304 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 18, 1883. 



rendezvous we stc 'ted for our bout, mid theme for the 

 shore. 



That night the .nil nwon ra.nde it almost, as light as day 

 upon the ice, mid as the wind hnd shifted n.id begun to pipe 

 faintly out from the land, it would soop drive the ice off to 

 ward 'the other side of tlie bay, so my hosts put their boat 

 out after the moon had risen and sailed to the edge of the 

 ice, and hauled their pelts bj the side of the lake, nearly 

 three miles distant, on hoard. They returned about the 

 dawn, rowing shoreward in the teeth of the strong "IT wind 

 now blowing-, surprising their neighbors with about $180 

 worth of seals further than the handsome catch landed the 

 flay before. The breeae alter this grew into a gale and 

 pushed the ice out tie' hay. so that the one day mentioned 

 was the extent of the "spurt," and lor many a family living 

 along the shores this day hi ought a richer recompense than a 

 summer's toiling for cod and herring. Fancy, as is the esse 

 in a majority Of instances, one .skiff upon' which a huge 

 family, and sometimes two, depends for support, taking in 

 the season but forty quintals of codfish!— the Quintal with 

 the oil fetching on the average about £1. It maybe thought 

 that this, With the seal catch, is considerable, but five and 

 six seasons may pass and a seal not visit the hay. The 

 visitation is indeed the rare exception instead of the" rule. 



The next day my host said to me: "Now, then, 1 shall 

 give you a week fishing or shooting, whichever you will, 

 around the arms and nuoks, and after that I will "take you 

 lo the deer shooting grounds." So the next morning the 

 three of asset out in a small boat before a shoving breeze 

 down to an arm which ran in from Ihe bottom of Ihe bay 

 several miles. By the time we reached oiu - stopping place 

 it was snowing fast, and the wind brought gusts of snow- 

 drifts from the hills down hissing in the seething waters, 

 and in the offing a couple of little boats were at anchor also. 

 All along this reach we saw small boats out hauling their nets: 



f was told that in this way did fie' seven or eight families 

 who lived along the shores of the arm spend their winter; 

 that tbey could not catch cod enough in summer lo support 

 them, aiid had to brave the storms and the cold of winter 

 wretchedly clad. 1 now saw a boat looking iu the distance 

 like a piece of ice from the spray heating continually over 

 and freezing upon her. We ran up to her and found an old 

 man arid his sou, a lad of about thirteen, on board. "Fish 

 is scarce, 1 suppose," said 1, "They bainl plenty, sir," Ihe 

 old man said, looking in the bottom of the boat, 'where half 

 a dozen cod lay as the result of the day's fishing. The boy 

 was, like his father, poorly chid, and 'stood doubled up and 

 shivering as he "sawed" his limbs. They heat their arms 

 arouud their bodies continually to keep themselves warm, 

 and again turned to their lines, now hauling them in and 

 fresh baiting, then casting out again, and every half hour 

 or so, I was told, "hauling up," shifting their ground, and 

 anchoring in a new spot. A trader lived among the rocks 

 and bought the cod as it was caught, allowing about six 

 shillings per hundred weight for it green. About twenty- 

 live such fish as we had seen in the boat would make a hun- 

 dred weight. ' 



Close by Ihe shore, as we ran along, our little sails reefed 

 to keep us from being upset by the squalls which pitched 

 down upon' us from the cliffs and hills, we carne upon two or 

 three punts hauling herring nets. We luffed up beside one 

 of these and found two me» on board, also miserably clad, 

 and bearing the look of suffering and privation. This had 

 been their second lime out to the net during the day, and 

 from this haul they had got about a fourth of a barrel. 

 The herring were, getting poor thou, as the spring advanced, 

 1 was informed, and the trader had refused to take any 

 more. So that they were catching these now while it lasted 

 to eat; and the skipper of our boat told me that these 

 wretched fish, with the government meal, was all the poor 

 Sufferers along here had to eat; and that some of them, before 

 the government relief came, had been living on the herring 

 alone. 



Wo landed at the trader's rooms, and found a couple of 

 skill's there, their owners having just taken their few fish to 

 ilu' scales and got Ihem weighed. They received, 1 ob- 

 served, neither cash nor foods for their fish, 'as they had during 

 the stormy days that they could not get out, run accounts. 

