THE HALCYON IN CANADA 225 



the traveler finds himself in Ha-ha Bay in the morn- 

 ing. The steamer lies here several hours before 

 starting on her return trip, and takes in large quan- 

 tities of white birch wood, as she does also at Ta- 

 dousac. The chief product of the country seemed 

 to be huckleberries, of which large quantities are 

 shipped to Quebec in rude board boxes holding about 

 a peck each. Little girls came aboard or lingered 

 about the landing with cornucopias of birch-bark 

 filled with red raspberries; five cents for about half 

 a pint was the usual price. The village of St. Al- 

 phonse, where the steamer tarries, is a cluster of 

 small, humble dwellings dominated, like all Canadian 

 villages, by an immense church. Usually the church 

 will hold all the houses in the village; pile them all 

 up and they would hardly equal it in size; it is the 

 one conspicuous object, and is seen afar; and on the 

 various lines of travel one sees many more priests 

 than laymen. They appear to be about the only 

 class that stir about and have a good time. Many 

 of the houses were covered with birch- bark, the 

 canoe birch, held to its place by perpendicular 

 strips of board or split poles. 



A man with a horse and a buckboard persuaded 

 us to give him twenty-five cents each to take us two 

 miles up the St. Alphonse Kiver to see the salmon 

 jump. There is a high saw-mill dam there which 

 every salmon in his upward journey tries his hand 

 at leaping. A raceway has been constructed around 

 the dam for their benefit, which it seems they do 

 not use till they have repeatedly tried to scale the 



