2o6 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



were required to bury the gentleman, it is probable 

 that my presence is no longer necessary on that 

 account." We were much more astonished than was 

 our guest at the extraordinary delays and troubles 

 to which he had been subjected, but after be- 

 coming a little better acquainted with Newfound- 

 land, we perceived that there was nothing so very 

 unusual in his misfortunes after all, and that 

 similar experiences were looked upon with a calm 

 and philosophical spirit by the natives. 



It was late in the afternoon of a beautiful, still, 

 warm autumn day that the Hercules dropped 

 her anchor in the Bay, and after putting us safely 

 ashore with our Indians, canoes, and baggage, and 

 after three hearty cheers and three hideous ear- 

 splitting screams from the whistle, steamed away 

 out to sea again and left us to our own devices. 

 There was quite a settlement in those parts, con- 

 sisting of a small saw-mill and house adjoining in- 

 habited by the white man who ran the mill, and of 

 two or three families of Indians, all rejoicing in the 

 name of Joe. The head of the tribe was old Abra- 

 ham Joe, a fine specimen of his race, an active up- 

 right man, standing about six feet two inches in 

 his moccasins, and broad and strong in proportion. 

 He had spent nearly all his life in Newfoundland, 



