NEWFOUNDLAND IN THE 'SEVENTIES 215 



had explained the route to me as well as he could, 

 it is so difficult for a white man to understand an 

 Indian's description of a country, that my ideas 

 on the subject were very vague and hazy. An 

 Indian thinks little of the points of the compass, 

 and uses them very inaccurately. He seems to rely 

 rather upon the prominent landmarks and principal 

 features of the country to find his way about, and 

 attempts to explain the route by reference to 

 solitary pines, high hills, hard wood ridges, swamps, 

 and streams. In saying that a river runs south- 

 west, he probably is taking it the reverse way, 

 counting from the mouth to the source, and really 

 means that it has a north-east course ; and he in- 

 variably calls all the tributaries of a river by one 

 and the same name : a fact which leads to infinite 

 confusion. However, we determined to trust to 

 luck to find our way to the hunting-grounds, and, 

 after spending all the forenoon in patching up 

 canoes and arranging the baggage in suitable- 

 sized bundles, we made a start late in the after- 

 noon, poled up to a picturesque fall some four 

 miles from the mouth of the stream, made our 

 " portage " round it and camped for the night. 

 It was a lovely evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed 

 it as we lay on our comfortable beds of sapin, 



