G6 



FOREST AND STREAM 



lives here, surrounded by an abundance of the "good 

 things of this world," foremost among which stand a wife 

 (whose kindness and attention to our " creature' 1 comforts 

 could not have been exceeded,) and some nine or ten "olive 

 branches," of all ages and sizes, and whose fat ruddy 

 cheeks bear ample witness to the healthy climate of their 

 island home. Mr. Pope is a man beloved by the rough 

 fishermen, amongst whom he lives, for his bravery and 

 exertions in time of shipwreck have been often proved. 

 During his sojourn on the island he has at great personal 

 risk, succeeded in saving the lives of ten shipwrecked mari- 

 ners, besides having been instrumental in rescuing many 

 others from a watery grave. Of so modest and unpretend- 

 ing a character, however, is Mr. Pope, that his services 

 have I believe only once met with an acknowledgment, 

 from the Board of Trade of the Dominion, Such gal- 

 lant deeds, though they meet not always with the appre- 

 ciation they deserve, should not be allowed to pass un- 

 noticed, and I rejoice at the opportunity here afforded me 

 of making so brilliant an example, and one well worthy 

 of imitation, more generally known. 



Southwest Point is formed by a projecting mound of 

 limestone, with a small cove on the northern side, which 

 almost constitutes it a peninsula, and the lighthouse which 

 stands on the western extremity is built from a grayish 

 white, coarse, granular limestone, quarried on the point. 

 To the geologist, Southwest Point is full of ''^terest, for the 

 bed which forms the upper strata consists Almost entirely 

 of organic remains, and large numbers of encrinites, chiefly 

 in the form of crinoidal columns, and many fossil shells 

 may be picked up throughout its entire length. Red hema- 

 tite, a peroxyde of iron, lies scattered over the central bed 

 in irregular sized nodules, some of which are nine or ten 

 inches in circumference. The cove affords shelter from all 

 but westerly winds to vessels of almost any draught, for so 

 deep is the water that a line-of-battle ship might lie close 

 under the bluff at the extremity of the point. There is no 

 beach, the sea washing directly against the lower strata of 

 the limestone, which in many places has been undermined 

 into hollow caverns, and eroded into deep narrow fissures 

 by the violent action of the waves. With a westerly wind, 

 a heavy swell sets into the cove, and the water rushing into 

 these so-called " canons," strikes with loud report, while 

 the escaping air throws up high columns of spray. For 

 some years past the Point has been visited during the sum- 

 mer months by a few families engaged in prosecuting the 

 cod fishing off the reefs. At the time of our visit, there 

 were some thirty fishermen, all of Avhom had been unusu 

 ally successful, the cod having struck early and in large 

 numbers. Fine halibut are taken, and were there only Some 

 means of sending them packed in ice to the Canadian or 

 American market, this fishing would prove most remuner- 

 ative. As matters stand, halibut being more troublesome 

 to cure than cod and not so profitable, the fishermen infin- 

 itely prefer catching the latter, and consider it a piece of 

 bad luck if they hook one of the former. Large shoals of 

 herring are periodically taken with the net, and a tremen- 

 dous haul had been made on the morning of our arrival. 

 Unfortunately, however, as it was near the close of the season, 

 there were no barrels to pack them in even if they had been 

 cured, and so for the next day or two the surface of the 

 cove and the limestone rocks around it were strewed with 

 dead herring, thrown away, as there was no use for them. 



The fishermen at Southwest Point are principally natives of 

 Douglastown, (on the southwest shore of Gaspo Hay,) and 

 Whereas the summer residents of English Bay, natives of 

 Perce, Paspebiae, and Pabou, were with few exceptions of 

 French Canadian descent, those here were almost to a man 

 of Irish origin. The descendents of the "United Irish- 

 men," many of whom, after the troubles of '98, leaving 

 their native country, settled along the shores of our North 

 American colonies, the inhabitants of Douglastown still re- 

 tain the Celtic features, unmistakable brogue, and palro- 

 nimicsof their forefathers, and so strongly are those char- 

 acteristics marked that a stranger passing through parts 

 of their little village might for the moment almost fancy 

 himself in the " old counthry." 