 They brought' the heads and sounds of the fish home to eat. 

 Then we met the trader, a short, little hide-bound man, with 

 red whiskers and comfortable in a heavy pilot cloth reefer, a 

 seal skincap and knee boots. He told us that times Were 

 very had down iu these parts, but promised to make us as 

 comfortable as he could. He kept: Ihe tavern, the boarding 

 house and the store of the region. There was none other 

 within a dozen miles. 



On our way up 1 saw a man going by driving a pair of 

 rings, which were drawing a load of wood cut among the 

 hills, to Ids Utile cottage down by the rocks. I learned that 

 there was no horse in these parts, save that owned by the 

 trader. The dogs hauled patiently along, the man assisting 

 them with a hauling rope over lus shoulder. "1 have seen 

 the blood come through the canvas jumpers of some of 

 1hese poor devils," said the trader to me, "after a long and 

 heavy haul. But they are so used to this hardship" that 

 they do not mind it now." It reminded me of the Irishman 

 getting used lo his hanging. 



The trader was one of the few shots and sportsmen of the 

 neighborhood; and he informed me that few of the people 

 about here had guns to shoot the game so abundant in the 

 sea before thcir'doors. or a short distance inland; and that 

 most of those wdio hud muskets had no powder and shot. 

 He expected a party of two or three others ill a few days, 

 when he was going out to have "the last whack at the deer 

 for the winter." "This is my place," he said, pointing to the 

 cosy little house standing in the middle of a grove of ever- 

 greens. Standing out from the. house was a liltle store, in 

 which were a number of carcases of deer, and skins pur- 

 chased from the owners of guns and traps. The provisions, 

 clothing, etc., he informed me, he kept down by the stages 

 where, the fishermen landed, so he need not have "any "truck- 

 ing up here." His wife, a Utile woman with healthful look- 

 ing cheeks, bright, good-natured eyes and a cherry voice 

 bade us welcome to what the house had, "such as it is," 

 apologizing for a score of little things which we did not 

 notice, tier house was at ouee cosy and tidy, and Ihe tine 

 hug. stove wilh Hushed cheeks offered a grateful change 

 from the biting March wind, and the blinding diifls. We 

 had venison and sugar-cured ham, and some delicious cod- 

 fish, a meal that might delight a king, in the winter the 

 grain of the cod seems to get short, and brittle; and the fish 

 is fatter and richer, very much, than in the numuier. 



•My daughter," said our hostess after dinner, with a 

 look o"f modest pride, and 1 did not think it strange. For my- 

 fielf- 



"1 wondered how so fair a dower 

 Could glow and nourish then?." 



The girl was not alone handsome as an opening rose bud, 

 but. accomplished and IBodesI as well: and while the storm 

 whistled thai evening, she p.ayed to me very prettily some 

 touching and beautiful pieces on the harmonium and chatted 

 on hooks and places; showed me her drawing books wnh 

 rude, yet here and there sweet, sketches of the wild hills and 

 the- woods, and the turbulent sea senlinelled by the grim 

 rocks. She read and spoke French fluently, and 1 learned 

 she had spent two years at school in St. Pierre. She hoped, 

 and so did her mot her, that her father would some day 

 remove to Placentia or to St. John's, hut it seemed to me 

 that the love of gain was stronger with the trader than 

 sympathy for the aspirations of his daughter. He educated 

 her, but in this he only did her an unkindness. Better ho 

 had left her as she was; for she would not then be yearning 

 for a life, pictured in her education, which she could never 

 have among these lonely rocks. 



The trader then proposed that we should take the morning 

 for duekup the arm beyond w here any cottages were, and that 

 in the afternoon we might take a ruii out among the hills for 

 willow grouse. So accordingly an hour before dawn we put 

 out in our boat, four in number, and into the arm about five 

 miles, haulingupour boat and taking shelter behind it. The 

 dawning broke out clearly by the time we were prepared. 



and the trader predicted 'ii 'u .-Id; morning's shooting. 



