skin; but the latter is a very destructive animal. Their dogs are of
diminutive size, and strongly resemble those of the Esquimaux, with the
curled up tail, small ears, and pointed nose. We purchased numbers of
them for the kettle, their flesh constituting the chief article of food
in our holiday feasts for Christmas and New Year. The fur-bearing
animals consist of beavers; bears, black, brown, and grizzly; otters,
fishers, lynxes, martins; foxes, red, cross, and silver; minks,
musquash, wolverines, and ermines. Rabbits also are so numerous that
the natives manage to subsist on them during the periods that salmon is
scarce. Under the head of ornithology we have the bustard, or Canadian
_outarde_ (wild goose), swans, ducks of various descriptions, hawks,
plovers, cranes, white-headed eagles, magpies, crows, vultures,
wood-thrush, red-breasted thrush or robin, woodpeckers, gulls, pelicans,
hawks, partridges, pheasants, and snow-birds. The spring commences in
April, when the wild flowers begin to bud, and from thence to the latter
end of May the weather is delightful. In June it rains incessantly,
with strong southerly and easterly winds. During the months of July and
August the heat is intolerable; and in September the fogs are so dense
that it is quite impossible to distinguish the opposite side of the
river any morning before ten o'clock. Colds and rheumatisms are
prevalent among the natives during this period: nor are our people
exempt from them. In October the falling of the leaves and occasional
frost announce the beginning of winter. The lakes and parts of the
rivers are frozen in November. The snow seldoms exceeds twenty-four
inches in depth. The mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer falls in
January to 15 degrees below zero; but this does not continue many days.
In general, I may say, the climate is neither unhealthy nor unpleasant;
and if the natives used common prudence, they would undoubtedly live to
an advanced age. The salmon fishery commences about the middle of July,
and ceases in October. This is a busy period for the natives; for upon
their industry in saving a sufficiency of salmon for the winter depends
their chief support. Jub, suckers, trout, and white-fish, are caught in
the lakes; and in the month of October, towards the close of the
salmon-fishery, we catch trout of a most exquisite flavour. Large-sized
sturgeon are occasionally taken in the _vorveaux_, but they are not
relished by th