FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 21, 1899. 
careful man to find his way hy. These were sufficient for 
him, for his requirements in that line are small. Near the 
edge of the lake we passed one of itiy old camping 
grounds, the tent poles still standing, and empty tin cans 
and pieces of broken boxes lying about, just as we left 
tliem five years ago. 
Of course the way was up hill, for we were crossing the 
divide that separates the affluents of those two important 
rivers, the Batiscan and the St. Maurice. Aside from this 
it was not very dififtcult, being through a iiardwood region 
where the undergrowth was not very thick. At length, 
however, I thought we had done enough for one day, and 
finding a good place for campmg, and the rain still fall- 
ing, I called a halt. The tents were quickly set up, and no 
one was sorry to get under cover. 
During the night the weather changed to cold and 
windy; An earlj'' start brought us to Lake Travers in 
the forenoon, but only to be disappointed in our fishing, 
for the wind had risen to a stiff breeze, and the best part 
of the lake for fishing was on the exposed side. We spent 
an hour of valuable time in trials, but with no success. 
My plan had been to camp there and have a morning and 
evening for fishing, but the weather upset it. 
Crossing Lake Travers in the teeth of the gale, we came 
to Lake Long, which, being narrower and lying almost 
at right angles with Lake Travers, was less exposed. 
From tliis a carry of a few yards took us into the Lac des 
Isles. " ■ 
Nearly all the names of lakes that I have mentioned are 
common to scores of lakes all through this country. It is 
easy to see how they may have come by them. Imagine' 
one French-Canadian telling another how to go from one 
point to another. Starting on one route, for instance, he 
might cross a lake of very clear water, which would be 
Lac Clair, the next would be a long, narrow lake, Lac 
Long. From this he would go into Lake INIontauban, of 
the origin of whose name 1 am not certain, but there was 
once a military engineer of that name in this countrj', and 
on the shore of that lake some acquaintances of mine 
once fomid some broken weapons and pieces of crockery 
and cooking utensils, both French and Indian. There is 
verj'^ probably some connection between the name of the 
lake and these relics. 
From there he would cross Lake Nicholas, where. 
Nicholas Andette made the first logs, and would next 
come to two little lakes, a la Vase, Mud Lakes, and so to 
Lake a la Truite, Trout Lake, where there was good fish- 
ing, as we have seen. The next would be Lake a Vierge, 
where a man of that name had a logging camp. Passing 
by the rivers a Pierre and Batiscan, whose names I can- 
not now account for, he would pass the mouth of the 
River Bostonnais, so called because its whole length is 
on property owned by Americans, and in former times all 
Americans were known as Bostonians. This comes from 
the military expeditions against Canada, organized at 
Boston, especially the one of Sir William Phipps. There 
is another and larger river in the Province that has the 
same name, and from somewhat ■ similar circumstances. 
And so he would go on. A crooked lake would be a Lac 
Croche, a round one a Lac Rond, one lying across his 
way a Lac Travers, and one with islands in it a Lac des 
Isles. The lakes might continue to be known by these 
names until something occurred to give them others, as in 
the case of renaming Lac a la Truite. 
On the Lac des Isles the wind for a time was more 
moderate. Shortly Pierre's Indian eyes discovered some- 
thing moving far away down the lake. It proved to be a 
Canadian gentleman and his two Indian guides in a fine 
new canoe, fresh from the Penobscot River, which con- 
trasted strangely with our worn and battered ones. We 
did not covet his canoe, for ours were wider, and would 
carry heavier loads, and we thought them safer. He was 
camped at a considerable distance away, and only out for 
a day's excursion. After a little chat we went our respec- 
tive ways. These were the first persons I had seen, except 
our own party, since leaving Lake Clair. 
Soon the wind rose again and blew harder than ever. 
The lake was covered with white caps and Pierre could 
make scarcely any lieadway. I thought we should have to 
try to get to the shore and wait, but he worked us up to a 
bit of a rocky islet and took the spare man from the other 
canoe, to the advantage of both. We got on better after 
that, but the next half-hour was a rough one, though the 
canoes behaved splendidly, and Pierre was delighted with 
ours. 