Peering with my glass through the growing light I saw 

 several flocks of ducks swimming shon-ward, and we could 

 hear them singing as they came. Ii was bitter cold, and I 

 was incessantly engaged' beating my feet and hands; and 

 every movement I made the others informed me would he 

 likely to alarm the ducks. Scores of birds were now in 

 among the liltle nooks, and the tide being low they had ex- 

 cellent fishing in the shallow water. "When they went 

 dowu 1 could see them gouging their hills against the rocks 

 lo disengage the shellfish clinging thereto. I was anxious 

 to lire at once, but the trader kept on saying, "Bide a bit, 

 wait till more? come," After several flocks had swam in they 

 began diving irregularly, and we now waited and waited 

 till we could get forty or fifty in a bunch. Slaughter, not 

 sport, is the aim of the coast dwellers. When they go out 

 it ib for meat, not for sport. Just as we had made' up our 

 minds that, we might as well fire now as to wait longer, the 

 birds suddenly took an alarm, put their necks erect and 

 swam Off from the land, some rising and beating the water 

 into foam. We were at a loss to account, for this, and 1 

 reproached Ihe trader for not allowing us to fire before. 



We turned to the bank overlooking" the nooks, aud what 

 was our surprise I o see. a herd of five deer passing along, 

 and one, a fine slag, looking down upon the rocks. Quick 

 as lightning I had my shot charge out and bullets in, then, 

 raising my gun, I fired first, one barrel and then the other 

 into the buck. It was pretty work, I must confess, and had 

 come so suddenly that 1 was enraptured out of my senses. 

 The animal gave a bound and fell prone dowu the hank stone 

 dead. He had been only about forty yards distant, and had 

 received my two bullets. Indeed, be "had evem got a dose of 

 seal shot in the face from the trader's guu simultaneously 

 with my last barrel. The rest of the herd flew at a mad 

 pace through the firs and spruces, and our mongrel water- 

 dogs set off in pursuit, barking iu most ill-bred fashion. 



We disembarked and quartered our buck, which was a fine 

 fellow, and fat, and placed the quarters and the head, which 

 had a majestic pair of antlers, into our boat, and pushed 

 off. At my request, they moved down the shore to get 

 some wing shooting at the divers and sea pigeons. The 

 trader informed me that it, was not uncommon to find herds 

 of <ieer along the banks here; that he had seen Ihem scores 

 of times before; that this was a temporary rendezvous for 

 litem in passing, there being good shelter and feeding 

 among the hills. Besides this, no human being lived here 

 and seldom resorted here, save now and again to shoot at 

 the flocks as they passed up and down. 



We had not. sailed very far— and I pulled an oar lo keep 

 up animal heat— when we saw several Hocks of birds on the 

 wing. They H.w shyly of us, however, and in the space of 

 an hour's paddling "V got but two or three shots. As we 

 moved into the bottom of the reach 1 noticed that the sea- 

 pigeon became more numerous, as also several varieties of 

 gull. The place was aswarm with herring, and these latter 

 birds were having a perfect carnival, dipping incessantly 

 aud dragging up the wriggling fishes out of the water. We 

 let the boat, remain stationary here, aud I began a fusilade 

 against the gulls. Before we began to pick them up there 

 was a white patch round about us of their corpses. About 

 sixteen lay there, and the trader picked them all up, for he. 

 said, "the poor devils" — the fishermen — "would be glad to 

 gel them." 



I had also shot a couple of pail's of the pigeons— pretty 

 little birds with yellow legs. This is the black giiillemot — 

 Viin ;/ n/lh'—n.nd it weighs about two pounds. It is the 

 rosiest of the birds upon "the coast to "work upon," though 

 ii is vi-rv quick, and often dives at the Hash. The fishermen 

 with their Hint muskets swear dismally sometimes, as sliol 

 after shot reveals nothing but the heel's of the pigeon dis- 

 appearing dowu into the green sea. Frequently this 

 series of calamity is attributed to some one having "stepped 

 over" the musket of the unlucky sportsman. The very day 

 of which I am writing, in my haste in the racks. 1 stepped 

 over the gun of one of the party as it lay down, when I was 

 requested to step back again, which 1 did. They told me 

 solemnly : "You never kill anything on I of a gun that any- 

 one has'stepped over." There is another miraculous feature 

 in connection wilh these muskets which is also worthy of 

 notice. 1 remember a few days before 1 reached the trader, 

 having been out ghooling grouse, when one of my compan- 

 ions, after knocking down two birds standing on a hum- 

 mock, ran up tome saying: "Look at that; do you see the 

 blood in the pan?" I really did see blood there, and he 

 assured me that -was "a sign of rajj good look altogether." 

