JOXES ON THE BACKWOODS. 55 



four shillings. The meat of the bear is excellent eating, tasting 

 something like mutton. It is best boiled to render it tender* 

 uud then fried with pieces of the fat. The tongue is very 

 similar to a calfs tongue when boiled. The Indians cure bear 

 meat bj cutting it up into long strips and placing it on a frame 

 work of poles, lighting a tire underneath so as to dry it m the 

 smoke, which process takes about two days, and if kept dry 

 afterwards in a proper place will keep for a 3 ear or more. 

 They never make use of the inside portions of the animal, viz. : 

 heart, liver, &c. AVhen they cook fresh meat they cut it up 

 into small pieces and fry it. The meat when partially smoked 

 we found much better boiled than fried, frying making it too 

 hard. The bones of the bear are salted down and used to put 

 into soup. The gall of the bear the Indians use for sprains 

 aud wounds. 



The Indians appear to be a very superstitious race of beings, 

 and the most trivial events cause auxiet3^ For instance, one 

 night the light of our fire attracted a little Acadian owl, {Strix 

 Acadica,) which perched on a branch close by, making its curious 

 noise. One of the Indians at once predicted that bad luck would 

 attend our expedition, and begged us to level a gun at the unfor- 

 tunate bird, whose death alone could cast away the spell that 

 rested upon us. 



One day we started with Peter Paul in a westerly direction 

 from the camp, and after travelling about two miles through 

 thick forest and swamps, we arrived on the borders of a good 

 sized lake with an outlet at its western end. On walking round, 

 we came upon a large beaver house, situate on the lake edge, 

 where the water was deep. The house appeared as if two cart 

 loads of faggots had been thrown down in a heap and flattened 

 above. Having no implements to enable us to take it asunder, 

 we were obliged to leave it as it was. Going still further down 

 the lake side we arrived at the outlet, which we found dammed 

 across by the beavers. It was constructed of sticks and mud, 

 overgrown with grass and weeds, the sticks laid over each other 

 in a line of lace work, almost entirely stopping the escape of the 

 lake water down the brook. There was an older dam below 

 this one about fifteen yards lower down the brook. The smaller 



