36 THE DEPARTURE. 



* 



boarded," as the expression is, upon " knees " of the natural 

 crook, and weigh from ninety to one hundred and ten 

 pounds each. They are carried around rapids, or from river 

 to river, on the back of the boatman in this wise : A 

 " yoke " is provided, such as every man in the country, 

 especially all who have visited a " sugar bush " at the sea- 

 son of sugar making, has seen. At the end of this yoke is a 

 round iron projection, made to fit into a socket in the upper 

 rave of the boat. The craft is turned bottom upwards, the 

 yoke adjusted to the shoulders, the iron projections fitted 

 into the sockets, and the boatman marches off with his boat, 

 like a turtle with his shell upon his back. He will carry it 

 thus sometimes half a mile before stopping to rest. 



With us were to go two staid and sober stag hounds, 

 grave in aspect and trained and experienced, almost, in wood- 

 craft, as their masters ; animals that had been reared to- 

 gether, and who possessed the rare instinct of returning al- 

 ways to the shanty from which they started, however far the 

 chase may have led them. It was a glorious sound in the 

 old forests, the music of those two hounds, as their voices 

 rang out bold and free, like a bugle, and went ringing 

 through the forest, echoing among the mountains and dying 

 away over the lakes. But of that hereafter. 



Our little fleet swung out upon the water, while the sun 

 was yet hanging like a great torch among the tops of the 

 trees, on the eastern hills. It was a beautiful morning, so 

 fresh, so genial, so balmy. A pleasant breeze came sweep- 

 ing lazily over the lake, and went sighing and moaning 