Peculiar to the island is a remarkably fine breed of dogs, 

 apparently a cross between the " Labrador " and "New. 

 foundland." They are a large powerful looking dog, stand- 

 ing from twenty-five to thirty inches in height, rather long 

 in the body, and with great breadth of chest. In color they 

 are generally of a rusty black, sometimes marked with 

 white, the hair straight and long, and showing but little 

 tendency to curl. The lighthouse keepers and few residents 

 of the island use them for lumber drawing and sleigh driv- 

 ing in the winter, and the fishermen at English Bay had 

 several which they fed altogether on the offal and refuse of 

 the cod. The finest specimen we saw was one belonging 

 to Mr. Pope, which was about the handsomest dog 1 had 

 ever seen. He did not stand more than twenty-six inches 

 high, and was beautifully proportioned, with an enormous 

 depth of chest, and a jet black curly coat of hair, so thick 

 and deep as almost to resemble fleece. He was a young 

 dog, only three years old, but his strength and powers of 

 endurance were wonderful. In the winter he would alone 

 draw a sleigh many miles a day, and would plunge in 

 amidst the drifting floes of pack ice time after time to bring 

 out wounded ducks that his master had shot. The latter 

 told me that on one occasion when he had knocked over 

 nine or ten birds of a large flight of eider duck, (very com- 

 mon on the island in winter time) his dog jumped in six suc- 

 cessive times, on each occasion returning with a duck, 

 which he laid on the shore; his legs and chest were cut 

 from contact with the sharp ice, but such was the dog's 



spirit that he would have dropped from cold and sheer ex- 

 haustion, had not his master held him back. Poor u Sail- 

 or!" he met with a cruel and untimely death. The evening 

 before we left one of the fishermen had occasion to go into 

 the woods to draw a bucket of water from the spring. (*i 

 his road he met Sailor, and began teasing and tormenting 

 him to such a degree that at length the poor beast turned 

 and snapping at his tormentor bit him in the hand. Mul- 

 Lowney, for that was the man's name, on his return home 

 told his brothers of what had happened, and they deter- 

 mined to have their revenge. About eight o'clock, as we 

 sat round the kitchen fire in the basement of the tower, we 

 heard the report of a gun, and the next minute one of Mr. 

 Pope's assistants ran in, breathless and excited, and stam- 

 mered out, " M-ullmmey a iue le rlmitJ " If Pope had been 

 told of the death of one of his children he could hardly 

 have been more startled. He turned white as a sheet, and 

 for a moment remained speechless, as if incredulous, then 

 the blood rushing back to his cheeks and his temples as his 

 anger rose, he made for the door, and had he once passed 

 the threshold it would have fared ill with Mullowney. 

 Luckily, however, on the first sound of the commotion, 

 Mrs. Pope ran 'down ^from the upstairs room, and held her 

 husband back, and as he became calmer, and he thought 

 of the loss he had sustained, the tears started to his eyes, 

 and had it not been for our presence I believe he would 

 have cried like a child. If ever dog worked itself into human 

 affections, Sailor most certainly had found his way into his 

 master's, for the latter would sooner have lost his right arm 

 than parted with the trusty companion of his long winter 

 hunting days. Independently of this attachment, the death of 

 Sailor was a serious pecuniary loss, for, as 1 stated above, 

 he brought many a bird to the "larder," and the eider duck 

 alone were a source of profit on account of their down. The 

 year before a gentlemen shooting and fishing in the island, 

 and who spent a few days with Mr. Pope, offered him £30 

 for the dog, and if Captain H. happen to read this lie will, 

 I am sure, hear with regret of the death of such a noble 



animal. 



And now as the eve of our departure arrived, it was not 

 without a feeling of regret that we prepared to say " good 

 bye " to the island. We had shot and fished along some 

 seventy miles of the southern shore, but had time permitted 

 there was still a wide field for the sportsman. Salt Lake 

 Bay, eleven miles southeast of Southwest Point, was worthy 

 of a visit, if only on account of its natural salt pans; but 

 besides its interest from a geological point of view, it pos- 

 sesses another attraction, for it is one of the best bear 

 grounds in the island, three bears having been seen there 

 the week before our arrival at the lighthouse. The salt pans 

 which, in the form of inland lagoons and ponds, skirt the 

 coast for a distance of four or five miles, were once largely 

 resorted to by wildfowl of every species, but latterly, since 

 the establishment of a small fishing station, they have been 

 nearly deserted. 



