NEWFOUNDLAND IN THE 'SEVENTIES 209 



use each other's boats, canoes, &c. without hesita- 

 tion, but spoke of them nevertheless as belonging 

 to some individual member of the sept. They 

 wandered about the island in an apparently hap- 

 hazard, aimless, happy-go-lucky way, and some 

 member or other of the family was always turning 

 up at odd times in unexpected places. Some- 

 times we would meet a Joe striding over some 

 barren or crossing a lake in his canoe ; occasionally 

 a Joe would drop into our camp, miles away from 

 anywhere, unprovided with boat, canoe, provisions 

 or baggage of any kind, and furnished only with a 

 pipe, tobacco, a rusty gun, and some powder and 

 lead. He would sit down quietly by the fire and 

 chat a little and smoke a little, and after a while 

 accept, with apparent insouciance, an invitation to 

 eat and drink, and after consuming enough food for 

 three men and swallowing a few quarts of tea, 

 would say, " Well, I suppose I shall be going now. 

 Adieu, gentlemen, adieu. Yes, I guess I was pretty 

 hungry ; most starved, I expect. How am I going 

 to cross the lake ? Oh, that's all right ; we — 

 that's old Peter John Joe's son, and I — got a canoe 

 a little way off ; mebbe one, two, three, four miles ; 

 I'll cross in her, I reckon. Expect likely I'll see 

 you again by and by — I shall be coming out again 



Q 



