TO THE STARTING-POINT 



night, paraded the deck playing the bagpipes. 

 At first disposed to laugh at the performance 

 and to regard it as of a low order, I finally be- 

 came much impressed with the variety and 

 interesting character of the music, which he 

 played with much artistic feeling and appro- 

 priate steps. His pieces ranged from light to 

 mournful, from jigs to pibrochs. Dr. Mc- 

 Duff, the successor of the late Dr. Tremblay, 

 of Esquimaux Point, Wcis of our company, as 

 was also Dr. West, who was to take Dr. Hare's 

 place at the westernmost Grenfell mission at 

 Harrington. 



The captain introduced a term new to me 

 when I asked him what the men did at one of 

 the small stopping-places. "They are mostly 

 hot-rockers here," said he; and when pressed 

 for an explanation, replied, "Oh, the men are 

 too infernally lazy to fish, so they lie down on 

 the hot rocks." I also heard him tell again the 

 tale of the first captain under whom he served 

 as mate. This man navigated by a demijohn 

 of rum, whose depth he plumbed from time to 

 time with a stick. At last a point was reached 

 where the captain judged it would be well to 

 tcike an observation by the sun. 



