252 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



one after another every vessel of the fleet with which we had 

 sailed. 



" The land on each side now rose in the form of an amphi- 

 theatre, and on the Nova Scotia side to a considerahle height ; 

 dwellings appeared here and there, but the country is too poor 

 for comfort; the timber is small, and the land too stony; a 

 small patch of ploughed land planted, or ready for potatoes, was 

 all the cultivation we saw. Near one house we saw a few apple- 

 trees, which were not yet in bloom. The general appearance 

 of this passage reminded me of some parts of tire Hudson River, 

 and, accompanied as we were by thirty sail of vessels, the time 

 passed agreeably. Vegetation appeared about as forward as at 

 Eastport : saw a few chimney swallows and heard a few blue 

 jays. As we passed Cape Porcupine, a high rounding hill, we 

 saw some Indians in birch-bark- canoes, and clearing Cape George 

 we were soon in the Gulf of St, Lawrence. From this place, on 

 the 20th of May last year, the sea was a sheet of ice as far as 

 the eye could reach with the aid of a good spy-glass. 



" We ran down the west coast of Gape Breton Island, and the 

 country looked well in the distance ; large undulating hills were 

 covered with many hamlets, and patches of cultivated land 

 were seen. It being calm when we neared Jestico Island, about 

 three miles from Cape Breton, I left the vessel and landed on it. 

 It was covered with well-grown grass, and filled with strawberry 

 vines in fuU bloom. The sun shone brightly, the weather was 

 pleasant, and we found many northern birds breeding there ; 

 the wild gooseberries were plentiful, about the size of a pea, and 

 a black currant also. The wind arose, and we hurried back to 

 the vessel : on the way my son John and some of the sailors 

 nearly killed a seal with their oars. 



" June 13. This morning at four o'clock we came in sight of 

 the Magdalene Islands, distant about twenty miles. The morning 

 was dull, and by breakfast-time a thick fog obscured the horizon, 

 and we lost sight of the islands ; the wind rose sluggishly and 

 dead ahead, and several ships and brigs loaded with timber from 

 the Miremaohie came near us beating their way to the Atlantic. 

 At nine o'clock we dropped anchor, being partly land-locked 

 between Breton Island and the Highlands, and within a quarter 

 of a mile of an island, which formed a part of the group. The 



