444 Salmon -Fishing. 



floor, and then rubbed it well in with butter, of which latter I melted 

 one mess too much and the other too little. Took a vote, and found 

 a majority of one for stirring it with the sun. Think, after all, I stirred 

 it the wrong way ; and certainly put in too much egg-shell to make it 

 settle well, for all the plums, currants, citron, etc., nearly settled 

 through the bottom of the small wash-bowl in which I baked it, 

 while some large lumps of sugar failed to get crushed at all. The 

 cake was, however, quite passable. To be sure, I forgot to butter 

 the dish, and had to dig the cake out in small pieces and glue them 

 together ; but that was a mere trifle, and my success was greater than 

 could be reasonably expected from so doughty a matter. The cow 

 which I had driven up from the settlement and put in our old and 

 now unused snow-house, so as to keep her, came to grief by breaking 

 her leg on her way down the steep rocky river-bank to get water." 



Our admirable courier came up from the Basin early in the morn- 

 ing with a clean pocket-handkerchief full of lettuce leaves, the size of a 

 silver dollar, which he had procured from the minister's wife, who had 

 raised under a cold frame the only lettuce in the settlement. Coffin 

 complained bitterly of the imposition of the lobster-dealer, who, learn- 

 ing that his purchase was for " States" men, charged him ten cents each 

 for lobsters of about five pounds weight, while he sold them commonly 

 to the packer opposite Gaspe for fifty cents a hundred, large and 

 small as they run. So plentiful are lobsters around Gaspe Basin that 

 a few moments suffice to get a basketful hooked up with a peculiar 

 sort of gaff made expressly for the purpose. 



A heavy shower overtook our friends between the two rivers. 

 They had, in honor of the special occasion of a Fourth of July dinner 

 with their American friends, dressed themselves in gorgeous apparel 

 of white flannel. What with the rain which had soaked them and 

 beautifully distributed the usual face dressing of tar and sweet oil 

 over large geographical surfaces, the stains of tree-drippings and the 

 wadings through the marsh at the end of the lake, they presented a 

 sorry appearance. Nothing could induce them to remain and dine 

 in such plight, and so after a little rest and a modest lunch of crackers 

 and cheese, they left us. Our bill of fare, which in accordance with 

 camp custom we had written on bark, was quite elaborate. 



On Thursday, we received from our friend Reynolds a kind 

 invitation to occupy the York River for a week. Curtis and 



