THE UPPER MISTASSINI. 



3i 



Opposite there is a winter trail leading to 

 the Lake Ashuapmouchouan (the source of 

 the main branch of the river of that name), 

 some 60 miles to the West. This is the 

 route the Indians use when crossing from 

 Lake Mistassini to the Mistassini river and 

 is the shortest distance (200 miles) between 

 the lake and river. Six uneventful days 

 were spent in these rapids and at 3 o'clock 

 on the afternoon of the seventh we camped 

 at the lower end of the Grande Portage, a 

 tired but thankful party. 



This portage is around a very rough 

 rapid that cannot be canoed on account of 

 some terrible whirlpools. One bad hill at 

 the start, then the remaining 3 miles are 

 over a level barren, deeply carpeted with 

 moss and small clumps of spruces. We 

 crossed very early >in the morning and the 

 hoar frost, on the spider webs in the 

 spruces, was a beautiful sight. Many fresh 

 bear tracks, in the moss, wrought the Ind- 

 ians up to a high state of excitement, and 

 they begged me to stop for a few days' 

 hunt; but as I had no desire to carry any 

 bear grease among our provisions, I re- 

 fused and contended them by saying they 

 could hunt all the bear they wanted when 

 we went on our caribou hunt, on the Batis- 

 can, in autumn. 



At the end of the portage, there is a 

 stretch of calm water, perhaps 10 miles 

 long, where we tried the trolling lines and 

 took some fine pike and one ouananiche. 

 The last portage is just above this calm, 

 the landing place being in a terrible rapid. 

 The " sea " here is fully as high as that on 

 the Gervais rapid, in Saguenay. I debarked 

 and walked around the rocks, while my 

 wife refused to get out, saying it was great 

 sport. 



This portage is only about a mile in 

 length, but a very steep, sandy hill, about 

 200 feet high, has to be ascended and it 

 taxed our breathing powers to the utmost. 

 Near the upper end of the portage the river 

 falls 100 feet in as many rods, the water 

 going at lightning speed through a natural 

 flume in the rock. So rapid is the descent 

 that the water in the flume is but 3 feet 

 deep. We named this the " Devil's Slide." 



From the head of the " slide " the river is 

 narrow and quiet for about a mile. Then 

 it suddenly expands — forming a circular 

 basin 2 miles in diameter and surrounded 

 by abrupt mountains. Rounding a point, 

 jutting out from the East side, we suddenly 

 came in sight of one of the most magnifi- 

 cent cataracts it ever falls to the lot of man 

 to see. The river seems to drop out of the 

 sky, in 3 vertical falls; the first semicircular 

 in shape, and not more than 20 feet wide; 

 the second wider and white as milk, when, 

 after striking a narrow ledge, a third leap 

 of fully 300 feet is taken, to the boiling pool 

 below. We estimated the total descent to 

 be in the neighborhood of 700 feet, and the 

 volume of water — the river was very low at 



that time — as great as that of the Delaware 

 river, below Trenton, N. J. 



Camp was made on a strip of sandy 

 beach, directly opposite the fall. That 

 night we were treated to a peculiar sight, 

 consisting of a kind of rainbow formed by 

 the aurora borealis in the spray of the fall. 

 The soft light and weird, ever changing 

 forms in the mist, made a picture that will 

 never be forgotten. 



While camp was being prepared a can- 

 vas-back duck, with a brood of fledglings, 

 came near and, after counting the young, 

 my father said: 



" Eleven. Too bad she did not have an 

 even dozen." 



However, she was not to blame, as the 

 following will show. Needing some pike 

 for supper, my father trolled about the 

 shores, near camp, and took several, one 

 having a large lump in its stomach that 

 subsequently proved to be the twelfth 

 duckling. We had become used to finding 

 small wood-rats and frogs in pike, but a 

 canvas-back duck surprised us. 



That evening we made a trial for ouan- 

 aniche, near the foot of the fall. I took one 

 dore, but saw numbers of ouananiche jump- 

 ing, near by. These foolish fish are so ab- 

 sorbed in a desire to go up stream, that 

 they leap, time after time, into the face of 

 this insurmountable cataract, only to be 

 dashed back to the rocks below. 



Father was more successful for he took 2 

 large ouananiche on a cast of " Butcher " 

 and " Silver Doctor " salmon flies. 



The next morning, accompanied by the 

 Indian, Henry, I climbed the mountain and 

 discovered the source of the river, about 

 10 miles above the fall. Here we found 

 many small lakes and streams, while as far 

 as the eye could reach there could be seen 

 a tamarack and cedar swamp, with a net- 

 work of creeks running through it. The 

 objective point of our trip reached, we de- 

 voted one more day to the ouananiche, tak- 

 ing a dozen small ones — averaging 2Y2 

 pounds — and then started homeward. 



The return trip was broken by but one 

 incident. Leaving the fall at 6 in the morn- 

 ing we crossed the 2 portages and began 

 the descent of the long rapid, at noon. 

 Near the worst place in the rapid there is a 

 long, gravelly point, extending out to the 

 centre of the stream, and just as we came 

 abreast of it, a large black bear walked out 

 on it and stood looking at us with an in- 

 quisitive gaze. I let fly at him with a .45- 

 125 express rifle, but the motion of the 

 canoe caused me to over-shoot, and with a 

 few sniffs in the air he turned and entered 

 the bush. Although this was the only bear 

 we actually saw, we had heard them, and 

 had seen fresh tracks at almost every camp. 

 I do not know of a place in Canada that 

 would afford better sport for the bear 

 hunter than this river and its tributaries. 



Late that evening we camped at Trout 



