136 CANADIAN WILDS. 



to a three-mile belt of water, so when the owner 

 is on "Anticosta" he is actually lord and master 



of all that he surveys. 



* * * 



In the Forest and Stream of Feb. 9 I have 

 read the article written by H. de Puyjalon on 

 the pekan or fisher. Mr. de Puyjalon appears 

 to me to have attempted writing upon a subject 

 in which he was very little versed and with no 

 data upon which to base his assertions. As a 

 matter of fact, prior to about the year 1860, the 

 fisher or pekan was an animal unknown to the 

 trappers on the north shore and Labrador, east 

 of the Saguenay, and it was only after that year 

 that an odd one was trapped in that lower coun- 

 try. In fact, when first the fisher made its 

 appearance the Indians had no name for it, but 

 after it became better known they adopted the 

 Algonquin name it now bears. When an Indian, 

 in the early sixties, was fortunate enough to 

 have one in his pack he mentioned it as a big 

 marten. 



For many years the Saguenay River ap- 

 peared to have been the boundary line for 

 moose, red deer and pekan, none being known 

 on the east side, while fairly numerous on the 

 west bank. As the fisher was never very plenti- 

 ful on the Labrador, and when found was only 

 in the wooded part, it is not strange that a per- 



