244 A WEEK'S REST. 



panion and myself should accompany the chief in 

 their canoe to camp, while the two others drove our 

 horses round the top of the lake an indifferent route 

 of some distance, on which walking was a very te- 

 dious affair. 



A little after sunrise we embarked, and before 

 three hours our voyage terminated. We landed in a 

 sheltered cove, where birch and hemlock kissed the 

 water. Soon after we entered a rough stock-house, 

 admirably suited for the purpose for which it was 

 intended, clean as a barrack-room, but unfortunately 

 smelling strongly of the numerous furs with which 

 its upper floor was packed. After suffering from 

 short commons and protracted fatigue, the first few 

 days devoted to rest, if provided with plenty of the 

 necessaries of life, are truly delightful, more particu- 

 larly if associated with persons agreeable to your 

 taste. Thus a week passed, each day being spent as 

 its predecessor, till again I commenced to long for 

 change and excitement, a desire which was soon to 

 be gratified, for the party of trappers whose guests 

 we were had arranged to start in a few days for the 

 south, in order to engage in their annual summer 

 trade, viz., dispose of their stock of peltries, and lay in 

 ammunition, traps, and groceries for the coming winter. 



As my beasts of burthen were of no further use 

 to me, I disposed of them to the chief man, with 

 feelings of great regret, but satisfied at least in one 

 respect, viz., that they had obtained a kind and feel- 

 ing master. Several times I had the idea of knock- 



