landscape.

Where we entered Michikamats, at its outlet, the lake is very shallow
and filled with bowlders that stand high above the water. A quarter
of a mile above this point the water deepens, and farther up seems to
have a considerable depth, though we did not sound it. The western
shore of the upper half is lined with low islands scantily covered
with spruce and tamarack.

During two days that we spent here in a thorough exploration of the
lake, our camp was pitched on an island at the bottom of a bay that,
half way up the lake, ran six miles to the northward. This was
selected as the most likely place for the portage trail to leave the
lake, as the island had apparently, for a long period, been the
regular rendezvous of Indians, not only in summer, but also in winter.
Tepee poles of all ages, ranging from those that were old and decayed
to freshly cut ones, were numerous. They were much longer and thicker
than those used by the Indians south of Michikamau. Here, also, was a
well-built log cache, a permanent structure, which was, no doubt,
regularly used by hunting parties. Some new snowshoe frames were
hanging on the trees to season before being netted with babiche. On
the lake shore were some other camping places that had been used
within a few months, and at one of them a newly made "sweat hole,"
where the medicine man had treated the sick. These sweat holes are
much in favor with the Labrador Indians, both Mountaineers and
Nascaupees. They are about two feet in depth and large enough in
circumference for a man to sit in the center, surrounded by a circle
of good-sized bowlders. Small saplings are bent to form a dome-shaped
frame for the top. The invalid is placed in the center of this circle
of bowlders, which have previously been made very hot, water is poured