At length our battling with the waves came to an end 
and we arrived at the outlet of the lake, where Ave found 
an immense lumbering camp, owned by an American com- 
pany. It was a surprise to all but Pierre. Everything 
was substantially built and in perfect order. Camp, 
stable.s, storehouses, kitchen, with table room for fifty 
men at the least, foreman's room, in short the whole 
equipment was most complete. Tlic dam at the outlet 
was an especially fine piece of work. Everything indi- 
cated the controlling minds of men of business experience 
and .foresight, ample capital and an intention to conduct 
affairs on a large scale. And this the)' do, for I was told 
they make not less than 800,000 logs per annum. Later 
we found that roads, bridges, etc., were all planned with 
the same leading idea, that of economizing human labor 
by utilizing it to the best advantage and not wasting it. 
The storehouses were stocked with sufficient supplies to 
enable lumbering work to be commenced at the earliest 
practicable time. These had been brought up towards the 
end of the previous winter. 
The gale continued, and we began to feel uneasy about 
tl^ people in the canoe we had met, but while we were at 
dinner they came in gallantly, the canoe riding the waves 
like a duck and dry as a bone inside. The owner was 
greatly pleased with it, which I was glad to know, for we 
have one precisely like it at Lake Clair, but have not yet 
given it any hard work. 
Up to this time we had been, except wiien on lakes, con- 
stantly working against currents, but now we should 
have them in our favor. We got away promptly, taking 
otie rather long portage to avoid, as Pierre said, three 
shorter ones. But we had not quite reached the end of 
it when we saw the other canoe, which started after us, go 
past us like a shot, Thej^ had the advantage of having no 
loads but what they could pick up quickly and match oft" 
with, while wc were encumbered. Near here otir ways 
diverged and we saw them no more. 
For an^hour or more we wiggled over shallows and 
sunken timber, the men sometimes in the canoes and 
.sometimes wading alongside and lifting them. At length 
we rounded a point and were told we were in the River 
L'Eau Morte (Dead Water). For a little while we went 
along nicely, but it was not long before I began to won- 
der where the ''dead water" was coming in. It was the 
liveliest dead water I ever saw. 
All the afternoon we had a succession of rapids, with 
onlj' short stretches of good water. Some were run with 
canoes and baggage, some by canoes alone, and some port- 
aged altogether. It began to be late when we came to a 
place where Pierre said we should be stu'e to find some 
caribou horns, a place where many caribou came to shed 
their horns in the season. That they should come together 
or seek a certain place for this purpose was news to me. 
It was a bit of level land, wooded with small firs and the 
ground covered with white moss. He went ashore and 
searched some time, but found only a pair of old ones, fine 
in their day, but now bleached and cracked. We took 
them on board, but when it came to a question of portag- 
ing we abandoned them. 
We were now having fine canoeing water, but presently 
came to the head of the wildest rapid we had yet seen. As 
it was a mile and a half long and the sun was just setting, 
we decided to camp there, and on going ashore found we 
were just at a place where shelters had been erected for 
log drivers. They were like two low sheds placed facing 
each other, and like all the company's works were sub- 
stantial and extensive, furnishing sleeping quarters for, I 
shoul d think, seventy or eighty men. W e needed only a 1 ittle 
fire for cooking, which we built between the sheds and 
were thus housed with great promptness. Wood, all ready 
for use, was right at hand, and we had tittle to do btit col- 
lect a few boughs to freshen up our beds. Simeon found 
a half-dozen or so of dynamite cartridges in rather un- 
pleasant proximitj' to our fire, and promptly threw them 
out into the bushes. They were probably intended to 
blow up obstructions in the river that caused logs to jam, 
or cym to break up a jam itself, a proceeding occasionally 
necessary. Pierre was charged to report our disposition 
of these fireworks (as well as out use of the camps) to the 
foreman of the works, so that he might replace them if 
desired. 
We Avere out early the next morning, realizing that 
we had a big day's work before us. Everything was por- 
taged past this rapid, but we had one of the company's 
roads, and got on without trouble. Embarking below, we 
had ideal canoeing for several miles, an even, moderate 
current, no obstructions and the weather and scenery love- 
ly. Pierre and I led and the men followed, talking and 
singing heartily for almost the first time since leaving the 
Batiscan. It was delightful, but ended altogether too 
soon, for by and by Pierre pulled up to the shore at a bit 
of low, grassy land. I could not discover any reason for 
stopping at that particular spot, but was no sooner ashore 
than I found that exactly here was a path that a few 
yards further on resolved itself into a portage road. Half 
an hour's walk brought us to a little lake whose name I 
forget, and then another half-hour to Lake Maketsy. a 
fine, Targe lake, the fishing rights on Avhich are held by 
some Three Rivers gentlemen, who have a fine club house, 
on it, very pleasantly situated. We passed on the op- 
posite side of the lake, and did not visit it. Crossing this 
lake, which discharges into the Batiscan River, while all 
the other waters traversed to-day flow into the St. Maur- 
ice, we ate otir last provisions, repaired our old canoe, 
which now required much patching and coddling, and 
continued on our way. After about another half-hour's 
walk on a bad road and all up hill, except the last few 
minutes, we came to another small lake, after wdiich came 
another carry of something like the same length, and we 
reached Lake Long, the last of importance on our route. 
