140 NEW BRUNSWICK. 



" How far is it to the portage ? " 



" Portage — yes." 



" How fiir — how many miles ? " 



" Dunno." 



« Fifty miles, you think ? " 



" I suppose." 



« Sixty miles ? " 



"Yes." 



^'Thirty?" 



" Yes — suppose thirty." 



« Five hundred ? " 



" Yes." 



" Plenty salmon up there ? " 



" Yes — plenty." 



"Any moose?" 



" Yes — moose too ? " j 



" Moose climh a tree 9 " 



"Yes." 



When an Indian is a total stranger to you he answers "yes" 

 to all questions. Whether it be for reasons diplomatic, or to 

 avoid all occasion for difierences of opinion, the noble choco- 

 late-colored red man is invariably non-committal. It cannot 

 be said that he ever leads the conversation. 



" I say, what's your name — you with the pipe ? Are you 

 John?" 



"Yes." 



" Well, John, let us put out. The sun is getting up and 

 the day will be hot. Come, men, stir yourselves." 



In half an hour the canoes are loaded and ready for a 

 start. The passenger sits on the bottom, facing up stream, 

 with his back against the middle bar, over which coats or 

 blankets have been thrown to make him comfortable. All 

 •the boxes, sacks, and hampers have been stowed amidships, 

 just behind. The two canoe-men take tUeir places in the 

 bow and stern, and with long setting-poles, deftly wielded, 

 gently push the frail craft into the current. There, holding 



