THE HALCYON IN CANADA. 221 



We passed several parties of men, women, and chil- 

 dren from Quebec picnicking in the " bush." Here it 

 was little more than a " bush ; " but while in Canada 

 we never heard the woods designated by any other 

 term. I noticed, also, that when a distance of a few 

 miles or of a fraction of a mile is to be designated, 

 the French Canadian does not use the term miles, 

 but says it 's so many acres through or to the next 

 place. 



This fondness for the " bush " at this season seems 

 quite a marked feature in the social life of the av- 

 erage Quebecker, and is one of the original French 

 traits that holds its own among them. Parties leave 

 the city in carts and wagons by midnight, or earlier, 

 and drive out as far as they can the remainder of 

 the night, in order to pass the whole Sunday in the 

 woods, despite the mosquitoes and black flies. Those 

 we saw seemed a decent, harmless set, whose idea of 

 a good time was to be in the open air, and as far 

 into the " bush " as possible. 



The post-road, as the new St. John's road is also 

 called, begins twenty miles from Quebec at Stone- 

 ham, the farthest settlement. Five miles into the 

 forest upon the new road is the hamlet of La Chance 

 (pronounced La Shaunce), the last house till you 

 reach the lake, one hundred and twenty miles distant. 

 Our destination the first night was La Chance's ; 

 this would enable us to reach the Jacques Carder 

 River forty miles farther, where we proposed to en- 

 camp, in the afternoon of the next day. 



