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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmte d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. errata I to t I pelure, on d D 32X 1 2 3 > 1 2 3 4 5 6 T f OF Sir JAMES M. LeMOlNE, F. K. S. C. ENGLISH LEGENDARY LORE OF THE LOWER Bt. LAWRENCE, (1 vol. In-W) 1862 MAPjlE LEAVES, (l8t Series) (lv.l.in-80) 1863 " *• (2ud Series) (1 vol. ln-80) i864 •• " (3rd Series) (1 vol. in-80) 1865 THE TOURISTS NOTE hOOK, (1 vol. ln-64) by Cosmopolite 1»70 THE SWORD OF BRIGADIER GENERAL MONTGOMERY, (A memoir) (1 vol. in-64) 1870 TRIFLES FROM MY PORTFOLIO 1872 MAPLE LEAVES, (4th Series) 1873 ' QUEBEC, PAST k, PRESENT 1876 'J'HE TOURIST'S NOTE BOOK, (second edition) 1876 CHRONICLES OF THE St. LAWRENCE, (1 vol. in-8o) 1878 HISTORICAL NOTES (^)N QUEBEC AND I'J S ENVIRONS 1879 THE SCOT IN NEW FRANCE, a Lecture before L. & H. Society..... 1880 I'ICTURESQUE QUEBEC, (1 vol. in-8o) 551 pages 1882 A CYCLOPEDIA OF QUEBI-.C HISTORY : HISTORICAL NOTES ON ENVIRON 8 OF QU EBEC 1889 EXPLORATIONS IN EASTERN LATITUDES, by Jonathan Oldbuck, F. G. S. d MAPLE LEAVES, (5th Series) 1889 •• " (6th Series)— History— Essays— Scenery— Sport.... 1894 THE LEGENDS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE 1898 FRENCH LES 0I8EAUX DU CANADA. (2 vol. in-8o) i860 ASPECT MILITAIRE ET fc OCIAL DE QUEBEC PENDANT L'lN- hURKECTIONDE 1857 et 1898 ETUDE SHR SIR WALTRR SCOTT, poete, romancier, historien ... 18C2 NAVIGATEURS ARCTIQUES-Frankiin-M'Clure-Kane-McClintok 1862 LES PECHEUIES DU CANADA, (1 vol. in-8o) . 1868 MEMOiRE DE MONTCALM, VENGEE, (1 vol. in-32) 1866 L'ALBUM CANADIEN 18T0 LALBUM DU TOURISTE 1878 CONFERENCE SUR L'ORNITHOLOGIE lue devant I'lnstitut Can*-, dienQ «bec U1874 NOTES HLSTORIQUES SUR LES RUES DE QUEBEC 1876 TABLEAU SYNOPTIQUE DES OlSEAUX DU CANADA, 4 Tusafire d»»8 eooles 1877 MONOGFAPHUS ET ESQUiSSES, 500 pagres 18^5 CHASSE ET PECHE, 300 pagres ^ 1887 CONFEKENCES LUES DEVANT LA SOCiETEROYALEDU CANADA lb82-3-4-5-6-T-8-9-90-l-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Orders filed by C. E. HOLIWELL, BodittiQTe, Buade St., Quebec. Ci/^o'NB^ :f.f/)^ o (a3S The Legends of the St. Lawrence (From Quebec Murninj Chronicle, J^th July, 1S9S.) (S^ir- >«^*^^*-^a<^a*> -snS The following WBll-m«rited notices of 8ir James M. LeMoiue a propos of the approaching issue of his new •' Legends of the St. Lawrence, " appears in Saturday's Montreal (Jnzntte : — "There is one v/riter to whoju — apart from his own ample contribution to our literature, hoth French and Englisli — our poets and romancists of either speech are deeply and avowedly indebted. Not they only. Read the prefaces of Parkmau and you will know how highly he valued the aid and suggestions of Sir James .M icplier. son LeMoine. To us English readers Sir James LeMrnne has been for thirty years and more a guide, trusted and revered, to all that is most romantic, most noteworthy in the story of tlie old reijimf. and the new Who that has visited Quebec with curio.^ity unsated as to the vie intime of that grand old fortrr'ss, has not found refreshment and satisfaction at the perennial springs of Sillery ! Never were springs of knowledged entrusted by Providence to guardian more generous, more hospitable. 'Through Dr. Bourinot's good oltices', says our most famous novelist, Uilbert Parker, ' I cinne to know .Mr. LeMoine, of Quebec, the gifted antiauarian, and President of the Royal Society of Canada. M. LeMoine placed in my hands certain historical facts suggestive of romance,' Thus to Sir James and Mr. Fairchild's splendid collection of Canadiana the world owes a debt of which ' The Seats of the Mighty ' must ever remind it. Whereof anon." {Montreal Gazette, July 2, 1888.) "The foregoing titles indicate the author's purpose to make his new book embrace all the most striking phases of Canadian histoiy, scenery, archaeology, sport, romance and folklore. The influence of tradition — Norman or Breton — is in these sketches found in combi- nation with the effects of intercourse with people of extra-Fiench origin — sometimes suggesting an inherited reminiscence of the Gei- man garrisons of the Revolutionary epoch. However, that be, these are just such stories as for a quarter of a millennium have been told and listened to around Canadian firesides — presented to no less appre- ciative story lovers with ail the author's long faniilar allurements." MAPLE L E A V E S (6th Series) KXPL0RATI0N8 IN EASTERN LATITUDES. OPINIONS OP THE PRESS, (From the AMERICAN ANGLER, 10th August, 1889.) " This last volume of the indefatigable historian of Canada cannot be estimated by any ordinary literary standard. It is a compendium of " history, legends, scenery and sport," more like M. Uallock's "Fishing Tourist" than perhaps any other bpok which has yet appeared, but of heavier calibre and replete with information of rare historical value which it has been possible to obtain only through personal travel and a carefully selected library. It describes a great uiany localities which the angler has not yet become familiar with, such as the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence^ Prince Edward Island, Seal Rocks, Bird Islands, «fec , and we cannot do our readers a more agreeable service than to reproduce in the columns of the American Angler hereafter whole passages and pages from this volume, which we <5hall lay out to do perhaps next week. Mr. LeMoine has dedicated it to Geo.-M. Fairchild, jr., of New- York, for several years Vice-President of the Canadian Club of New- York and President of the Oritani Club, a gentleman superlatively well known among the better class of sportsmen." (From FOREST AND STREAM, Aug. 22nd. 1889.) MAPLE LEAVES —5th. Oeries. The Exp orations of Jona'hvn Oidbuck, F. G. S. Q., in Eastbkn Latitudes. Canadian History, Legends, Ucenery, Sport, By J.-M. LeMoine Quebec, 1889. This volume is just what the author professes it was his aim to give his readers, a familiar itinerary of travel by sea and land, cove- ring a score of years and over the most picturesque portion of the Province of Quebec. And if one were privileged, in truth, to choose a travelling companion in Canada, what a rare satisfaction it would be to go in company with this historian, antiquary, botanist, orni- thologist, sportsman, angler, wit and story teller, whose erudition, versatility and broad sympathies are shown in the noble list of voluj mes already given to Canadian literature, and now newly demons, trnted in this volume just from the press. Wild flowers of the woodd and fields and the dust of musty historical manuscripts, one might think, would not appeal to the same tastes ; yet the LeVfoine who has written a book on the *'Wild Flowers of Quebec" is the same LeMoine whose antiquarian note book has supplied the material for volumes of history. And very much as an ardent botanist searches out and brings to the notice of the world rare plants and blossoms, has the author in this book collected the flowers of historical and legendary lore. One is surprised, too, in turning over the pages, to notice how on every hand the sportsman tourist, guided by such a friendly compa* nion, would find associations of interest to him, because touching on his favorite pursuits. Even the geographical names become in Le- Moine's hands keys to stores of anecdotes and reminiscences of Cana dian hunters and fishermen. Thus of Ruiaaeau de I'Oura he writes : "What gave it its sporting name ?! have a faint remembrance of a bear story, more than two hundred years old, in which the local nimrod, Seigneur Gifiard, while lying perdu for wild geese^-one spring — on the sedgy banks of this river, is stated to have spied a huge bear roaming in the neighborhood, mayhap in quest of the seigniorial mutton. Gaunt, tired, possibly unconscious of evil intent bruin was lapping the crystal draught of the Ruisseau. To substitute in his long duck gun slugs for goose shot was the affair of an instant for this sporting Laird, and, lo ! bruin's brave spirit was wafted to where all good bears go !" Again, of Hunter River the story is told that it received its name in commemoration of the fate of an English officer, who,having become lost in the woods while hunting, did not appear when his appointed wedding day came, and returning at last, to find another favored suitor in his place, betook himself again to the woods, where he was found on the banks of this river dead. No tourist in the Dominion can afford to omit giving this book a place in his satchel, where it will be at hand for constant reference. Lt.-Col. Hunter Duvar, the author of "Osiris" and other poems, thus holds forth, in the CharlolMotvn Examiner of 24th August, 1889 : " One of the plensantest bookti published in Canada for some time is *' the Explorations of Jonathan Oldhuck, Esq., in Eistern Latitudes," Oldbuck bniii;; the dislin^uiished antiquary, J .-M. LeMoine, of Spencer Orange, Sillery, Q., piist president of tlie Royal 8ociety of Canada, and honorary member of several societies, Canadian and foreign. If we mistake not, Spencer Grange is itself a centre of historical associations, although the details have escaped us. At all events, it is known as a Mecca to literary men. As might be anticipated from the title, the book is a cheery m^lauf/e of history, legend, descriptitjn of scenery and sport. The scenes explored are Quebec proper, Montmorenci, the Good Ste. Anne, Fort Jacques Cartier, the Saguenay district, Montmngny, Himouski, Prince Edward Island and the Magdalens, all well known localities, but seldom so agreeably described. Mr. LeMoine is old enough to remember having seen, when a small boy, the patriot or rebel (opinions differ which) PHpineau. " The great statesman, " he says, " being pressed for time, could not stop even to receive addresses ; it was therefore decided by the dominie of the school (8t. Thomas) that an address, brief but gushing, should be delivered to the liberator, as the carriage rolled past the school on its way to Kamouraska. To the tallest boy was allotted the envied honor He, as well as liis comrades, had been suitably drilled for the nonce in court etiquette ; all the " hopefu's " were to stand in line on the roadside, and when in presence of the carriage the tallest boy was to advance three steps, right foot first, takeoff his cap and deliver in a loud, measured voice this patriotic salutation or address : " Honor and glory to the brave and generous defender of our rights 1 kurrah ! ! hurran ! ! ! hurrah ! ! ! So it was done. The three hurrahs were given with deafening dieers, all hats off. The defender of our rights gracefully bowed to ua. As the tallest of the boys was your humble servant, the entry in this old diary may be relied on." Of P. E. Island, Oldbuck says : " Flowing streams, woods and fertile plains," such indeed would be an appropriate motto for this green, sunny and populous little kingdom." Mr. LeMoine's visit was of some years back, when, as he say-», the Khedive Hodgson was preparing to alklicate, but even tlien he, as an intelligent stranger could not fail to note the advantages that Confederation opened to the Island. By the way, we have the authonty of the Antiquary for saying that the real name of Rustico is Racicot, so called from a fort on Roland's Point, name J after M. Racicot, a Frenchman who returned to Fi ance when the Island pasaed into the hands of the firistish* Our author also relates the legend that gave name to Hunter River, V)ut with more romantic details than the popular version. He does not, however, raeution, — although so well authenticated by eye- witnesses (!) — the spectre-ship and light on Tryon bar. The book is embellished with a view of Spencer Grange, in the foreground of which we recognize portraits of the author and his famous St. Bernard's dog " Wolfe ", as also of two graceful female figures peeping among the flowers, one of whom may be Mary Mclntyre, but the other cannot well be Miss Grizzel Oldbuck. Of all Mr. LeMoine's many works, in English and French on Canadian topics, these " Explorations " seem to us the most peasantly adapted for holiday reading. DUVAR. Charlottetown, P. E. I. Examiner^ 24th August, 1889. mmmm 1^ u K « so 3 SEA SIDE SERIES LEGENDS-HISTORY-SCENERY-SPORT TEIE LEHENDSoftheSLLAWRENCE Told during a cruise of the yatch HIRONDELLE From Montreal to Gaspe '<;^<<^ BIT '^>''^> SIR JAMES Mcpherson Lcmoine, f. r. s. c. QUEBEC C. E. HOLIWELL, Publisher, 17 Buade Street PRINTED BY " LA COMPAGNIE D'IMPRIMERIE DE QUEBEC •* Publightr of " Le Soleil " 1898. * 161961 Entered, accordiiifj to Act of Parliament, in the year 1898, by Sir James M. LeMoise, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture. 61 U) w 2 s ^ is 9> THE CRUISE OF THE YATOH " HIRONDELLE " DRAMATI8 PERSONS The commodore J. U. G. Mac of ibe isles Sagaman, Navigator. Jo.vATHAN OLrBUCK Antiquary, Naturalist, Discoverer. The Laird of Ravensclyffe Poet, Sportsman. Carleton Sailing Master — Old Mariner. Jean Lavoie Steward, Chef-de cuisine. Weather-prophet. Napoleon Maturin Able-bodied seaman. Pierro Cabin Boy» Fox A Sillery Collie. Scene : — Sometimes on hoard the IIIRONDELLE Sometimes on Shore. TO JOHN READE, F. R. S. C. AUTHOR OP THE PROPHECY OP MERLIN, POET, HISTORIAN, ESSAYIST, IN MEMORY OF A FRIENDSHIP OF A LIFE-TIME. THE AUTHOR. Spencer Grange, Quebec, July, 1898. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Fagee. CHAP. I. Historic Montreal. — Cadieux. The Coureur de hois. — The Patriotes of 1837. — Bose Latulippe. — Midnight Mass of the Phantom-Priest. — Sorel. — The St. Maurice Forges Apparitions. The Wreck of the Julie Plante. CHAP. II. 1-55 Three- Rivers. — Deschamhault. — Portneuf. — Baron Rohi- neau and his fierce hounds. — Pointe-aux-TremhleSf its historic memories. — The Legend of the St. Augustin draught Horse. — The Devil outwitted. The Hirondelle at Quebec 56-83 CHAP. III. Quebec. — " Songs of Old Canada" : Donna Sol and Madlle Clementine.— Florio 84-100 CHAP. IV. Sunny Memokies. — Sir Etienne P. Tachd, A. D. C, to the Queen. — William Randal Patton. — Baron Oliva. — Daniel McPherson, U. E. L. — Revd Cure Beaubien. A Day Dream. The Seal Islands. — Tiieir Game. — Their Legends. Crane Island. The Goose Island Legend. — Madlle de Granville 101-140 CHAP. V. The Legend of the French Dead at Charlottetown, P. Ed. Island. The Light of Try on Bar. —The Sable Island Ghost. — The Revifjre Quelle Porpoise Legend. — The Magie Fiddlar 141-160 Paoes. CHAP. VI. Riviere-du-IiOup. — Cacouanna. — Bic. — TJ Islet an Massacre. — Its Legend 161-173 CHAP. VII. Hiiuouski. — Cape Cliatte. — Devil's Point. — Griffin's Cove. — Cock Cove. — Mont Sainte-Anne. — Its Shrin«; and Legend 174-176 CHAP. VIII. The Braillard de hi Mat/defeiw.. — Perc^ Rock. — The Boat with the Red Spot. — The Legend of the Great Lorette Serpent 177-192 CHAP. TX. Beaumanoir 193-197 CHAP. X. Gasp^ Basin. — Morpheus' Domain. — Bobbing for Mackerel — Lt. Governor Cox 198-203 >■ ! INTRODUCTION The popular leerends now presontod to .the patrons of Maple Leaves, were collected dudag pleasant yateh excursions on the lower St. Lawrence, more especially In the o jurse of a cruise from Montreal to Gaspd. They are in a measure calculated to oompleto a programme, sot forth by the author, several years back— embracing glimpsu^ of Cauadian bistoryi scenery, archroology and sport, previously given to the publio, under the title of Maple Leaves. A loading feature, in the majority of these simple narratives, relates to the agency of the Prince of Darkness in the sublunary affairs of this planet. Is '.t to t>e credited in this form to th • peculiar legendary lore of Nor- mandy, Brittany, <&c., seemingly the cradle of some of these legend:} ? or is the flavor, in some cases, indicative of German origin ? Were some of the traditions handed down more than a hundred years ago at Canadian flre-sldes, on long winter nights, with becoming German phlegm, to the French peasantry by General Burgoyne's Hessians and Brunswlckers cantonned in the parishes of the lower St. Lawrence whoa they returned to Canada, at the close of the war of American Independence ! <^uen Sabe ? The solution of this intricate problem is reserved for Canadian anti- quaries. In ctmcluding this volume recalling most delightful outings on our nobla river, a ploa^ant part lom'tlns to be fulflil'id. Sp'^cial thanks are due aad tendered to the follow travellers, on the Hirondelle, for their contribu- tions to the legendary log of the yatoh, as well as to absent literary friends whose sympathetic ad vice aud halp were never wanting : John Reade, F. R. 8. 0. George Martin, author of "Marguerite," and oMier poems. William Douw Lighthall, author of " 2'hs Young Sslgneur" ; " Thoughts, Moods and Ideals". William McLennan author of "S.mgs of Old dinada". Lieut. Col. Hunter— Dinar, author ot" Roberval" ; Emigration of the Faries, itc. Gjorge M Fairchild, jr author ot " Rod and Gun", History of Quebec Carnival, tCc. J. U. Gregory author of " En racontant". Arthur G. Doughty, Essayist and Poet. THE AUTHOR OF MAPLE LEAVES. Spencer Grange, July 1898. THE LEGENDS — OF THE - ST. LAWEENCE V •^^^^^^^^^^>^i^>^>^>' " Heavo the anchor ehort I Balse the maosail and Jib. Steer forth O little white— hulled sloop, now speed On really deep waters." WALT WHITMAN Chap. I HISTORIC MONTREAL. Cadieux, the coureur de boia — Tub Patriotes of 1837 — RosK Latulippb — Midnight Mass op the phantom-Priest — The St, Maurice Forges apparition. Port of Montreal, August, 189-. On a bright august afternoon, in the year of grace 189 — the yatch Hirondelle, lay with furled sails, in the Montreal Harbor opposite Ste Helen's Island, with hawser moored to the quay ; the craft, had an ample outfit for a month's cruiae, at least, in the lower St. Lawrence. The commodore, J. U. G., had that day ordered an early dinner, so as to afford his antiquarian, and sporting friends, his guests on board, time to go and reconnottre the highways and by-ways of the great city of Montreal, ere' they set sail at sunset for Sorelto 1( -2- land some members of the jolly party in time for the opening o' the shooting season — 1st September. One of the guests was an oltl, but still robust Montreal Barrister, Monsieur Viger, who prided himself on being the doj/en of the c/ our quarters being in the lighthouse at the east end of L'lle a la Pierre. It was during a week's living in one small room with this renowned politician, that one learned to love him as few men, have been loved by their own sex. On this occasion, our bags of duck numbered among us, namely : the Governor, his Aide- de-camp, Capt. F.-E. Gauthier ; his cousin, P.-B. Cas- grain, M. P.. and myself, from 40 to 50 duck per day, and some snipe shot by me. It was on this memorable occasion that the Governor of the Province of Quebec, and companions narrowly escaped with their lives. The popular and always obliging Captain Labelle, then in command of the steamer Quebec, plying between Mon- treal and the city of Quebec, had offered to stop his boat and take us off the island on his way down when we would desire it. We despatched a messenger early one day to Sorel, about seven miles off, to notify him that we would be all ready when he would pass that evening, and to request him to please stop his boat to — 42 — take us on board. By some means the message was not delivered to Captain Labelle. We, however, not knowing this, made our preparations, got all our baggage, game, dogs and ourselves with the lighthouse- keeper and one man, in a small boat, very much over- loaded, but as we only intended going out a short dis- tance in the shallow water to meet the steamer's boat, which we expected would draw too much water to <5ome near the shore, we did not fear any danger from swamping. We saw the steamer about 9 o'clock at night coming full speed, evidently paying no attention to us, when we actively swung a lighted lantern to and fro to draw attention. " After the steamer had passed us, the captain was evidently informed of our attempts to stop her ; know- ing the Governor was of the party, he ordered the boat to stop and reverse, the channel being too narrow to turn her. The Governor, with his usual anxiety to give as little trouble as possible when he was person- ally concerned, insisted upon our attempting to reach the steamer by the man sculling our boat out to her. This, against our advice, was done. The current being very strong, and the huge wheels of the steamer chur- ning the water against it, created a strong eddy, which drew us under the guards of the steamer. Being in the forepart of the boat, I caught hold of one of the pad- dles of the wheel, and with difficulty hung on to its slimy surface. The Governor received a very severe blow on the head, from one of the stays which nearly stunned him, and we greatly feared our boat would swamp as it filled with water. One man completely lost his presence of mind, and dropped the oar over- board ; to the great strength and coolness of the Gov- ernor we owed our lives. He called for a ladder. This — 43 — being let down, we rapidly mounted it, just in time to escape from being crushed by the great wheel, which was immediately after set in motion ; fortunately the boat containing the lighthouse keeper, and our luggage had drifted away from danger, and eventually was pro- pelled ashore. When we reached the cabin, we found we were much bruised, but not seriously hurt ; our clo- thing was covered with slime ; we presented a sad appearance.. Means were taken to give as little publi- city as possible to this incident. This was the last shooting expedition of Governor Letellier de St. Just. Some months after his health broke down ; he soon after died, sincerely regetted by all who intimately knew him. His gun, an excellent 10-bove, was sold by me to Judge G.