A SEAL-CATCHING ESTABLISHMENT. 279 



gradually reach a comparatively milder climate. But notwith- 

 standing all this, on their return in the spring, which is as 

 regular as the migration of the birds, they are so poor and 

 emaciated, that the men take pity on them, and will not kill 

 them. Merciful beings, these white men! They spare life 

 when the flesh is off from their bones, and there is no market 

 for their bones at hand. 



" The otter is tolerably abundant here. These are chiefly 

 trapped at the foot of the waterfalls, to which they resort, being 

 the latest to freeze, and the earliest to thaw in spring. A few 

 martins and sables are caught, but every year reduces their 

 number. This Frenchman receives his supplies from Quebec, 

 where he sends his furs and oil. The present time he calls 

 ' the idle season,' and he loiters about his cabin, lies in the sun- 

 shine like a seal, eats, drinks, and sleeps his life away, careless 

 of the busy world, and of all that is going on there. His 

 partner has gone to Quebec, and his dogs are his only com- 

 panions until he returns ; and the dogs, perhaps, are the better 

 animal of the two. He has selected a delightful site for his 

 castle, under the protection of an island, and on the south side, 

 where I found the atmosphere quite warm, and the vegetation 

 actually rank, for I saw plants with leaves twelve inches broad, 

 and grasses three feet high. 



"This afternoon the wind has been blowing a tremendous 

 gale, and our anchors have dragged with sixty fathoms of chain 

 out. Yet one of the whaler's boats came with six men to pay 

 us a visit. They wished to see some of my drawings, and I 

 gratified them ; and in return they promised to show me a 

 whale before it was cut up, should they catch one before we 

 leave this place for Bras d'Or. 



"July 23. We visited to-day the seal establishment of a 

 Scotchman, named Eobertson, about six miles east of our 

 anchorage. He received us politely, addressed me by name, 

 and told me he had received information of my visit to this 

 country through the English and Canadian newspapers. This 

 man has resided here twenty years, and married a Labrador 

 lady, the daughter of a Monsieur Chevalier of Bras d'Or ; has a 

 family of six children, and a good-looking wife. He has a 

 comfortable house, and a little garden, in which he raises a few 



