266 
FOREST AND STREAM 
above the others to make climbing one worth 
while. The outlook was certainly not favorable, 
but Bolling felt sure from what we had seen 
from the peak further south that the barrens 
made round southwest of us and pushed on 
ahead. 
Sure enough, after coming out of the woods 
and crossing a long narrow bog, there was a 
rocky ridge. The sun had now come out and 
we pushed up over the ridge to a magnificent 
lookout dominating the whole country. We could 
see twenty miles in every direction and forty 
miles in some. Blue hazy ranges of high hills 
appeared on the horizon from the northeast 
around on the north to the southwest. Twelve 
or fifteen lakes and rivers were in sight; Red 
Indian Lake and Victoria waters were clearly 
seen, but not Meelpaeg, the goal of our desires, 
because it would take us south. But we felt 
sure that from a high barren ridge two miles 
south we could see it. Caribou leads like cow- 
paths were found in every direction, with a stag 
and five does not too far away. We traveled 
the two miles back down to the canoes in high 
spirits and made camp on the shore of a lake, 
knowing that we were finally at the height of 
land but not sure if we could find water running 
south within five or twenty-five miles. 
September ist. The next morning was one of 
those sparkling, clear days that only the northern 
country knows. We decided to go to the ridge 
to the south seen on the previous afternoon, 
Bolling and I taking outfit enough to camp 
on the high barrens. The men kept talking of 
the brook away back twelve or fifteen miles 
down the river we had worked so hard to get 
up. They were mesmerized by the map, in 
which they showed a child-like confidence, al¬ 
though the use of dotted lines on it showed its 
makers were in doubt as to this country. To 
satisfy them, they were to be allowed to go back 
through the bad waters with the lighter of the 
two canoes and to explore the brook should the 
lookout today not give us a satisfactory lead. 
It was a hard pack up the hillside, covered 
thick with blow-downs, and so steep that it was 
easier to go on all fours, big gobs of moss 
coming away from the rock and letting one slip 
back every other step. The small pack of 
thirty-five pounds with rifle and glasses was heavy 
enough. Passing over the high ridge we 
reached the day before, Bolling and I es¬ 
tablished a camp about a mile beyond in a 
droke of thick spruce and twisted juniper 
at the head of a little lake which we called 
Lake A. While having lunch here, saw a stag 
standing on the highest point of the next 
ridge to the south about a mile away and 
could make out with the glasses what ap¬ 
peared to be a good head. As he was in 
our line of travel, we set out to look him 
over, and after a fairly hard, fast climb, 
dodging a doe meanwhile, got within seven¬ 
ty-five yards of him, but he had no brow pans 
and only two dozen points, not worth shoot¬ 
ing. We had, however, the fun of the stalk. 
This stag had stood almost motionless on the 
ridge in the strong wind and sunshine for twc 
hours. In caribou hunting, unless the shot is 
a difficult one, the sport is over when the gun 
reaches the shoulder, for modern rifles have 
given the hunter all the odds. 
When he stepped off in a long reaching trot, 
we went up to his lookout, and at last, saw our 
long sought Meelpaeg Lake, ten miles due south 
and twelve or thirteen miles due south of the 
head or Fourth Lake, where were our canoes. 
Six or seven miles away, south southeast was 
another ridge giving a better view of Meelpaeg 
and we s.et out for that, but'it was now 2 o’clock, 
and after traveling some miles over all sorts 
of a broken country with rocky barrens and 
high wet marshes, we found we could not 
reach the next lookout and get back before dark, 
so we turned around, and soon saw another stag 
with a head very similar to the one we had seen 
earlier in the afternoon, but still having meat 
enough, he was only interesting from the stand¬ 
point of nature study. It was here decided 
that the men should leave Bolling and me and 
circle west and northwest to see which way the 
water ran in the chain of small lakes below us. 
and to the north and west, while Bolling and I 
would return the the lookout where we had seen 
the first stag in the hope of seeing a larger head 
and after that return to our camp on Lake A, 
while the men would return to the other camp 
on Fourth Lake, where the canoes were and 
come up to our side camp on the high barrens 
the next morning, when we planned to explore 
the country toward Meelpaeg. Bolling and I 
stayed at the lookout until towards sunset, see¬ 
ing a small stag and several does and fawns, 
and then went to our camp on Lake A. 
After traveling hard for so many days up the 
roughest kind of a river and in doubt as to 
our way, there was cheer and stimulation in at 
last being on the top of Newfoundland, with 
wonderful views stretching in every direction. 
This high central plateau is devoid of timber, 
except wind-blown twisted growth in the little 
valleys. The rolling barrens and marshes are 
strewn with every conceivable size and shape of 
boulders, many of them as large as a three- 
story house. 
We had done a hard day’s work before reach¬ 
ing our camp in the dusk, but Bolling, always 
ready with the axe, went busily to work cutting 
firewood, while I cooked the supper. Food was 
welcome and then the pipe, while wet stockings 
were pulled off and dry ones put on. No place 
so cheerful as the tent with the soft air bed and 
warm blankets, for frost was in the air. A last 
look at the fire in front, and pulling the blankets 
over our heads, we were soon asleep. 
(To be continued.) 
MOSQUITO-PROOF TENT. 
The top is formed with a light hoop, about 2 
feet in diameter, covered with muslin like the 
head of a drum. Two strong pieces of tape are 
sewn from side to side of the hoop, crossing 
each other at right angles, and at the center 
where they meet is attached a thin rope about 
10 feet long. To the muslin at the rim of the 
hoop is sewn a quantity of coarse cheese-cloth 
or “tarleton,” descending so as to form a bell 
6 feet in height and 8 feet in diameter at the 
ground. Around the lower edge, at intervals 
of 2 feet, are small tape loops for pegging out 
wide when two or three people wish to sit in¬ 
side. The whole article weighs only about 2 
pounds, and can be folded flat so as to go in¬ 
side a bag when traveling. When required for 
use the rope at the top is thrown across the 
branch of a tree and drawn up just enough to 
let the lower edge of the cheese-cloth or “tarle¬ 
ton” rest on the ground. Danger from fire can 
be avoided by soaking the screen in a solution 
of tungstate of sodium.—J. J. M. 