-P. Hawes, of New York, who, I believe still retains it. " 1 fear I have digressed very much from the sub- ject of describing the shooting grounds of Sorel. I can only say that occasionally fine bags of snipe, wood- cock and duck are still made there, but I find that the number of the disciples of the gun, since the past twenty years, have wonderfully increased, as well among the amateur sportsmen who shoot for the plea- sure of an outing, as the pot-hunter who slaughters game night and day for the market. " Snipe are such capricious birds that one can occasionally make as large bags as formerly, but not so often. Woodcock are very much more scarce. As to black or dusky duck, mallard and wood duck and teal, the great number destroyed at night on their feeding grounds has been the cause of driving these valuable birds to other, and safer quarters. The pot- hunter chooses a favorite spot among the reeds which extend out on the shallows for nearly a mile from — 44 — shore ; with a sickle he cuts off the heads of the reeds, well under water, in a space large enough ta make an open water basin of about HO to 40 yards diameter. On the edge of this basin he plants a num- ber of trees in front, and on each side of his log canoe or dug-out, which he carefully conceals, and then sets out in the most natural order from ten to twelve live ducks fastened by a strinjf, with a soft leather loop to a leg, and anchored with a stone, or half a brick in about 3 feet of water. These ducks, which are a cross between a wild black duck, and an equally black domestic one, make perfect decoys, and call any passing birds to them, and to sure destruction. " On both sides of Lake St. Peter such caches may be found occupied by one or two pot hunters, every three or four acres apart, night after night, before and after the 1st of September, notwithstanding the game laws being strictly against it. You may well imagine such work has greatly interfei'ed with the pleasures of being quietly paddled through the reeds, and getting a true sportsman's shot at a rising bird, for the ducks now shun those dangerous feeding grounds. This, however, only applies to the species of duck visiting the shallow waters near shore. The bluebills and other fall ducks, called by some, the divers, still frequent the lake in enormous numbers ; in fact I have seen this fall as large flocks as I ever saw on the waters in Flo- rida, where, from their number covering such great space, they are called raft ducks. " For the lover of shooting, possessed of a good dog for snipe, and another for .woodcock, and who can spare the time, I know of no more delightful spot to camp on than some of the beautiful islands of Sorel. The scenery is charming ; the channels among the ^ -45 — many islands most intricate and interesting ; the diffe- rent fresh-water fish, from the maskinong6 to the perch, plentiful ; and intelligent and reliable guides with canoes may be had at the usual charges. But he who possesses a light draft sail boat, with fair acrcom- modation for a genial companion and self, and who can sail away with his quarters to new spots made bare by the falling of the waters, which often occurs to the extent of from 5 to Sin. in one night, especially if the weather is dry, and the wind blows strong from the west, such a one will find snipe, when others on the old ground are wondering if there are any birds left in the country. My experience shows that snipe have a strong liking for new ground, and he who can follow them or take advantage of being on some new, known spot where the waters uncover, is sure to be rewarded for his pains." dog can )t to )rel. the THE LEGENDS OF THE KING'S FORGES ON THE ST. MAURICE. — I should much like, Mr. Oldbuck to hear the story of the strange apparitions, seen in the olden time, at the St. Maurice Forges, said Mac of the lies — allow me then to v^ theiii '' u . short memoir I once prepared on iiathan Oldbuck. t; in the history of this famous iron in. istry, .ts well as the several legends connected with it, one n ist bear in mind that prospecting for mines in Canada, dates far bad As early as 1666, King Louis XIV's great minister Co ert had charged one M. de la Tesserie, to explore ft uineral wealth the shores of — 46 — the lower St. Lawrence. The result was the discovery of the iron ore of Bale St-Paul ; this ore, however, was never a success to the miner. Intendant Talon, the same year had been advised of the town of the mines of Three-Rivers, known later on, as the St. Maurice Forges. Hard cash was necessary to utilise for Canadian marts these sources of unrevealed wealth ; the French monarch sent it, but accompanied by the wrong man, — one M. de la Potardiere who reported unfavorably on the find.* It would be much too lengthy a story, to recapi- tulate the enormous profits and later on, the enormous losses attending the practical working of these mines, from the date of the land grant by the French King, on the 22nd March, 1730, to one M. de Francheville, down to a more recent period, on the 6th Jpi^nuary^ 1793, when Alexander Davidson sold out his residuary * Notwithstiinding the unfavourable report, Count Frontenac continued to think these mines important, in 1G72. In 1G81, the Marquis of Denonville, wrote encouragingly to France about the iron ore. In 1676, the Seigniory of Saint Maurice was conceded to Dame Je.inne Jalope,wife of Maurice Poulin— the King's Attorney Geneial, at Three-Rivers ; who gave his name to the river with the three outlets — now known as the St. Maurice. Widow Poulin, bequeathed her seigniorial estate to her son Michel, on the 19th January, 1683. The right to extract the ore was granted by the Crown in 1730 to M. DeFrancheville, who formed a company for that purpose in 1736, composed of M. De Francheville, Poulin, Gamelin and Cugnet. When Peter Kalm, the celebrated Swedish naturalist, visited the Forges, in 1749, he found they were worked on the same system as was in use in Sweden, This can be accounted for from the fact that minister Colbert, had in 1674, sent to Sweden, persons to learn the Swedish process of smelting and molding, whilst the artisans sent -47 — rights, under his unexpired lease from the Govern- ment, in the Forges, for the round sum of $6000 to George Davidson, David Munro and Matthew Bell* — all influential men of Quebec ; one of whom, the Hon. Matthew Bell was destined to be, for years, a leading figure in the social, commercial and political w^orld of the old capital of Canada— until his demise, at an ad- vanced age, in lb49. On the expiration of the agreement, on the 20th March, 1799, the lease was enlarged to 1801 ; the Hon. Matthew Bell, a staunch tory of the old school, through favor with successive British governors succeeded in fact I learn seat out to Canada by the French Government from Burgundy, and Franche-Conite, held on to the traditions handed down by Colbert's men seventy-five years before. The clever French Inspector of forti- tications, Franquet, liad also, at the invitation of Intendant Bigot, visited and reported on the Forges, with a view of improving the mode of administering them in an economical way. The Saint Maurice Forges, under French rule, were considered so important that special stipulations about them were inserted in the articles of capitulation, agreed to, at Montreal, on the 8th Sept., 1760, between General Amherst, and Governor de Vaudreuil, These great iron works played also a part, though a disloyal one — later on, when Canada was inva,ded by the New England continen- tals, in 1775 ; Christophe Pelissier, the manager, sent out from his furnaces, cannon balls and bomb shells, to Brigadier General Mont- gomery for the blockade of Quebec. When he heard of the victo- rious approach of Governor Guy Carleton, he left hurriedly for Sorel, and thence, for the frontier ; when he applied to Congress for com- pensation, and payment of the ammunition, and supplies he had fur- nished the invading host. It seems fortunate, he did make himself scarce, as traitors were summarily dealt with in those critical days. * Hon. Matthew Bell, for years M. P. for Quebec city, com- manded a fine troop of cavalry in the war of 1812. — 48 — having his lease renewed at various times, and various rates, until the year 1844, when crushing trade rever- ses overtook him. Such, in a few words, is an outline of the early history of these famous, smelting works, which at one time employed as many as 800 operatives. Their dwellings formed a settlement of itself round the Forges, provided with a Roman Cath- olic priest and a chapel ; the latter, was since, allowed to crumble to decay. The Hon. Matthew Bell, in the palmy days of the Forges, kept up a princely style, at his forest manor, in the green woods, close to the deep and dangerous river Saint-Maurice. It was styled La Grande Maison ; here, the highest dignitaries in the land were sure of a warm welcome. Occasionally, Britain's representative, the Governor of the Province, was entertained at the palatial mansion, in a gorgeously furnished apartment, specially set apart for him, and his suite, when he honoured it with his presence. It was customary on His Excellency's carriage reaching the Forges, to relieve it of its horses ; the thorough-breds were unhitched, their august master was then, carried on the shoulders of the employes to the state chamber, where awaited him a sumptuous repast. The good cheer of the day was extended to the workmen. A spacious hall, in the upper story, was allotted to them for a dance ; these festive doings are expatiated on, in detail by the annalist of the St. Maurice Forges — the Re . a. Abbe N. Caron, a Canon of the Three-Rivers Cathedral. One of the pleasant memories of the past still lingering in the minds of the people, is the exploits of the Tally ho ! Hunt Club, founded by Mr. Bell ; the sporting proprietor had not only an extensive stud of English hunters he also kept up a kennel of foxhounds ; the annual hunt was a grand affair, and also a profitable 49 — holiday to the farmers of the neighborhood. They never failed to claim, and to receive ample compensation for the damage done by the hunters and the hounds to their oat, corn and wheat fields. From the St. Maurice Tallu Ho ! Hunt Club sprang, about 1829, the Mon- treal Foxhound Club, the hounds having that year been transferred to Montreal. The club flourishes yet. Long since has the glory of La Grande Maison departed ; its vice-regal chamber closed, its jolly meets of the club, in September, ended, we fear, for ever. The monster hammer of the Forges, the loud sounding Gros Marteau is now silenced Oblivion and decay eigns supreme in the once noisy, busy, little world of the Forges. Crumbling walls, tenements, of old instinct with life and bustle are now deserted ; no other sound near them in the glare of day, but the murmur of the rushing, deep St. Maurice River ; by night, the Great Virginia owl still as of yore, repeats in the tree-tops its fearful ha-ou ! ha-ou ! ! ha-ou ! ! ! to unatteutive ears. It is some of the popular supers- titions, decked with much legendary ivy, I now purpose recalling of this once thriving settlement. The narrative (*) furnished by the learned Three-Uivers Canon, the Abbe N. Caron, renders the task both pleasant and easy. It may not be out of place to premise that in our opinion, some of the mysterious occurences, which the Abbe sums up as '" Legendes des Forges Saint- Maurice " can be explained by causes any thing but supernatural. I shall confine myself to translating with comments, the most startling accounts of the St. Maurice diahleries. {*) Deux Voyages sur le Saint-Maurice, par I'abb^ N. Caron, Chanoine de la Cath^drale des Trois-Rivi^res, 1891 4 — 50 — The Reverend gentleman tells that on his way from the Piles settlement, in rear of Three-Rivers, he had for his Jehu and Cicerone, that eminently respec- table authority in every parish, the oldest inhabitant, whom he introduces to our notice as Pere Loiuson, un bon vieux du temps passe. P^re Louison, had not actually witnessed all the startling feats of His Satanic Majesty, at the Forges, but his eldest brother had " seen and heard every thing with his own ears and eyes. " The origin of the Devil's interference was a falling- out between the Hon. Matthew Bell, the proprietor of the Forges, and a Mndlle Poulin, of Three Rivers ; she owned a maple bush in the vicinity of the smelting works ; the Honb. Matthew had persisted in having hervaluable timber cut down to convert it in to charcoal for smelting. In vain MadUe had done her best to prevent him. Madlle Poulin was far from being a " devote ". Goaded to frenzy, she one day gave vent to the follow- ing angry speech : "Since I cannot prevent others from appropriating unjustly my property, I bequeath it all to the Devil." Shortly after, she died, without leaving any heirs, and repeated the fateful words, " I leave my belongings to the Devil ; those who have wronged me, wont enjoy in peace, what they have thus taken !" The Evil One took hold of the bequest in right earnest, and soon began to play the part of lord and master on those lands bequeathed to him, adj Ining the Forges, as well as within the works themselves: Maddle, the defunct old girl, occasionally put in a su- pernatural appearrance to terrify the people. On one occasion, two women on their way to — 51 - )) 1" rht Llld ing res: Isu- to Three-Rivers met four men carrying a coffin. This seemed strange ; but what was still stranger, the bea- rers did not follow the highway, but entered the wood skirting the road. The two wayfarers were not scared at first, but one of them having observed, " Tis Madlle Poulin, whom they are taking to hell !" they both became frightened and turned back in haste, in the direction of the Forges, renouncing their town trip; in a trice, the whole settlement was discussing excited- ly the inexplicable occurrence. What added to the general alarm, was the subse- quent appearance every afternoon, of a man stalking over the heights ; in his hand, he held a paper, as if he were casting up his accounts. Although plainly visible, none had been able to discern his features. A shadow, he seemed — quite colourless ; though some said they had discovered a black tinge in his countenance. Long was the mysterious shadow seen every afternoon. None had dared to address it ; but the old women, one and all, had said that it must be the guardian the devil had appointed to look after his estate and write up the accounts. Where there was the greatest turmoil, was at the third hill at a place known to this day as Venie-au- diahle (sale to the Devil) ; this was the land bequeathed to the Prince of Darkness. Here the evil spirits con. gregated in force for their revels at midnight. A large fire was noticeable, blazing forth, surrounded by weird attendants ; a clanking of chains broke on the dark silent hours, followed by howls, yells of rage, shreiks of laughter which caused the people's hair to stand on end with fright. Names were shouted amidst horrible blasphemies ; persons on their way to the Forges on i:|,,,.. I 1 — 52 — such occasions arriyed there more dead than alive, with terror. The spot was shunned even in broad day light: no wood choppers could be prevailed to work there. Sometimes, however, His Satanic Majesty seemed bent on a laik, and harmless in his moods. On a piercing cold Sunday in January, the Forges laborers being on their way to High Mass, at Three- Rivers, on walking past Vente-nu-dlable, had noticed a man bare-headed, in his shirt sleeves clipping his beard near a tree to which a small mirror hung by a pin. At first, they laughed ; but passed, firmly convinced that it was the Devil playing one of his odd pranks. Other strange things were witnessed at Vente-au-diahle^ Horses would stand still, refuse to obey the cut of the whip. One infallible remedy had been discovered to start them : turning the bridle wrong side out. The grave and learned chronicler, Abbe Caron, mentions a number c f other unaccountable proceedings witnessed by 1 JiJ Louison, or by his big brother. A huge black cat used to enter the Forges at night; stretch himself at the foot of the red hot furnace ; place his paws on the liquid ore, and when the smel- ters attempted to move him with a crow-bar he bristl- ed up, and grew larger than a half-bushel measure, so Pere Louison said. He usually retired through the entrance of the red hot furnace, and was succeeded by a little red man, who used to sit aloft on the edge of the roaring chimney. A dance among the operatives having once been prolonged so as to encroach on the Sabbath, was rudely, and alarmingly interrupted by the sudden and unex- plicable thundering of the Gros Marteau, (the monster — 58 — hammer) — bourn ! boum ! ! bourn ! ! ! The workmen hurried to the main building of the Forges, and were horrified to discover a man holding one of his legs under the ponderous hammer, turning it round to receive each blow, just as if it had been a bar of hot metal to be wrought into shape. Pere Louison related to the annalist many other uncanny sights witnessed in that land of Demons. I have room merely for a short notice of the repeated, and unwelcome presence on the tree tops after nightfall, around the settlement, at the Forges, of a mysterious visiter — who from the rapidity of his movements, I should pronounce to belong to the feathered race. From his loud, stifled, gutteral voice, he was known as Le Beuf/lard, theBellovver. His ha-ou ! ha-ou ! ! ha-ou ! ! ! after dark had struck terror in many stout hearts. Thus, on one occasion, three very stirring young blades who had desecrated the Sabbath, by a tramp in the woods, were recalled to a sense of duty by fearful sounds from above their heads. They halted ; knelt on the frozen soil and devoutly said an Ave, Maria : the Virgin Mary, as was expected, silenced the Beuglard. " When ever, sai:l Pere Louison, the Beuglard scared us, we followed the practice of my eldest brother ; we crossed oursel /es and said a Pater Noster, some of us, for the benefit of the soul of Madlle Poulin, who was supposed to be asking for prayers ; others were of opinion that the Beuglard, was none else than the Devil himself — who grateful for her gift, retaliated thus on the Forges people who had wronged her. This is a point which our priests, though often requested, ever failed of clearing up," added gravely Pere Louison. nW .'' — 54 — I too, whilst encamped in Canadian woods, in early spring — when the maple sap and sugar gladdened buoyant, young hearts — more than once have listened, awe-struck, to the dismal hooting of the Great Virginian owl in the treetops, Ha-ou ! Ha-ou ! fHa-ou ! ! I but I had not then heard of the Beuglard of the St-Maurice Forges." Here, as we bid adieu to the reedy shores of Lake St. Peter, let the Laird of Ravensclyffe recite Dr. Dram- mond's masterpiece, a legend which par excellence attaches itself to this windy sheet of water. THE WRECK OF THE JULIE PLANTE. {As related by Narcisse Labrecque.) On wan dark night on Lac St. Pierre De win' she blow, blow, blow, An' de crew of de wood scow " Julie Plante " Got scar't an' run below. For de win' she blow lak hurricane Bemeby she blow some more, An' de scow bus' up on Lac St. Pierre Wan arpent from de shore. De Captinne walk on de fronte deck An' walk de hin' deck too — He call de crew up from de hole He call de cook also. De cook she's name was Rosie She come from Montreal Was chambre maid on lumber barge On de Grande Lachine Canal. De win' she blow from Nor' eas' Wes' — De BOut* win' she blow too, W'en Rosie cry, " Mon cher Captinne, Mon cher, w'at I shall do t — 55 — Den de Captinne t'row de big anker re But still de scow she dreef De crew he can't pass on de shore Becos' ho los' hees skeef. De night was dark lak' wan black cat, De wave run high an' fas', Wen de Captinne tak' de Uosie girl An' tie her to de mas*. Den he also tak' de life preserve, An' jonip off on de Lak' An' say •' Good bye, Ma Rosie dear, I go drown for your sak'." Nex' morning very early 'Bout ha'f pas* two — free — four De Captinne— scow — an' de poor Rosie Was corpses on de shore, For de win' she blow lak' hurricane Bimeby she blow some more, An' de scow bus' up on Lac St. Pierre Wan arpent from de shore. MORAL : Now all good wood scow sailor man Tak' warning by dat storm An* go an' marry some nice French girl An' leev on wan beeg farm. De win' can blow lak' hurricane An' s'pose she l)low some more You can't get drown on Lac St. Pierre So long you stay on shore. — 56 — Chap. II Three-Rivers — Deschamhault — Portneuf — Baron Rohi' neau and his fierce hands — Pointe-aux-Trembles, its historic memories The Legend of the St. Angus* tin draught horse — The Devil outwitted. — The Ilirondelle, at Quebec. Our next stoppage — but we were in the arms of Morpheus at the time — was at the drowsy old town of Three-Rivers, founded in 1634, by Lavioletto; for half a century and more, an important fur-trading post, a fort, and a mission of the Jesuits.Tts stirring chronicles had recently been lovingly unrolled for us by a gifted author, Benjamin Suite, the historian. Whole fleets of Huron and Algonquin canoes, in 1040-60, used to bring here each spring the products of their WMiter hunts, hundreds of packages of beaver, martin, minx, deer skins, and bartered them at the fort, for powder, knives, shot, blankets, beads, brandy, etc. How fortunate the town has been to have given birth to such an able writer and devoted son as Suite ! Will Three-Rivers ever erect Mr. Suite a statue ? With what vividness, with what singular industry, has not the Trifluvian annalist written the history of Three- Rivers from its precarious beginnings ! How easy at present to reconstruct in one's mind the grim old fort, recall its sieges with their dire alarms ! One recognizes the spots where the ferocious Iroquois concealed themselves to butcher their foes, the Hurons and Algonquins, allies of the French ; occasionally scalping in cold blood some of King Louis^ best subjects. With the aid of Suite's Chronique Trifiuvienne, one can follow step by step the perilous — 57 — career of our early missionaries — Buteux, LeMaistre^ Lallemant, de Notte, Joj^ues. You feel inclined to accompany the hardy trooper Caron in his wintry search, discovering at the ile Platte, near Three-Rivers, on the 2nd of February, 1645, the missing- Jesuit, de Node, " recumbent along a snow-drift, kneeling, on the river bank, with arms crossed on his breast, frozen stiff, with eyes wide open, gazing heavenward, his cap and snow-shoes lying near him." * victim, the good man, of his humane efforts in trying to seeK relief for his less hardy companions. Overtaken by a snow storm, and buried in the blinding drift the poor missionary had lost his way. No wonder that Caron should have knelt down and said a prayer after loading the dead hero on his sledge, and departed with him sorrowfully for Three-Rivers, having marked the spot with a cross on the bark of a tree. That night, the faithful of Three-Rivers prayed to one more saint ! They were men, the missionaries and explorers of 1645 ! ! What dauntless loijageurs, what expert woodsmen must have existed in those early days among the Triflu- fluvians ? Hertel, Marguerie, Nicolet, Godefroy^ Normanville, and those astute, indomitable, sanguinary savages — Piescaret and Ahatsistari ! What a pity their striking forms in war paint and costume, have not been preserved to us by the artist's brush as well as by the historian's pen ? Here was the site of the fort ! There stood the convent ! On that steep bank where our yatch was .