THE CANADA GROUSE. 117 
birds by thoroughly wetting the feathers, placing them 
in a hole in the fire, and covering them so carefully with 
coals and hot ashes that all air was excluded from them. 
When they were ready, the skin was pulled off in the 
cleanest manner, leaving the meat unbroken and done 
to a turn. 
He made a venison stew by cutting the flesh of the 
deer and the birds into rather large pieces, and placing 
sliced potatoes, pieces of biscuits, onions, and salt pork 
in alternate layers in a pot, and seasoning each layer with 
pepper and salt. The pot was then filled with water, and 
the mess boiled until the potatoes were well done, 
when it was served in deep plates, which we carried in a 
box. Our dinner was such a fragrant and enjoyable one, 
and so keenly relished by all, that we complimented the 
cook on his proficiency in the most emphatic manner, 
but we might as well have complimented a stone for all 
“the traces of feeling he exhibited. We heard subse- 
quently that he had once been used as a guide and as- 
sistant cook by a certain magnate who generally carried a 
trained chef de cuisine with him whenever he went ona 
fishing or hunting expedition, and that it was from this 
artist that our man had learned his business. 
When the repast was over we stretched ourselves beside 
the fire and related adventures until ten o’clock, and 
then retired to rest on our lowly couch of fragrant 
boughs. This life in the wilderness seems to me to be 
the source whence Gray drew his inspiration for one of 
the verses in the ‘‘ Ode on the Pleasures arising from 
Vicissitude,” for to the hunter above all other men 
could these lines be applied: 
“ From toil he wins his spirits light, 
From busy day the peaceful night, 
Rich, from the very want of wealth, 
In heaven’s best treasures—peace and health.” 
We certainly found peace and rest, for we had scarcely 
