WE BUY TURNIPS BY THE PATCH. 
411 
rumour (rumour exists even on tliose out-of-the-way 
shores) proclaimed to bo a perpetual exile from his native 
land. He was evidently looked up to with great respect 
by the natives, had Ids own comfortable log-cabin, as 
many bear-skins as would have kept a dozen men warm, 
and a table that boasted cups and saucers, plates, knives 
and forks, a broken-topped sugar-dish, &c. 
As we left our boat and climbed the muddy bank of 
the river, we were met by some half-dozen of the natives, 
who made signs to us that our friends were scattered 
about in the different houses, and that we could do no 
better than follow their example. So we trudged along 
with our “peddlers' packs” under our left arms, and a 
large bag in our right hands that was destined to liold 
“as many turnips as we could get.” These latter, to our 
great delight, proved quite plentiful : we just walked into 
a patch of them, and, holding up a bottle of molasses, 
motioned the owners to mark out as large a place on the 
ground as they were willing to give for it, and then fell to 
work to transfer them, tops and all, from the ground to our 
bags in the shortest possible time. In this way we got a 
good many, for our steward had brought on shore a whole 
demijohn of molasses that we had never been able to use, 
and which had more than once been on the point of being 
thrown overboard, and it now sold at about the rate of a 
quart to a bushel of turnips, which soon filled our bags. 
They were veiy large, tender and juicy ; and the whaler 
told us that they had been only planted about six weeks. 
I am nothing of a gardener myself, hut it seemed to me 
that six weeks w^as a very short time for turnips to grow 
as large as pint-pots. 