A few miles in rear of the coast, a vast peat bog, averag- 

 ing two miles in width, and from three to ten feet deep, 

 readies from Salt Lake Bay to Heath Point, seventy miles 

 distant. This enormous bog is not more than twenty feet 

 above the level of the sea, towards which it has a slight in- 

 clination, so that if channels were cut, it might be easily 

 drained and worked. Other bogs of less extent occur 

 throughout the island, and no doubt some future day, when 

 the lumber and coal fields of North America become ex- 

 hausted to such a degree as to seriously affect the price 

 of these articles, (as we have seen recently in England,) the 

 great deposits of Anticosti will be of large value, We would 

 fain have taken a glimpse at Fox Bay, with its tragic tale 

 of shipwreck and suffering, and seen some of those magni- 

 ficent limestone cliffs which line the northern coast, and 

 rising sheer from the sea often attain a height of four hun- 

 dred feet, while occasionally they assume titanic propor- 

 tions, towering upward in one huge wall of dazzling white- 

 ness nearly six hundred feet. Of rivers, too, there were 

 many to be explored, the principal being Pavilion river, 

 thirty-six miles southeast of Southwest Point, Shallop creek, 

 (where good wild fowl snooting may be had,) twelve miles 

 east of Pavilion river; Dauphin river, a few miles to the 

 eastward of South Point, and Salmon river, on the north 

 shore, distant about fifty miles from the lighthouse on 

 Heath Point. All these streams abound in trout, and yield 

 fair returns of salmon to the net fisherman, in 1869 twenty- 

 one barrels of the latter fish having been taken at Salmon 

 river; twelve at Shallop creek; nine at Dauphin river, and 

 two at Pavillion river. A visit to these places we had, how- 

 ever, to forego, but I look forward at no distant date to 

 again finding myself on the island. There is a delicious 

 absence of all restraint, an utter disregard for the morrow, 

 and a wonderful sense of freedom about such a life, which 

 cannot be realized except by actual experience, and it is 

 little wonder that they who have once tasted of this wild 

 roving existence should leave it with regret, 



During our stay, with the exception of a few wet nights, 

 we had been favored with lovely weather, and though we 

 had not met with any brilliant sport, (not from there being 

 any lack of it, but chiefly from hurried movements, and it 

 being too late for fishing,) we had nevertheless spent a most 

 enjoyable fortnight. Strange to say our advent had been 

 ushered in by a fog and wind, our sojourn was marked by 

 a Boreal interregnum of calm and serene weather, and now 

 as the evening approached on which the schooner was to 

 leave, the mist coming up from seaward, the thick, driz- 

 zling rain, and the rising wind, showed that we were not to 

 quit the island without a final proof of the fury of the 

 elements. 



We were nearly half an hour pulling off to the schooner, 



which was standing off and on three quarters of a mile from 

 the shore, her eaptain, a young Frenchman, having vowed 

 that he would never cast anchor inside the cove, It ap- 

 peared that his vessel had been lying all summer about half 

 a mile from the Point, much to the inconvenience of Geffrard 

 who found it no easy task to bow any portions of wreck 

 he recovered such a distance. The weather had been 

 unusually calm, and at last Geffrard persuaded the skipper 

 of the schooner to anchor in the cove, assuring him that 

 there was no cause for alarm. That very night, as ill hick 

 would have it, it- came on to blow from the westward, the 

 worst possible quarter, the Frenchman's anchor dragged 

 and he was within an ace of losing his vessel on the rocks. 

 He escaped by a hair's breath, but on the principle of 

 "once bit, twice shy," he determined not to be caught 

 again, and from that day till he left the island for good 

 rather more than a fortnight, he remained, like the "Flying; 

 Dutchman," cruising off the Southwest Point, never once 

 dropping anchor, standing in periodically to within a mile 

 to allow Geffrard to put any spars die might have saved 

 from the wreck on board, when he would be off again to 

 sea. The schooner was "hove to" to allow us to come 

 alongside, and as we hoisted the boats inboard and " let 

 draw," the Frenchman shook his fist threateningly at the 

 receding shores of the island, and as he snapped his fingers 

 gave utterance to his feelings in pithy and forcible lan- 

 guage: " Sacre, you Anticosti, I nevare see you no more." 

