A LETTER FROM NEW BRUNSWICK.

BY A SUBALTERN.

(Continued.)

The lake on which we now moved was but small-perhaps half a mile in breadth. Soon traversing this distance, we arrived at a sort of landing place: here we disembarked, and the canoe divested of its load was placed on the brawny shoulders of Glode, Joe and myself being loaded with portions of the baggage. Thus employed, in Indian file we proceeded to cross a small portage or "land connecting two waters," though its literal meaning-" carrying place," gives to mind a much better idea of its nature, and also of the peculiar mode of travelling common from the earliest times to North America. Having then accomplished this, and once more arrived at the water's edge, the canoe was loaded with its live as well as inanimate freight; and again under the powerful influence of the paddles we shot forward. I must here tell you that the canoes of the Micmacs differ from those of Milicetes, which you must have seen in New Brunswick, being of a broader and deeper form; by reason of this make, they are capable of bearing larger bulk and weight, but, from the same cause, are hardly so convenient for carrying through the woods and over the portages. The small lake, over which we now paddled, appeared to be the beginning of a chain of waters, which Glode informed me stretched almost to the town of Liverpool, where, meeting the river of that name, a water communication is formed across nearly the whole peninsula of Nova Scotia. The path by which we had reached the lakes we had now left considerably to the eastward beyond the point where we had left it, I understood it was nearly impassable, except to the Indians, whose track is equally easy through the forest as on the road. From the lake we passed into a tortuous stream, so narrow that the overhanging trees met at the top, and formed a leafy screen against the rays of an almost tropical sun. Owing to the dryness of the summer, the water was very low; and it required all the practised skill and the ready eye of an Indian to ward our frail vessel from the sharp and pointed rocks which at every step opposed our passage. Emerging suddenly from this romantic channel, a lake extending in length for several miles, and studded with many islands, lay before us; the setting sun casting its golden hue over its calm and placid waters, in which were reflected, as in a mirror, the tall trees which fringed with their overspreading branches the shores and islands. Propelled over this glassy surface, the stroke of the paddle alone breaking the stillness of the scene, we rapidly approached the ground selected for our night's bivouac.

Rounding suddenly a small neck of land that projected into the

lake, we found ourselves in an extensive creek, through the clear waters of which the large rocks, some feet underneath, were perfectly visible. Having penetrated to the extremity of this, my paddlers stopped their exertions, and allowed the canoe gently to beach itself: our party then landed, and having unloaded our vessel, all hands were soon busy in making a fire, on which to prepare our supper, which frugal meal, consisting of tea, biscuit, and ham, was soon dispatched. Having thus sustained exhausted nature-for to the uninitiated even sitting in a canoe for some hours has its fatigues, owing to the cramped position which one is forced from the want of room to assume, and the danger, by moving, of overturning so crank a bark-I proceeded to light the wonted cigar, over whose fragrance I began to catechize my companions as to the chance of sport that night. Jack thus questioned, said :-"We might try, but that there would be wind to-night, which (should it last) would prevent him from calling." As a moose-hunter without his horn is no better than a magician without his wand, I must inform you that to the bark of the birch-tree is the Indian indebted for the instrument (forgive the involuntary pun) of his calling, with which by well imitating the cry of the cow-moose, the excellence of the hunter's craft mainly consists.

Having decided then to try our fortune, and the sun having set perhaps an hour, we left our supper table, which had been a rock by the creek shore, and having looked to our guns and shouldered our blankets, proceeded to climb the wooded bank which sloped towards the water this surmounted, a walk of about half-a-mile brought us to the edge of a sort of heath, or, in hunters' phraseology-mooseplain; this, by the star-light, did not present a very inviting prospect, being interspersed with huge masses of rock, a few briars, and some tall dead trees, whose skeleton branches, agitated by the breeze, gave forth a most doleful welcome. Having advanced into this desolate ground a few hundred yards, and having myself received in the darkness sundry falls, which did not tend to increase my ardour for moose-hunting, Glode said we might stop and remain there for the night.

