342 MAIL SERVICE 



out of our canvas provision bags and a pair of 

 woollen socks served him for mitts. Except for 

 a bruise on one foot which Brochu had received in 

 his fall, they did not appear any the worse for the 

 enforced cold salt water bath. 



Two days later we reached Manicouagan, 

 where Thibeau, the trapper, had a comfortable 

 house. Brochu's foot was so painful that he 

 could not continue, and I arranged, for a consid- 

 eration, to carry his mail bag to Bersimis and re- 

 turn, while he stayed at Thibeau' s to rest his foot. 

 Levesque bought a pair of shoes and we started 

 early, reaching Bersimis that same night, as the 

 walking was very good, especially over the ice, 

 following the coast line. 



The Postmaster, Mr. W. S. Church, who was 

 also the Hudson Bay Co. Agent, told us our re- 

 turn mail would be ready at ten o'clock next day. 

 This would make it too late for us to return to 

 Manicouagan, but I determined we should start 

 any way and sleep at Pointe aux Outardes. We 

 had been invited by the E/evd. Pere Arnaud to 

 stay with him at the Mission and were made very 

 comfortable. In due time, we got our mail and 

 left. The coast line here forms a deep bay with 

 Pointe aux Outardes jutting out on the east side 

 of the river, which is four miles wide at its 

 mouth. In a direct line it is only twelve nautical 

 miles, but by the detour it is fully sixteen. As I 

 said before, the ice was good and appeared to be 



