476 



employed, they appear to be insensible to the 

 severity of the cold ; they are not encumbered 

 with nmch clothing, which is as light and as 

 w^arni as they are able to procure. If one of 

 them ljai)pens to get an unlucky plunge, he is 

 extricated by his comrades as expeditiously as 

 possible; when a hearty coup de rum all round, 

 with which they are never unprovided, is the 

 usual remedy for such misfortunes. When 

 they arrive at the landing before the market- 

 place, sometimes the tide is low, and the ice 

 forming the solid border perhaps ten or twelve 

 feet above them ; in this case they jump out as 

 fast as they can, all but one man, and while 

 the rest are getting a firm footing above, he 

 fastens the drag rope to the fore part of the 

 canoe, and immediately assisting his comrades, 

 the whole is hauled up by main force out of 

 the water, when the lading, consisting of poul- 

 try, carcases of sheep or pigs, of fish or other 

 articles, is transferred without delay to the 

 market-places. It has been said by many writers, 

 that during the winter vegetables and milk in a 

 frozen state are brought from distant places; this 

 certainly used to be the case, but now these ar- 

 ticles are furnished in the best state all the year 

 round, from the farms and gardens in the vicinity. 

 When the river takes^ i. e. is frozen over from 

 Quebec to Point Levi, which does not happen 



