; 



58 JONES ON THE BACKWOODS. 



ill the direction oi" the opposite shore. We watched theni care- 

 fully and observed that the beavers coasted alono- shore, ensrao-ed 

 now and then in looking-for food, just as we have often seen the 

 water rat of England do in a pond. After watching them for 

 some short time, we heard on our right where Peter Paul had 

 gone, a loud flap on the water, just as if a paddle had been 

 struck on the lake, and all signs of beaver vanished at once. 

 This we considered came from a sentinel beaver who, havinir 

 heard Paul coming in the direction of their head quarters, had 

 sounded this tocsin of alarm. Although we waited for some 

 time after this not a beaver could be seen. 



The next day we travelled also along the table land in a 

 north-west direction, passing over much the same kind of land, 

 the spruce woods getting larger. I chased a porcupine for 

 about a hundred yards, when he took to a spruce tree some 

 twenty feet high and was killed. I noticed that the Indians 

 shaved the porcupine of his quills before carrying him. The 

 process is as follows : — taking a sharp knife, they shave from 

 tip of tail to head, and are extremely careful not to get any of 

 the small quills in their hands, as the puncture is very painful. 

 The old woman's tale of a porcupine throwing its quills at a 

 person chasing it is untrue ; the truth of the matter being, that 

 if a stick be presented to it, or any one attempts to handle it, 

 it immediately strikes the ofiender with its tail, driving the 

 smaller quills with such force as even to stick them firmly into 

 a piece of wood. The flesh of the porcupine is delicious, tender 

 and sweet, the tail when fried nicely being the choicest morsel. 

 We camped this night in dense woods by the side of a stream, 

 and having exhausted all our provisions, began to feel somewhat 

 alarmed that if we did not reach the settlement on the west or 

 Weymouth coast before long we should fare badly. I may say 

 that we fully expected to have struck some marks of civilization 

 at noon of the first day according to our reckoning, but on send- 

 ing an Indian up the highest trees, during the afternoon, he 

 only gave us the unwelcome intelligence, " no sign clearing, 

 big woods all along." The next morning early, we were deter- 

 mined to try our best to get out of our dilemma, and so it was 

 decided that we should stow away all our goods and chattels,, 



