27 



CEArXEll XXII. 



THE BAY OF SEVEX ISLANDS. 



Fabulous Fishes in the Bay of Seven Islands — Scenery of the 

 Bay — Mountain Ranges — The Seven Islands — Chi-sche-dec — 

 Animal Life in the Bay — Walruses — Indians — The Islands — 

 Otelne — Otelxe's Dream — The Nasquapees — Their Fate on 

 the Coast — Their Habits in their own Country — The King's 

 Posts — The Salmon Trade. 



THE Bay of Seven Islands is deservedly celebrated for 

 its wild beauty, but there are historical associations 

 belonging to it which give it an additional charm. Jacques 

 Cartier visited it in 1535, and in the narrative of his 

 second voyage he tells a marvellous tale about many 

 fishes which, according to the testimony of two Indians 

 he had Avith him, ' have the shape of horses, spending the 

 night on land and the day in the sea.' These terrible 

 animals were said to inhabit in great numbers a river 

 emptying itself into the bay. 



Lescarbot, who wrote in 1G09, says that these marvel- 

 lous fishes were ' hippopotami.' * He also mentions that 

 in his time the name of the river was changed to Chi-sche- 

 dec, an Indian appellation ; and in the Jesuit Eelation for 

 1640 a tribe of Indians called Chisedeck are stated to 

 have inhabited this part of the country. 



• Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Marc Lescarbot. Paris, 1009. 



