170 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



tints of autumnal colour. From near its centre was un- 

 folded a view of the greatest expanse of water. The 

 distant shores were enveloped in haze, but appeared 

 frino;ed with a dark fir forest to the water's edge. Here 

 and there a bright spot of white sand formed a beach 

 tempting for a disembarkation; and frequent sylvan 

 scenes of an almost fairy-land character opened up as 

 we coasted along the shores — little harbours almost 

 closed-in from the lake, overgrown with water-lilies, 

 arrow-heads, and other aquatic plants, with mossy banks 

 backed by bosky groves of hemlocks ; cool retreats which 

 the soft moss covering the soil, and the perfect shade of 

 the dense foliage overhead, indicated as most desirable 

 spots for camping. The wild cry of the loon resounded 

 aU over the lake, and mergansers and black ducks 

 wheeled overhead as they left their feeding-grounds for 

 their accustomed resting-places. Only one sight re- 

 minded us of civilization. On the crest of a distant 

 hill, the rays of the setting sun lighted on a little patch of 

 cleared ground and glanced on the window of a solitary 

 dwelling. Our Indians said it was a settler's house in New 

 Caledonia, on the forest road from Liverpool to Annapolis. 

 Warned at length by the mellowing light which 

 seemed to blend lake and sky into one, we steered the 

 canoes into a sheltered cove, and lighted our first camp 

 fire on the shores of Lake Rossignol. This was our head- 

 quarters ; and here for a week we gave ourselves up to 

 the dreamy pleasures of a life in the woods. Our easy 

 mode of travel enabling us to take every desirable luxury, 

 wc ate our trout with Worcester sauce, and baked our 

 bread in an Indian oven ; we fished in the runs, bathed 

 in the sandy coves, visited and were visited by the lum- 



