ENCAMPMENT, 
eeeding day, and to kep themselves warm 
during the night. These men, who are en¬ 
gaged in conducting bateaux in Canada, are* 
as I have before observed, a very hardy race: 
when the weather is fair, they sleep on the 
grass at night, without any other covering 
than a short blanket, scarcely reaching down 
to their knees; during wet weather a sail or 
a blanket to the weather side, spread on poles 
stuck into the ground ill an inclined direction, 
is all the shelter they deem necessary. On set¬ 
ting out each mao is furnished with a certain 
allowance of salted pork, biscuit, peas, and 
brandy; the peas and biscuit they boil with 
some of the pork into porridge, and a large 
vessel full of it is generally kept at the head - 
of the bateau, for the use of the crew when 
they stop in the course of the day. This por¬ 
ridge, or else cold fat salted pork, with cu¬ 
cumbers, constitutes the principal part of their 
food. The cucumber is a fruit that the lower 
classes of the French Canadians are extremely 
fond of; they use it however in a very in¬ 
different state, as they never pull it until it 
has attained a large size, and is become yellow, 
and seedy. Cucumbers thus mellow, chopped 
into small pieces without being peeled, and 
afterwards mixed with sour cream, is one of 
their favourite dishes. 
