290 WINTER. 



has to be made capable of resisting tlie heat of summer as 

 well as the cold of winter. A very comfortable farmer's 

 house, fitted with double doors and double windows, with 

 verandah, two sitting rooms, kitchen, and four or five bed- 

 rooms, can be run up in a very short time at a cost of 

 about 300Z. 



A great drawback to the English climate is its capri- 

 ciousness. The most weatherwise individual, with the aid 

 of barometer and thermometer, cannot with any degree of 

 certainty foretell the morrow. Even on those rare days 

 when the sun manages to struggle through his watery 

 shroud, the prudent man does not dream of dispensing with 

 his umbrella. In Canada, on the contrary, any observant 

 person who has studied the subject can count upon the 

 weather for twenty-four hours. Sudden changes, of course, 

 do occur once in a way, upsetting the calculations of the most 

 weatherwise ; but they are exceptional. A halo round the 

 sun or moon almost invariably precedes rain or snow. The 

 best human judges of the weather are the Indians, for they 

 not only study the heavens attentively, but also take lessons 

 from the wild animals ; and in weather-wisdom these exceed 

 domestic animals as much as the red man exceeds the white 

 man. When tame geese become restless and take long 

 noisy flights, we know what to expect. Cattle and sheep, 

 too, at the approach of bad weather, come in for shelter. 

 Butchers pretend to foretell the depth of the snow in the 

 ensuing winter from some part of the intestines of the pig. 

 Indians look inside the moose for the same information, and 

 are also guided by the wild berries in the woods ; when 

 these are plentiful, it is considered a sign there will be 

 much snow in the following winter, and vice versa. In a 



