10 THROUGH CANADA 



and their victims. The saints pitied the exiles and 

 fought on their side, but from a more terrible fate 

 there seems to have been no deliverance. Soon 

 Marguerite's lover succumbed to privation and suffer- 

 ing. The child born to them and the nurse followed, 

 and Marguerite was left alone. But the nerve of the 

 woman never failed. She continued to resist the 

 attacks of the demons, and effectively defended her- 

 self against the assaults of bears, shooting three of 

 them. When discovered by the crew of the fishing 

 craft, who rescued her, she was clothed in wild 

 beasts' skins, and on the point of starvation. 



Clear of the straits, we entered the mouth of the 

 St. Lawrence. The river flows north and south 

 of Anticosti, mingling its waters with the cross- 

 currents of mighty seas. The steamer sailed south 

 of the island, leaving English Bay on its right. From 

 that point the banks of the great river are clearly 

 defined, and the ocean passage may be said to be 

 over. Thick fogs that hang over the river's banks 

 are, however, not without their attendant dangers. 

 Tides that wait for no man have to be studied in 

 connexion with rapids and shallows, which frequently 

 cause delay and spoil record passages. 



Through this great waterway the early pioneers 

 of the North-West sailed in their diminutive ships, 

 surviving the perils of ocean to face the still greater 

 dangers that lay hidden in the pathless forests 

 that flanked the shore. There are probably no 



