64 



CHAPTER XIV. 



N May 28 I started by rail from 

 Halifax to Rimouski, a distance of 

 about 385 miles. The route lay 

 northward through Nova Scotia, 

 through Northern New Brunswick, 

 and also through a part of Quebec, 

 my destination being situated upon 

 the south shore of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and being a point of call for the homeward- 

 bound liners from Montreal and Quebec. 



The scenery for a great part of the distance consisted 

 of alternating forest, lake and river, with occasional 

 ranges of wooded hills, and here and there cabins or 

 fields, and sometimes a considerable settlement. The 

 woods were chiefly coniferous, with occasional tracts of 

 birch or other deodiferous trees. Lumbering was pro- 

 gressing in some parts, and once we passed a small 

 river, which was crowded with logs as far as the view 

 extended. The birds most commonly to be observed 

 were crows and American robins. Once I saw a large 

 blue heron reposing quietly among the straggling reeds 

 at the edge of a lake, and frequently small birds of 

 various species fled on either side into the forest. 

 Horrid, swampy woods were abundant, and here the 

 trees rose from several feet of pestiferous-looking water,' 

 filled in every direction with limbs and trunks of trees 

 in every stage of decay, while round about the swamp 

 undergrowth raised itself from the water. 



