163 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



down all around. 'All pretty much same/ said Glodc 

 in answer to our question, as we again dropped down 

 the stream. Presently the rippling of water ahead 

 showed a slight fall, and on arriving at the spot the bow 

 of the canoe grated on submerged bushes. It was the 

 dam — always placed below — belonging to the house, and 

 was evidently in course of construction, a process which 

 we were unavoidably compelled to defer, by standing on 

 a flat rock, and, hauling out bushes by the armful, to 

 open a passage for the canoes. Several other houses 

 were passed, at intervals, of about a quarter of a mile, all 

 similar in appearance, and some of great size. Our 

 anxiety to get to the big lake prevented us, however, 

 from examining the structure closely. On this brook I 

 first saw the blossoms and tendrils of a beautiful climb- 

 ing plant which grew up luxuriantly amongst the bushes, 

 and encircled small stems to a considerable height — the 

 Indian potato-plant (Apios tuberosa) — one of the sources 

 of food used by the old Indians before they left the w^oods 

 and their forest fare for the neighbourhood of civilization, 

 and adopted its food, clothing, and depraving associa- 

 tions. The flowers are like those of the sw^eet pea, and 

 arranged in a whorl, possessing a pleasant though rather 

 faint smell. The cluster of bulbs at its root, called 

 potatoes, are of about the average size of small new 

 potatoes, and have a flavour like a chestnut." 



Two or three miles further, through an open country 

 covered with the bleached stems of a burnt forest, 

 brought us to the middle lake of the Eossignol Chain, 

 which we quickly crossed to camp. 



On the following afternoon we entered Eossignol after 

 some rather stiff" paddling. Two large lakes, affording 



