river winds 

 like a snake, and the turns are so "sharp that expectancy 

 was kept, alive in the hope of gelling an unexpected shot; 

 but it was high noon, and except some black ducks breed- 

 ing here, I saw nothing. The pads were in some places 

 eaten off, and the bank ploughed up. Ned would nod in 

 that direction, and say: "Deers!" He always used the 

 plural. Mile after mile was paddled, and I began to feel 

 tired, although Ore "dip !" "dip !" behind me was kept up 

 as if by machinery. Two o'clock, four o'clock, slipped 

 around, and from weariness my rifle was laid down, and I 

 was dozing and careless when "hist !" "hist !" aroused me 

 like a cold water douche, and foolishly I turned to Ned 

 without looking around, With his body bent double, 

 paddle still in the water, and linger pointing ahead of me, 

 he directed my allention to the Rent, and— Shade of 

 Diana ! What did I sec ! In a little cove just around the 

 point, with the water up to his belly, stood a buck, and on 

 the bank a doe. Neither saw us, yet we were within 

 eight lengths of the canoe of them. Taking up my rifle, I 

 struck the edge of the cauoe, and the buck turned his 

 head full around on us, the doe bounding into the brush. 

 I could see the surprised look in the buck's eyes for a 

 second, and then as the water flew as he made for the 

 bank, I fired, and missed him clean ! 



My first thought was that he had got it. Ned never 

 moved, but knelt looking very much puzzled at. me. 



"Did I hit him, Ned!'" 



"No sir, aud he wer'nt no more than eight or ten rod off, 

 neither; what's the matter with you ?" 



"Don't say anything, Ned, or I'll jump overboard. That 

 was the worst shot I ever made; and to think I missed the 

 first one." I was mortified to death at my clumsiness. I 

 wished Ned had shol, for then we'd have had some fresh 

 neat lor supper, and now il's off in the woods. 



"No, sir-ee !" said he. "I'll show you the deers, and 

 you must kill them. We'll see others soon; for there's 

 plenty more." 



But no more did we see that day, for soon alter a rumb- 

 ling sound could be heard, and Ned said: "Falls," so we 

 had reached them at last, -and what a place for trout ! A 

 ccession of rapids, full of pools and eddies, and 

 ending in a sudden pitch into a great basin wherein we 

 were now riding iu our dancing canoe. There were fifteen 

 or twenly black ducks at the further end next lo the fall, 

 and when we shot into the basin how they did "quack" 

 and scramble arouud in the water. Where the foam al- 

 i i sight, I could see innumerable bass and trout. 

 Carefully landing our kit, Ned proceeded to start the fire 

 and get our things under cover of an old trapping hut, 

 while I jointed my rod and made for the stand under the 

 fall. The water foamed aud roared around me so that 1 

 could not hear Ned speaking to me from the hill. As 1 

 expected, the bass were out in force again, and for a time 

 I was kept busy taking them off my line. They took the 

 tly eagerly, aud were huge and Strong. I saved four or 

 five for Ned, aud went further up the rapid, for 1 had seep 

 several trout rise that were worth all the bass in the river 

 lo me, and 1 was determined to get them. The sun went 

 down while I was splashing around, and jusl as the last 

 ravs were glimmering through the dark foreground of pine 

 branches, the trout came, out in force, and I soon had 

 enough. Supper was soon ready and eaten, amid regrets 

 on my part that my aim had not been truer at the deer a 

 few hours ago. Wrapping ourselves in our blankets — for 

 the July night had become quite cold — we slept soundly iu 

 spite of the mosquitoes, and the howling of the wolves iu 

 that vicinity. 



On the next morning we returned to Shesheep Lake, to 

 camp on one of its beautiful islands, and dally away ten 

 days in exploring its surroundings. There was a .small 

 island near the Western side, and within full view of the 

 best marsh for the deer. Here we made our rustic house, 



and spreading our blankets, prepared to stay. The island, 

 wilh one or two others, was covered with "most delicious 

 huckleberries. From that island I have gone out on some 

 of the most pleasant excursions of my life. I have seen as 

 many as eleven deer in one day, without any more exertion 

 in finding them than that of paddling around the Jake, 

 trolling for the immense bass and pickerel therein. One 

 day I shol: a three year old buck on the open beach, and 

 on the following afternoon, while inspecting a beaver dam 

 full of beavers, about three quarters Of a mile back from 

 the lake, I saw Ned kill a buck that tried to run across the 

 open into the woods on the other side— one of the best 

 shots I ever saw. Ten minutes after that I started up 

 another, and let him "lope" away without shooting, for 

 we had two deer, and I held it to 'he wickedness to shoot 

 auother when We had plenty. This was in -July, when the 

 direr come down to the water. When you remember that 

 Shesheep is but one lake among almost thousands, and 

 that about one deer out of twenty that goes down to water 

 is seen, j-ou can form some estimate of their abundance. 

 On the day mentioned, the deer seemed like rabbits in the 

 brush, biit Ned said eleven was no uncommon sight in 

 Summer. These deer were all seen singly, and not in a 

 drove. When we returned from the heaver dam with our 

 venison, after a hearty meal we lay stretched on out- 

 blankets outside the camp watching the sunset and b'steu- 

 ing to the loons and ravens, the latter birds keeping up a 

 fearful croaking. I spoke of what seemed to me to be an 

 abundance of deer, and asked him to tell me some of the 

 sights he must have seen during his life. I have no reason 

 to distrust Ned's veracity, and believe, what he told me 

 about the game of his region, fanciful as it seems. 



