tail. They were very numerous
during the winter, and formed an agreeable dish at our mess-table. I
also enjoyed a little skating at the beginning of the winter; but the
falling snow soon put an end to this amusement.

Spring, beautiful spring! returned again to cheer us in our solitude,
and to open into life the waters and streams of Hudson Bay. Great will
be the difference between the reader's idea of that season in that place
and the reality. Spring, with its fresh green leaves and opening
flowers, its emerald fields and shady groves, filled with sounds of
melody! No, reader; that is not the spring we depict: not quite so
beautiful, though far more prized by those who spend a monotonous winter
of more than six months in solitude. The sun shines brightly in a
cloudless sky, lighting up the pure white fields and plains with
dazzling brilliancy. The gushing waters of a thousand rills, formed by
the melting snow, break sweetly on the ear, like the well-remembered
voice of a long-absent friend. The whistling wings of wild-fowl, as
they ever and anon desert the pools of water now open in the lake and
hurry over the forest-trees, accord well with the shrill cry of the
yellow-leg and curlew, and with the general wildness of the scene; while
the reviving frogs chirrup gladly in the swamps to see the breaking up
of winter and welcome back the spring. This is the spring I write of;
and to have a correct idea of the beauties and the sweetness of _this_
spring, you must first spend a winter in Hudson Bay.

As I said, then, spring returned. The ice melted, floated off, and
vanished. Jack River flowed gently on its way, as if it had never gone
to sleep; and the lake rolled and tumbled on its shores, as if to
congratulate them on the happy change. Soon the boats began to arrive.
First came the "Portage Brigade," in charge of L'Esperance. There were
seven or eight boats; and ere long as many fires burned on the green
beside the fort, with a merry, careless band of wild-looking Canadian
and half-breed _voyageurs_ round each. And a more picturesque set of
fellows I never saw. They were all dressed out in new light-blue
capotes and corduroy trousers, which they tied at the knee with beadwork
garters. Moose-skin moccasins cased their feet, and their brawny,
sunburned necks were bare. A scarlet belt encircled the waist of each;
and while some wore hats with gaudy feathers, others had their heads
adorned with caps and bonn