\Vf^ ':» * Chronique Trifluvienne, page 55 Si r -58 — moored, was Le Platon. Old Governor Pierre Boucher dwelled close by with his patriarchal family. Then again, what thrilling episodes Mr. Suite relates of Indian cruelty, stratagem, tiger-like instincts! Here is one of his striking pen-photographs : — ** An Algonquin girl, captured about the 1st of April (1646) by the Agniers (Mohawks) and brought home with them, succeeded, after about ten days captivity, in making her escape by slipping off during the night the thongs which held her, and walking over the pros- trate forms of her guardians plunged in sleep. The desire for revenge burnt so fiercely in her breast that she could not refrain from seizing an axe and braining one of the sleepers. She was at once pursued, but took refuge in a hollow tree, where no one thought of seek- ing her. On viewing her pursuers depart, she directed her flight in an opposite direction. Her footsteps were, however, traced at nightfall. To elude pursuit, she ran to the river and immersed her body under water, where she remained unseen. The Agniers gave up the pur- suit and returned home.She travelled on foot thirty-five> days, living on wild berries an 1 roots. On approaching Sorel, she built a raft, and took to the water. When near Three-Rivers, she became alarmed at the sight of a canoe; landed and hid in the deep woods, from whence she made her way laboriously to the fort, close to the shore. Some Hurons discovered her, and attempted to join her, when she begged of them ,to throw some clothing to her, which they did. She was then taken to M. de la Potherie. The account of her escape seemed almost incredible ; but other hair-breadth escapes of a similar nature which followed, ceased to cause any more surprise. V ^S * Chronique Trifluvienne, page 59. — 59 — Marvellous also are the adventures of tlie great Algonquin chief, Simon Piescaret " On one occasion," says Mr. Suite, " when striving to escape from a whole band of Iroquois in pursuit, he turned his snow-shoes end for end, so that the track seemed as directed north, when he was going south. The Iroquois altered their course in consequence, and Piescaret, watching his opportunity, followed them, knocking on the head the laggards from the main body. Piescaret was unrivalled in that mode of warfare where great physical strength is required, where woodcraft and stratagem take the place of genius, and where ambush is necessary. He could outrun a deer, and in single combat he did not seem to heed numbers. " One day he started from Three-Rivers, his usual residence, and went and hid in an Iroquois village more than fifty leagues away. Under the veil of night, he crept out of his hiding place, entered a hut, mas- sacred the whole family, and hid in a pile of fuel close by. The alarm was given, but the murderous savage was not discovered. The next night he repeated the bloody drama, carried away the scalps and retreated to his wood pile. " The whole village remained on guard on the third night. Piescaret, in spite of all the precautions taken, issued from his retreat, opened the door of a hut full of watchful savages, brained the man nearest to him, and fled with the whole band of Indians at his heels ; oustripping them, he never ceased running that night, and secreted himself in a hollow tree. The enemy doubtful of effecting his capture, camped down, lit ^ fire and slept. Piescaret in the darkness crept up unseen, tomakawked and then scalped the unsuspect- ing slumberers and made for home with his bloody trophies. ..>'' — 60 — " On another occasion, cramming his gun with bullets, and accomi>nnied by four savages well armed, and concealed in the bottom of his canoe, he pretend- ed to be fishing ah^ne at the entrance of the river at 8orel. Some Iroquois canoes started in pursuit. He allowed them to come close by pretending to surrender, when he and his companions springing up, riddled the Iroquois canoes with balls. The canoes began to fill. In the confusion he upset some, having leaped in the stream. Swimming with one hand ttnd bearing in the other his terrible tomahawk, he plied it vigorously, killing seve- ral and taking some prisoners, whilst the rest .filed. "f — {Benj. Suite.) ' " The Roman Catholic ChTirch of Three-Rivers commenced in 1715, pushed on, in 1740 and completed in 189(3 — is well worthy of the attention oicofffioisseurs as a specimen of the ornate primitive Canadian place of worship. Its external walls, however, are not note- worthy ; but its interior is laid out in the florid, rococo style of the Louis XV era. Sculp*-nres of quaint aspect adorn the ceiling and internal walls. The pulpit is a marvel in design and antique ornamentation. The main altar with its frame of four columns is remarkable in its way ; nor ought the gorgeous pew of the church- wardens to l)e forgotten.":); " The old church at Three-Rivers, richly endowed by the (Jodefroy (descendants of the old Norman Gode- froy), still has tiie arms of the distingui.>5lied family superbly rarved on the Banc d'Qiluvres."§ Three-Rivers, counts something more than Indian alarms, and indian ^urj^rises in her far-reaching chro- + Chronique Trifluvienno, p. 19. J Canadian Antiquariaii, October, 1889. § ilaiiielirts "Legends of Le Detroit," page 300. — Gl — r.icles. The voices of other years can recall stirring episodes of the great siege, of 1759 ; successful repulse of the marauder, in the dark days of 1775-6 ; worthy exploits of her sons, English and French, enlisted for the struggle of 1812-14 — ready, the brave fellows, to seal their allegiance with their blood. A distinguished soldier, Col (afterwards General Sir Fred Haldimand) ruled here in 17()0-4 ; his wise, firm administration secured him successive preferment and ultimatel5% notwithstanding his foreign l)irth, — he was a Swiss, — the full confidence of the British Crown. In June 1776, an English lieutenant, James Henry Craig headed a detachment of tlie garrison of Three- Rivers, and routed Montgomery's followers : he was destined after a long and honorable term of service, in India, at the Cape of (lood Hope, in Spain, in Ital}^, in America, — to return to our shores, as Governor-Ge- neral of Canada in those critical times, when England, single-handed, successfully defied the titanic power of the first Napoleon. Old traditions yet teem with quaint reminiscences of the first English-speaking colonist, under English rule : an intelligent German Jew, by name Aaron Hart, the personal friend and protege of Lieut. Governor Hal- dimand. Here again, I have to acknowledge my indebted- ness to the antiquarian lore of Mr. Suite, for glimpses of the industrious long-lived Israelite, born in 1727, and deceased in IbOO. A successful trader wasMr. Hart, with the Indians, after they had buried the hatchet of war, which they had flourished with such fatal effect, in the days of good Governor Boucher, in 1663. A brisk trade awaited them, at Mr. Hart's stores : blank- itf .If ) 1 i . < I I "sp — 62 — ets, beads, knives, ammunition, and alas ! innnmer* able casks and demi-Johns, of potent '* fire-water," in the shape of West India rum, in exchange each spring, for the product of their winter chase. Aaron Hart had, it must be acknowledged, a splen- did chance of reaping a golden harvest, after the depar- ture of the leading French for France, at the conquest; and his appointment by Generals Murray and Haldi- mand, to look after the forts of western Canada, helped his commercial ventures, though Brigadier General Montgomery, made free with his goods and supplies, indispensable, he said, to the welfare of his suffering soldiery bivouacked, round Quebec, in 1775, leaving Mr. Hart, in payment,the "Green Backs " of the period. Congress subsequently refused to honor them. Mr. Hart, like many others, was a victim to the prevailing earth-hunger, so common in early colonial days ; he invested his spare cash, in seigniories, acquir- ing thus, the seigniories of Grondines, Becancour, Vieux-Port, &c., laying the foundation of a large for- tune, bequeathed to his four sons, Ezechiel, Moses, Benjamin and Alexander ; the latter settled in Mon- treal ; Ezechiel, later on, played an important part as member of Parliament. Three-Rivers was also the cherished home of the Honble Matthew Bell, for years^ with IVIr. David Munro, the wealthy lessee of the St. Maurice Forges ; Mr. Bell lived in great splendor among the Trifluvians, kept a pack of hounds ; from the Three-Rivers hounds, of 1S29, sprang the Montreal kennel, so flourishing at present. Three-Rivers borrows its name from the three channels or mouths of the Saint-Maurice, at its con- fluence with the Saint Lawrence, one mile east of the — 63 — town ; the Saint Maurice, was thus called after Mau- rice Poulin, a settler there, in 1649. Let us bid adieu to Suite's quaint, native city. On sped, the Hirondelle under the veil of night, suc- cessively shooting past innumerable beacons, and head- lands, each with a story of its own in Canadian annals ; an hour or two later, we sailed past Cap a VArhre — also known as Gap a la Roche, at the point where the St, Jean Deschaillons parish church was subsequently built, the scene of a memorable shipwreck. Here, on the 6th November, 1640, Gaspard Gouvault, apothi- cary, recently from Poitiers, and eight companions were drowned. Next opened oat pine-clad Cape Lauzon, of old charts now Deschambault, half way between Three-Rivers and Quebec. Tradition has handed down sad tales of the luckless New Englanders, hurrying home during the inauspicious winter of 1775-6, from their rash inva- sion of Canada, dropping down, exhausted as they trudged over the snowdrifts at Deschambault, victims of small pox or dysentery ; their stiffened remains thrust uncofhned in the holes dug in orchards, and in the whitened meadows on the wayside. The locality teems also with the warlike memories of 17513 and 1760, when Murray's army ascended to capture Mon- treal. We are now opposite Deschambault Manor. W at an ever changing scene the river presents ? Now it is an ocean-steamer proudly breasting the cur- rent of the Richelieu ranids, and leaving behind her a vast trail of smoke and foam, while descojiding the rapids in a small fleet of lateen-rigged batteaux dri- ving along like racehorses under the influence of fav- , '1 ! i' — 64- oring wind and current, followed perhaps by a large raft of square timber covered with small sails and cabanes, before which burn bright wood-fires, and to our ears comes faintly the sound of a violin. The tide is almost out, and quaint weed-covered rocks rear their heads throughout the bay ; the river contracts ; yon distant island, a wee speck at high water, now joins the main land. Tlie scene changes ; the tide rushes up, and head winds and the rapids, a heavy sea rises, and the water is covered with white caps. Dark clouds gather in the west and come swiftly forward, and the thunder, in angry voice, gives warning of a heavy shower and squalls. The water turns dark and threate" ning, and the small craft hasten to shorten sail, and make things snug. The storm breaks, and while I sit watching it, I see two large waterspouts form and go tearing across the river to break on the opposite bank. It is but a summer shower, and soon disappears down the river, the late afternoon sun breaking out again bathes the opposite shore in a flood of crimson light reflected from little foamy cascades that brake over the cliffs. Pointe Platon House, Sir Henri Joly's happy home shows its roof and chimney tops above the trees. The spire at the Church at Cap Sante is fairly ablaze. The village, and beautiful Church of Deschambault, on the high point, are brilliantly outlined against the western sky,the whole forming a co^^prf'rt^?/ of surpassing beauty, Deschambault, Cap Lauzon, as it is styled on old charts, contains a beautiful cape studded with trees. It lies on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, forty- five milbs from Quebec. An agricultural district, it was not favored by the profuse expenditure of money, on behalf of Quebec merchants, like Portneuf by Mr. *^:Vi; Kil I I t 't 1 • r ( . ■ ■ • 5 r,, r'l :!-■■-■ .,v: J o;^: :r ^■i\ The Laird of tlaveiisclyH'e, in hia aportiny jticket. -65- McNider, in 1805, by W. B. Coltman, a leading St, Peter street merchant, in 1S06, and subsequently by the late Hon. E. Hale. The first seigneurs, Jacques Alex. Eleury, seigneur d'Eschambault and Joseph Fleury, seigneur de la Gor- gendiere, were important personages in New France, in their day, under English rule. Louis-Joseph d'Es- chambault, who had retired to France, with his aunt, the Marquise de Vaudreuil, was named aide-de-camp. There is little, however, here or elsewhere, to remind one of their doings in feudal times, in Canada, Sei- gniorial dues having been commuted in 1S54, by Act of Parliament, no noisy coops of crowing cocks and hens, chtpons vifs et en plumes, are driven now by the peasantry to the seigniorial manor, at Michaelmas ; A peasant can keep tame pigeons without fear of a fine ; he may even grind his corm where he likes, cook bread when, how and where he thinks proper. These memories of a dim, nnregretted past are rapidly fading away. Here and there we may collect from tradition, episodes of the great conflict in 1749, between France, and England, narratives of the passage of Arnold's ruthless invaders in 1775-6. One thing however, to regret, is the gradual disappearance of the old seignioral manors ; one so loves the old manors. There are, however, some few exceptions to the rule. It is plea sant to record them, and commend the spirit of the proprietors in endeavoring to preserve the few links that yet connect the past with our own times. The late possessor of the manor of Deschambault Mr. Geo.-M. Fairchild,jr., has the spirit of the antiquarian, and an intense love for old traditions and customs ; 5 .,J ^;f^\ — 66 — the manor so long as it remained in his hands reared its hoary head, undisturbed by the vandalism of modern architects. One bright, early June morning, when all nature seemed alive with joyous revelry in the warm sunshine of young summer, I recollect visiting Portneuf. The road from the station was down a tortuous hill along side the noisy, brawling, madly, tumbling, foam-covered Portneuf river, entering its final race ere emptying into the St. Lawrence. What a delicious green the fields had taken on, and how fresh the young verdure of the maple and birch beside the hem- lock's deeper tint! Among the softly murmuring pines, and balsams of the higher hillside, 1 beared my little friend, the white-throated sparrow, uttering in clear tones : Sweet ! Siveet ! Canada ! ! Sweet I Sweet ! Canada ! ! but with his accustomed shyness, keeping well out of sight After a glimpse of a mill through the trees, and a short distance further on, I come upon the old grist mill that in years gone by contributed many a sack of flour towards the supply of England, now alas ! doing very little more than grinding up oats for the neigh- bouring farmers. A dusty meal-covered miller stuck his head out of a window, and wishing us a honjour ! returned to his work. A few moments more, and I came to the village of Portneuf cosily nestled under the hill on the bank of the St. Lawrence. A little wheezy market boat was tied to the wharf, and the entire population of the place had turned out to wel- come Josette or speed Baptiste, or bargain and barter for ail kinds and sorts of farm produce. I passed the pretty little church, and the presbytery where Abbe Piovencher wrote his work " La Flore Canadienne. " 67- Did Herr Peter Kalm botanize here in 1749 ? How I should have enjoyed botanizing through the neighbor- ing fields, and woods, I thought ! The seigniory of Port- neuf was created a barony in 16S1. It belonged to Chevalier Rene Robineau. He is mentioned as being exceedingly prosperous, inasmuch as he thoroughly understood the needs of his people. Canadian Barons' were privileged to erect scaffolds, gibbets, whipping posts, prisons, and other civilizing apparatus. Did the pompous old Baron have either, or did he consider himself safe inside of his massive walls with his fierce hounds ? Who can tell ? Fabulous sums seem to have been spent in develop- ing the timber trade in this locality. But let us hie on to a spot rich in ancient lore — once sacred to Baronial pride, and to those multifarious burthens and restrictions in the tenure of land, of which Hon. L.- T. Drummond, powerfully seconded by Sir Francis Hincks, relieved us in 1854, by act of Parliament. God be praised ! Here, on the banks of the river Portneuf, flourished two centuries and a half back a whole race of warlike, proud French seigneurs created Barons by Louis XIV , here, lived Sieur Pierre Robineau, se'^aeur de Portneuf as early as 1636, and his note i, Baron Rene Robi- neau, the father of a patriarchal family of children, nine in number, apparently as full of mischief as the boys of our own time. History tells of the wicked tricks they played on their father's censitaires by frightening them out of their senses, with the pack of ferocious hounds kept at the Manor, ostensibly to protect its inmates from Iroquois' treachery. The peaceful settlers of Portneuf dare not pass the Manor, and not without -ill It •; . 1 i .^1 — 68 — reason. The Seignorial hounds, on one occasion, nearly ate up an unfortunate old squaw. (Ilisfoire du Cap SanU, page 34) Martial tastes ever distinguished the race. Seigneur Pierre llibineau in his youth served in France, as an ensign in the great Turenne's regiment. The future Baron returned from France in 1644, after holdinj' a commission in a French regiment of dragoons. His father was a member of the Company of One Hundred Partners, founded by Richelieu in 1627, to whom the French King had ceded Canada. Attracted by the richly wooded country, and by the eel, sturgeon and salmon fisheries on the Portneuf. he settled there and made clearings. The title to the land was signed in 1647 only, and not in his favor, but in favor of Sieur de la Potherie, whose daughter he married on the 7th July, 1671 ; the land was ceded by deed, on behalf of the great monarch of France to Rene Robineau, the son of Pierre. In 1681, as a reward for meritorious services rendered by father and son, the seigniory of Portneuf was erected as a Barony ; Rene Robineau became by Royal' letters patent, Baron de Portneuf. The Barony, however, was not without its internal trials, social as well as foreign : of course, the main enemy continued to be the ubiquitous Iroquois. Dis- cord and civil strife soon crej^t in, under guises which would not be considered insuperable to-day. The annals of the adjoining parish of Cap Sante, recently collected in book form by one of its venerable pastors, Rev. Mr. Gatien, under the supervision of a fellow of the Royal Canadian Society, Abbe Casgcain, disclose among others, an incident which at the time shook the settle- ment to its base. " In 1709, an inhabitant of Portneuf, publicly taxed one Perrot, who lived at Deschambault, — 69 — with being a " bald head," nn pele. The chronicler adds that such really was the case ; " like Chicot, mentioned by the historian Faillon, who survived the loss of his scalp, Perrot being pretty tough had survived also the loss of his wig, love locks to boot ; the scalping having been done by those exquisite operators, the Iroquois, with remarkable nicety, one would imagine. By some curious process of reasoning, the charge was considered by the Deschambault folks, a dire insult to the whole settlement, one which blood alone could wipe off. Preparations were made for the fray ; the fight to come off on the feast of Pentecoste. Soon the news of the impending struggle reached the ears of the Intendant and Minister of Justice, at Quebec ; Jacques Raudot, was not an official to be trilled with. He forth- with put forth an cnJonnance which was to be read at the church door, inflicting imprisonment, and a fine of six livres against any one mixing himself up with the fray. The capitanie de la cote was also instructed to forward to Quebec — in chains possibly — the culprits. War was thus averted, and peace at last restored between the belligerents. Intendant Raudot appears to have had other troubles of less magnitude, which, with a few ordonnances, he succeeded in quelling, such as the order of presenting the ixihi hmi (holy bread) on Sundays, &c., &c. To revert to the Portneuf feudal magnates. Several sons and grandsons of Baron Portneuf took up military service in the colony. A worthy descendant, the Rev. Rene Robineau. parish priest of St. Joachim, fell during the siege of 1759, on the 23rd August, whilst bravely leading on his parishioners against the invaders of the soil. Another perished in 1761, on the coast of New- m^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 5* '^n Was: i .^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 40 2.0 U III 1.6 i^ /a ^ M //, ^a *.^ A /A s V Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^*U 6^ Vt,. 3"?: !