472 



CHIPS. 



[Apijl 1885. 



Ghips. 



Le Bocage — The Story of a Xew 

 Brunswick Grove. — In the county of 

 Gloucester, and province of New Bruns- 

 wick, oil the southern shore of the Bay 

 of Chaleur, near the village of Cara- 

 quet, whose inhabitants are nearly all 

 Acadian French, there stands a lovely 

 grove of beech and maple, covering in 

 extent a space of about ten acres. The 

 country around is well cleai-ed and 

 thickly inhabited by the descendants 

 of the Acadian refugees. Here in the 

 summer evenings the simple peasantry, 

 yet retaining all of the gaiety and 

 politeness of their polished race, gather 

 in groups to talk over the news of the 

 day, or maj'hap of the occurrence of 

 " Le feu de mauvais temps,'' " the 

 storm fire," that strange phenomenon 

 peculiar to the Bay of Chaleur, only 

 appearing before a storm, and seen 

 after night as a bright light in the 

 middle of the bay, resembling that 

 caused by a burning shij), attributed 

 by the superstitious people to the work 

 of lost souls, the fiendish spirits of 

 pirates who once robbed a ship at 

 " Mont Louis " on the St. Lawrence, 

 killed the crew, and then burned the 

 vessel. The underbrush is kept cleared 

 away from beneath the trees, and seats 

 have been placed for occupation on 

 festive occasions. To the east of the 

 grove and adjoining it is a plot of 

 green grass, in the centre of which 

 stands a quaint little wooden church, 

 perhaps a hundred years old. A 

 large stone building was long ago 

 erected at Caraquet, but the little 

 wooden one is yet used by some 

 devout worshippers ; and although the 

 interior is darkly stained by time, it is 

 kept scrupulously neat and clean. This 

 gi'ove is known all through the county 

 of Gloucester as " Le Bocage," just as if 

 there had been but one grove in the 

 whole county. Its history is as 

 follows : — 



When the relentless command was 

 issued for the Acadians to leave Grand 

 Pre and "le grand derangement," as 

 they yet call their expulsion, was being 

 carried out, the captain of one of the 

 transports was so struck with the grace 

 and beauty of one of the trembling 

 Acadian captives, Marie Landry, that 

 he told her and her brother Alexis that 

 they might remain at Grand Pre. 

 Alexis, however, re]:ilied that they 



would go with their brethren. After 

 \arious wanderings, he came as the first 

 settler to Caraquet, and here cleared 

 the land on which " Le Bocage " stands. 

 Dreading, however, no doubt, the 

 approach of English settlers, he soon 

 lietook himself to " Shippegan," this 

 being about as near the ocean as he 

 could get, where he resided for seven 

 yeai's. When, at the expiration of this 

 time, he came back to his original 

 dealing, it was grown up in beech and 

 maple. These trees he sufi'ered to 

 grow, and never since have they been 

 disturbed by the hand of man ; and 

 here beside the little church the old 

 Acadian sleeps his last sleep. 



Two years ago I visited the .spot, and 

 kneeling reverently beside the little 

 mound of earth, and removing the 

 tangled grass from the grey stone 

 which stood at its head, I read these 

 words, "Miseremini mei saltern vos 

 amici mei quia manus Domini tetigit 

 me" ("Have pity on me, ye my friends 

 at least, for the hand of the Lord hath 

 touched me "). There was also the 

 name, " Alexis Landry," the age 78, 

 and the <late of his death, 1798, to- 

 gether with a short inscription in 

 French, refeiTing to the uncertainty of 

 life. — Edward Jack. 



Intruders amongst the Tree 

 Branches. — A correspondent of the 

 Field lately observed that the stem of 

 a holly tree, about ten feet high, was 

 peeled from the base to the top by 

 rabbits. The tree in this case had been 

 blown down to an angle of 45° ; but an 

 instance is given by the editor of a 

 rabbit being shot out of a slightly 

 inclined fir tree, seven feet from the 

 ground ; whilst another was caught in 

 the hollow bough of an old oak about 

 the .same height, the bough being sufli- 

 ciently rugged to give a good foothold. 

 Mr. WoUey Dod also narrates in the 

 same paper, how a few j-ears ago a 

 stoat climbed to the top of an elm 50 

 feet high, where he sat with his feet 

 collected together. When he saw that 

 he was discovered, " and while I 

 stooped to pick up a stone, he made a 

 desperate spring, with his feet and tail 

 extended to the utmost. He came 

 down on to the top of the hedge, dived 

 into it, and disappeared, and neither I 

 nor the dogs could make him out any 



