The Monster of Lake Utopia. 57 



The credulous asserted that the slimy track of some huge 

 animal had been traced from the ocean to the lake some thirty 

 years ago ! and we were considered adventurers in sailing on 

 the lake so soon after the above occurrence. The question, 

 however, came to be, "What was the real cause of the disturb- 

 ance," for there could be no doubt that a remarkable appear- 

 ance as regards the surface of the water did take place. The 

 lake is picturesquely situated in a deep basin, surrounded by 

 wooded hills, which are composed for the most part of red 

 felspathic granite, the only direct communication with the sea 

 being by canal and river, whilst the latter presents a barrier 

 at its mouth over which it is absolutely impossible for stur- 

 geons, or a fish of any sort, to make their way ; moreover the 

 lake is only six miles in length by about one in breadth. We 

 might suppose, therefore, sub-lacustrine rock fissures, con- 

 taining air and water from the water-shed, suddenly opening 

 in places ; or shoals of eels or fishes, such as are often observed 

 in the case of the little sardine-like fish in the Mediterranean. 

 Again, I have noticed, in secluded lakes in Thibet and 

 Ladakh, that whirlwinds not unfrequently disturb parts of 

 the surface, especially where cross currents of air from gorges 

 meet ; and this is the case on Lake Utopia. At all events, 

 the monster was decidedly Utopian in every sense. 



Returning to the natives. Any familiar objects or sounds 

 seem to have always made lasting impressions on the Indian's 

 mind, and the more remarkable, the more likely were they to 

 take a place in his wild legends and wilder mythologies. As 

 examples — the night screech of the owl had to them a lin- 

 guistic significance, and the squirrel's continual chattering on 

 the approach of man is accounted for in the following pretty 

 fable. 



The red squirrel chooses the dense, dark forest of hemlock 

 spruce among the moss-covered and rotting prostrate trunks 

 where it sports about and stores up cones for winter ; there 

 came a belief among the ancient Indians of New Brunswick, 



