STAGE DRIVING. 229 



hope I may never have to do so again. The stage horses 

 were overworked and half starved. The conveyance was a 

 buck-board, a trap peculiar to Lower Canada. My driver 

 on one of these occasions was the most accomplished 

 swearer I ever met in a hard-swearing country. One horse 

 dropped dead in the shafts, and the oaths of the driver, 

 who had before then " sworn as steep " as any white man 

 in America, became now positively appalling. I wonder 

 why stage drivers as a rule use such fearful language. 

 Why does that most willing, obedient, and patient of 

 animals, the horse, demoralize everyone who has anything 

 to do with him ? Does he thus revenge himself for the 

 cruel treatment he often receives at his master's hands ? 



Crossing the Kestigouche just below the mouth of the 

 Metapedia, the Intercolonial runs along the bank of the 

 former river down to the Bay of Chaleur. There are many 

 charming places in the Dominion, but I know of none to 

 equal the Bay of Chaleur in the summer and autumn. 

 Hitherto it has been shut out from the world, but now it 

 is probable that many tourists in search of health, of sport, 

 or of beautiful scenery, will find their way here. To the 

 half-baked American it offers a delicious summer climate, 

 cool and bracing, with unrivalled sea-bathing ; to the 

 lover of the picturesque it offers wild and lovely scenery ; 

 while for the sportsman it has many charms. The rivers 

 are full of salmon ; trout of the largest size and the finest 

 quality abound in every stream, lake, and pond. In the 

 spring and fall the bays are black with wild fowl ; and 

 large game, though not so plentiful as formerly, are still 

 to be found deep in the forest. Hotels have yet to be 

 built ; but the sportsman, if not very fastidious, will get 



