THE SHADES OF NIGHT WERE FALLING FAST. 



bonny lakes of Muskoka have a many sided 

 life. Their secrets are best read apart from 

 the feverish restlessness of a summer hotel. 

 It is the camper-out who is nearest the 

 heart of Nature, and who* may, if he hath 

 ears to hear and eyes to see, learn some- 

 thing of the message She has for him 

 amid such sympathetic scenes. 



The Muskoka lake district is not, how- 

 ever, confined to the 3 main bodies of water. 

 The whole area of the "Highlands of On- 

 tario" comprises no less than 800 water- 

 ways, including lakes, rivers and streams, 

 formerly the happy hunting grounds of the 

 ill fated Hurons, who once roamed through 

 the cool, dark forests and over untilled 

 lands. Hundreds of the islands retain their 

 original wildness, and nature is undis- 

 turbed in many a corner of Muskokaland, 

 where the red deer follows the trail, where 

 a varied bird life exists and where the fish 

 in the virgin waters have never seen the 

 specter of a human angler. Many a tribu- 

 tary, too, sweeps along in its primeval soli- 

 tude toward the larger waters and the 

 broader sea, the sweet, brown, waters sing- 

 ing a song set to a key beyond human ken, 

 but musical to human ears ; or, as in 

 Shadow river, resting so motionless on a 

 summer day as to reflect every twig and 

 leaf, every vein in every leaf, and every 

 snow-white cloud in its pellucid depths. 



The seeker for summer rest may enter 

 this delectable land through the inner chan- 



nel of Georgian bay, where the Creator with 

 no niggardly hand scattered 30,000 islands 

 on its clear, deep waters ; some small, 

 dainty and exquisitely clothed with balsam 

 and pine, with cedar or white birch; some 

 dignified in their broad dimensions and 

 their forests of oaks mingled with the less 

 stately tree growths. The steamer makes 

 its way through apparently land-locked 

 channels to Parry sound and Rose Point. 

 This route will lead to the unique Maga- 

 netewan river, its iron-impregnated waters 

 winding in such tortuous fashion that the 

 little craft is equipped with both propeller 

 and paddle wheels, both of which are at 

 times in use when rounding a sharp bend. 

 The giants of the forest overarch the nar- 

 rower stretches where one may sail under 

 a roof of greenery and between banks so 

 clothed with vegetation as to resemble a 

 Florida everglade. The Maganetewan 

 drains a surface of 4,000 square miles, and 

 using its course as a canoe route, the waters 

 of Lake Huron may be reached after ne- 

 gotiating on the way a series of portages. 



Journeying Eastward, lake succeeds lake 

 in never ending succession. Fairy lake — 

 does not its name tell all ? The Lake of 

 Bays, with islands and curving shores that 

 only await the poet to immortalize them. 

 The pastoral beauty of one part merges 

 into a rugged, mountainous grandeur in 

 another. 



The great Algonquin National Park is 



SUNRISE ON GEORGIAN BAY. 



2^8 