 The mist settled down thick and fast upon the land, and 

 the lighthouse Was soon lost to view, the rain came down in 

 torrents, and the wind moaned through the rigging with a 

 mournful sound which always seems to be the precursor of 

 a storm. It certainly was as gloomy looking a night as one 

 could well imagine, and on board the schooner matters 

 were, if possible, still less cheering. The forehold was oc- 

 cupied by some fifteen of Geffrard's men, while the caboose 

 was filled by that worthy himself and the crew, four in 

 number, all of whom were either smoking or spitting to- 

 bacco juice over the deck. The hatch cover had been hauled 

 over to exclude the rain, leaving only a narrow opening 

 leading down to the caboose-. From this ascended a smell 

 of cod oil, tobacco, and filth in general, that was simply 

 overpowering, and tor a long time we preferred remaining 

 on deck and getting soaked to facing the loathsome den, 

 and when driven down at last by the seas that broke over 

 the vessel, we ventured below, it was only to return in a 

 few minutes to make a rush to leeward for a purpose I need 

 hardly describe. About 10 o'clock the storm burst upon 

 us in all its fury — 



— " Ponto nox incubat atra, 

 Intonnere poli, et erebeis micat ignibus aether.' 1 



11 was a pitch dark night, lit only by the lurid flashes of the 

 forked lightning, which seemed at times to strike the waves 

 and run along their tips in streams of liquid fine; peal after 

 peal of thunder followed in rapid succession, culminating 

 in one grand clap which seemed to have exhausted all the 

 flatteries of heaven. For a few minutes there was a lull, 

 and then with redoubled fury the elemental war commenced 

 afresh. The schooner peeled over to the surging wind, 

 and as the seas struck her on the quarter, she shook from 

 stem to stem, while the water pouring over her bulwarks 

 swept her decks .fore and aft. High above the din of the 

 storm, the thunder clap and the roaring of the wind, were 

 heard the confused orders, frantic shrieks, and deep 

 " sacres " of the French seamen, as they tried to shorten 

 sail, while the occupants of the hold, more affrighted than 

 the rest, and thinking their last hour had come, appeared 

 on deck, where, holding on like grim death to shrouds, 

 belaying pins, or whatever else they could clutch, they 

 uttered "Ave Marias," and made rash vows which I fear 

 were never fulfilled. Sleep for a long time was out of the 

 question, and when about midnight the storm showed signs 

 of abating, and we thought of turning in, it was a long time 

 before we could make out how on earth we were to get into 

 the bunks. Hitherto I had always found it a simple matter 

 enough to get into, and a very simple one to get out 

 of a bunk, as 1 once found to my cost in H. M. S. — , when 

 I was shot out of my berth and landed in a most indiscrim- 

 inate mass, bed-clothes and all, on the wardroom deck, a 

 most undignified proceeding on my part, I'll admit, in 

 consequence of which I went about with a broken head for 

 a week afterwards. Mais vevenwns a nm moutons. The 

 bunks in this particular schooner must have been designed 

 by an undertaker, for I can only compare them to coffins, 

 with a square hole in the centre of one side. Through mis 

 hole, first inserting the head, and having wriggled that 

 member of the body into the upper extremity of the coffin, 

 you were then supposed to draw the legs and deposit them 

 somewhere at the other end. They had one advantage cer- 

 tainly over an ordinary bunk ; when once fairly inside, 

 " blow high, blow low," it required no effort on the part 

 of the occupant to remain there, and on this consideration 

 I would recommend their adoption on board passenger 

 steamers generally — no, stay; on second thought I don't ; 

 possibly one day I may have to travel in one, and Heaven 

 foref end that I should again pass through similar contortions 

 to those I underwent on the night of which I write. For a 

 long time I sat blinking and gazing wistfully at the hunk, 

 anxious to get some rest, and yet not half liking the only 

 means by which I was to obtain it. Probably I would have 

 sat there till morning, had not an old white-headed French- 

 man, the mate, I believe, come to the rescue. After at- 

 tempting by gesticulation, and a jargon to me wholly unin- 

 telligible, (the fellow spoke bad patoh Frewh, at least that 

 was the only way I could account for it,) to explain the easiest 

 method of getting into the bunk, and finding that mode of 

 explanation a total failure, the old gentleman next pro- 

 ceeded to give a series of practical illustrations or "dissolv 



