254 LIFE OF AUDUBON, 



covered with a long garment as black as a raven, and a heart as 

 light as a young larfe's. He was wending his way to the church, 

 at the sound of a bell, which measured twelve inches by nine 

 in diameter, of about thirty pounds weight, which could never- 

 theless be heard for a quarter of a mile. It was the festival 

 among the Roman Catholics of La Petite Fete de Dieu. The 

 chapel was lighted with candles, and all the old women on the 

 island had trudged from their distant dwellings, staff in hand, 

 backs bent with age, and eyes dimmed by time. They crossed 

 their breasts and knelt before the tawdry images in the church, 

 with so much simplicity and apparent sincerity of heart, that I 

 could not help exclaiming to myself, ' Well, this is religion after 

 all.' 



" The priest, named Brunet, was from Quebec, and these islands 

 belong to Lower Canada, but are under the jurisdiction of the 

 Bishop of Halifax. He is a shrewd-looking fellow, and, if I do 

 not mistake his character, with a good deal of the devil in him. 

 He told us there were no reptiles on the island ; but we fSund 

 by our own observations that he was mistaken, as he was also in 

 the representations he made respecting the quadrupeds. This 

 priest, who I hope is a good and worthy man, told us that the 

 land is very poor, and destitute of game, and that the seal- 

 fisheries were less profitable last year than common ; that there 

 are about one hundred and sixty families on a dozen islands, 

 and that cod, mackerel, and herring-fishing were the employ- 

 ments of the inhabitants. One or two vessels come from 

 Quebec yearly to collect the produce (of the sea). The priest 

 said he led the life of a recluse here, but if we would accompany 

 him to his boarding-house he would give us a glass of good 

 French wine. 



" On our rambles we found the temperature on land quite 

 agreeable, and in sheltered situations the sun was warm and 

 pleasant. The grass looked well, and strawberry blossoms were 

 plenty. The woods, such as they were, were filled with warblers : 

 the robin, thrush, finch, bunting, &o. The fox-tailed sparrow 

 and siskin breed here, the hermit and tawny thrush crossed our 

 path, the black-capped warbler gambolled over the pools, and 

 even the wrens were everywhere. Of water-birds the great 

 terns were abundant, and the piping plovers breed here. We 



