WIND-BOUND BY A LAND GALE. 6l 



soon converted into a gale. In an hour or two 

 we were compelled to run the canoe into shoal 

 water, to save her from being swamped in deep ; 

 and each man, getting out, waded with the bag- 

 gage to a place of shelter, where the canoe also 

 was secured. 



Nothing is more annoying to a sailor than to 

 be wind-bound on fresh water. " On the wide 

 ocean ranging," he is more resigned to the 

 imperious will of the elements ; but, to be 

 stopped for an indefinite time, within sight of 

 birds and animals gamboling in the gale, is a 

 species of annoyance which quite overcomes his 

 philosophy : at least, it was so with me ; so, to 

 dispel the moody fit which was gathering, I drew 

 on a pair of Esquimaux boots made of seal-skin, 

 and, taking my gun, made the tour of a thickly 

 wooded swamp, which was so interlaced with 

 undergrowth, willows, and fallen trees, that, when 

 once in, I found it no easy matter to get out 

 again. In the exertion necessary for extricating 

 myself my restlessness found a vent, and the 

 exercise soon restored my mind to its usual tone, 

 and prepared it for other occupations. I returned 

 to the tent thoroughly tired; and, here reclining 

 in the full ease of a voyageur, I amused myself with 

 observing the odd assemblage of things around 

 me. At myfeet was a rolled bundle in an oil-cloth, 

 containing some three blankets, called a bed ; — 



