204 LOST IN THE WILDERNESS 



more if it had been wanted. The rest of our trip 

 was an ordinary one, except for one amusing in- 

 cident. On the sixth day we reached Pointe aux 

 Outardes, where we slept at Mr. R.'s, a very kind 

 and hospitable old farmer and hunter. In the 

 previous fall a German bark, of which I have for- 

 gotten the name, had gone aground on the Mani- 

 couagan shoals. She was loaded with gin. As 

 the vessel had received no damage, some five to six 

 hundred casks of gin had been thrown overboard 

 to enable her to float off, which she did. A small 

 portion of these casks were lost and some picked 

 up on the south shore, but most of them were 

 saved by the residents of Point aux Outardes, 

 numbering then some seven or eight families. In 

 front of each house was a row of casks, and our 

 host had about twenty for his share. Very 

 fortunately for me, Ploute was a sober Indian, a 

 rather rare thing, or I might have been delayed 

 there again. Several of the neighbours came in 

 for a smoke and a drink and there was gin galore ; 

 the whole place was reeking with the smell of it, 

 which I probably noticed all the more from the 

 fact that I was not drinking any of it. Most of 

 the settlers' houses at that date were small, and 

 accommodation in the way of beds just sufficient 

 for the needs of the family; but guests were al- 

 ways welcome to all the ground floor they could 

 occupy. One generally had to use his coat or 

 pack as a pillow, and select the softest board he 



