70 HILLS AND LAKES. 



The experiment was successful. I drew up three 

 from about sixty feet down, in a few minutes. We 

 returned to the shore, and passed on in our coasting 

 voyage. On the north-west bank, we came to a small 

 cleared spot, where once had stood the hut of a Cana- 

 dian half-breed, as they are termed. It had rotted, 

 down, many years before, and the rank grass, weeds, 

 and bushes, occupied the spot, where imagination 

 pictured his little garden. It was only imagination, 

 for unless the half of an acre of potatoes and beans, 

 may be called a garden, he never had one. The half- 

 breed, that is half French and half Indian, is a deteri- 

 oration of both branches of the ancestral tree. He 

 has all the laziness of the Indian, so far as work is 

 concerned, with none of his industry, ingenuity, and 

 perseverance in the chase. He lives by fishing, trap- 

 ping, and basket-making. The muskrat and mink, 



and the skins of the deer, taken on the crust, furnish 



+ 

 him with a scanty supply of clothing, groceries, and 



breadstuffs. He spends his summers and sometimes 

 his winters, by these lakes in the deep forest. Three 

 or four times a year, he shoulders a pack of furs, and 

 with his wife and children, goes out to the settlements, 

 to dispose of his wares, and procure such articles as go 



