OUR RETURN JOURNEY 257 



Captain Zic Gagne was my driver and he owned 

 a splendid black horse which he handled like his 

 schooner, bnt with this difference: that as he could 

 not take any reefs in the horse, he upset me twice 

 on the way by carrying too much sail ! He was a 

 furious driver and I felt easier when we were 

 over the seven hills of Port au Persil. Here we 

 were the guests of Captain Wm. McClaren, an 

 old acquaintance of mine, and for many years in 

 charge of Judge (now Sir Elzear) Taschereau's 

 yacht. 



We made an early start, and as the roads were 

 too bad for fast driving, we had no more upsets, 

 and reached Ste. Catharine's at half-past two 

 p.m., where I had the good luck to meet a friend 

 and confrere, Mr. Gabriel Boulianne, a noted 

 porpoise and seal hunter. Mrs. Boulianne had a 

 good lunch ready for us and shortly afterwards 

 the weather and tide being favorable, Mr. B. fer- 

 ried us over to Tadousac in his canoe. 



Like many others of his calling, Mr. Boulianne 

 has had many narrow escapes while chasing por- 

 poises and seals. On one occasion he and his eld- 

 est brother were upset in their canoe by a wound- 

 ed porpoise. His brother was drowned, and he 

 himself rescued in an exhausted condition. An- 

 other time, having spent the night out in the open 

 after porpoises without any luck, he decided, just 

 as they were coming in with the rising tide, to try 

 the reefs for seals. Getting out on a flat stone, he 



