138 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



It is a superb view of boundless sea and forest 

 whicli greets one from tliis vantage point — a strik- 

 ing combination of the charms of land and water. 

 To the south, the Bay Chaleur with its broken coast 

 line ; to the west, a grand panorama of mountain 

 and valley, all densely wooded- — the home of bear, 

 and deer, and caribou ; tcj the north, a foreground 

 of red cliffs and blue water, and, in the distance, 

 Gasp6 ; to the east, the a])i)arently limitless gulf and, 

 seemingly beneath one, Bonaventure Island, Percd, 

 and the Rock. 



It was a view to remember ; one, I trust, I may 

 be privileged to behold again. I longed for time to 

 explore the surrounding woods, but Bonaventure 

 with its Gannets wielded a stronger fascination, and 

 two days after our arrival we chartered a cod boat, 

 with its crew, for the voyage to the Gannet rooker- 

 ies on the eastern side of Bonaventure, distant about 

 four miles. 



The evident great strength of our craft in pro- 

 portion to its size made it seem like a stunted vessel, 

 and her captain and the crew, of one man, seemed 

 built on the same lines. During the winter they 

 were lumbermen in the region north of Ottawa, in 

 the summer codfishers. It is doubtful if they could 

 have selected occupations requiring greater endur- 

 ance. They seemed as tough as rawhide, and as 

 rough as pirates. 



My good assistant they invariably spoke of as 

 " the woman," l)ut Imth ])roved true men at heart, 

 and as solicitous for our welfare as though their own 

 lives of exposure had not trained them to laugli at 

 hardship. 