As the elk invariably gets to leeward of the sound which brings him to his mate, and as the wind was still up, "calling" was out of the question. Enclosing myself in my blanket, I therefore at once resigned myself to slumber, satisfied that Glode would instantly rouse me should the game be afoot, and with the promise made before starting that whatever appeared, I should always have the first shot. How long I lay thus unconscious I know not; but I suddenly awoke under a sensation of horrible impression-nightmare I could hardly call it, as, though lying on my back, not my chest, but my ears were the victims. Collecting my senses, generally from sleep at once on the alert, I perceived that the noise which had so disturbed my nerves proceeded from the horn of my ally Glode, whose uncouth form stood in strong relief against the sky, and who certainly had succeeded in producing the most discordant yell that I have ever heard; and this, forsooth, in the language of love. It certainly varied considerably in its tale, at times being lowered to a very significant sort of grunt; and then again swelling by degrees into a roar, resounding through

the wide forest round, and which must have been heard (the wind having subsided) for miles.

I fear that I have given you but a faint idea of the sensations which I experienced upon first hearing, on that wild and desolate heath, the well-imitated moose-call. The howl of the wolf prowling in the snow, as you lay at night by your camp-fire, is anything but agreeable; at least, when I heard it I thought so. The cracking sound of the ice in the middle of a river nearly a mile broad, as it admitted your sled and horses one fine evening by starlight in the depth of winter, struck anything but kindly to the heart's blood; but these intimations, perhaps, on both occasions, of real danger, were trifling in their effect on my nerves, when compared with the hoarse cry of that old Indian who looked like some enchanter of old, about to try his skill in "raising spirits from the vasty deep;" more hideous far to my eyes than any "Zamiel," let him appear in what guise he might. The scene, too, was one well fitted for the Der Freischutz sort of opera there performing; while the giant trees, divested of all foliage, seemed with their lofty and spectral forms to harmonize but too well with the horrid yells with which my ears were assailed. The feeling which I have attempted to describe gradually wore off; and at last, as one frequently manages to like in the end the object which at first caused one's aversion, so I succeeded in listening even with complacency to Glode's efforts. After a time the crashing sound of trees, broken as if by the passage of some large animal through them, induced me to cast off my blanket, and prepare for action. Listening for some time, Glode at last pronounced the animal, the sound of whose horns striking against opposing branches was now distinctly heard, to be a cariboo or rein-deer. This fact seemed to be borne out as he uttered no sound, and at last by the silence around us seemed to have taken his departure. Thus disappointed, I resumed my couch under a rock, and was soon wrapped in sleep, from which I was not again disturbed, until the cold morning air, coupled with the calls of hunger, induced me to join my companions now preparing to return to the creek to procure breakfast.

Neither the hard rock on which I had slept, nor the discord which had so affected my nerves, had I found done any injury to my masticating powers; and after a hearty meal we once more betook ourselves to the canoe, whose dancing prow again disturbed the placid waters of the lake.

After consoling ourselves for the unsuccessful efforts of our nightwatch by a substantial breakfast, we had once more embarked in our light and graceful vessel. The day's voyage was tedious to a degree, presenting no other feature of novelty than the tendency of your humble servant to fall asleep despite the exciting tales of moose-hunting with which Glode endeavoured to beguile the way. One in particular, notwithstanding my drowsiness, arrested my attention, perhaps in consequence of the lake we were then crossing having been the scene of action.

The plan of hunting the elk, at the period of his story (summer) is then different. The moose, tormented by the musquitoes and flies almost to a state of madness, rushes to the lake in which to lave its

fevered limbs, and, delighted with the coolness of the water, perhaps remains there the whole day: it is then that the hunters, concealed in two or more canoes, dash from their hiding-places, and endeavour to get between the moose and its native woods: succeeding in this, the result is nearly certain-the stately animal, helpless in the water, falling a victim to the bullet of its pursuers. In Glode's tale, however, the hunters, it appeared, after numerous shots, did not succeed in disabling their noble quarry, who escaped, though not scathless, to the woods.

