WOODS. COAST-LINE. 203 



" The island is part wooded and part plains, plentifully 

 dotted over with small lakes and ponds ; but all along the 

 beach, or the lagoons which adjoin the beach, a stunted 

 growth of spruce and fir, not more than 6 feet in height, 

 but so thick that it is sometimes possible to crawl along 

 the top of it, forms an impervious hedge, varying in width 

 from a few yards to half a mile. This hedge never wants 

 clipping ; the cold winds off the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 keep it down. The soil is mostly a black peat of great 

 depth, and many of the unwooded places are exactly like 

 the bogs of Ireland ; so much so that my Irishman re- 

 marked that ' it was the prettiest place he had seen since 

 he left the Bog of Allen.' The woods consist of spruce, 

 fir, willow, dogwood, white birch, and an occasional tree 

 of pine, tamarack, and ash. They are of small growth, 

 generally gnarled and ragged, and unfit for timber. 



" Every league or so along the coast are small rivers or 

 brooks, which form at their junction with the sea nice 

 little coves or harbours for small boats and canoes. Near 

 some of these coves may be seen little houses or shanties, 

 10 or 12 feet square, containing a stove, a stool, and a 

 table. These are the winter residences of trappers from 

 the mainland sweet spots for a man to winter in by him- 

 self! But in fine weather, in the months of May and 

 June or in the autumn, camping out in Anticosti is one 

 perpetual picnic. Here the traveller can have a charming 

 little harbour for his canoe, a dry grassy bank to camp 

 on, and a fragrant bed of fir boughs or dry grass. If he is 

 given to sea-bathing, no better place could be desired ; if 

 he prefers fresh water, a walk of a few yards will bring him 

 to a clear pebbly pool ; if table, chair, or roof of shanty be 



