JONES ON THE BACKWOODS. 53 



to boulder, we slipped and fell through a hole, with the knee cap 

 against a rock. The knee instantly swelled up and gave great 

 pain, and \vg could barely drag along, when one of the Indians 

 said if rubijed with bear fat it would soon be right again. 

 When skinning the animal he cut off a piece, and we rubbed the 

 part well, and singular enough in a quarter of an hour the 

 swelling subsided almost as quickly as it had risen, and we were 

 enabled to walk back to camp. The Indians have a very ready 

 way of transporting bear weat — cutting it up in small pieces 

 they fold up the bear skin neatly with the pieces within, and 

 then tie the whole with bands of withrod {viburnum,) and with 

 the same bands secure it across their shoulders as a pack, 

 leaving the arms free for action. Bears were numerous at this 

 spot, and were no doubt attracted l^y the vast quantities of ripe 

 berries, particularly the huckleberry and blueberry, the 

 {Gaylussachia resinora) and {^Vaccinium Oanadense,) the for- 

 mer in astonishing abundance. The trees and shrubs which 

 clothe the sides of this rocky range are principally dwarf birch, 

 {Betula nigra, and B. papyracea,) alder, (^Alnus viridis,) 

 intersiDcrsed with spruce (Abies alba and rubra) and dead pine 

 {Pinus strobus.) Under stones in Whetstone lake I found 

 several small leeches, (Hirudo,) one of which was of a white 

 colour. The larvae cases of a caddis-fly, (Phryganea,) were 

 abundant composed of pieces of weed and granite sand. Wo 

 noticed that the bird droppings, which were upon almost every 

 boulder on this range, were of a dark blue colour, caused no 

 doubt by their feeding at this season almost wholly upon the 

 berries of the blueberry and huckleberry. The shores of 

 Whetstone lake were covered with a beautiful granite sand, 

 nearly white. 



As we are now in the most famous district in the Province 

 for bears, perhaps it will be well to make a few remarks upon 

 the natural history of the black bear, ( Ursus Americanus.) The 

 bear comes out of his winter den as soon as the snow disappears, 

 generally about the end of April. The he bear dens by him- 

 self. The she bear cubs about the first week in February, and 

 the young are at first about the size of a common squirrel, 

 ( Sciurus Hudsonius,) They obtain nourishment from the mother 



