142 _ JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



to use the water ? I may add, however, as a set off to this circum- 

 stance, if well authenticated, that sickness is almost unknown among 

 these healthy and robust French fisherman, that their children, ex- 

 ceedingly numerous, seem altogether exempt from the fatal diseases 

 of childhood elsewhere. And, strange to say, there are no medical 

 men on the island. 



The immense swampy plain, extending from South West Point 

 to Heath Point Lighthouse, parallel to the southern shore, also 

 formed, perhaps, a chain of lakes at one time. It is about eighty 

 miles long by one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half broad ; its edge did 

 not display any marl along the strand, but although now treeless 

 I remarked in the peaty soil the roots of trees larger than you meet 

 along the sea margin at present. It may be on an average six feet 

 above the waters of the gulf at high tide. The moss on the surface 

 is beautifully green in color, and at a short distance gives it the ap- 

 pearance of rich meadow land. It could easily be drained, and I 

 doubt not will become valuable at some future time. 



Deep sea fishing is not pursued there. Harbors for larger boats 

 than the inhabitants use are much needed. If means were adopted 

 to enable salmon^ white trout and eels to get beyond the perpen- 

 dicular falls close to the outlets of some of the northern streams, the 

 angling capabilities of Anticosti would be considerably increased. 

 In all the rivers, as far as my examination goes, there are numbers 

 of roots of trees, as well as fallen timber, which would prove almost 

 insurmountable obstacles to the best angler that ever cast a fly for 

 salmon or trout. 



As a field for Botanical researches Anticosti presents one of the 

 most interesting on the continent, from the large number of strange 

 specimens it contains. I suspect many of them were introduced by 

 way of Labrador or Newfoundland. I was informed that Professor 

 Macoun had recognized several Arctic forms there ; but, I presume^ 

 his time was limited, for he exammed only a small portion of the 

 south-west shore. And this part struck me as the least interesting 

 botanizing ground. In a swamp near the burial place at English 

 Bay, I noticed an exquisite little pink heath.* Bushy, a complete 

 mass of blossoms, which reminded me of the white heather of our 



* I am not certain, however, regarding its classification. 



