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.
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