This is a very beautiful lake, nine miles in length and 
averaging say three-quarters of a mile in width, the 
northerly bank about 2Soft. high, very even on the sky 
line and almost as steep as our own Lake Long, covered 
with evergreen trees from the water's edge. It seemed as 
steep as it could possibly be, and have timber on it. One 
realized its he-i^ht and steepness when passing some places 
where the trees had been cut away to allow logs to be 
rolled down from the top into the lake. Pierre kept up 
his even stroke, steady as a clock, for the seven miles we 
had to go, stopping only twice, long enough to light his 
pipe. He said we should make the distance in two hours, 
and was only five minutes out of the way. 
We went ashore at a point where we found a large 
storehouse, boats and the acconipaniraents of extensive 
lumbering works. We also found the end of a cart road, 
at least that is what Pierre said it was, but I should pity 
the cart that had to go over it, Here we abandoned our 
old -canoe, putting up a notice that whoever found it was 
welcome to take it. The men took up their lightened 
loads cheerfully and walked along. Pierre and I ferried 
the baggage oyer a little lake called Lac en Coeur (heart 
shaped) behind the hills, on one side of which Pierre said 
were two houses, the very outposts of civilization in that 
region. Of the inmates of one of them we already knew 
something, an interesting story that I cannot tell. 
But a further walk of an hour and a half or so brought 
us to a barbed wire fence, a railroad, supper under a roof, 
children, flies and other evidences that v^e had left the 
woods behind us. 
At I A. M. I was at home, at i :30 in bed, and at 8:30 
on hand to meet my engagement. 
I had said that this would be the last journey of the 
kind that I would make— but— but— Isn't it almost as 
difficult to keep a lover of forests and stream.s away from 
therfr as to keep a sailor away from the sea? 
G. DE MONTAUBAN. 
Quebec, December, 1898. 
Law-Mafcing and Law-Breaking. 
We have often expressed the opinion in tliese columns that it 
is generally wiser to enforce the existing laws for the protection 
of animals than to ask for new legislation, and we rejoice that 
our esteemed contemporary, Forest and Stream, holds similar 
views. The good people of the State of Wyoming are agitating 
the question of an appeal to the Legislature "to remedy the de- 
fects in the statute by which constant raids on the game supply 
have l3een perpetrated." Foejest and Stream of Dec, 10 declares 
that "what is needed in Wyoming is not so much a, new law as 
upright, straightforv/ard, and determined officials to enforce the 
one already on the books. * * * The law," says the editor, "is 
all that could be asked, if it were only enforced; an ounce of ex- 
ecution is worth a hundredweight of amendment." Over-zealous 
friends of the cause of animal protection find it hard to realize 
that special laws to punish .specific acts of cruelty may often defeat 
their purpose by failing to cover the ground of a more general 
law. At all events, would we not better enforce those laws we 
have before enacting others we may have no need of?— Our 
Animal Friends. 
Florida Great Blue Herons. 
Many of the birds of Florida are rapidly following the 
dodo and the buffalo. Many hunters from the North 
come to Florida for a few months of outdoor sport, and 
soon degenerate into plume hunters for the money that 
is in it. Law-breaking native hunters have regular out- 
fits for this traffic, and not only hunt themselves, but 
encourage the Seminoles to procirre egrets for them. 
The Indians are innocent of the violation of the law, and 
tell of the rookeries that have been annihilated during 
the past year. One small rookery, near the camp of the 
Cow Creek Indians, was completely destroyed by a white 
man from a South Florida town this spring, the hunter 
securing the plumes of 100 egrets. The Indian in 
relating the circumstance said, "Little birds cry, cry, all 
day. No water. No fish," till the little Indian boys 
caught minnows for them, and daily climbed the lofty 
trees and fed and watered the young egrets — a tribute to 
the savage mind over the cruelty of the civilized and 
Christianized white man. 
A few years ago Florida was an ornithological Eden — 
all flying creatures of the North American continent 
had a rendezvous in the southern section of the State. 