■■ — 70 — foundland, in the melancholy shipwreck of the ill-fated " August^e," whilst returning to France. The seigniory of Portneuf, after changing hands several times, was acquired by the Ursuline Nuns of Quebec, in 1744. These ladies held it many years. Later on, it was purchased by the late George Burns Symes, of Quebec, At his death this fine property reverted to his daughter Clara, at present the Duchesse de Bassano, in Parin. We next headed the Ilirondelle for Pointe-aux- Trembles ; at early dawn the whistle of the little market steamer Etoile caught our ear. This parish, one of the oldest on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, is fringed with low, fertile meadows, with a background of lofty heights, studded with orchards and graceful elms. During the great siege several encounters took place here between the Eng- lish and French forces. Wolfe, Murray, Levis, Dumas, Abbergotti were once familiar names to the peasantry of Pointe-aux-Tremhles ; some of these names were more dreaded than loved however. A party of 1,200 of Fraser's Highlanders, and Gre- nadiers, says Panel:, were dispatched to Pointe-avx- Tremhles, commanded by General Wolfe in person under the French. Panet is wrong : it w^as Major Carleton, under the guidance of Major Robert Stobo;* on the 21st of July, 1759, three men and a bevy of Quebec French ladies, were captured. They had sought a refuge there during the bombardment. The English were fired on by about 40 Indians ; but succeeded about half-past three in the morning, having surround- ed the houses round the church, in capturing about thirteen ladies. The fair captives were Mesdames * Major R. Stobo, who had been for three years a prisoner of war in Quebec, was we 11 acquainted with its environs. — 71 — Duchesnay, de I'Epinay, DeCharny, with her mother, and her sister and Mdlle Oouillard. The Joly, Malhiot and Magnan families formed part of them. They were treated with every kind of respect. The detachment was under the guidance of Major Robert Stobo, who. it seems, made several pretty speeches to the ladies — ^'qui a fait Men des compliments." " What was worse," remarks Panet, " was that whilst the British soldiery did them no harm, the Indians (allies of the French) pillaged the houses and property of nearly all these unfortunate refugees. — (Panet's " Journal du Siege p. 13) — " Each captive for the day bore the name of her captor." It sounds odd that it should have seemed necessary to detail 1,200 Highlanders and British Grenadiers, etc., to capture thirteen French ladies ! Oi«e likes to recall this romantic incident in the caree. "^ Miss Lowther's f admirer, James Wolfe — the chivalrous gallantry of the young soldier towards beauty in distress. Next day the fair Quebecers were brought home in boats, and landed a,tAnee des Mh'es, at 3 p. m., orders having been sent by the General to the English fleet to stop firing on the city until 9 p. m., so as to afford the captives time, after their release, to retire to a place of safety. Who was on that 2lst of July, 1759, Madame Wolfe» Madame Stobo, Madame Frazer ? What a lark for the sons of Mars to write about in their next home letters ? f She, later on, married the Duke of Bolton. When Carleton, afterward Lord Dorchester had his levoes at the Chateau, the presence of some of these fair guests must have amused him. — 72 — At Pointe-aux-Tremhles occurred during the spring of 1760, the engagement between the French frigates with an overwhelming force of the British fleet ; brave Captain de Vauclain, of the Atalante^ winning by his spirited, though unsuccessful defence, the respect of worthy foes. At Pointe-aux-Tremhles^ took place, on 22nd Nov. 1775, the junction of Col. Benedict Arnold's hardy followers down the valleys of the Kennebec and the Chaudi^re with Brigadier Gen. Richard Montgomery's Continentals on the war path to storm Queboc. A pro- clamation of Arnold's recently discovered reads thus : Head quarters Point-aux-Trembles November 28, 1775. Gentlemen You are hereby requested to prevent any kind of Provisions or Fuel going from Point Levi to Quebec, or any assistance being given to the Garrison, as they are endeavouring to Subvert the rights and Liberties of Mankind and this Colony in particular — Bened't Arnold, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army at Point aux Trembles To the worthy Inhabitants of Point Levi To Joseph Lamond (*) Parish of St Thomas * This Joseph Lamonde was in the Commissary service of the Continental Army, and was entrusted by Gen. Arnold with this — 73 — The next headland is the bluff at the mouth of the roaring Jacques Cartier stream, where frowned the grim old fort of that name. There, bivouacked, on the 14th of September, 1759, the routed French lejrions. The ditches round the vanished fortress are still visible. Not very far, lower down, is a lurking boulder, visible at half tide, known to this day, as La Roche d Jacques-Cartier. A vague, unreliable tradition, goes on to say that Jacques Cartier was wrecked on this treacherous, hidden rock. So soon as " rosy-fingered Aurora had ope'd the portals of the east, " I was up and pacing the deck, when the Laird of Ravensclyffe accosted me, and, pointing to the faint outline of the Calvaire close by, dating from 1698, he asked me if I could notice on the beach any remains of the first church at St. Augustin. — " Did you," he added, "ever hear the history of the black horse who carted the greater portion of the stone for the foundation wall of the first church, or chapel of St. Augustin ? This was, as you may be aware, a wooden structure, built at UAnce a Maheut about ten acres from the main road, in 1690, on the beach. The second church, some distance from the first, dates back to 1720 ; the present one, is a com- paratively recent structure." document addressed to the people of Point Levi. It was found in a good state of preservation by Messrs. J. B. Varin, and Adolphe Beauvais, Notaries, in making the inventory of the grandson of Lemonde some years ago at Laprairie, and was lately given to Mr. L. N. Dumouchel, N. P., who purposes to have it framed. Mr. Bumouchel is an active member of " La Soci^t^ IHstorique de Mont- rM," {Montreal Post, ISth April, 1892.) -74 — On my replying in the negative, he lit his cheroot^ and held out as follows : " Two centuries ago where you now see round here water a fathom and more deep at high tide,was dry land. The population formed a mission — the mission of La Cote Saint Anqe. A notable portion of the settlers in primitive Canada were originally from JNormandy. Normans are famous for their love of lawsuits. There must have been several located here, judging from their cantankerous disposition when the site and size of the future chapel was mooted. One faction wanted the place of worship to be just large enough for the settlement at UAnce d, Maheut, without a steeple. The opposition, a progressive body with an eye to the future, insisted on a larger building with a lofty steeple, and a cross surmounted by a cock — the Gallic cock of course. " After several noisy conclaves of the notables, the steeple was carried, but the cross and cock were dropped, on the score of needless expenditure. It was remarked that the loudest in denouncing the emblem of Chris- tianity, as unnecessary expense, was a colonist recently arrived from Paris,a swarthy fellow, — whose, visage was covered with a heavy, bluish beard — wearing a black velveteen justaucorps. However, he spoke loud and fluently; was evidently a man of some means, as he had ridden to the meeting on horseback, but had refused to dismount, alleging that his steed, a coal black, fiery Norman roadster, would not stand unattended, and that he alone could master him. " The animal, it was remarked, was very restless and wore a species of spiked, double bridle, which the rider jocosely remarked had not been removed for a year and a day. The mysterious stranger spoke so fair, and seemed to enter so readily in the all absorbing bless the lor a Ifair, Ibing — 75 — project of church building, that it required but few arguments on his part to have his offer accepted, when he tendered for the cartage of all the stone required for the foundation walls. " The agreement, a very concise one, was jotted down on a sheet of birch bark by the scribe of the settlement, who counted on being chosen beadle of the future parish. He was a jolly, fat fellow, and boasted of having already found an appropriate name for the fiery, black horse, whom he christened, on account of his sleek, shiny, satin-like coat, " Satan" playing on the words. The Seigneur and father of the settlement, on being asked to become a party to the contract, and to affix his signature thereto, drew forth from its scabbard a short sword such as the French king's retainers usually wore ; not, however, with any evil intent, but to use the point, in making his mark, a cross (X), on the bark. This made Satan's owner wince ; the feudal magnate heeded him not, telling the scribe to add the usual closing formula — " Et le dit sieiir en sa quality de gentilhomme a declare ne savoir signer." " The very next day at sunrise (the nine-hour day's time was not yet in fashion), Satan, suitably harnessed to a rude charette, made his appearance, led by his master. " What a worry for the poor beast, every one exclaimed, that heavy, spiked, double bridle must be when he is to be fed, or watered ? Why, one would imagine it was never intended to be removed ? There was evidently something strange, sinister, verging on the mysterious about the whole turnout ? How Satan did paw the earth, show his long, white teeth, put down close to his head his short, delicately shaped i i f '* '; 1 . t 1 1 — 76— ears, as if in a chronic state of rage, when strangers approached him ! It became an established fact that the bridle was to remain as tight as possible on the animal, even when he was brought at noon to drink from a neighbouring spring; else, there would be trouble. A late incident left no doubt on this point. On a recent occasion^ when the farmers around had assembled, on their way home, at noon, to repeat the Angelus, close to the spot where the CalvairevfSiS erected in 1698, and to water the horses, Satan, being led, like the rest, to the refreshing draught, a peasant said to his master : " Why don't you remove his bridle and give him a chance to drink comfortably ? " To which the mysterious stranger replied with an emphatic ; '' No " ; the peasant, still pressing him, was met with a dreadful oath, uttered by SatarCs master " Tors mon dnie au boiU cCun piquet !" f However, as this last feat rested merely on the ipse dixit of a super- stitious old crone; Satan and his owner were allowed to proceed, unmolested, with the contract, though the future beadle on noticing the huge boulders carted by Satan, without any apparent effort, had openly stated to the Seigneur — crossing himself — ^'Cest le Diahle ! •' Tis the Devil ! " The beadle's daughter, a rosy-cheeked, romping lass, had secretly told her mother a curious love story about the strange contractor, adding, though she liked him : " ^a parait etre un beau mosieur, mais fen at peur" Bravely, however, was the work going on for a full week; # f A picturesque expletive in frequent use bj old voyageura des pays den haul. It might be reuderend in English : " Crush my aoul on the end of a/fnee rail / " — 7; — so rapidly, in fact, that the contractor drew in advance a large portion of the price agreed on. On the follow- ing Saturday, just when all except himself, were pre- paring to kneel to repeat the Angelus, the future beadle, out of pure cussedness ? though some said it was through curiosity — while Satan's master, who had just pocketed a whole week's instalment in advance, was, gaily paying a gallant compli- ment to the beadle's blooming daughter — led Satan to the well, tugged and pulled at the double bridle until he succeeded in slipping it off, when lo ! and behold ! Satan disappeared in a cloud of blue flame and sulphurous smoke Endless were the lawsuit* and discord which followed ; of course, all caused by the interference of the devil in church matters." — " Well, said J. 0. — this is a capital story. It is indeed risky to unbridle a spirited horse when brought out to make him drink ; it seems then a fact that Diaholus has occasionally interfered in church matters in Canada as well as elsewhere ! " " I think, I can match it with an old, very old Canadian legend to which students of our folk-lore are welcome. It exhibits the arch-fiend merging from an appa- rently lucrative project merely as second best ; in fact, outwitted. " At the dawn of the colony, years before Mr. Mercier spoke of iron Municipal bridges, the crossings in use over brooks were of a very rude, primitive nature. A spring freshet had carried away a small stone bridge leading to the shrine of a venerable Monastery at > I" -78- A. contractor from abroad, eminently qualified, at least as such he was vouched for, came forth and had little trouble in cloning for the materials requisite to reconstruct a public work earnestly sought and prayed for by the numerous pilgrims attracted to the shrine. The remuneration instead of being set forth in livres, was of a very unusual character ; the odd, — some said, daft and mysterious contractor declined 1 ucre altogether, merely stipulating that the first " creature " crossing the bridge on completion was to belong to him. Here lies the mystery. Did he in his evil mind, contemplate the owning, and subsequent ransom of some wealthy pilgrim ? Did his audacity even compass the capture and ransom of the Lady Superior on her way to convey offerings to the sacred shrine ? Who will ever dare, decide ? the contract was signed and sealed. A crafty notary Educated in France, but who had missed his vocation among the Trappists for having laughed immoderately during his time of probation, on being ordered to fetch water from a distant brook to the monastery in a basket full of holes : he was the man of business, the Factotum of the Monastery. At a glance, he saw how loosely the agreement was worded and, without hesitation, subscribed to its ambiguous terms. Just as the last stone was placed on the structure, the strange contractor stepped forward, claiming payment. " Wait, friend, until Matines are over, urged the artful limb of the law," the Lady Superior will be here with the almoner, to consecrate the new bridge ; then we will settle. — " No. roared the arch-fiend with a hideous oath — " No consecration " will take place over -79- my work, with my consent ; I demand instanter the execution of the agreement, else I will claim as mine the bridge itself. Je lui jeUerai un sort ! I will bewitch it: he ominously added." The official forthwith hurried to the parloir of the Convent, and sent word to the Lady Superior that he wanted for a few minutes the loan of her favorite, a huge, black cat. Various were the accounts of the origin of the feline. Some averred it had come over from France with Madame de la Peltrie : others said it once had belonged to Madlle Mance and had been bequeathed by her to Monsieur de Puiseaux, and by him given to the Monastery, when she left for Montreal. Master Thomas, sleek, purring and decked with a pink ribon round his neck, had to be brusquely awoke from his nap, and removed from his soft cushion, in the Lady Superior's room ; he was then conveyed, unsuspectiug. at once to the new bridge. The Notary Public then let him loose, yelling to the contractor " Attrape \ (Catch him !) Thomas scared, at such strange behaviour, made a dash for the other end of the bridge, like lightning ; never since has he been seen by mortal eye ! ! ! The contractor dazed, uttered a hoarse, unearthly howl ! saying : " I have indeed been outwitted ; had I added to my contract, the word " human," I might have claimed a human creature ! " That bridge was never a success : it got to be hated by pilgrims, and had ultimately to be rebuilt. On a murky, November night, on All Souls Day, the sexton of the Monastery declared he had seen on the main arch, glaring at him with fiery eyeballs, a nuge black cat : the bridge was haunted ! " / t:i -80- Let us resume the thread of our narrative. From the deck of the yatch, we could discern, canopied by the green woods, on the lofty river bank at St. Augustin, the long, mossy, white house, where the historian of Canada, Frs.-X. Garneau. was born on the 13th June, 1809. * I recollect my dear friend the historian relating to me how Louis Garneau, his aged sire, had told him the thrilling tale of the encounter which, as a boy, in 1760. ho had witnessed from the verandah of this old tenement, between the Atalante, commanded by brave Captain de Vauclain (so ungratefully requited on his return to France for his life-long devotion to the inter-^ est of the French king) with several English men-of- war. A short distance lower down we shot past the lugubrious ledge, visible at low tide, where, on the 22nd June, 1857, at about 5. p. m., the ill-fated old steamer Montreal, on her daily trip from Quebec, loaded with emigrants, in flames from bow to stern, was beached as a last resort. Two hundred of her despair- ing passengers, v/ith some well-remembered Quebecers, attempting to swim from the burning craft, were that day consigned to a watery grave, within hail of the * " Mon vieil aicul, courb^ par I'ftge, assis sur la galerie de sa longue maison blanche, perch^e au sommet de la butte qui doinine la vieille ^glise de Saint- Augustin, nous montrait, de sa main trem- blante, le the&tre du combat nbval de YAtalante avec plusieurs vais- saux anglais, combat dont i^ avait ^te temoin dans son enfance. Il^ airaait k raconter comment plusieurs de ses oncles avaient p^ri dans des luttes h^roiques de cette epoque, et k nous rappeler le nom des lieux ou s'^taient livr^s une partie de ces glorieux combats restds dans ses souvenirs." — Biographie de F-X. Garneau, par I'abb^ H.-R^ Casgrain. sa la — 81 — shore, — one of the most heartrending, among the many marine disasters, which darken our annals. On we sped, in the cool of the early morn, whilst the orb of day poured forth its purple light over one of the most enchanting river views on the continent, localities for ever enshrined in early Canadian story*— Cap Rouge and its lofty bluff where Jacques Cartier^ and Roberval wintered more than three and a half centuries ago. — the green banks of Sillery Cove, where, in 1637, existed the Jesuit mission-house, amidst the Algonquin and Montagnais wigwams. — Convent Cove where for three and a half years, piously ministered to the spiritual and temporal wants of their neophytes, the Hospitaliires (Hotel-Dieu) nuns, until incessant Iroquois raids forced them back to Quebec on the 29th May, 1644. On we sped, past the little monument erected by the inhabitants of Sillery, and consecrated on 26th June 1870, to the memory of Commander Noel Brulart de Sillery, a Knight of Malta, the munificent founder of the settlement, — sacred also to the memory of Father Ennemond Mass6, the First missionary of Canada, peace- ably resting since the 12th May, 1646, under the chancel of his modest chapel of St. Michael, whose walls are now razed level with the shore, but whose founda- tions are still perceptible under the sod a few yards south of the monument. In rear on the opposite side of the road, still stands with its massive walls, three feet thick, transformed into a dwelling, the Jesuits' former residence, known to the inhabitants as " The Mansion " — the oldest house in Canada, dating back to 1637. 6 1 — 82 — As the yatch sailed past, we caught a glim pse, among the trees mantliiig the Sillery heights, of Clermont, erected there, in 1850, by the late Hon. R. E. Caron,one of our most respected administrators, now the ornate home of Lt. Col. Ferdinand Turnbull, late Inspector of our Dominion Cavalry. It adjoins Beauvoir manor, with its extensive conservatories and vineries, the seat of the Honble R. R. Dobell— M. P. for Quebec. We had sailed past, without catching a glimpse — on account of the intervening green groves and luxur- eant plantations, of those beautiful country-seats, which like a chaplet of flowers, adorn the brow of the Sillery Heights ; Cape Rouge cottage, Ravensclyffe Dornald, Ravenswood. The Highlands, Meadow Bank, Cataracowy, Benmore,.Bardfield, Kirkella, Montague Cottage, Roslin Thorshill. Soon loomed out lofty Pointe-d-Pizeau, once a" fa- mous trysting place for the Red Man. Since 1854, the handsome St. Columba church, like a diadem, crowns the historic point. Close by, in St. Michael's Cove, stood, in 1641, Mon- sieur Pierre Puiseaux's sumptuous abode, where the founder of Montreal, Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Mdlle Mance, with the soldiers and farmers, colonists for Montreal, found a hospitable roof to shelter them, during the winter of 1642.t We were rapidly drawing near the indentation in the &hore, at the foot of Marchmont Hill — now named after the conquering hero of the Heights of Abraham, Wolfe's Cove, where the British Grenadiers and Scotch f " Une maison regard^e dans le temps comme le biiou du Canada", the gem of Canada. — 83 — Highlanders were silently mustering for an assault, at dawn on the 13th September, 1759. A few moments later and the yatch, having edged inside of the Fly Bank, was creeping leisurely along the decayed wharves, and half submerged piers, close to the precipice where luckless Brigadier-General Ri- chard Montgomery's conquering career was arrested for ever. " Here Fell Montgomery" was inscribed in white letters on a black board, attached to the rock, sufficiently high above to be read from the deck of river craft. Five minutes more and our trusty Hiron- delle, taking a sheer was rounding — within full view of Orleans' verdant isle, four miles distant — to her berth at the Custom House wharf. I stood on the quarter deck, trying to treasure in as many as possible of the glorified memories, and quaint traditions of the past associated with the noble expanse of water just travelled over. From the haunt- ed halls of memory rushed out in full panoply of suc- cess, of war, occasionally of victory, the illustrious dead : Jacques-Cartier, Champlain, de Tracy, de Fron- tenac, Phipps, de la Galissonniere, Wolfe, Montcalm, Levis, Murray,Cook,Bougainville, Arnold, Montgomery, and on stepping again on our historic soil, turning to our genial compagnon de voyage, the Laird of Ravens clyfEe, I remarked : " Sta viator, heroem calcas." 'in wh du — 84 — Chap, lit "SONGS OF OLD CANADA" " Gollifirite fragmenta ne pereant."^ " Vive fa Canadienne Et sesjolia yeux doux ?" Port of Quebec, 189— " Friends, fellow-country men," majestically spoke out the Commodore, " Three cheers as we cast off the hawser !" Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! ! Don't expect me to apologize to you, for having made some impor- tant additions to our mess roll. Two distinguished representatives of the feminine gender, have volun- teered to risk their precious lives on board the Hiron- delle, as far as Berthier, where a pleasant event is in store for them ; thank heaven, this ..ill not be a mere bachelors outing : t'will be something better ! " A tuneful son of Phoebus-Apollo, by name Florio, the sweet singer of Evangeline's woes, is one of us ; you all know him without the formality of a presen- tation. " Allow me to introduce you to my much respected lady-friend, whom I will christen Donna Sol, on account of her deep admiration for Victor Hugo's heroine, of that name, in Hernani, and now make your best bow to this blooming shepherdess, fresh from the land of her fathers. La Normandiel We will, with her permission, know her, under her nom de guerre, as Mdlle Clementine — a pretty name you will have the gallan- try to admit. Henceforth her beloved native soil will know her no more ; she will be one of us, faithful and true. Vive la Canadienne V This rousing appeal brought to his feet Florio, who at that moment, seemed as if w ''x JOXATHAN OLDIU'CK W- — 85 — rapped in silent contemplation, with his face turned tov/ards a sinister rent, observable over head, in Cape Diamond, nearly opposite to the Queen's Wharf, as if the demon of elegiac poesy was seizing hold of him, called forth by the melancholy catastrophe, which at this spot had recently overtaken forty-three of the guileless residents of Champlain street ; crushing them to pulp, under the crumbling masses of the disinte- grated cape. The bard of Acadian mishaps, forgetful of his impending elegy, responded to the Commodore by mer- rily repeating a stanza from the sweet, familiar Cana- dian ballad : " Par derrihre chez mon phre II y aun pommier doux Donna Sol retorted, Gai le rosier Dujoli mois de mat" and the Commodore struck in with Wm. McLennan capital English Torsion : " Behind my aunt's there groweth A wood all greenery, The nightingale'^; song filleth Its glades with melody. Gai Ion la, gai le rosier Du joli mois de Mai. The nightingale's song filleth Its glades with melody ; He sings for maids whose heauty No lover holds iu fee. He sings for maids whose beauty No lover holds in lee ; For me he singeth never, For mv true love loves me. il ¥.^' Jl' 1^ ■ ij: I — 86 — For me he singeth never For my true-love loves me ; He joins no more the dancers, Alas ! he is far from me. He joins no more the dancers Alas ! he is far from me ; A prisoner ta'en while fighting In distant Germanie. A prisoner ta'ken while fighting In distant Germanie ; *• What wilt thou give, sweet maiden^ An' I bring him back to thee 1 " What wilt thou give, sweet maiden An' I, bring him back to thee > I'll give thee all Versailles, Paris, and St. Denis. I'll give thee all Versailles, Paris and St. Denis, And the crystal fount that floweth In my garden clear and free. " Gai Ion la, gai le rosier Du joli mois de tnai. " Allow me, Mr. Old buck," put in the Laird of Ra- vensclyffe, before bidding adieu to this very interest- ing subject, to call your attention to a paper contribut- ed to the press, on the National Ballads op Canada, in which the writer, who signs, ^^Beveille" alludes to the poems of MistraL It would appear that in these poems will be found under the title of the Song of Magali — a very popular Canadian ballad ; this same song of Magali, Reveille observes, has been current in Canada for more than two centuries. The introduction,, as is often the case — 87- is altered, but the body of the ballad remains unal- tered "Magali sought to avoid love by a thousand disguises, who becomes vine in the vineyard, bird that flies, ray that beams, but, nevertheless, fell in love himself and sought Mireille." Here is Reveille's translation of Cadieux's lament. Thou little Rock of the High hill, Attend ; Hither I come this last campaign to end ! Ye echoes soft, give ear unto my sigh In languishing I speedily shall die. Dear little birds, your dulcet harmony What time you sing, makes life dear with me Ah ! had I wings, that I might fly like you, Ere two days sped I should be happy too. Lone in these woods I've known cares without end. Pondering for aye the fate of each dear friend ; I ask myself : Alas ! and are they drowned 1 Or by the Iroquois so ruthless found 1 Once, as I wander, to my great surprise, On my return I see a smoke arise. Groat God, I cry, what was it that I saw 1 My hut is taken by the Iroquois. Then, for a while I crouched without the shade. That I might see if t'were an ambuscade A joy too great filled up my heart to see The faces of three men, of Frenchmen three Then my voice chokes, my knees give way and lo ! I fall, Alas ! and they prepare to go ! I am alone. And none console me may Although death conies in such a cruel way ! A howling wolf crept to my cabin nigher To see if smoke still rose up from my fire To him I said : Go, Coward brute, and fierce, Or, by my faith, thy gray coat I will pierce. «<' I *(■»: ; ai'^i «.: : — 88 — A Shble Crow, that flew in search of food Perched on a tree in my near neighborhood To him I said ; *' Oorger of human flesh, Go elsewhere, seek a meal not quite so fresh Go deeper in the wood, hard by yon swamp There, in the Iroquois' abandoned camp Thou will find all the flesh thou covetest Go farther on and leave me to ray rest. Oh nightingale, go tell my mistress true, My little ones I leave them my adieu, That I have kept my love and honor free And they hence forth must hope no more of me. Here, then, it is the world abandons me — But I have help, Saviour of man, in thee Most holy Virgin do not from me fly ! Within your arms, Oh suffer me to die. Nothing more plaintive or touching can be imagined than the tistant echo of the last verse as it floats down the stream. Tr^s-Sainte Vierge, Ah ! m'abandonnez pas, Fermettez-moi d'mourir entre vos bras ! — and the canoe and its crew vanish upon the shining river. RiVEILLK. " Commodore, let us have now a rousing modern French song, and let me tell you Nicholas Mathurin is the man to sing it." The waif of the sea, thus appealed to, drawing respectfully towards us, responded : Denx gendarmes, un beau dimanche ; Chevauchaient le long du sentier ; L'un portait la sardine blanche, L'autre, le jaune baudrier. Le premier dit d'un ton sonore, Le temps est beau pour la saism. — 89- Brigadier, r^pondit Pandore Brigcuiier, voua avez raison. Ah ! c'est un metier diflicile, Garantir la propri^td, Prot^ger lea cham]>s, et la ville Du vol et de I'iniquit^, Fourtant I'^pouse que j'adore Repose seule k la maison. Brigadier, rdpondit Pandore Brigadier, voue avez raison. iLa gloire, c'est une couronne Faite de rose et de laurier ; J'ai servi Venus et Bellone, Je suis ^pottx et brigadier ; Mais-je poursuis ce m^t^^ore Qui vers Ghalcos, guida Jason. Brigadier, rdpondit Pandore Brigadier, vou$ avez raison. Je me souviens de ma jeunesse, Le temps pass^ ne revient pas, J'avais une foUe niaitresse Flein de m^rites et d'appas. Mais le coeur, pourquoi, je I'ignore Aime k changer la garnison. Brigadier, rdpondit Pandore Brigadier, vous avez raison. FhebuR au bout de sa carriere Put encore les apercevoir Le brigadier de sa voix fifere R^veillait les ^hos du soir. Je vois, dit-il, le soleil qui dore Ces verts coteaux k I'horizon. Brigadier, rdpondit Pandore Brigadier, vous avez raison. m 1 mM sjtmi ,>rti AH 1 !-( ''•w fPT — 90 — Puis, ils chemin^rent en silence On n'entendit plus que le pas Des chevaux niarchant en cadence, Le bri£[adier ne par tit pas ; Mais quant pari\t la pale aurore, On entendit un vague son ; Brigadier, r^pondit Pandore, Brigadier, voua acez rniaon. , With respect to this song, Mr. McLennan remarks : " This, of course, is not a Canadian song at all, and haa no claims to antiquity, but any collection would be sadly imperfect, if our friend Pandore, with his reas- suring response were omitted. " It is extremely difficult to render the current of burlesque sentiment which runs through the original, so fine indeed, that it is almost unavoidably overlooked by those who know the song familiarly ; the magnifi- cent swing of the music is probably the cause of its being so frequently rendered an serieux.^^ " Ernest Gagnon's '^Chansons Populaires du Canada" is the store-house to which resort is generally had in any account of these floating lays. The number of these, he says, is incalculable — from the little non- sense-verses sung to the child in his cradle, up to the numberless songs which ring about the parish ; " and when in the evening, after a hot summer's day, he comes back to rest from his toil, balanced by the move- ment of high- framed cart, and couched on a soft, sweet- smelling load of haj^ he will be heard crooning in a tone monotonous, but sweet, some of these dear syl- lables and names which recall the ancienne mere-patrie; or, on the rafts and in the canoe, he will sing La Belle Frangoise^ or the complainte of a hapless voyageur engulfed in the rapids ; or yet again, the beautiful — 91 — Kyrie which those chant at church who are dear to him, and who have remained in the natal parish on the ancestral acres." A goodly number of these songs are still sung, in more or less similar forms, throughout the provinces of France ; but no small number are embalmed in Canada alone, and lost in, though not to, the m^re patrie. " The most universal is A la Claire Fontaine. " From the little child of seven years up to the man of silver hair, all the people in Canada know and sing the Claire Fontaine, one is not French-Canadian without that." In Normandy they sing a similar chanson, but the air, which here is monotonous, but attractive, is different there. Une of the translations renders the lay into English. The original commences thus : A la Claire Fontaine M'en allant promener, J'ai trouv^ I'eau si belle Que je me suis baign^. " This chanson is typical in its airy mixture of rambl- ing and poetry. The first stanza, it will be seen, is practically meaningless ; but there comes that beau- tiful little chorus, far more lovely in the quiet w^ay in which the air tempts you to hum : *• II y a longtemps que je t'ainie Jamaib je ne t'oublierai, Ma mi-e ! "Y a longtemps que je t'aime ! Jamais je ne t'oublierai. " Sweet is the little address to the nightingale : '• Chante, rossignol, chante, Toi qui a le coeur gai, Tu as le cceur k rire Moi, je I'ai k pleurer. m ■ % ■ ■ -i. f t f ^ % *if W% V ii — 92 — Lui y a longtemps que je t'aiine, Janiaii je ne t'oublierai. " " (Test la Belle Frangoise " is one more careless, and therefore still more defiant of deliberate rational sequence : " C'est la belle Fran9oi8e, bon gai, O'eat la belle Fran^oise, Qui veut s'y niarier, ma luron, lurette, Qui veut a'y marier, ma luron, lur^. Son amant va la voire, &c,, Bien tard apr^s souper, Jco. II la trouva seulette, Sur son lit qui pleurait. Ah ! qn'k vous la belle, Qu'& vous a tant pleurer ? On m'a dit, kier au soir Qu'4 la ((uerre vous alliez." The lover goes on to comfort her with a promis3 to marry her on his return from the war, ** Si j'y suis respects," ending of course with the flippant '* Ma luron, lurette ; ma luron, lure ! " One of the best known is En Roulant, translated by William McLennan. " Several belong particularly to the raftsmen and lumberers of the Saint Lawrence, and Ottawa rivers. Such is : Via 1' bon vent, v'la 1' joli vent. Via r bon vent, ma mie m'appelle ; VU r bon v'la 1' joli vent. Via r bon vent, ma mie m'attend." 93- " Which, as sung on a huge raft, with shanties on it, descending of these beoad open rivers, by the rough and jolly crew, han a genuine inspiration of free life about it. Of a wild character, too, is Alouette, whose very beautiful air has made it a college song. The words are nonsense. ** Alouette " means a snipe in Canada, though a lark in France, and the burden goes : •• Alouette, gentille p'ouette, Alouette, je te pluinerai." " The gaiety of France marks almost all of them, and most have some sudden touch of quaint humor ; — " Mamie, embrassez uoi. Nenni, monsieur, je n'oserais Car si mon papa le navait." "But who will tell her papa ? " The birds of the woods " ; — " Les oiseaux parlent-ils 1 lis parlent franqais, latin aussi. Helas, que le monde est maliii D'apprendre aux oiseaux le latin." " Others have the weird mediaeval charm, which is perhaps best instanced in Marianson, Dame Jolie, and the sorcery-lay Entre Paris et St Denis. " Malborough figures in a variety of forms as Mal- hrouck, so widely sung also in France. It is said that during the last North-West Rebellion, when one of the French-Canadian regiments, having endured much, long, and difficult marching, was overhead to say " When shall we return home ? " The commander Colonel T. B. Strange, instantly replied by quoting : " Malbrouck s'en va en guerre Mais quand reviendra-t-il 1 " W |M» i.i ^'ft* ; ! » „i , ;, V. ... i m — 94- and the whole regiment taking up the well known refrain, pushed forward cheerfully with refreshed spirits. Ballad-making still continues, but without quite the same interesting incentives as formerly, and there- fore without the whole of the same charm. That charm has passed for the present into the poetry of the modern men of culture of French Canada." — "By the piper that played before Moses " exclaim- ed Mac of the Isles,"never before was there such abroad- side of airy metrical musings from the quarter-deck of the Hirondelle ! to my mind such an unusual occurrence presages wind, perhaps a storm ! " Madlle Clementine expressed her admiration for this wealth of native minstrelsy, readily acknowledg- ing the indebtedness of her own dear Normandy, to cold, distant Canada, for thus preserving, in their pris- tine freshness, so many quaint ballads, such simple but charming old songs, several as good as forgotten or unrecognizable, mutilated by time and periodical revo- lutions, in the land of their birth, on the sunny banks of the Loire or the Seine. Donna Sol, in her blithest strains, commenced to warble " Vive la Cauadienne^'l A few minutes later, the sprightly commander of the Hirodelle was gallantly escorting over the gangway his merry lady-passengers to the Berthier pier, oppo- site the ruins of the once extensive Seigniorial Manor of Berthier, where Seigneur Claude Denechaud, high in Masonic honors, at Quebec, at the dawn of the century, found time, between his seigniorial engage- ments, and not overburdensome parliamentary duties, to disport on public occasions his grand Masonic regalia 95 — much to the scandal of his French-Canadian country- men. With the flood tide making, a stiff northeaster had sprung up ; abundant white caps were sporting their fleecy curls, in the fierce tide-rips to the north, round the islands ; an ugly sea was rapidly for- ming : the ladies had indeed landed in time. Soon the seamanship of the sailing master, Carleton, would be tested, as well as the staunchness of the little craft in beating out of the Troii de Berthier against tide and wind, past les Ileh de Bellechasse, heading north north east, in the direction of the Quarantine Station, at Grosse Isle. — " Cannot you ease her off a point; we are getting fearfully drenched, with the spray" remarked the Com- modore to his trusty sailing-master ; "let us take a reef in the mainsail ; the yatch will labor less ; even my waterproof won'tkeep me dry; t'is blowing half a gale." Merrily, the swift, well equipped Hirondelle, held on her course, the spray reaching sometimes to her mast-head. Shortly afterwards, the illustrious son of Phoebus- Apollo, who more than once had uneasily shifted his seat from leaward to windward, according to the pitch- ing of the yatch, as a last resort, clutched hold to steady himself of the mast. He was evidently ill at ease, and was drenched to the skin ; possibly, he might have experienced a sharp twinge of the ogre, sea sick- ness ! Pale, wet, shivering, he tried to make a bee-line to where the commodore stood, "I shall soon, said he, be a fit subject for the coroner, if this weather holds out," and he looked unutterably miserable. ;'^li:t I hi '■I. ' ■ ' %■''■ — 96 — A fierce, curling wave at this moment, breaking in foam over the bow of the craft, the unhappy poet fol- lowed by the rest of the party, sought shelter in the cabin below, where the crockery and furniture gene- rally, were capering round right merrilly ; the helm being entrusted to grim, old Carleton, whose pock- marked, withered cheeks were dripping with the spray^. though he looked as usual, cheery, but taciturn ; sym- pathy was expressed all round for the forlorn aspect of the poor bard. — '' Come, steward, hurry up ! bring out your choi- cest restorer and cordial! " ejaculated the ever though- ful commodore. It is a case of life or death, with our poet, unless looked after. Where will we be if he should expire on our hands, for lack of proper stimu lants. Any Benedictine on board ? any more of that delicious Grande Chartreuse '* distilled of blessed herbs gathered at the hour of Ave Maria, and sealed with the sign of the Holy Cross ?" — " We don't deal in such drugs " gruffly retorted the steward " and then reaching the main locker, he brought forth a thick-necked three gallon demi-john, '' Here, sir, is prime spirit : pine apple rum kept in case of sea-sickness ! " and then relaxing his usually austere countenance, he added, with a sly wink " T'is the real " Stingo from St. Domingo, hy Jingo,''^ one glass will make a dead man's whiskers curl, two glasses will put him clean on his feet." — " Poets abstain from all such beverage, my good fellow; all their ailments they are supposed to cure with a celestial draught, to mortals known as Ambrosia,. sententiously " replied the commodore. To which Mac of the Isles made the laconic reply " Credat Judeiis Apella." At this critical juncture, J. 0., I ! — 97 in illy ood !ure 'piy 0., who seemed as indulging in agloomy viewof the poet's distress, brightened up, and gave directions to the cabin boy to bring forth and unpack the carefully corded hamper, which the antiquary had brought on board, as his contribution to the HirondelWs commissariat for the lengthj'^, adventurous sea voyage mapped out " meat and drink " he said. Gentlemen, urged the sage, " I'll take charge of the poet. There goes a wine glass of an elixir of wondrous virtue. " Florio had no sooner gulped down the homeopathic dose than his spirits rose rapidly. " I am now a new man, I feel so elated that I think I could thrash the commodore," — or, he, added hesitatingly, " compose an ode to Neptune " ; just as he was preparing, the Antiquary stood up. " Gentlemen," said he," I want you all to join me, and drink with this liquor a health to Reciprocity with the United States. '» This was done accordingly, our joyous Hip ! Hip 1 Hurrah ! " which might have been heard at the Grosse Isle quarantine station, where we observed Dr. Monti- zambert's steam yacht boarding an inward-bound Atlantic steamer, though at the time it seemed passing odd to talk of reciprocity with Brother Jonathan. " How on earth did you come by such a glorious, swizzle,'^ ejaculated the burly commodore : "the like of it was never distilled in Canada ; none of your St. Pierre and Miquelon cold poison ; — why it resembles in taste the best wine of the country. Old Club Ontario whiskey. Such a bouquet ! such an aroma ! *' a tipple fit for the celestials, or Scotch magnates of the C. P. R." " Gentleman, right well, does the Commodore describe this inestimable cordial, the like of which was never distilled in Canada." T's a sacred gift of friendship," 7 Iff' ' ri — 98 — added J. 0. It reached me only thcj day before we sailed* and came per express with a gold seal from Columbus, Ohio. The offering with a hamper of the choicest Ohio grapes — seven varieties — in remembrance of a slight act of hospitality, performed to a learned professor of divinity from Columbus, Ohio. □ With this generous offering came a letter,eiplanatory of what was meant by this famous Kentucky cordial. Let me read it to you " and Jonathan Oldbuck reaching out for his port-folio, read in an authoritative way as fol- lows : " Bourbon whiskey takes its name from Bourbon county in the state of Kentucky, where it was first made. It is distilled solely from maize, and all worthy of the name, is yet made in Kentucky, though not exclusively in Bourbon county. Poor imitations are made in. various states. " The people of Kentucky, the major part of whom are descendants of the cavaliers and of Scotch Presby- terians have among other commendable traits,the knack, which has not yet been learned by other people, of making this good liquor from an abundant and cheap material." " Kentucky whiskey, says John Burroughs, is soft, seductively so, and I caution all travellers to beware how they suck any iced preparation of it through a straw, of a hot day; it is not half so innocent as it tastes. " Bourbon is the favorite tipple in the region in which it is produced, and I may say everywhere in our country where it can be procured. One finds in Kentucky, connoisseurs of Bourbon as in France, of wines. Indeed in addition to the ordinary college trainings, there are three essentials to the complete education of a Kentucky gentleman : — 1st. Proper appreciation and tespect for two men. 2nd. Thorough — 99 — knowledge of horse flesh. 