cipitately, and,
striking his heel against a rock, fell backwards into a pool of water,
where he rolled over and over--impressed, apparently, with the idea that
he was attacked by all the seals in the sea. His next essay, however,
was more successful, and in a few minutes he killed several, having
learned to hit on the head instead of on the back. In less than a
quarter of an hour they killed between twenty and thirty seals, which
were stowed in the boat and conveyed to the post.

Nothing worth mentioning took place at Tadousac during my residence
there. The winter became severe and stormy, confining us much to the
house, and obliging us to lead very humdrum sort of lives. Indeed, the
only thing that I can recollect as being at all interesting or amusing--
except, of coarse, the society of my scientific and agreeable friend,
Mr Stone, and his amiable family--was a huge barrel-organ, which, like
the one that I had found at Oxford House, played a rich variety of psalm
tunes, and a choice selection of Scotch reels--the grinding out of which
formed the chief solace of my life, until the arrival of an auspicious
day when I received sudden orders to prepare for another journey.

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Note 1. It may be well to say that the above description applied to the
country only in the summer and autumn months. It is now, we believe, an
important summer resort, and a comparatively populous place.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

A JOURNEY ON SNOW-SHOES--EVILS OF SNOW-SHOE TRAVELLING IN SPRING--VALUE
OF TEA TO A TIRED MAN--ENCAMP IN THE SNOW--ISLE JEREMIE--CANOEING AND
BOATING ON THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE--AMATEUR NAVIGATING--SEVEN ISLANDS--
A NARROW ESCAPE--CONCLUSION.

It was on a cold, bleak morning, about the beginning of March 1846, that
I awoke from a comfortable snooze in my bedroom at Tadousac, and
recollected that in a few hours I must take leave of my present
quarters, and travel, on snow-shoes, sixty miles down the Gulf of St.
Lawrence to the post of Isle Jeremie.

The wind howled mournfully through the leafless trees, and a few flakes
of snow fell upon the window as I looked out upon the cheerless
prospect. Winter--cold, biting, frosty winter--still reigned around.
The shores of Tadousac Bay were still covered with the same coat of ice
that had bound them up four months before; and the broad St. Lawrence
still flowed on, black as ink, and laden with immense