04 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



maple-buslies, skirting the water, were tinged with theii 

 brightest autumnal glow; and in the calm water, in covej 

 and nooks, on the windward side of the lake, the reflec- 

 tions were very beautiful. I longed for a cessation of the 

 rain, and a gleam of sunshine across the hill-tops, if only 

 to enjoy the scenery as we passed ; and certainly a seat 

 in a canoe is a very pleasant position from which to 

 observe the beauties of lake or river scenery, the spec- 

 tator being comfortably seated on a blanket or bunch of 

 elastic boughs in. the bottom of the canoe — legs stretched 

 out in front, back well supported by rolls of blankets, 

 and elbows resting on the gunwales on either side. 



" Ah ! here is the Halfway rock, what the old Indians 

 call the Grandmother," said Joe, steering the canoe so as 

 to pass close alongside a line of rocks which stood out in 

 fantastic outlines from the water close to the western 

 shore of the lake. " Here is the Grandmother — we must 

 give him something, or we have no luck." 



To the rocks in question are attached a superstitious 

 attribute of having the power of influencing the good 

 or bad fortune of the hunter. They are supposed to be 

 the enchanted form of some genius of the forest ; and few 

 Indians, on a hunting mission up the lake, care to pass 

 them without first propitiating the spirit of the rocks by 

 depositing a small offering of a piece of money, tobacco, 

 or biscuit. 



" That will do, Capten ; anything a'most will do," said 

 Joe, as one cut off a small piece of tobacco, and another 

 threw a small piece of biscuit or a potato on to the rock. 

 " Now you wouldn't b'lieve, Capten, that when you come 

 back you find that all gone. I give you my word that s 

 true ; we always find what we leave gone/' Whereupon 