After a paddle of seven or eight miles, diverging from the larger lake, we pursued our way through a sort of river which connected it with a further one beyond. Advancing up this for about half-a-mile, a wreath of blue smoke, rising above the young trees which clothed a small mound or hillock, attracted my notice, and proclaimed once more our approach to the haunts of man. Running the canoe gently aground at the foot of the hill, we landed and walked towards the spot from whence the smoke proceeded: before, however, we could reach the wigwam-for such was the habitation we approached-a flock of half-naked Indian children, of all sizes, from the active-looking boy of fifteen down to the helpless infant, rushed out to welcome their father, for in that light stood old Glode to the wild-looking creatures around us. Joe's welcome followed also from a very pretty young Indian woman, who, accompanied by Glode's mate, had descended more leisurely to welcome her liege lord. After the affectionate feelings of the inmates of the camp had been duly satisfied, your humble servant had to pass the ordeal of all the curiosity and inquisitiveness which the younger portion of the Indian community now invariably exhibits. I say now, because to them who have formed their notions of Indian character from the interesting works of Cooper, the attributes of the philosopher and the stoic with which he has invested his youthful verses will at once occur. These noble, though now-a-days (when the justice of a Brutus or the heroism of a Curtius would be at a discount) unnatural virtues have entirely disappeared (as far as my observation has gone) among the unwarlike Micmacs nor would the Indian mother at the loss of her child in any way emulate the Spartan parent under a similar bereavement.

Under Glode's guidance we shortly arrived at the wigwam, on the cool mat in the interior of which I was soon stretched in sound sleep, the hot sun whilst in the canoe on the lakes not having conduced much to slumber. After a refreshing rest of a few hours I awoke, and was not sorry to receive from Glode the intimation that supper was ready; and the good-natured family having yielded up to my use the whole wigwam, I soon managed by a hearty meal to prepare myself for another night's bivouac. Accordingly, a little before sunset, Glode, his nephew, and myself paddled across the small stream which swept round the hill on which the camp stood. Leaving the canoe in the rushes until our return, we silently proceeded as before towards our intended ambush. The ground over which we passed varied but little from the scene of our former efforts; rocks and briars, with a worthy impartiality, appearing to divide the ground between them. On the way, after a careful examination of a small

spruce tree, Glode exclaimed that "moose had been quite fresh :" pointing out the signs which had attracted his attention to Joe, who agreed in his opinion, they both proceeded to examine with the utmost care the ground around it. The result proclaimed was, that the track of moose which they had clearly detected on the fallen leaves were not older than yesterday. This information tended not a little to raise my hopes of a successful issue to the night's sport. The readiness with which an Indian will at once detect the slightest sort, mark and pronounce immediately to what animal it belongs, and even how long since the trace was left, is certainly marvellous: the same instinct, it may be called, enables him in the thickest wood to determine by the bark of the trees the different points of the compass, and thus, without other guide than his own sagacity and long practised habits of observation, he will fearlessly travel for miles through forests unmarked by the slightest track of man, and finally arrive at his destined point. Should night have overtaken him in the woods, his never-forgotten axe at once supplies him with the fire necessary, not only to give him warmth, but also to keep off the bears with which the forests abound: his blanket drawn over his head, with his feet turned to the blaze, he without a thought, save perhaps of hunger, lays down and calmly sleeps until the coming dawn warns him to pursue his course.

The Indians having then determined the actual existence in the neighbourhood of the game of which I was in search, I this night wrapped myself in my blanket, with the firm hope of not returning to my regiment empty-handed. Dame Fortune proved, however, still unpropitious; for "the clouds which had for some hours lowered over our heads," instead of " burying themselves" as they should have done in the "deep bosom" of the lakes, soon began to pour the vials of their wrath upon our devoted persons. This untoward event only allowed us (the rain continuing nearly all night) one short "call," and although Glode exerted his magic powers to the utmost, his vocal efforts were entirely unsuccessful. The morning's light roused us from our lair, and the night's ill success, combined with the annoyance of cramp, from exposure without fire or covering, rendered our return to the camp anything but a cheerful march. Glode, however, who seemed to go a good deal upon Jacob Faithful's principle of "better luck next time," endeavoured in his blunt manner to encourage me, saying in his broken English, "You not gone back yet? Suppose you go out to-morrow and next night, then may be you see moose. Can't say whether you kill him; sometimes he not come close enough." This sort of philosophy on the part of my ally had certainly its good effect, in keeping me up to my night-work, as I had once or twice thought of giving up the moose-hunting, and trying my luck at stalking the cariboo; for which purpose a plain, distant about six miles from the camp, was adapted. I must, however, say, that the life I led in Glode's camp, though not quite so pleasurable as Juan's, when

"He, after bathing in the sea,

Came always back to coffee and Haidee." was yet anything but disagreeable.