 He said the blood comes mysteriously on the pan; that it 

 does not get there from the birds. Several others likewise 

 showed me the same occurrence, but being a skeptic I came 

 away unbelieving iu a mysterious agency. 



Along the shore in the bottom of the reach were scores of 

 pigeons", and while two of our party rowed quietly along, 

 myself and the other took up our place in Ihe bow. There 

 were generally two or three biida in a cluster, I taking that 

 on the light With, toy first barrel, and the one ne. 1 ii -i with 

 my second. My oompruion blazed blankly always at the 

 left bird out of 'his bell-mnzzle musket. 1 think he killed 

 only one; and after each melancholy bang out of thehupc 

 piece, and the hank of suffocating smoke— the fCSUlt ol lli 

 coarse and vUe powder— had blown a little away, I could 

 hear him curse iu his sad way. The powder was most vile 

 that the man fired. It bestank the air and bestenched his 

 guu. and half of the loathsome stuff seemed to cling down 

 in thrt muzzle and about the pan. The musketeer himself 



was as black as a powder monkey: and the funniest sight 

 that a man could look upon was lo see him and to hear bim 

 after his gun had "burnt prime." This "she'" would do 

 every other shot or ao>-f«HM5 you could hear, and then a 



dismal oath; and Sometimes you would see him pull upon ii 

 ;i pair of pigeons, see the pan go oft, fizz-z z, and about four 

 seeondfl after see the main charge go off. It seemed to take 

 that powder as long sometimes to ignite as if it were pow- 

 dered anthracite cual It was amusing after each flash iu 

 the pan, too, to see him how he kept the gnu to his eye; and 

 he instilled t his practice by telling me. "You can nuvver 

 tell when she will go off." 



I lent, the poor fellow my gun as we ueared a pair of. birds 

 pushing lazily ahead of our boat, and he presented, tired 

 aud ,.dsscd. The shot, fell half wav between the boat and 

 the birds. "She's too soil on the trigger," he said; for he 

 had been used to pulling about fifteen "pounds pressure on 

 the dreadful musket, lie tried again and was successful- 

 and t.hen with a satisfied twinkle in his eye took up his i.v j 

 direful piece again,- I did all my firing at the birdsaftS 

 he had desisted, as they rose, and I need not tell the sports- 

 man what a "dead thing" a bird (lying straight away from 

 you if, when within easy range. I 'believe I missed but two 

 or three shots out of about twenty-five. We returned early 

 in the afternoon to the cozy cottage of the trader as few 

 sportsmen on this continent might return after a few hour's 

 shooting, with a Rue buck, a few divers, between twenty 

 and thirty pigeons and two huge bundles of gulls. 



This Weing sufficient sport and luck for one day, we 

 deferred our proposed afternoon ramble on "rockets" for 

 ptarmigan and willow grouse, and instead proposed that " 

 we should set out in the morning on our deer expedition, as 

 the trader and the others concluded that, the "passing sea- 

 son' 1 was at its highest now, else the few strayliugs would 

 not have been seen down at. the water's edge. So the trader 

 decided not to wait for the others who werelo join him, and 

 1 thought it better to go with the trader than to put my- 

 self under the guidance of my late host out the bay. An 

 elaborate preparation was made by the good housewife and 

 her prettj daughter. They packed bacon and sweet cakes, 

 and biscuits and cheese, ahd butter in Ihe general kit, end 

 warm home -knit socks, and a pair of heavy blankets, while 

 the trader himself did not forget some of his best St. Peter's 

 schnapps, indispensable in these parts in tue outdoor biting 

 cold. With the morrow's dawn, each one comlortabiy 

 loaded, we were prepared to set out for a tilt in the silentest 

 part of the neighborhood, about a mile from the deer's 

 thoroughfare. This had been built some years before by 

 the trader, and had been repaired abont a "fortnight before 

 my arrival by two fishermen for the trader, preparatory to 

 the shooting season. 