"I tell you," he began, "what you have seen to-day aint 

 nothing to our Winter m.d Fall hunting up here two 

 Winters ago. I shot for Dodge OS Go, "8 huubering gangs 

 at three cents a pound for the venison and eighty cents for 

 the hides, and killed a hundred and thirty-six deer, not to 

 speak of other game, all from December to March, and 

 some days I never went out at all. If I had hud my breech 

 loader, (locking admiringly at his Ballard,) I could have 

 got lots more." 



"How many did you ever kill in a day, Ned," said I. 



"Just what vou saw to-day, eleven," said he, "and six of 

 them I shot out of one drove from behind a tree, before they 

 started to run, and if 1 had had my new gun, then I could 

 easily have made it twelve, they were so tame. After that 

 year I sent down to Toronto for a good breech loading 

 rifle, and the man sent me this, and a good one it is. When 

 you travel around in these woods you "want a gun that yon 

 can load quick and depend on." 



"Don't you ever run into danger, Ned?" said I. "I 

 should think you would be afraid to tramp the woods all 

 day aud then lay down and sleep where night overtakes 

 you. Don't you ever run against these wolves and bears 

 in Winter?" 



"Well," replied he, "I've travelled these woods a good 

 many times, and never was so close lo a wolf as you were 

 last night off the point," alluding to an adventure of the 

 previous evening, while night hunting, "Them devils 

 have come round" rue many a Time in Winter aud howled, 

 but never nearer than the "shadow of my fire, and that gray 

 chap was within ten feet of you; 1 never feel skeart when 

 I have a fire, but if I had none, I should cerfainly climb a 

 tree. As for bears, 1 don't care no more for them than I 

 do for owls." 



"How about these Indians?" said I, "I suppose you 

 have no trouble with them!" A parly had been camping 

 near us on the mainland for a couple of nights, aud I mis- 

 trusted them, as John the Chief had reduced my whiskey 

 flask considerably, and his squaw had finished it. 



"Nary bit of trouble from them," laughed he. "John 

 is the only one I can talk lo, and I'd trust him with any- 

 thing of mine if he has no rum. But he is like them all, 

 and if you were to come up here four or five years from 

 now he would remember your drink of whiskey, and let 

 you know it. I don't pay much attention to them, and 

 "never had ray traps stolen but once. So they leave me 

 pretty well alone; but they are a lazy, worthless set. In 

 the Spring, when deers are poor, theni fellows will ketch 

 mice andlnsects and eat them, but when they get a deer 

 they eat a fearful lot of meat." 



"They are good hunters, I suppose," ssid I. "Do they 

 ever run from any of the auimals around here?" 



"Oh, yes," answered he. "An Injun will run from a 

 wolf on sight iu Winter, or let him alone at least. They 

 call them 'Porogues,' aud never shoot at them, for lliey 

 know them by experience. They hunt the bears aud moose 

 a good deal, but kill more deer than anything else. But I 

 never saw the Indian yet that I was afraid lo hunt against. 

 They use shot guns and buckshot, and stand no show again 

 a rifle. But let's see, you're three games ahead— suppose 

 wc play keards?" 



Three weeks soon slipped away, and I was forced to 

 think of city life again. So turning our canoe down 

 stream we started on the hack track. 



Now a word about that region, and the way to get there. 

 Very few go, and the comforts are few and far "between. 

 If a man can stand out-door life and live on venison, trout, 

 bass, partridges, ducks, pork, tea, and crackers, there is no 

 better place lo go in America that is as accessible. I do 

 not want to see the country overrun with hunters and fish- 

 ermen, and do not believe it soon will be, for the difficulty 

 of getting there is great. There are only two Americans 

 besides the writer, who have ever been there, as far as I 

 know, and they are from Cleveland. Jenkins, who is the 

 only competent guide, fold me , they wine the only ones, 

 A "very lew Canadians have been in. The majority of 

 those who are inclined that way make the long, tedious 

 trip to the Nepigou, and one gentleman from Toronto, 

 whom I met on the cars going home, asked me about the 

 country as if I had been bunting Livingston, a In Stanley. 



A man can go there in July, August,' September or ( )ii- 

 ober with comfort, if he will' only go in the right way, and 

 shoot deer and catch trout to heart's content "June o"r May 

 for troul, after that for deer. Jenkins told me that trout 

 of four or five pounds are common Ihere, and he once 

 caught, one that weighed over nine! Remember that the 

 Magnetewan is as large as Ihe Schuylkill at Philadelphia, 

 or considerably wider aud deeper than the Harlem at the 

 High Bridge, and that the trout have an unlimited range 

 and are seldom di.st.ui bod; so they have a chance to grow. 

 The day we killed two deer on the lakes old John Maqua- 

 bee, the Indian, lay iu his camp asleep, but when the moon 

 came up that night I saw him bring in three deer, all bucks, 

 killed fire hunting, aud heard him shoot twice after that, 

 aud believe he bunged another, if not bo! h. Any season of 

 the year except Spring yon can kill deer in large numbers, 



