OO .)U.Si:S — ON tllfi BACKWOODS, 



alders, poj)lai's, and othei- trees near the dam, were eiit short otj* 

 near the ground. Thi.s lake on its west side is muddy, with a 

 vigorous growth of rushes, sedges, &c. An island of about half 

 an acre, covered with spruce and pine, divided from the south 

 shore by a narrow passage, has upon its eastern side a very large 

 beaver house upon the shore, extending into the w^ater. The 

 house, or rather stack of sticks, is very large, built of larger sticks 

 than usual. In this great pile there must be several cart loads of 

 sticks and small logs, from the small twig up to pieces four inches 

 in diameter. Some pieces are several feet in length, while others 

 are only three or four inches long. The lieaver pups early in 

 spring, having two culis, but they are sometimes knowu to have 

 young in August. When the cubs are two years old they pair 

 and go oif to another place. Beaver skins sell about Shelburne 

 now for four shillings sterling per pound, while some years ago 

 they sold for eighteen shillings per pound. A good skin will 

 weigh four pounds. 



About Whetstone lake the robin, (Turchts migratonus,) was 

 very common, flocking together in large numbers at sundown on 

 the shore, picking up insect food. The hermit thrush, (T. 

 solitarius,^ well named so from its retired habits, occurred there 

 ftlso, treating us as the shades of eveuins; drew around, to its 

 plaintive note; and the spotted snake, (^Ooluber sh'talis,) was 

 fond of sunning itself on the granite boulders by the lake side, 

 about mid-day. These boulders had been carried up from the 

 lake to their present position by the action of ice, for the course 

 they had travelled was clearly perceptible in the deep channel 

 which led from each of them to the bed of the lake. 



After three days spent in this locality, we made a move to the 

 north-w^est, but had not proceeded far before some of our party 

 shot another bear, and we had to call a halt in order to skin him. 

 We had now arrived on the upper ridge of the granite plateau, 

 from which we had a magniliceut view of the country around 

 for paany miles on every side. And a wild and curious scene it 

 was. All around us lay a perfect wilderness of granite boulders, 

 from among which rose a dense growth of the blueberry and 

 huckleberry, and interspersed with thickets of dwarf spruce, 

 birch, and alder. The Labrador tea, {Ledum latifol/um,) and 



