224 A VISIT TO CANADA. 



regiments, had warmly pressed me to accept of his hospi- 

 tality, and I now resolved to comply with his repeated 

 request. 



A few days after my arrival at Quebec, Maclean pro- 

 posed that we should make an essay at elk-hunting. 

 I need not say that I required but little pressing, and we 

 hastened to make the preparations indispensable for such 

 an expedition. 



The captain had already made an arrangement with 

 some Indians of St. Anne's, in virtue of which four of the 

 most skilful hunters of their tribe were to join us at 

 sixty miles from Quebec, at a rendezvous which they had 

 indicated, on the confines of the inhabited districts. 

 Jack, the guide of our caravan, waited for us at Loretto 

 with his companions. 



We started one morning at daybreak in a very low 

 carriole, to which were harnessed, as a tandem, two ex- 

 cellent mustangs. A sledge, drawn by one horse, fol- 

 lowed our vehicle, and carried our arms, provisions, muni- 

 tions, and other articles indispensable for camping in the 

 Canadian desert. 



Enveloped in our buffalo-skin caps and " mackinaw " 

 coverings, we were easily able to brave the fury of the 

 wind, though it swept along at a furious rate, while 

 whirlwinds of hail and snow drifted in every direction. 



The first gleams of daylight had hardly appeared when 

 we traversed the suburb of St. Vallier, still buried in 

 profound slumber, whose solitary streets are as melan- 

 choly as they are narrow, tortuous, and ill-built. Not a 

 single inhabitant was visible, and the snow, falling for 

 several hours during the night, had effaced all the marks 

 and imprints of the traffic of the preceding day. 