The Everglades are the winter as3dum of nearly all the 
migratory birds of the eastern seaboard. It is only a 
very few years since in the "bird islands" or rookeries 
the community numbered thousands, including the large 
white crane, the blue heron, the curlew and many other 
water birds. But "aigrettes" are the fashion, and the 
boast of a plume hunter that he and his party had killed 
130,000 birds off the coast of Florida in a single season 
shows to what extent vanity "plumes" itself, both at the 
expense of a violation of the law and the sins of men. 
But until lovely, gentle woman shall cease to adorn her- 
self at the sacrifice of the mother bird and a nest of 
helpless young left to starve, the traffic will be carried 
on. 
The law passed in Florida for the protection of the 
mockingbird is already showing its good effects. In 
Kissimmee the mockers build their nests in the oak trees 
that line the principal business street. All day long 
they sing, while on moonlight nights the quiet of the 
little town is only broken by the songs of this forest 
minstrel. 
The testimony of the leading scientists of the United 
States shows that unless the killing of birds soon ceases 
certain of the feathered tribe will become extinct. 
Where formerly countless thousands congregated in the 
rookeries in Florida, the Indians tell that the rookeries, 
"hi-e-pus" (all gone). While there is not one heron or 
egret in Florida to-day, where there were thousands twen- 
ty years ago, yet if properly protected, their graceful forms 
would ere long be seen giving life to the water courses, 
lakes and prairies. The snowy figure of the egret would 
be seen wading in the shallow streams quietly seeking 
his meal, and the big blue heron, in dreamy attitude, 
resting on one foot, would wait by the water's edge 
till hunger bade him seek his evening repast. 
They who know only the wild herons of Florida will be 
much surprised to learn how charming, how full of con- 
fidence, these same birds can be under habits of domesti- 
cation. 
Three years ago a hunter captured from a nest on the 
bank of the Kissimmee River three young herons of the 
great blue heron species. They were purchased and turned 
loose in the yard. They were certainly far from pre- 
possessing in appearance; almost bare of plumage, with 
long legs scarcely able to support the slim body that 
seemed burdened with the wide-spreading wings ; long 
beaks and yellow eyes ; while their feet, how mirth-provok- 
ing it was to note their large proportions. They grew 
rapidly, however, and in a few months a tuft or crest of 
feathers adorned their heads; long silk-like feathers 
appeared on the breast and on the back; they had taken 
on a light gray color, with the plttmage on the head and 
breast streaked with white. Standing 4ft. in height, with 
every feather ruffled at the approach of any object of dis- 
like, they were very formidable looking birds. While they 
had been taken from the same nest, the female from the 
first showed an antipathy toward the odd male, making his 
life one of constant retreat. She was more slender and 
gentler in appearance than the male birds, but was ruler of 
the yard. She kept constantly by the side of the bird of 
her choice, but ruled his every wish, so much so that the 
pair were named Mr. and Mrs. Caudle. They were fed 
exclusively on fish and beef, and when Caudle by 
chance secured the first bite, she immediately ran to him 
and took it from him. The odd bird, whom we named 
Snapper, dare not come wnthin range of the pair, but 
watched for his dinner, grabbing it and running, for Mrs. 
Caudle would pursue him around the house unless she 
was kept occupied with her own food. The surprising 
part of this strange dislike was, that it was the female 
who took upon herself the part to browbeat Snapper. He 
became so completely cowed that he occupied a different 
part of the yard, except at night,- when that instinct to. 
band for defense brought the herons in the one yard! 
and the cranes in the other to a mutual meeting ground, 
with only a wire fence between ; but with dawn carne all 
that pugnacious feeling again, when Snapper took his old 
post, standing silent and dejected till the return of night. 
During feeding time he stealthily got himself a place of 
safety, where sympathy for his hard lot secured him 
many an extra morsel. 
The digestive power of the heron is remarkable, as well 
as its capacity and ability to swallow large fish. The 
neck seems to expand as if - made of India rubber — the fish 
slips down and the bird is ready for another. In feeding 
beef, large bones were given, which were swallowed in- 
tact. On one or two occasions after feeding be_ef this 
way, great alarm was felt, as the birds showed signs of 
great distress, but the uneasiness was soon calmed when 
the bird threw up a large bone, clean and white, the 
meat having been thoroughly digested. In feeding cat- 
fish, they instinctively pierce it with their strong beaks, 
until there is no question in their simple minds but that 
it is harmless. If, in their hurry to swallow their food, it 
goes down the throat covered with , sand or trasli, they 
