CHAPTER IX 



SHECATICA AND JACQUES CARTIER 



INSTEAD of going up the broad river to 

 the post, a passage beset with shifting sand- 

 bars, we set sail for Sandy Isle, or lie Bayfield, 

 as we hoped to find the Indians there. It was 

 like sailing through a large lake dotted with 

 islands, for there was no sight of the sea. The 

 captain said that thirty or forty years ago this 

 region was filled with eiders that nested on 

 all the shores. Constant persecution by the In- 

 dians and fishermen, who take all the eggs and 

 shoot the nesting birds, has produced deplor- 

 able results, for, with the exception of one 

 flock of nineteen migrating to the eastward, 

 no eiders were to be seen. A few fishermen 

 and their families live at the St. Augustine 

 Post in winter, but are scattered among the 

 islands in summer, and are fast destroying the 

 birds. A few gulls and sea-pigeons alone sur- 

 vive. 



f We landed on one of the islands, where the 



men gathered a plentiful supply of driftwood 



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