310 CAPTAIN CARTWRIGHT'S 



up and hauled out, and some others would also 

 have been caught, had not the late rains raised 

 the water about a foot higher than it was when 

 the traps were tailed; by which, the whole of 

 their stint had been carried away. The great 

 beaver, which was the mother of the family, 

 weighed forty-five pounds; measured two feet 

 seven inches in length, from the tip of her nose 

 to the root of her tail, and her tail was a foot long 

 and six inches and a half in breadth. The beaver 

 weighed thirty-three pounds and three quarters; 

 both of them were paunched before they were 

 brought home. 



Wednes., October 8, 1783. The first flight of 

 eider-ducks went up the river this evening. As 

 those birds trim the shore along in the flight- 

 times, great numbers of flocks go up this river 

 as high as Friend's Point, and sometimes higher, 

 but on finding their mistake, they commonlv re- 

 turn again along the opposite side. Some few 

 flocks are supposed to cross the country to the 

 sea again, and in spring some have been seen to 

 come down the river, which were supposed to 

 return the same way back, but in general they 

 keep over the salt water. 



Thursday, October 9, 1783. Mr. Collingham 

 and four men nearly finished the new kitchen by 

 breakfast-time; he then served out provisions to 

 the two coopers, who are to have a couple of 

 youngsters with them and live this winter at the 

 head of Hinchingbrook Bay, to make tierces ; and 

 also to one furrier, who is to live bv himself about 



