296 WINTER. 



Perhaps it is not generally known with what ease and 

 speed journeys can be performed on skates. From the 

 mouth of the river St. John upwards to Fredericton is 

 about 80 miles, and skaters frequently accomplish this 

 distance in the day. I skated 150 miles in two days 

 one-half of the distance in rather less than six hours and 

 that without feeling any fatigue or stiffness in excess of 

 that felt after a long day's shooting. In one or two 

 straight reaches of the St. John river a good skater, with 

 a breeze in his favour, can cover 20 miles in the hour. 

 Skating at this pace can only be compared to a gallop on 

 a thoroughbred ; the peculiarly exhilarating feeling that 

 pace alone can give is here enjoyed to perfection, flavoured 

 with just a spice of excitement when the skater charges a 

 crack or a bit of shell-ice at this headlong speed. The 

 skates used for long journeys differ from the ordinary 

 ones in being much longer and straighter in the iron. 

 The " Acme," and other patent skates, though convenient 

 for the rink, are useless for long journeys. 



In winter, as we have seen, the rivers and lakes become 

 the highways of Canada. As every settler owns a pair of 

 horses, few people are to be seen walking ; for when the 

 pedestrian is overtaken by a team, he jumps on, whether 

 invited or not invited by the driver. And this he looks 

 upon as his right; for a sleigh once in motion on the 

 ice, a few pounds or a few hundredweights more or less are 

 but a straw. In the latter part of the winter the ice 

 measures from 14 inches to 18 inches in thickness. From 

 3 to 4 inches of good ice is sufficient for a pair of horses 

 and load, and 1 inch, or one night's frost, will safely bear 

 a man. The skater comes occasionally to patches of 