And though a gloomy wind blew out of the east, and 

 bore a hissing snow upon its wings, we set out. The east 

 wind is an object of peculiar awe to some of the fishermen, 

 and it is no wonder. Of all the winds that come out of 

 Heaven it is the mostdtetn.il. When it begins to sing its 

 weird song upon the hills, and blow chillingly down upon 

 the waters, the fishes flee from Ihe shores ami lake refuge, in 

 the deep sea till the blast is over. JS'o fisherman will put 

 out his boat for coot when the wind is "easterly." There 

 goes a tradition, too, that on the day Christ was crucified 

 the wind blew front the east, (hat ever since when it comes 

 from that, quarter it presages stormy things. Experts iu 

 insanity tell us that seventy-live per cent, of suicides hap- 

 pen when the wind comes "from the east, and we know that 

 Lord Bcaconsfield battled nobly with death till the east wind 

 began to whistle, and then his soul took wings upon the 

 weird blast. And as we went through the woods in the 

 gloomy meaning I noticed that the tops of the larch trees, 

 called juniper by my companions, all inclined to the East. 

 I remarked Ihe fact, and was informed that it was so all 

 over the island, and of some thousands of these trees. LiMna 

 ajueiieu-m, which 1 saw, there were nol a dozen which did 

 not distinctly incline their heads to the Fast. And then 

 the fishcrmeu told me that when the hunter gels astray in 

 the woods, if it be foggy and he cannot see the sun, he in- 

 variably follows the indications of these trees. The .reason 

 of this bending 1 do not know, though it seems probable 

 that it is in some way caused by the sun's influence on the 

 tree in Ihe early morning. 1 learned, too. that some of Lite 

 iMicmac Indians, found upon the island alter Cabot's dis- 

 covery, worshipped the sun, and regarded the larch as an 

 intelligent tree, saying it paid homage lo their God, the 

 rising sun. This is the same tree called tamarack and hack- 

 matack respectively, through Canada. Larch is too short 

 and convenient a name to give it. 



Though our way lay through the wood, which grew 

 closely — nor was there any path- the storm howled Ihiouglt 

 the trees, and suffocating gusts of snow drift came down. 

 In the midst of the wood the trader laid his hand upon mv 

 shoulder aud said, as he pointed to a large birch. "Ho the 

 trees where you come from bear fruit like that?" and look- 

 ing, I saw squat upoii its limbs seventeen willow grouse, 

 looking perfectly stupid with their squatty attitudes and 

 ruffled* feathers." Then the trader "prepared, "and the other 

 two uusluug their muskets. Then began the most murder- 

 ous onslaught the sportsman can conceive of. I urged that 

 we put the flock up, but they told me, "Nonsense, mail, jj 

 you keep quiet we'll get 'em all." Then I agreed, aud 

 knocked one down with each barrel, the trader knocking 

 two down with his long muzzle. One of the muskels got 

 Off, and did a single murder, but the other had got wet about 

 the pan, and "she hung fire and be d— d to her" i it the 

 phrase of her owner. 1 had never seen anything like this 

 before. The birds sat upon the tree as it nothing were 

 going on, dropping off one by one. When the tree was 

 about cleaned off, only three birds remaining, the poos fel- 

 low with the unodorous powder and the villainous musket 

 had got ready, after having cbip/.ed his flint with the back 

 of bis jaekui'fe, presented, aud with a most laborious effort 

 got his piece off. He fired seven lingers every lime, the ex- 

 plosion making a melancholy sound of wondrous magni- 

 tude, The bird rose from the limb with its under works 

 knocked completely away. Splinters from the birch limb, 

 loo, flew in the woods. As this bird dragged itself away to 

 die. the remaining two seemed suddenly to awaken, .'ind 

 took flight, but 1 altered the arrangements of one of them 

 before 11 had disappeared in the trees. 



We buried all the birds save four in the snow, sticking 

 two or three saplings in the snowbank beside Ihem. j\- we 

 considered it probable that, we might kill a good many more 

 before reaching our rendezvous, one of the parly blazed the 

 trees as we. went along, that the game might be found on 

 our return. 



We came up with several other flocks on the way. some 

 cm the ground and some on the trees; but as the wind grew 

 colder, as always happens, they became wilder, and we got 



