276 FORTEAU— INDIAN IMPLEMENTS. 



ted the scene, like flies upon the wall. My game bag was empty 

 upon my return to the ship, notwithstanding several large flocks of 

 curlew at which I might have shot, but my mind was filled with this 

 glimpse of one of the most beautiful of Nature's pictures, so that I 

 minded not the revilings of our captain at sight of the empty bag. 



The next day we reached Forteau. A walk around the base of 

 the hills and cliffs on the northern side of the harbor, through 

 growth of tangled spruce and fir where an occasional bluebell or 

 bed of Cornell peered at us from some sheltered retreat, brought us 

 to the house of a pleasant and homely family who cordially wel- 

 comed us. The following day I took a short walk inland, to what 

 are here called "the deserts, " which are elevations and depressions 

 of low sand dunes, whose summits are more or less grassy. They are 

 from ten to fifty feet high, with corresponding depressions of dry 

 sand. We found in many of these hollows several well formed 

 spear and arrow heads, and could have picked up a bushel basket 

 full of " chips, " which were everywhere abundant. The story is 

 told, that when the Esquimaux were driven from this part of the 

 coast by the mountain Indians, who at the time nearly extermina- 

 ted that curious race, all this region was the scene of the Indian 

 descent to the plains from the highlands, hence the chief place of 

 the engagement between the two parties ; here the Indians made 

 and used their arrows and other implements. The chippings that 

 we found were mostly of a white, chalcedony-like flint rock, not at 

 all like anything that we could find along the coast, but said to be 

 " common inland. " A few quartz and ordinary flint pieces were 

 found, but they were comparatively rare. But we were soon forced 

 to leave this interesting locality. Returning to the house we spent 

 the evening, while yet light, in watching the feats and gambols of 

 one of the young dogs as it leaped into the water from a pier over 

 fifteen feet in height, and even dove for stones thrown at it to a 

 depth of nearly four feet, bringing the stones to the surface between 

 and over its fore paws ; then, as the evening had advanced, we re- 

 turned to the house and retired to rest. 



The next morning several of the boys joined us in a walk across 



