242 FOKEST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



I 



abound on the banks. A little search up the tributary- 

 brooks will discover the wonderful works of beaver now 

 in progress ; and other frequenters of the river, mink, 

 otters, and musquash, are plentiful, and frequently to 

 be seen. In July and August the young flappers of 

 many species of duck form an agreeable change in the 

 daily bill of fare ; and though salmon do not ascend the 

 Nepisiguit beyond the Grand Falls, twenty-one miles 

 from Bathurst, they may be taken at the head waters 

 of the Tobique ; whilst river trout of large size, and 

 afibrding excellent sport, will greedily rise at an almost 

 bare hook throughout the whole extent of water. 



Eeclining in the bottom of the canoe, the position of 

 the traveller is most comfortable, and he may make 

 notes or sketches, as fancy leads him, with ease ; indeed, 

 from the facility with which all necessaries and even 

 luxuries may be conveyed, but little hardship need be 

 anticipated in a canoe voyage through the rivers of 

 northern New Brunswick. 



The length of the journey just described much 

 depends on the state of the water and the number of 

 the party. With good water a canoe will get through 

 with two sportsmen, two canoe men, and all their goods 

 — camps, blankets, and provisions — in ten or twelve 

 days ; but should the rivers be low, two canoes must 

 be employed by the same number. A few years since I 

 took a still more northern route to the upper St. John, 

 vid the Eestigouche and Grand Eiver ; the head- waters 

 were so shallow that we literally had to drag our canoe, 

 fixed on long protecting slabs of cedar, for some days 

 over the rocky bed ; we were, moreover, nearly starved, 

 and occupied nearly three weeks in reaching Fredericton 



