OUR RETURN JOURNEY 259 



him for a berlot to drive us to Escoumains, for 

 twelve dollars, our night's lodging and board in- 

 cluded. This was the heaviest day's expense in- 

 curred on our whole trip, amounting to fiften dol- 

 lars. I had a letter of introduction from Mr. T. 

 J. Lamontagne to his Manager, Mr. John Top- 

 ping, at Escoumains Mills. As he was rather 

 short-handed at the moment, he could not send 

 anyone to drive us down, but he supplied us with 

 a horse and sleigh which we were to leave at Mille 

 Vaches, the next parish, 15 miles east. From 

 Escoumains to Mille Vaches the roads were dread- 

 ful and our progress so slow that we frequently 

 walked for a change. It was noon before we 

 reached there. 



At Mrs. J. A. Pinze's, where we had been told 

 to leave the horse, we were given a hearty recep- 

 tion and excellent dinner. As we intended push- 

 ing on further, she kindly supplied us with a 

 fresh horse on the same terms, that is to say, that 

 we were to leave it at Sault au Cochon Mills, 18 

 miles further on. Thanking her for her kindness 

 we left, expecting to reach the latter place that 

 night. This was not to be. The wind which 

 had been from the east all day, began to increase 

 and developed into a regular blizzard. Luckily 

 I had travelled down that coast some years pre- 

 viously and had no trouble in finding our way, 

 but it was slow work in the heavy snow drifts. It 

 was dusk when we pulled up at Mr. D. Trem- 



