244 . CANADIAN WILDS. 



distance is dead. As a salmon fisher, no crack 

 angler who visits these rivers can hope to com- 

 pete with him. 



As a linguist he can speak, read and write 

 in French, English, Latin and Indian; besides 

 this, he can talk rapidly in the dumb alphabet. 

 He holds the position of telegraph operator at 

 Trinity, also of postmaster and fishery overseer, 

 and besides, when anything goes wrong with the 

 line for two hundred miles east or west, the de- 

 partment immediately wires him to go and fix 

 them up. 



"He has more than a fair knowledge of med- 

 icine for one who derived all his insight from 

 reading alone. Last summer there was an epi- 

 demic of measles all along the coast, among both 

 whites and Indians. Here, with a population 

 of 150, two-thirds of whom were down Comeau, 

 who attended them, did not lose one patient, 

 while at Bersimis, where the department sent a 

 full-fledged M. D., there were thirty-nine burials 

 out of a population of 450. 



"You may be sure the poor people all along 

 the coast love him." 



So the boat was lowered away, and the Cap- 

 tain, Bob and I were rowed ashore to see this 

 paragon. From the outside look of the place I 

 could see the man was one of good taste and 

 orderly. The knock at the door was answered 



