to the outfit; Easton went with Pete to the northward, while Richards
and I in one of the canoes paddled to the eastern side of the lake
arm, upon which we were encamped, to climb a barren hill from which we
hoped to get a good view of the country, and upon reaching the summit
we were not disappointed. A wide panorama was spread before us. To
the north lay a great rolling country covered with a limitless forest
of firs, with here and there a bit of sparkling water. A mile from
our camp a creek, now and again losing itself in the green woods,
rushed down to join Washkagama, anxious to gain the repose of the
lake. To the northeast the rugged white hills, that we were hoping to
reach soon, loomed up grand and majestic, with patches of snow, like
white sheets, spread over their sides and tops. From Nipishish to
Washkagama we had passed through a burned and rocky country where no
new growth save scant underbrush and a few scattering spruce, balsam
and tamarack trees had taken the place of the old destroyed forest.
The dead, naked tree trunks which, gaunt and weather-beaten, still
stood upright or lay in promiscuous confusion on the ground, gave this
part of the country from our hilltop view an appearance of solitary
desolation that we had not noticed when we were traveling through it.
But this unregenerated district ended at Washkagama; and below it
Nipishish, with its green-topped hills, seemed almost homelike.

The creek that I have mentioned as flowing into the lake a mile from
our camp seemed to me worthy to be explored for the trail, and I
determined to go there at once upon our return to camp, while Richards
desired to climb a rock-topped hill which held its head above the
timber line three or four miles to the northwest, that he might make
topographical and geological observations there.

We returned to camp, and Richards, with a package of erbswurst in his