176 
ANAS CANADENSIS. 
interior on both sides of the mountains, as far west, 
least, as the Osa^e river, and I have never yet visit* 
any quarter of the country n'here the inhabitants 
not familiarly acquainted with the reg'ular passing; 
repassing; of the wild g;eese. The gfeneral opinion heo 
is, that they are on their way to the lakes to bree^ 
but the inhabitants on the confines of the great lnq i 
that separate ns from Canada, are equally ignorant wn 
ourselves of the particular breeding places of tb®^' 
birds. There, their journey north is hut commcnciiir' 
and how far it extends it is impossible for us at pv**^ 
to ascertain, from our little acquaintance with tb*^ 
frozen regions. They >vere seen by llearne in h‘fr 
flocks within the Arctic circle, and were then pur.su"‘t 
their way still farther north. Captain Phipps sp**!*, 
of seeing ivild geese feeding at the water’s edge, on tij 
dreary coast of Spitzherg;en, in hit. 80" 27'. It is higb*.^ 
probable that they extend their migrations under tb 
very pole itself, amid the silent desolation of iinkno'* 
countries, shut out since creation from the prying 
of man by everlasting and insuperable barriers of 
That such places abound with their suitable food, 
cannot for a moment doubt ; while the absence of tb*' 
great destroyer, man, and the splendours of a perpet'i^ 
day, may render such regions the most suitable for tb* 
pur-pose. . 
Having fulfilled the great law of nature, the approacb^ 
ing rigours of that dreary climate oblige these 'O' 
congregated flocks to steer for the more genial reg'®"^ 
of the south. And no sooner do they arrive at tn*^ 
countries of the earth inhabited by man, than carna^ 
and .slaughter is commenced on their ranks, 
English at Hudson’s Bay, says Penn.ant, depend gc*?* ■, 
on geese, and in favourable years kill three or f‘’''j 
thousand, and barrel them u)) for use. They send 
their servants as well as Indians, to shoot these bi*"^. 
on their passage. It is in vain to pursue them ; 
therefore form a row of huts, made of boughs. * 
musket-shot distance from each other, and place tbe ^^ 
in a line across the vast marshes of the country. E®*- 