8rd. The ability to decide without hesitation, the qualities of Bourbon whiskey. With these complimentary touches the citizen is eligible for Congress, or any other position to which he may aspire. Bourbon is like John Barlycorn. " If you do but taste his blood, " Twill make your courage grow " " Twill make a man forget his woes Will heighten all his joy." It is soothing and conducive to pleasant thoughts, and our Mr. Prentiss wrote, even to poetic fancies, but it must be handled tenderly, and with care, else joy becomes fury. So well is this understood, that in the western dialect it is some times called " bust head." Will the coming vote on the plebiscite relagate old Bourbon whiskey, to a memory of the past ? (*) " We make various mixtures of it, and call them each by a special name. (*) It is thus feelingly alluded to by a U. S. appreciator of the beverage : " The total abstainers are daily making it harder for the man who likes to take a drink in moderation. In Missouri a man cannot have a drink unless he stands up to take it. In Massachussetts he is not allowed to have any refreshment unless he sits down. In Maine, he must get down a cellar, or climb up into a cock-loft and be fed in the dark from a flask whipped out of the pistol pocket of the bar. keeper. In Kansas, he must swear that he has glanders, or some such disease. In Iowa, he must commit perjury, and endanger his soul for the sake of ihe spirit ; and in Nebraska, although he can get a drink by himself, it is a penitentiary offence to treat his neighbour. If this sort of thing goes much further, there will be no fun at all left in taking a drink." <] •: — 100 — *1 I I , I " A whiskey straight, is plain Bourbon ; a sour, is whiskey with lemon juice ; a cocktail is sugar, Angus- tura bitters and water ; a mint julep is whiskey, sugar and water with mint, etc. Such are the names of these concoctions, biit I am not able to inform you exactly how they are made — how the " ingredients " should be " mixed." This novel description of old Bourbon, having been read, Florio proposed in glowing terms the health of the Columbus professor, who had given such a prac- tical illustration of what Reciprocity really might mean, and was just in the act of pulling from his inner pocket a paper containing his famous ode on Matelot, Cham- plain's dog, when Carlet jn sang out, *' Down with the main sail ! let go the gib haliard" ! and the Hirondelley loosing her head way, closed in with the pier, at Par- ton's point, Montmagny. Chap. IV SUNNY MEMORIES Sir Etienne P. TACHfi, A. D. C, to the Queen. William Randal Patton. — Barcn Oliva. — Daniel McPherson, U. E. L. — Revd. CURfi BeAUBIEN. — A DAY DREAM. Ml Basin of St. Thomas, Sept., 189- t< Well done, Carleton, you have admirably hit the tortuous, intricate channel of St. Thomas ; your fifty years' experience with its currents, and shoals has indeed done you good service. Put out your kedge, and we will saunter ashore to the village, and see the sights," thus held forth the commander of the Hlron- delle. adding : " Mr. Oldbuck, tell us what St. Thomas was like in the days of your youth, when during the * rising ' of 1837, its pa f riot es were thinking of waging war against the fleets of Britain, and the veterans of Waterloo, with wooden cannon, rusty old fire-locks, and butchers' knives attached to them in lieu of bayo- nets, resolved on ruining her colonial export trade in broad cloth and foreign spirits, by wearing efoffe du pays coats and pants, beef mocassins and drinking small beer only. Could you not, for our edification, describe some of the doings of your early days at the village school, or possibly one of the memorable gntndes ehasses d^automne of Jacques Oliva, the Baron ? iV v^ — 102 — To this touching appeal, J. 0. replied : " You have, indeed, struck a tender chord in my whole being. How could I forget the ten blissful years of my youth, spent in this sunny spot ? — then a mere village — now a thriving shire-town, blessed with a dis- trict judge, a court house, and that indispensable ad- junct of civilization — a district lock-up. 'Tis now the growing, new town of Montmagny; 'twas then the past- oral parish of St. Thomas ; imagination can yet lend it, through the enchanting prism of years, its rosiest tints. 'Twas, in verity, a hotbed of political agitation in 1837-8, though my Scotch grandparent, inaccessible to surrounding disaffection, never swerved an inch from his allegiance to his sovereign. Not even the fierce, gushing speeches of his esteemed friend, and trusted medical adviser, Dr. E. P. Tache, the village Esculapius and moving spirit of the place, could pre- vail against the deep-rooted loyalty of my aged relative, and protector, Daniel McPherson, J. P. A United Empire Loyalist, he had bid adieu to Philadelphia, and went, in exile in 1783 ; settled and prospered in Canada ; and died at St. Thomas, in 1840, at the ripe age of 87 years; through his long, blameless career, true to the teachings of his younger days." " Vividly can I recall the wild meetings of the young men, the inflammatory addresses of the self-elected leaders, at this momento us crisis in Canadian history. But disloyalty was more than once rebuked. Methinks I see the genial, portly Laird of the Seignioral Manorr William Randal Patton, bustling round, eager to throw oil on the troubled waters — a splendid type of the sturdy Briton, as well as an enterprising exporter of Canadian lumber. - 103 - " Had he not been to me a tried, a revered friend, erer since my most tender years ? Did he not allow me — and how I prized the privilege — to roam unheeded through his woods and plantations, to scan every rock, every tree, in quest of birds' nests, which, however, I was not to disturb. The owner himself of a large aviary and lover of song birds, had he not taught me the first lessons in ornithology — a study which has agreeably filled so many of my spare hours in after life ?" " Later on, at my admission, as a Barrister-, to the Quebec Bar, had he not entrusted me with his lucrative seigniorial business : the recovery of the arrears of seigniorial rents ? " Did I not, at all times, meet with a cordial welcome at the hospitable board of the Manor, among his five handsome, manly boys — alas ! now cut down by the scythe of the merciless destroyer to one single representative !" " Commodore, forgive me for rendering this tardy tribute to my dear old friend — so suddenly, so moura- fully, snatched away from a true hearted wife and dis- consolate family, on the 19th August, 1853." "I fancy I can still catch a glimpse — as he hurries past my happy home — a long white house, with green blinds, hid among Lombardy poplars, amidst a plum orchard and flower garden, dear to a beloved sister — of Baron Jacques Oliva, the St. Thomas Nimrod pa^ excellence. I see protruding from the mouth of his game-bag a Canada goose (outarde), shot by him at Dupuis' Point, and which his inseparable sporting com- panion — his Newfoundland dog, "Gaspe " — swam out for, and retrieved in the basin of St. Thomas. r% M f: \ m V !' '' II ■'& P!» y\ — 104 — " Why do you style him Baron ? " asked Mac of the Isles. " It was a soubriquet, bestowed on him on account of his grandiloquent style of speaking, and pompous deportment." " The scene changes, but let me continue : Here comes, erect, with a jaunty, military swagger, a former Lieutenant of the Canadian Voltigeurs, in the Ameri- can war of 1812— brave Doctor Tache." " Little does he dream, in 1837 — when discanting with such vigour on the misrule of England, and her dead ear to colonial grievances — that the time will come, a belted knight, he will, as Sir Etienne P. Tache, be honoured with the rank of Aide-de-vJamp to the Queen." " Dr. Tache, during the eventful year of 1837, was a daily attendant on his aged patient — I may add, his respected friend, — Daniel McPherson,my grand-father ; right well can I still recall, after more than half a cen- tury, the dialogue exchanged between the physician and his patient, on a memorable incident of the insur- rection." " Tidings of the death of heroic Dr. Chenier, at St. Eustache, had just reached us. A version, much exag- gerated, was the universal theme of comment : Che- nier, mortally wounded, had fallen to the ground. His remaining strength enabled him to raise himself on one knee, and, though racked with pain, he succeeded in taking aim, and shot down an English trooper, when a thrust from a British bayonet ended his career. Tra- dition says a British corporal — out of revenge — tore out and eat his heart ; but this is one of the many legends to which Chenier's death gave rise." 1 '■■ — 105 - " The Doctor, as usual, made his professional morn- ing call to his octogenarian patient. Pains and aches having been discussed, Mr. McPherson enquired about the news of the day, when Dr. Tache, with flashing eyes, sprang from his seat, and after succinctly relating the particulars of the disastrous engagement at St. Eustache, added in French — "Le Dr. Chenier, M, McPherson, est mort comme im Mros de Vancienne Grece !" {Dr. Chenier died like a hero of ancient Greece). To which Mr. McPherson emphatically replied" — ** No ! no ! Doctor ! Chenier was a rebel — a rebel to his king and country !" " The good Doctor was beside himself with excite- ment. All this I heard and saw with my own ears, and eyes." " Commodore, the old U. E. Loyalist of 1783, for all that, never ceased to esteem his trusted physician, and friend of 1S37." " Here he comes, the plucky Voltigeur officer of 1812, walking arm-in-arm, past the grand parish church, with his friend and neighbour, notary Jean Charles Letourneau, the member for the county, to whom he will shortly succ'eed ; both are hurrying to greet the irrepressible, eloquent agitator — rebel, perhaps, some will say — Louis Joseph Papineau, as he drives past in his soft-cushioned carriage (no railways in those days) to Kamouraska, stopping a minute to receive a wel- come at Mr. Mercier's village school, where I, the biggest boy of the class, had the honor of presenting him an address, prepared by our Domine, Mr. Mercier." " There goes, in his black cassock, the worthy parish priest, Rev'd Cure Beaubien — still in the hey- day of his usefulness ! How many more familiar faces of the period could I recall ?" I 0, ;3"i> I 'Mr '■■•■4. ■• \ i %\ — 106 — " Those were, doubtless, Mr. Oldbuck, living and stirring actors in that period of the exciting drama of 1837, rehearsed at St. Thomas," observed the Commo- dore ; " but, as once a sportsman anrl still a lover of the feathered race, has not the author of Les Oiseaux du Canada some specially remembered souvenir of bird- life, some memor;ible pnrtie de chasse, to tell about in connection with such a famous resort for game, as the beaches of St. Thomas were in olden times ?" "Right well. Commodore," retorted J. 0., "can T gratify your wish, and describe some sporting epi- sodes of the past ; for, be it remembered, there were several mighty hunter* to be found, each September, ensconced on the reedy shores of the Ruisseau de la Caille, on the look out for duck or snipe, or hunting for ruffed grouse on the wooded slopes of the mountains to the south. One bird memory, I think, will never vanish from my remembrance : It was once my good fortune, at the spring migra- tion of birds, to meet in our green woods a most gorgeously habited specimen of the Scarlet Tanager (Le Roi des Oiseaux) fresh from the magnolia bowers, and orange groves of the South. His bright red tunic, sable wings and tail, enabled me at once to recognize the gaudy stranger as that rare but welcome straggler in our northern climes. The beautiful bird, I knew, trusted more to his showy livery than to "what he had to say " in order to woo and win the demure, sombre- plumaged little lady awaiting his advances. Ri^h well was I also aware of the change in costume a few months were sure to bring around, ere he returned in autumn to his tropical home, in a plain travelling suit of Lincoln green. — 107 — Unquestionably, the scarlet tanager, at the nuptial season of June, is a beau of the first order ; to his loving mate, a vision of beauty, if not of song. Memory can recall, after a long lapse of years, the first time when I saw this prince of the feathered tribe — not inaptly styled by the admiring French peasantry Un Roi, a king among birds. The auspicious meeting took place at St. Thomas, P. Q., years ago, in the rosy days, vanished, alas ! forever, of my boyhood, when, with the return of the leafy months, I strolled early and late round the fields, singing waterfalls and bosky glens of the picturesque Patton seigniorial manor, eagerly noting the first appearance of every spring migrant. A uport-loving brother, by many years my senior, had allowed me — as a signal favour— to help carry his outfit on a fishing excursion he had planned to the pools of a winsome rivulet, whose source lies hidden deep, very deep in the mountains, — the Riviere des Perdrix, which marries its crystal waters to the dark eddies of the Bras St. 2'ficholas, a tributary of the roaring Riviere du Sud, at St. Thomas. Many miles of dusty road we had walked, bearing gun, rod and creel, under the warm rays of a June sun ere we reached the edge of the forest. Soon had we constructed a snug arbour of spruce boughs, a screen against the noonday heat, and a receptacle for our camp eq uipment. My bro- ther then started with rod and line to whip the rapids, and shady pools of the whimpering burnie, and soon filled our creel with tiny, speckled beauties, occasionally venturing knee-deep in the pellucid waters. I took up my post with rod and line under a large beech, whose tangled roots hung over a brisk rapid, where I had noticed some larger trout rising to snap up the insects :-4 I , ■I ' r 'n -r 108 ~ floating over its wavelets, and was soon detailed to light the camp fire, and broil trout for our midday meal. Never did I enjoy a more sumptuous repast, my appetite having been sharpened by our long dusty trudge over hill and dale. The spot selected for our camp, with its sylvan surroundings was one of rare beauty. Facing it across the stream was a hoary hemlock denuded of foliage by the snows and storms of many winters. A red-headed woodpecker, whose nest it per- haps held, was hammering away at its mossy trunk for larvae, while a sprightly brown squirrel stood on its loftiest branch chattering. A robin-redbreast had built close by its clay-cemented alcove. Reclining on my soft, scented couch of fir boughs, I was listening atten- tively to the heavenly carol — tinkle ! tinkle ! tinkle ! — of a hermit thrush perched on a neighbouring sugar maple, when a magnificent ruffed grouse flew past, apparently scared by the yelping of a fox in an adjoin- ing ravine. Waiting to catch its shrill bark, my brother sallied forth with his gun in quest of Reynard. I was left alone to my pleasant reveries, with no other noise but the soft, ceaseless murmur of the brook over the pebbles. This unvarying, all-pervading sound seemed to have over the senses a mysterious, soothing, irresis- tible influence. I gradually dropped to sleep ; uncons- ciously my imagination wandered in the land of Nod- I slept — how long I could not say. Sweet images floated before my eyes. I dreamt I was strolling round an enchanted garden on a distant isle, wading knee-deep amidst parterres of exquisite flowers, and tropical shrubs, some bending to the ground under the weight of golden fruit. I felt myself drawn toward a neigh- bouring fountain, where a Triton was spouting from f h= — 109 — his nostrils perfumed water in a shining, white mar- ble reservoir. A dazzling rainbow played overhead ; a stately tree lent a grateful shade. On its summit rested a nimbus of silver. The air was soft, dreamy, overpowering. I tarried there in wrapt silence, when a gigantic bird, radiant in colour, and which till then, I had not noticed, seemed at fir^t as poised, motionless amid air. Soon he appeared to be descending to the earth in graceful spirals ; nearer and nearer he came, softly circling to where I stood, the buzzing of his gos- samer wings gradually increasing until his velvety pinions actually rustled on my cheek. Shuddering, I awoke ; the brook was murmuring as before, and lo ! and behold, on the opposite shore, flapping his dark wings amid a shower of pearls raised by the spray in the golden sunshine, there rested on the brink a superb red-bird taking his bath ! I had seen un roi, that gorgeous, but rare summer visitor, the scarlet tanager ! i > l-lfe^'' '■'■*V'f:|f ■• r f, ^ .;.■%' '%, : m ■m ■ = ?.: i'p--. & The seal Islands — Their game — Their Legends. " On the bosom of a river Where the sun unloosed his quiver Sailed a vessel light and free, Morning dew-drops' hung like Manna On the bright folds of hor banner. And the zephirs rose to fan her iSoftly to the radiant sea." Basin of St. Thomas, September 189—. " Just ease her off a point or two, Commodore, don't hug these muddy flats too close ; they run out nearly three miles from the mouth of the Basin ; I have known them well from my youth. Now, I think we can sail clear of this land-locked harbour. Do you see .■M i '•;4 ; 1, .1 , i tt:iU^ '^^i itM It 'ii ^i'>' mm aS- IW Vi:\ V I in — 110- that group of white dwellings ? There, in 1837-8, used to be one of the strongholds of the Patriotes of 1837 ; and in 1759 the ruthless invader of the soil left his indelible mark on these Canadian homes." Such the words of Jonathan Oldbuck, the guest of the Commo- dore of the Quebec Yatch Club. — •' Tres bien, M. V Antiquaire,^^ replied the burly Commodore. " I alwa3^s thought St. Thomas, or Mont- magny, as it is now styled, was rich in historic lore. Dame Nature seems also to have played some strange pranks in scooping out these channels amid the shoals, and in forming this sheltered basin at the foot of the foaming water-fall of La Riviere da Sncl. Might not the removal of these boulders in the basin, and a little judicious dredging of the mud, make this into a snug harbour for the coasting craft, and even foreign vessels ; that is. provided the neap tides of summer did not choke the harbour with mud ? — " Do you see, " said the Antiquarj^, " those eel- fishery stakes, nearly cohered by the tide, a miiO from the shore ? There, or close by, stood, at the end of the last century and even later, the Roman Catholic parish church. The river had eaten away the clay soil which clothed the whole area occupied by the old church,and its cemetery, and even beyond. A new church site became necessary. In 1822, the present temple of wor- ship was built two miles inland. The harbour has also undergone a great change within a hundred years ; tradition tells how its en- trance was once spanned by a single plank ; the shores are now more than a mile apart." — "Carleton," said the Commodore, "shake out two reefs of the mainsail, we have yet plenty of flood, and i t — Ill — with such a spanking breeze on our beam, we can yet make Cap Bride, before the turn of the tide. I shall show our friends as we sail past, the spot of the memo- rable shipwreck of the French man-of-war, UElephant stranded there in September, 1 729. We will, once there drop down with the ebb under the dizzy heights of Cape Tourmente, so named by Champlain, and where I have shot in December more than one woodland cari- bou. They come every fall from the interior, pick their way through some of the pine-clad ravines of the sombre cape, to this abrupt shore below, lap up the salt lick, and return. I recollect shooting one close to the cross you may have noticed on the summit." This landmark, erected in 1869 and since enlarged, seems from the river like a white speck amid the bloom- ing shrubbery. The party looked out, as the yatch sailed past, for some of the ravines in the neighbor- hood of the three diminutive lighthouses perched on the rock high above the St. Lawrence ; a few fine old pine trees grow there, which, with the lofty Cap Tour- mente, form part of the vast seigniory, ten leagues in front, of the Quebec Seminary. More than two centu- ries back Bishop Laval selected the Petit Cap of St. Joachim — which you can now see to the west, and the marshy meadows, and fertile grainfields at the base for a settlement, where he, in verity, established in Canada the first model farm. Through a gap in the waving tree tops, we also caught a glimpse of the Chateau Bellevue, where, under the shade of cool groves, the Laval University, and Quebec Seminary professors each year spend their well-merited August vacation. This is assuredly one of the most picturesque spots in all Canada. During the occupation of the country by the French, inward-bound ships used to H ■ l: \^ ■ -l « ii fil •■ifii •III mm II T I I' il ^ ! .!. — 112- follow the north shore of the St. Lawrence as far up as Cape Tourmente, probably because the south channel was narrow ; and then cross over, past Pointe Argen- ienay, on the eastern end of the island of Orleans, in the direction of the Point of St. Michel, on the south shore, thereb)^ avoiding Beaujeu's bank, and the dan- gerous St. Thomas shoals ; this channel is now used chiefly by the Richelieu Co line of steamers, conveying tourists to Murray Bay and the Saguenay. — "Bout ship, let go and haul," sung out the Commo- dore, and the Hirondelle, flapping her white wings in the breeze, turned f^-om the frowning cape, shot ahead like a sea swallow, and steered for a low ledge of rocky islands, lower down than the Battures Plates, a famous resort for Canada geese, and snow geese, leased by the Quebec Seminary to a Quebec sportsman. The rocky isles, on which the surf rippled, were barely visible in the distance. — " There, gentlemen, " exclaimed Mac of the Isles " there, are the famous Seal Rocks." " Forty-five miles below Quebec, about mid-channel in our noble river, which even here expands in breadth^ to twenty rone miles, there rises a bleak, uninhabited island, at low tide, five miles long, by one mile broad. From time immemorial, it has been known to the English as Seal Rocks or Seal Islands ; to the French as Battures-aux-Loups-Marins. Doubtless the seals, for ages as plentiful here, as the walrus were on the Magdalen Islands, up to the middle of the last century^ have now found a safer and more secluded habitat in the far north, though each winter they still venture to the ice-bound coast. Long after the seals had bidden adieu to these solitary downs, the native sports, men put in an appearance. For many years past, — 113 — with every autumn, and often in advance, the gunners found their way to this famous sporting ground. A few years ago a club of sportsmen of St. Jean-Port- Joly, purchased this game resort from the Provincial Govern- ment. (1) The August high tide, exceptionally high, reduces the seals' former haunts to about one mile in length, and seven acres in width. At the north-west point there exists a diminutive mound or knoll, on which are perceptible, among the few other signs of vegetation, a clump of spruce, fir and wild cherry trees. Conspicuous to this day is the ancient apple-tree, of which Mr. De Gaspe, in his " Memoirs," records that " one half bears sweet, and the other half, sour apples; though there exists no trace or record of the tree hav ing ever been grafted." This shadowy relic of the past, still endures, and yielded fruit this very summer. Thereto hangs a tale of woe, with which doubtless the Antiquary will favor us. The other portion of Seal Rocks, bare at high water (though there is an instance on record of a party of sportsmen having once to seek asylum in their boat to escape the rising flood), trending southward, is very properly styled the Sportstnen^s Refuge. A channel run- ning north-east, f^nd south-west separates the shore where stands the refuge, or shooting box, from the .'