212 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



island, in his estimation. " Yes, sir," he said to 

 me one day, " things is very different from what 

 they used to be. Lord ! I mind the times when 

 a man might travel from one end of the island to 

 the other and never see nobody nowheres. Beavers 

 were plenty then, and there was a good price for 

 fur too ; now there ain't no price, and beavers and 

 otters ain't plenty like they used to be. Those 



d lumbermen be come up the rivers and 



scare the game. Why, there ain't a bay scarcely 

 anywheres without one, mebbe even two liviers ^ 

 in it. Yes, sir, it's true ; Newfoundland he 

 spoil, too much people come, too much people 

 altogether in the country, no use furring any more, 

 no price now for beaver skins, very bad times now, 

 most impossible to make a living. Expect you 

 don't want that axe-head, do you, sir ? It would 

 come in very handy. I lost mine the other day — 

 head flew clean off the handle into the water. Can't 

 do without it, can't you ? Well, never mind ; mebbe 

 you won't want to take your canoes out of the 

 country. I'd like to trade with you for one of 

 them." He became a positive nuisance, did the 

 old man, about the axe-head, and followed us 



^ A "livier " signifies a person who lives all the year round in a locality, 

 in contradistinction to one who only visits it during the fishing season. 



