66 NATURE IN ACADIE. 



I could not make out the species of the majority of the 

 flocks. I also visited the woods in the vicinity of the 

 town but did not observe much of interest. 



We left Rimouski in the small hours of the following 

 morning on board the s.s. " Circassian," and during 

 the whole of that day we were ploughing the waters of 

 the mighty Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



The morning of the last day in May broke to find us 

 still coasting the length of the vast island of Anticosti 

 an unvarying range of hills of no great height, yet with 

 the snow still lying along their summits, to prove the 

 inhospitable and desolate nature of the island. By 

 and by all land faded away, and the gulf widened and 

 stretched away in a great inland sea reaching northward 

 to Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador, and south- 

 ward to Cape Breton and the shores of Nova Scotia. 

 During the day I observed a great number of little auks, 

 mostly in small parties, although now and again flights 

 of upwards of a hundred of these curious little birds rose 

 from the water and flew round the vessel. The only 

 other birds which came near were a solitary pair of 

 Brunnich's guillemots : a more frequent species here 

 than the rather smaller common guillemot. 



As evening came on the rays of the setting sun 

 glittered across the unruffled surface of the water and 

 played in a halo of glory around the rocky heads of St. 

 Pierre and Miquelon lying a few miles away to the 

 northward. Between glistened the white sails of one or 

 two fishing boats or small coasting vessels. These two 

 little islets, which dwindled momentarily and passed 

 gradually into the ruddy glow of the fairyland astern, 

 possess a peculiar interest. They are aH that remain of 

 the once great North American possessions of France. 



We passed Cape Race at five a.m. on June i and 

 were proceeding up the eastern coast of Newfoundland 

 all the morning. Here we passed a great number of 

 icebergs, as many as twenty being in sight at once ; 

 nearly all of them, however, had been driven in-shore, 

 the coast being dotted with them all along, but some 

 few were floating down southward some miles from the 