■■Ml .-■ B: ' ■ Mil * ■ 'i^\ i-ll % (1) Seal Islands and Shoals, in the River St. Lawrence, opposite River Trois-Saumons, were rented on April 18, 1854, to O.-B. Four- nier, of Islet, at an annual rent of $50.40, rent redeemable by pay- ment of capital at the rate of 6 per cent, to Government of Province of Quebec. Mr. Toussaint held them for several years. This splen- did game preserve has recently been acquired by Mr. Ivers W. Adams, of Boston. 8 '.. n i"S m m m'^ 1 ! . I i i\: \i. — 114 — mound or knoll, known as Chatigny's Knoll, the chan- nel fordable at low tide only. It is well called the Sportsmen's Refuge, and here only, in a rude hut erected by them, they find shelter against the easterly gales, which sweep over this for- lorn shore with great violence. Animal and vegetable life is indeed scanty on this solitary down. Few, if any singing birds there ; the minstrels of the grove seek the companionship of man. What use, indeed, would be to them the sweet gift of song, without an appreciative audience ? Each summer however, a colony of noisy crows, detached from, and not missed by, the black hordes frequenting the adja- cent group of islands, and whose head-quarters are Ile- aux-Corneilles, Crow Island, a few miles to the west — claim possession, doubtless by prescription, of the fir, and spruce clump overshadowing Chatigny's Knoll- Here, some nest. Occasionally may be heard overhead and seen, a hoarse old raven, winging his heavy, labor- ious flight toward the bleak ledges of Cape Tourmente, to the north-west, or mayhap, further north, to his callow brood among the cloud-capped peaks of Passe- des-Monts, in the Saguenay district. His funereal, un- earthly kra-ac, kra-ac, seems in keeping with the dismal aspect of the land. In September, a silvery gull occa- sionally lights in the mellow sunshine amid the eddies round the shoals, in quest of smelts. Save the report of a gun, or the whistle of a passing steamer, no sound invades this lone, arid beach, quite extensive at low tide. — " But," asked the Commodore, " why did not the sportsmen build on Chatigny's Knoll, so well pro- tected by trees ? " 1 1 — 115 — " For divers cogent and powerful reasons," retorted Mac of the Isles, " which we will allow the Antiquary to expound to us ? But before we hear him, let me speak of the fsjame. At Seal Rocks, as elsewhere in the Province of Quebec, the law tolerates no Spring or Summer shooting. The island is especially famous for ducks, and the 1st of September is the time fixed by the Legislature for the opening of the season. These downs seem to particularly attract the old and young birds, returning at the beginning of September from their breeding grounds at Hudson's Bay, in several islands on the Labrador coast, and some of the solitary isles of Lakes St. John and Mistassini. Tired out by storms, they congregate in vast flocks on the reedy, muddy, and sandy beaches of Seal Rocks at low tide. At present the locality supplies the Quebec markets with quantities of game, such as Canada geese, a few snow geese, black and gray ducks, brant, blue and green winged teal, snipe, godwits, golden plover, ring plover, and smaller beach birds. The minor game are ushered in with the high tide of August, about the 21st of that month, and precede duck shooting. The season lasts about three months, August, September and Octo- ber. Mr. Toussaint, of Quebec, late proprietor of the island, used to intrusts the care of his preserve to a game keeper who landed at Seal Rocks about August 1st, and left it about beginning of November." — " You, seignior Mac of the Isles, said the Commo- dore, you must know something of this famous island." — " The little I may know, you are welcome to, retorted Mac. ** When a young man, said the island chieftain, one August afternoon, whilst on my way to Labrador, in my yawl, Th$ Outarde^ I was skirting the green beaches v^ %!f ■'I'll i! 't'^ '■S j'v... '■^V-\ 1:4 rC:'\ ! 1 — 116 — of Pointe-a-la-Prairie^ on Coudres Island. Our little craft close-hauled, with a fresh breeze of north wind, was rapidly leaving Seal Rocks, behind. " The sky has an ugly look," remarked my sailing master — Carleton — a faithful grim, old salt who prided himself on being weather wise. Had we not better seek a good anchorage for the night, and take advantage of the first flood to-morrow morning ? Should this breeze hold out, the Custom house wharf in the Quebec harbour will see us early." Carleton, though naturally a taciturn, reserved man, had a knack of getting garrulous, whenever a magnum of Mountain Dew, or prime old Jamaica warmed the cockles of his old heart : that day, being the anniversary of his wedding, he had joyfully drank long life to his cam sposa — a demure and elderly personage, residing on an Island close by. I assented and then, that being my first voyage to Labrador, I enquired from him what might be the name of the low isle we were approching." — "Seal Rocks, he replied: " my father could recol- lect them as far back as 1 807 — when he passed there on a trip to England, not of his own choice. He was one of Simon Latresse's party ; on the 13th September of that year, he had been attending a ball, in St. John suburbs, at Quebec : the Press gang followed them ; they ran ; poor Latresse was shot, and \\\j father was kidnapped and sent on board of H. M. frigate Blossom, Capt. Pickett : (1) he was an active fellow in those days and soon got to swallow his hard tack, pork, and gill of Jamaica, as merrilly as any other jack tar on board. (1) N. B. — The details of the melancholy incident appear in Le Cauadierif a Quebec news sheet founded in 1806. — 117 — "It was then, I presume, he got his English his- torical name of " Carleton " ? — " No, Sir, replied my nautical emphj/c ; no, that name had been bequeathed to my father to perpetuate, he said, the extreme kindness shown to him by one of the greatest men England ever sent out to govern Canada, Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester. Sir Guy Carleton had been instrumental in saving the life of my beloved father, whom he found in 1798, adrift in a dory, opposite Dead man's Island, one of the Magdalen Group, where my father had gone in quest of lobsters, and been blown out to sea. Capt. Coffin, at the special request of Lord Dorchester, had sent one of his boats, in a heavy surf and brought back my father, whom His Excellency styled his waif. Proud I ever was of bearing the name of such a good man, and when I risked my own life to save that of others, opposite to St. Tiiomas, and received from Sir Etienne-P. Tache, a medal in consequence, I used to think of dear Governor Carleton's kindness toward my own father. — "Well, said I, shall we try and fetch the anchor- age of Pointe-aux-Pins, at Crane Island, or else anchor under the lee of Seal Rocks — spread our tent, undei Chatigny's tree— make a fire, cook our repast, and then sleep like princes in this snug arbour. Never shall I forget the look of dismay, which spread over Carleton's withered, pock-marked face. — " Not for a kingdom, said he in a hollow voice." — " Why not V I retorted. — " There are five generations of your family, whom I have, at different times, conveyed in my yawl from their Island home to Quebec, or to St. Thomas — I hope M IV m :!« n m m "I iili rm W 'I 1:i — 118 — I may yet be long spared (1) to attend on them ; but I must leave you to your fate, should you persist in your present idea of sleeping on Chatigny's Knoll. Why, the place is haunted ? — 'tis well known — yes, haunted ! " The time was, long ago, when a devil-may-care Gaspe fisherman, I also, laughed at the superstitious awe in which this knoll was held on the coast. ''One fall, I had sailed from Perce for home inOcto" ber, in a fishing barge with a comrade. On All Saints Day, we reached Isle-aux-Coitdres and landed there. I was desirous of attending High Mass, on the spot where Jacques-Cartier had had celebrated the first mass said in Canada, on 7th September, 1535. The sermon was all about the dead. My companion a ne'er-do-weil» managed after mass, to purchase from a trading schooner, a bottle of " old Jamaica " en esprit, to use his expression. He swallowed a portion, and took the remainder on board ; we anchored that night at Seal Rocks : he landed, saying he defied all the evil spirits of the place, and would sleep at Chatigny's Knoll. I remained on board, and was reposing quietly under the mainsail, which served as an improvised tent when, about midnight, I was awoke by the loud cries of my comrade on shore; he begged to be taken on board, vowed that the place was infested with revenants, spirits. In vain, I pleaded the difficulty of landing in the dark, and begged of him to wait until morning' The voices he fancied he had heard were, I added, the cries of young seals or of loons, both of which at times resemble much human voices, and the groans were caused doubtless by the grating of the trunks of trees against one another, under the action of the wind. (1) This octogenarian sea-dog expired recently, at Crane Island. — 119 — In fact, he did not even wait until the boat had touched the shore but waded out in the surf. Once on board, he crossed himself devoutly and vowed that no, never would he put his foot on Seal Rocks : above all. never would he dare sleep there, on the eve of All Souls Daif ; I firmly believe that the powerful sermon about the dead he had heard at Isle mix Coudres, the day previous, had worked on his brain during the still hours of night; — possibly also, his imagination, heated by the potent fumes of the " Jama'iqne en esprit " had caused him to mistake for the wails of the departed, the discordant cries of young seals, and of the water fowl, which swarm round the island, mingled with the moaning of the night wind among the trees : but, he insisted that he had communed with the revenants or spirits of the dead, let loose, as is popularly believed, at mid-night on the eve of All Souls Daj/, their annual festival." This long yarn was here interrupted by the lively voice of the commodore. — "Come, Seignior Antiquary," said he, "let us have the history of the remarkable Knoll." THE STORY OF CHATIGNY's KNOLL. — " Gentlemen," replied Jonathan Oldbuck, " you shall have the dismal tale, as my old friend DeGaspe, narrated it to me ; — mind it is not a Legend. " Long before I was born, said DeGaspe, two young men friends from their youth, lived in the same parish on the south shore, opposite to Seal Bocks, near neighbours. Rarely could one have met two beings, of dispositions so unlike, and still friends. One, named Pierre Jean was as repulsive, physically, as he was morally • a tall, ill-favored individual, swarthy like an Indian ; his >!'< m ■ " 'Hli m ':\ i t I ' jrtll IP J'.'ii ^ I I ii'i' — 120 — mother was a squaw; he was proud of exhibiting his physical strength. His rude imtois pointed him out as an Acadian, by birth : a blank his mind seemed to be. His chum, Chatigny, was a handsome, fair-skinned youth of middle height, with soft, expressive eyes. Ever kind and obliging, he had won all heart^ • whilst his comrade was detested on every side, anc .ghtly so ; else how should his pretended friendship for Chatigny turn, all at once, into implacable hatred. One Sunday, after vespers, Pierre Jean, happening to meet his friend, said to him in his broken dialect, with a sarcastic smile : " Chatigny, if you, are a man, return me this rock which I shall hurl at you," and suiting the deed to the word, he threw an immense stone towards his friend, who had retreated about fifteen feet to be out of the reach of the deadly missile. The rock fell a few inches in front ' Chatigny, who stooping seized hold of the boulder ' threw it with such force that it lodged, close to Pierre Jean's feet. The spectators were astounded : none had ever suspected that Chatigny was endowed with such superhuman strength. Pierre Jean, humbled, concealed his wounded pride, even complimented his friend on his muscle, but it was remarked that a gloomy scowl contracted his brow. Soon after, the two chums, apparently as friendly as ever, started for a hunting excursion to Seal Rocks, but strange to say, one only returned in the sail boat in which they had crossed over — Pierre Jean. It is not stated how he accounted for the disappearance of Cha- tigny : a casual remark uttered by him after his leturn created a dark surmise as to his comrade's fate. — 121 — Once, whilst taking his evening meal, he remaik- ed " If Chatigny had a plate of this soup to night, he would relish it exceedingly !" These words spoken with a sarcastic air, coupled with the unaccountable absence of Chatigny, induced the distressed relatives of the latter to cross over to Seal Rocks, in search of him ; there, awaited them a mela)icholy spectacle. Chatigny, lay under the shade of a spruce tree, nearly dead. He was made to swal- low a few drops of cordial, when he seemed to rally enough to speak and said : '' If Pierre Jean had heard my moans of anguish, he never would have had the inhumanity to allow the friend of his childhood to die of hunger. Great God ! what were my feelings of des- pair, when on returning from shooting, I found that he alone had dragged over to the water, the boat, which his efforts, and mine combined, had scarcely sufficied to draw on the shore ! I then took in at once his cruel scheme. But tell him, "I forgive him, " and Chatigny expired. Such is the outline of the weird narrative embo- died in the DeGaspe's Memoirs anent Chatigny's Knoll. — " Commodore, we have enjoyed our sea voyage, shall I say, enormously : one day's duck shooting on those rocky isles would have capped the climax to our felicity, but Seal Rocks are a game preserve. We hold no permit from Monsieur Toussaint, the proprietor, to scatter death, and destruction among the winged denizens of his blessed isle, which would merely need the presence of some of Calypso's nymphs to render, its sojourn dangerous to the jeunesse done of Quebec." — How stands the enemy, Carleton ? what is the state of the tide ? and with those castellated clouds i.l ■ 1 1 '■m if »f'( t •' '; t .. . ■, I. — 122 — banked up in the west, what wind can you promise us^ Mr. weather - prophet Lavoie" ? enquired Mac of the Isles. — "Well, mon capitaine, retorted gruff old Carleton, with a curious w^ink in his eye, I think that unless the sun soon shows his face, we are in for a blow of north- west wind : the yatch will pitch and toss like a pea on a hot stove. I hope no one here has forgotten his sea legs in Quebec. The flood wont set in for an hour yet however." Jean Lavoie, once a splendid specimen of the hardy and genial Canadian mariner — able to handle a yatch in the ugliest sea, a good type of the " peuple ge tilhomme," as the gifted late Andrew Stuart, once styled the French Canadians,— a favorite of Mac of the Isles, but now too old to navigate the craft, had been shipped as steward. He was a capital raconteur and his Islands friends used to say he could " talk like a CiireJ'* Mac of the Isles, who knew of old Lavoie's special talents, addressing the Commodore, and the Antiquary said : " We are bound to wait here yet a full hour for the turn of the tide, suppose we ask that old sea-dog, who is brimful of Canadian stories, to give us one of his best yarns, picked up when he was an old " voyageur " — his story of lie des Serpents is a capital one." We readly assented, and asked the steward to draw near. Monsieur Lavoie, making us one of his politest bows, appeared flattered by our request, and resting hie athletic frame on the mast, he opened thus : — " What shall it be, gentlemen ? the story of the lle-au-Massacre, at Bic ; of the Micmacs of the Kapsouk ; of Mademoiselle de Granville's prisoner, at Goose Island^ or that of the Witch of the St. Lawrence ? — 123 — >) / None of us had heard the latter weird, melancholy tale related, or if some of us had read it, in abbe Cas- grain's volume of Canadian legends, we felt curious to see, what form this popular legend had assumed. One and all we replied : The Witch ! The Witch ! ! The Witch. " Gentlemen," gravely retorted the aged mariner, *' I can merely pretend to give a brief outline of a legend which occupies, more than eighty pages in abbe Cas- grain's volume : to which you can with advantage refer. """'^f all the legends, I picked up in my youth, and in mature years, none took my fancy more than La Jon- I gleuse. I prevailed on my grand son, just now finishing his course of Belles-Lettres, at the Quebec Seminary to write it out for me, from my dictation ; you will perceive how cleverly he has done it. I have since committed the story to memory. Here goes my version, » .ded by abbe Casgrain's narrative. Suppose we start abiut midnight from the shore, ust below the old Lower Town church, with Le Cano- tier, for such is the name the expert canoeman went unde; . he was an Indian : Among his tribe he was known as Misti Tchm peh that is, the Great Snake, either on account of his rapid movements, or else perhaps, from the circumstance of his having the likeness of a snake tatooed on his brawny chest. The canot also contained two other figures : a young woman of stately carriage and elegantly attired^ but with a sad, anxious face, and a boy of eight or ten years of age, her son. who was resting on her lap his uncovered head. This was Madame Houel, whose husband waj an important personage in the colony, as w :M if- J L %\ lui^'h 1 1 .■■)■ ■ A ! ! I i i i 'I — 124 — an associate of the Company of Hundred Partners. He had met with a serious accident ; hence, his wife had undertaken this hazardous night voyage, at a time when all Canada rang with reports of the sanguinary raids of the tireless, and remorseless Iroquois. One after the other had the city lights disappeared ; the last one visible from the receding shore being the solitary ray of the lamp burning in the sanctuary of the old church. Carried on the night wind came the faint roar of the Montmorenci Falls ; through a rift in the clouds, banked up in the north-east, floated the new moon. The boy, suddenly starting from his sleep, asked his anxious mother whether she did not see, far away, walking on the water, a woman in white, and then, nestling closer, he shuddered and begged of her to protect him against this dreadful apparition. " Sleep on, my darling, " she softly replied, with a sigh, sleep on ; I shall wake you in time to see the beautiful sun rise. " Le Canotier, in a smothered voice, whispered to Madame Houel what he thought of the apparition which had alarmed her son, adding that childhood was closen of God, and that children saw revealed, things hidden from older mortals ; that, doubtless, the vision of her boy presaged the neigh- borhood of the Matschi Skoueou, whose diabolical incan- tations among the Indian tribes had been attested to by the missionaries ; that probably, at this very mo- ment, the Mafshi Skoueou was leading the dreaded Iroquois to some fresh murderous onslaught. La Dame aux Glaieuls, the Matshi Skoueou, in the eyes of the Pale Faces, is a powerful enchantress. The glances of her sea-green pupils in the dark are like — 125 — burning coals, and throw a spell round her helpless victims ; her bushy hair, black as a loon's wing, fes- toons her reed-crowned head like a cascade of running water. Her bronzed features, her scaly skin, her sar- donic laugh, her violet-blue lips, cause a shudder to all beholders. She raises, as she goes, a cloud of bluish sparks, to w^hich darkness lends the weirdest forms ; a veritable salamander, whose very vestments are proof against fire and flame, is the Malshi Skoueou. Evening is the time she selects for her fearful mys- teries, when the zephir dies in the tree-tops ; when all nature slumbers, when the erratic Will-o'-the-wisp capers over the green meadows in the forest clearings, or on the greenish waters of the reeking swamp ; when the bats noiselesly skim the pond with their trans, parent wings, or hang on by their prehensile claws to the angles of walls ; when the pipe of the frog, the note of the red-eyed toad, the hou-hou! of the bird of night, supersede all other sounds, then is the time when La Dame aiix Glaieuls lights among the rushes on the river banks, in the vicinity of swamps, to cull rushes — a fitting wreath for her head, previous to invoking the Manitou, or Great Spirit. All at once the rushes and alders are seen to bend and rustle, even on a ealm night, yielding before her, as she plungci. in the liquid element ; her head, amidst the wild rushes, and rank grass, assuming the brightness of a meteor. Beware, oh ! beware, at such times especially with a new moon, to venture close to the river shore. Danger lurks all round you, on land, on sea ; horrible is the fate of the innocent victims who then become her prey ! She invents tortures worse than heated collars^ worse than scalping, worse than the agony of a slow fire. i.