This line marks the edge of the
shallows, and beyond it the lake is deep and broad and stretches
away northeast for more than eight miles of its length, when it
bends to the northwest.
As we entered it we saw that the low range of wooded hills on our
left formed the western boundary of the lake, and over the flat
wooded shore on the right we could see the tops of big, barren
hills of a range stretching northward. These are a continuation of
the round-topped hills which border the east shore of Michikamau
south of where the lake narrows. For some miles of our journey up
northern Michikamau we could see these hills miles back from the
low shoreline. Now we seemed to be turning towards them again.
Beyond a point one mile and a quarter north from where we entered
the lake a deep bay runs in to the east, and here the hills came
into plain view though they were still far back from the shore.
Their rounded tops were covered with moss, and low down on the
sides dark patches showed where the green woods were.
It was a glorious afternoon, and the canoes scudded at racing pace
before a heavy south wind. At a point on the east shore, six miles
up the lake, I landed to take bearings. Here we found a peculiar
mound of rocks along the edge of the water which proved to be
characteristic of the whole shoreline of the lake. The rocks had
been pushed out by the ice and formed a sort of wall, while over
the wall moss and willows grew, with here and there a few stunted
evergreens, the whole making an effective screen along the water's
edge. Back of this were swamps and bogs with low moss-covered
mounds running through them, and grown up with scattered tamarack
and spruces. On the west shore the hills reached quite to the wall
itself.
Behind this wall, at the point, we found a family of ptarmigan.
When we appeared the mother bird tried vainly to hurry her flock
away to a place of safety. Her mate flew across to an island a
short distance north, leaving her alone to her task, but she and
her little ones were all taken. Here the first wolf tracks we had
seen on the trip were found.
After some time spent at the point it was time to camp. We crossed
to the island, north, and as we landed a white-winged ptarmigan
flew back to where had just been enacted one of the endless
succession of wilderness tragedies. I wondered if he would not
wish he had stayed to share the fate of his little family, and what
he would do with himself now.
