Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/130

 CHAPTER IX.

MEETING WITH NATIVES.

Borne down by the river we had launched on the bosom of Aberdeen Lake without effort, but not so easy a matter was it to find our way out. With the hope of saving unnecessary search, it was resolved to climb to the top of a hill not far back from shore, and view the country with our field-glasses.

From the summit, which was found by the aneroid to be four hundred feet above the lake, we obtained a magnificent view of the surrounding country, and from the base of the hill could clearly trace the course of the river, winding away to the northward. While my brother and I were thus engaged in viewing and sketching the country, hammering the rocks, tracing the lines of ancient sea-beaches, etc., which were here clearly defined at no less than seven different elevations, varying from 60 to 290 feet above the surface of the lake, the men were usefully employed in collecting black moss, which in this neighborhood was found in abundance.

Since entering the lake nothing more had been seen of the drift-wood, but on our return from the hill in the evening we found camp already pitched, and near it a big kettle of venison simmering over a fire of moss. More than this, some flour, a little of which still remained,