EPISODES 



413 



when, without waiting for my assent, he took up his 

 bowl, and went off I knew not whither. No sooner had 

 he and his strange dogs disappeared than I went out also, 

 to breathe the pure air, and gaze on the wild and majes- 

 tic scenery around. I was struck with the extraordinary 

 luxuriance of the plants and grasses that had sprung up 

 on the scanty soil in the little valley which the squatter 

 had chosen for his home. Their stalks and broad blades 

 reached my waist. June had come, and the flies, mos- 

 quitoes, and other insects filled the air, and v.rere as 

 troublesome to me as if I had been in a Florida swamp. 



The squatter returned, but he was chop-fallen; nay, 

 I thought his visage had assumed a cadaverous hue. 

 Tears ran down his cheeks, and he told me that his bar- 

 rel of rum had been stolen by the " eggers " or some fish- 

 ermen. He said that he had been in the habit of hidins: 

 it in the bushes, to prevent its being carried away by 

 those merciless thieves, who must have watched him in 

 some of his frequent walks to the spot. " Now," said he, 

 " I can expect none till next spring, and God knows what 

 will become of me in the winter." 



Pierre Jean Baptiste Michaux had resided in that part 

 of the world for upwards of ten years. He had run away 

 from the fishing-smack that had brought him from his fair 

 native land, and expected to become rich some day by the 

 sale of the furs. Seal-skins, eider-down, and other articles, 

 which he collected yearly, and sold to the traders who 

 regularly visited his dreary abode. He was of moderate 

 stature, firmly framed, and as active as a Wild Cat. He 

 told me that excepting the loss of his rum, he had never 

 experienced any other cause of sorrow, and that he felt as 

 "happy as a lord." 



Before parting with this fortunate mortal, I inquired 

 how his dogs managed to find sufficient food. " Why, sir, 

 during spring and summer they ramble along the shores, 

 where they meet with abundance of dead fish, and in win- 