( I- « 'i« "■rf: .ji.jr m mm 11 '\ ! ' ft'* ' 1 :' i / — 126 — When +liij helpless native's heart throbs with pain, when his hair is erect with horror, his eyes staring with fright ; when his livid lips are blanched with ter- ror, when anguish racks his whole frame — the near harbinger of death — then is the time for exultation of the fearful witch, intent in catching the secret voice, and revelations of the foul fiend who inspires her. The canoe was gliding noiselessly on, when all at once, after some mysterious, distant mutterings, two loud reports from fire-arms proclaimed the presence of the dreaded Iroquois. " Seven savages in that canoe," said Tchinipek. " We are between two fires ; on our right Iroquois ; on our left, the Matshi Skoueou. Let us back water ! Madame, your boy must stop crying, else we will surely be captured. Lie down both of you in the canoe." Tchinipek, fearing that if he fired, the flash of the gun would indicate their whereabouts in the darkness, strung his bow and shot an arrow, with unerring aim, right to the spot, from which the Iroquois had fired, killing one of their warriors ; but the same instant an Iroquois bullet struck Le canotier^s paddle, splitting it in twain. The struggle looked hopeless — two against six ; when Tchinipek, full of resource, decided to let himself drop silently in the water, and, after a few vigorous strokes, swam unperceived to the other canoe, with a sudden jerk, he upset it, launching the inmates in the water, and, in the confusion, striking two or three of them with his tomahawk. Madame Houel imagined having seen in the water the dark form of a woman, stretching over her arm to seize hold of her boy. Was it La Jongleuse ? «'l -127 — This gave Madame Houel's canoe a respite. It reached the shore. Le canotier and his friends camped there until morning. At sunrise, Le canotier took his gun, and sought the woods to kill some game for their breakfast. A horrible scene awaited his return : a pool of blood and three corpse. He very soon recognized the livid remains of Tchinipek, who evidently had dearly sold his life ; two dead Iroquois lay there to prove it, but no trace on the sand of the beach indicated what had been the fate of Madame Houel and of her son. On scanning the horizon, Le Canotier noticed in the distance two canoes crowded with Indians. Having given vent to his sorrow in loud ejacula- tions, which the mountain echo seemed to repeat, he dug a grave, on the shore in which he deposited the remains of his beloved friends. Removing from a sapling, its green leaves, he placed the trunk at the head of the grave, with a transversal branch — a rude cross. Then removing the scalps from the two dead Iroquois, he planted Tchinipek's knife in the centre of the post, and hung to it the reeking scalps, a fearful but prized trophy for an Indian warrior. ' r'ii lii I T The second act of this appalling drama opens with the landing, many years subsequently, at the Pointe, at Riviere Quelle, of two men, one advanced in years ; his companion, an athletic and handsome youth: Le Canotier and the son of Madame Houel. They are made welcome at the solitary dwelling of the Pointe, and being questioned as to the object of their visit, young Houel relates, for the information of I v.j. — 128 — his hospitable entertainers, the narrative of his sufferings, and those of his mother, when they were captured by the savages ; how the diabolical old witch — the Matshi Skoueou — the adviser of thi tribe, ever intent on devising new modes of torture for prisoners, compelled Madame Houel's son to aid in the hanging to a tree of his beloved and devoted parent ; how, after tracking the Iroquois along the coast, Le Canotier lay in ambush and managed to secure the fire arms of the savages, while engaged in one of their orgies, and succeeded in shooting down, or disabling nearly all the party. Le Canotier was too late to save the life of Madame Houel, whose body was still hanging to the tree, but succeeded in rescueing her torturecj son, just as his eyes were ready to close in death." CRANE ISLAND. Governor De Montmagmfs Game Preserve. — "Now Mr. Oldbuck, let us have, if you please, the sketch you have prepared of Governor Montmagny's enchanted Isle," said the Commodore. The Antiquary, taking a seat near the helmsman; held forth as follows : " That quaint old repository of historical lore, the " Relations des Jesuites, " makes mention, among others, of two picturesque islands in the St. Lawrence, thirty-six miles lower than Quebec. Pere Le Jeune alludes to them at an early date as the inviolate sanc- tum, and breeding ground of millions of duck and teal, whose loud voices made the whole place vocal in the summer season. We are told, that in that annee ter- — 1^9 — in er- n6/6',1663, owing to frightful and continuous earthquakes, the soil rolled and quaked; some added, " to that degree that church steeples would bend and kiss the earth, and then rise again." This last feat, from its novelty, would doubtless have been particularly attractive to witness from a balloon, for instance, or from the deck of a ship ; from anywhere, in fact, except from old mother earth. Such are some of the notices our early annals furnish. Governor de Montmagny seems to have set his mind at procuring these islands as a game preserve for himself and friends. In May, 1646, Louis XIV made a grant of these islands to his trusty lieutenant holding court at the Chateau Saint Louis, at Quebec. A famous Nimrod, one would fain believe, was this Knight Grand Cross of Jerusalem, and Governor of Quebec, Charles Huault de Montmagny. He left his name to the flourishing county of Montmagny, w^iich includes his cherished shooting box. Of the bags of game he annually made up on the verdant and swampy beaches of his isles, of the roasted black duck, teal and snipe he had served up to his merry little court within the sacred precincts of Castle of St. Louis, we have no record save the faint tracings of tradition. Nature itself seemed to have predestined this group of green, solitary isles as the home of the aquatic tribe. It afforded it more than a pleasant haunt during the spring and fall ; a breeding place in summer, it con- tained an hospital for the infirm and wounded birds of the neighborhood. Mere Juchereau, of the Hotel Dleti Convent, at Quebec, in her diary, under date of July 8, 1714, when with eight of the saintly sisterhood, and the Almoner, Rev. Messire Thiebault (with the sanction of the Bishop, she adds), was visiting by water conveyance Big Goose Island, then recently purchased 9 -.' i'. i m II "■'!: ill ii — 130 — . ■■ i: by the monastery and held by it to this day, will describe con amove this singular rock, still known as rocher de VlUpital : " We returned," says she, " from our excur- sion, which had lasted eight days, perfectly delighted with the beauty and fertility of the spot. Among the most striking objects, " she adds, '' there is a large rock which from time immemorial goes by the name of the Hospital, because any Canada goose {oiitanle) or other sea fowl wounded by sportsmen, hurries to this rock, like unto an asylum, where lelief is at hand. The feathered tribe have here delicate appliances, in which art would seem to play a greater part than nature. A number of holes are scooped by the sea out of the solid rock. The tide flows into them ; the sun warms the tidal water remaining therein. The invalid birds bathe and luxuriate in these tepid reservoirs. When shallow water is required, they resort to one of the smaller cavities, or else plunge into a larger one, as they may fancy They repose on the heated stone, or else lie imbedded in the moss to cool themselves. In hospital we noticed sick or wounded oiitardes (Canada geese). They apparently recognized us as llospltalieres nuns. We were careful not to scare them, and ascended to the summit of the Hospital rock, from which the eye took in a wide expanse of water — a sea." Such is the bright picture drawn by good Mother Juchereau de St. Ignace, the annalist of the monastery. Whence the name of Crane Island ? That erratic wanderer, sung by Horace Gruem advenain, the wary crane having also sought the island as a trysting place during his spring and fall migrations from Florida to the fur coui^tries and Hudson Bay, the place was called after him, (>rane Island. Under French rule the law lent its protection to the game it contained. Special ordon- 11 iJ! ' ' 1- ' ace to led ent — 131 — nances de chusse were passed to that effect, and some legislation to protect the ducks, &c., at the period of incubation also took place under the early English Oovernors ; at one time several varieties of aquatic fowl resorted for food or incubation to its vast meadows, clothed in luxuriant, coarse grass called rouche — a sub- stantial fodder for cattle. l*ot-hunters having under- taken to hunt with dogs the fledglings, in July, before they could tiy, the parent birds resented such unsports- manlike practices, and sougl^t other breeding places in the more secluded isles, on the Labrador coast or in the neighborhood of Lake !St. John. They still return in the fall to Crane Island. Among the early proprietors of the islands, figure the names of some of the officers of the dashing Cai i gnan-Salieres Regiment, subsequently to whom we find the name of a descendant of Baron Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil. In 1775, the Seigneur was M. deBeaujeu brother of the famous de Beaujeu, who, in 1755, took part in the memorable battle of the Monongahela. In 1759, he had been intrusted w4th the command of an important post, that of Michilimakinac in the west for his services and devotion to the cause of His Most Christian Majesty, he was decorated. De Beaujeu, at the head of his censitaires, was a sturdy chieftain ; nor did he hesitate during the winter of 1775-6 to cross over and join the succor, which De Gaspe, Seigneur of St. Jean-Port-Joly, Couillard, Seigneur of St. Thomas, and an old Highland Officer, Thomas Ross, of Beau- mont, made a noble effort to pour into Quebec. The skirmish with the Continentals and their Canadian allies took place at St. Pierre, Riviere chi Siid, and is known in Canadian annals as Va£.aire de Michel Blais. It was a rout for the Loyalists. > r "'I w m '•\r 132 — I i I ! 81 It is curious to follow the warlike Seigneur de Beaujeu uphoUling the standard of England in 1775-6 — the same standard he had successfully opposed he- fore the desertion of the colony by France. De 13eau- jeu's name still survives on Bayfield's old charts — in that of the shifting sand bank, in the St. Lawrence opposite the Manor House. It is proper to state that his winter expedition of 1770-6, to relieve His Excel- lency, Uuy Carleton, blockaded in Quebec, ended in a disaster, nearly costing him and his followers their lives. Capt. do Beaujeu expired at Crane sland in June 1S02, and was buried at Cape St. Ignace, opposite. In our early snorting days, we recollect hearing from the oldest inhal)itants of the islands, quaint anec- dotes, relating to their aged and warlike Seigneur de Beaujeu. It would seem that on great hollydays the Chevalier de St. Louis to )k particular pride in wearing in his button-hole the ribbon of the order sent out to him by the King of France, Louis XIV. Age and infirmities creeping on, the old lion used to remain in his den the greater part of the day, and when the tenants brought the rents and seigniorial capons at Michaelmas, more than once, so as to render the hall tenantable, they had to kindle the fire on the very spacious hearth, inclosed by an antique '* wide-throated chimney," which to this day is a subject of curiosity to all visitors. Recently there were lying on the shore at Crane Island, near the church, an antiquated rusty cannon, brought from Cape Bruli on the north shore, opposite to Crane Island. In 1S59, a similar cannon, measuring in length 5ft. Sin. and 12in. in diameter, was presented by a resident of Crane Island, Capt. Lavoie, to the Que- bec Seminary ; at that period some of the timbers of — 133 — this old wreck were still visible. History furnishes full details of the wreck, at Cape IhtVv, of the French man- of-war £'/f/.*//a///, on Sept. 1, 1720, carrjing to Quebec some of the most noted men in the colony, Hishop Dos- quet, Intendant Hocquart and others ; the cannon we saw, at present forms part of the anticiues and curios, gathered tojjjether in the Museum of Herbert Moles- worth Price, Esquire, at Montmorency Falls, near Que- bec, the antiquary is very proud of this relic of the past. With the exception of the de Beaujeu seignio- rial manor on the lower end of Crane Island, rebuilt and enlarged by McPherson LeMoyne, Esquire, of Bos- ton, the new seigneur, who occupies it duriug the summer months, all the dwellings stand on the north- ern side of the island ; a thick belt of forest trees hides them from view, except when the steamer takes the north channel — the old French route — when they are faintly seen in the distance. The locality ranked as a parish, nnder the name of .S7. Antoine de /'[/e-aax- Grnes, as early as 1GS8, when it comprised but three families, in all fifteen souls. In 1678, Pierre de liecart, Sieur de Granville, was the seigneur. Crane Island — six miles in length — during the " leafy months " is noted for its salubrity and attracti- veness. A highway, as level as a bowling green, runs from one end to the other, an'^l umbrageous woods, descending to the shores, intersect the portion of the island which is not under culture. A dense grove of graceful maple and oak trees, some thirty acres long, fringes the crest of this plateau at the west point facing the anchorage, well known to every river pilot. La Pointe aux Pins. The Marine and Fishing Department in 1866 erected a lighthouse on a pier which now connects with the shore; also a number of beacons on m t\ ■:m \m ;.i *ii ■■!i ii M ■t — 134 — 1 1 I !i the land and recently, gas l)noys in the channel, near de Beaujeu's shoal. In the rear of the lighthouse the ground rises in successive terraces, studded with dwarf pines of singular beauty, and leads through natural avenues to the wooded and umbrageous plateau above, known as " Le Domaine du Seigneur," a cool, delighful spot for a picnic or frie clKUitprfre, of which Quobecers seem fully disposed to avail themselves with the permission of the owner. These picturesque highlands have also their heather, — a fuzzy, graceful carpet of juniper bushes, weighted down each fall with fruit. When September crimsons the adjoining maple groves, a visit to this elysium is a thing to be remem- bered. Few sites in our gorgeous Canadian scenery, can surpass its river view^s, extending to Cape Tour- mente, Cape Maillard, and over the innumerable islets on the north side basking in sunshine at your feet. The old manor, with its green groves, orchard, ample verandah, flagstaff and numerous outhouses, is in full view from the steamers ascending the south chan- nel. Some distance in rear are two antiquated wind mills — to grind the island wheat the head quarters of the snipe shooters ; — beyond this a string of pretty, white cottages extending to the west end of the island; the parish church of course, as in all Canadian scenery looms up in the centre. As a river view, nothing can surpass in grandeur the panorama which the lovely St. Lawrence here unfolds on a radiant summor morn-ug, when with the rising tide a fleet of swan •< ler- chantmen emerge from the Trave^ ' • v, the direction of the church of St. lit den Im : at first, dim, white specks on the horizon, gradually grow- ing larger and larger, on the bosom of thf lad waters; each in succession, crowding on your gaze, top sails, — 135- top gallant sails and royals all set, — a moving tower of canvas advancing toward the island shore, at times so close that you -an hear the voices of i)ersonson board. It was at one time contemplated to divide in lots the west end of the island for sportsmen desirous to build their shooting lodges in i)roximity to the several fishing and shooting grounds in the neighborhood ;such as lie Ste M — 137 — homeopathically : a " wee caulker, " of which, on the authority of glorious Kit North, he said would act as a charm. Sure enough, the distressing '' crow's feet " round the old mariner's eyes and mouth grew dim; the ominous lines sank, nearly disappeared, and Jean Lavoie, as if young again, hustled round the deck, rated the crew,composed chiefly of Nicholas Mathurin, and the cabin boy, for allowing one of the j^atch's main- stays to bag. " Make it taut," said he. supplementing his lively order with a mild sacr*^. " That anchor," he added, " is not apeak, seaman-like ; the forecastle floor wants scrubbing ; the flying jib haliard is slack." Sucre ! The authoritative old salt having had his say, returned to assume his post near the companion ladder, watching the spray of the Ilironde/le, tacking under her double-reefed main-sail and jib. Merrily was the craft bowling along, making excellent time, on her larboard tack, rapidly nearing the reedy strand, fringed with the white cottages, and outhouses on Little Goose Island, dismembered from Crane Island, and now owned by the Hotel-Dien Nuns of Quebec, when old Lavuie, scanning the shores of the green, fertile isle, muttered in a half musing, abstracted way : " Poor Mr. Granville ! Who will ever tell us who he was, and why he was kept a miserable prisoner for years on that lofty rock ? Was he the Masque de fer of la vieille France ? Never probably shall we learn. " — *' What about him ? — where and when did he flourish ? " immediately put in the commodore, in an inquiring tone. —''You had better ask Mr. Oldbuck," Lavoierepledi m km m n i If Ifft FIT i i " I — 138 — pettishly. " I am not a professor of history ! How can I tell ? it may have been one hundred — it may have been two hundred — years since the mysterious stranger was kept a captive on that island. I know that a Becart de Granville— Pierre de Becart, sieur de Granville, in 1678 — was once seifjneur of this group of Islands, long after Monsieur de Montmagny's tim«. In my youth I remember noticing the decayed foundations of the Granville manor, on the loftiest ridge of Little Goose Island — solid cedar rafters, imbedded in the earth, just a few yards west of the present dwelling of Teles La- pierre, the Nun's farmer. Some remains of masonry still exist under ground. An adjoining mound to the north east still bears the name of Becart's mountain, next to a rocky cove, used as a landing place in fo^^ner days, when the French held Canada, and ascended the St. Lawrence by the north channel up to Cape Tourmente, the south channel being considered narrow and unsafe on account of the shoals. Here Mr. Oldbuck chimed in, as old Lavoie's historical lore seemed giving out. " The ground work of the story rests on tradition, handed down from father to son, among these simple islanders, whose fertile fields are connected by a long, grassy, flat beach to Crane Island. The early history of Little Goose Island was marked with blood and carn-ige. In 1655, the historian Ferlar.d (*) tells us how the Agniers raided the place, murdciig the chief settlers, among others M. Macquart, a well-to-do Parisian settler — M. Moyen the seigneur, as well as his wife — carrying off in their canoes his children, who however, were subsequently (*) Cours cVhistoire du Canada. — 139 — released. One of M. Moyen's daughters espoused Lam- bert Close, one of the brave and early colonists of Montreal." The Antiquary added the following,extracted from the Legendarji Lore of the St. Lawrence, and read as fol- lows :" More than a centur}^ back, a French officer left old for New France, as it was then called ; he applied for, and obtained the grant of a Fief or seigniory, com- prising a gronp of islands called the Ste Marguerite Islands, to which he subsequently added the two Goose Islands and Crane Island, originally granted to Gover- nor de Montmagny, in 1646. The extent of such a domain supposes rank and importance in the seigneur who chose for his manorial residence one of the most picturesque, but also, one of the most secluded isles of the group ; and thereon built, not a crenelated tower, nor a baronial castle of mediaeval times, but a plain massive, stone house, — a prison as it proved subse- quently, either for himself or for his son. There for many a long year, far from the eyes of men, a solitary prisoner was immured. His keeper, perhaps his friend, his relative for aught that can be stated to the contra- ry, was a woman — a w^oman of rank and wealth. The prisoner, it was said, was insane. The question was often asked, "Was he born so ? or if not, what produc- ed his insanity ?" Were there no lunatic asylum in France fit to receive him ? The replies to these que- ries are likely to remain for ever among the unfathom- ed secrets of the past. Dark surmises were circulated. Who was this new Masque de Fer ? Why was he im- mured between four massive walls, with no sweet sounds to beguile captivity's lonely hours, save the voice of the pitiless north easterly storm, or the mono- tonous roar of the waves on the granite coast where ;■■,' S ■■If ■ i-; II h h I ■i. !■ — 140 — he was entombed, in a living grave ? Tlie name of the fair occupant of the Manor v^^as. . .Madame or Made- moiselle de Granville, f The prisoner was her bro- ther, sisterly love made her his jailer : she said so. Years rolled on ; the poor captive died ; conjec- tures went their way ; Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire, Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed. Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre." The ruins of Madame de Granville's manor were visible at the bejjfinning of the century ; the seignior of this group of Islands, granted, as above stated, to the Governor of Canada, in 1646, as a shooting ground, built up a manor on Crane Island ; the centre room, or parlor still exists and forms part of the modern seig- niorial residence." — " Could you not, Mr. Oldbuck, give us the history of this old manor, rife with so many sporting and war- like souvenirs ?" exclaimed the commodore. "We shall soon, if this breeze holds out, be under its hospi- table roof ; I wish to know all about Crane Island manor before I enter. "Gentlemen, replied the Antiquarj^ this is both an agreeble, and an easy task. It so happens, that I have a sketch of this ancient manor, nearly finished in my portfolio, I will read it for your edification later on." f A. M. de Granville. , an officer of the Regiment de Carignan, had had a concession of Island du Portage, in 1G72. . . .it does not appear whether this was the same man or not. ■ ■ Pi:fM — 141 — Chap. V The Rappel of the French Dead in Charlottetown, P. Ed. I. Off Kamouraska, September. 189 — "A quiet shady place. A nook apart from traflBc's toil and moil ; Of fresh green pastures on a fertile soil, Well clothed with wealth of woods, by uature's beauty And know^n as Hernewood all throughout the country." —Emigration of the Fairies. Lt.-Col John Hunter Duvur) "■ That Granville tale, Commodore, is prime, re- torted Mac of the Isles; it brings one back so vividly to that delightful period in French histoiy, when the king to gratify the private revenge of pimp or paramour, in his royal clemency, furnished Leftns de cachet, to im- mure for life, within the gi-im dungeons of the Bastille a hatvjd rival in love or in ambition." But who will be the next contributor to the legen- dary log of the Hirondelle ? Wind and tide favor us, suppose we cross over to our Canadian Brighton — Murray Bay, saunter round the Nairne and Fraser settlements of 1762, and pick up some stray threads of their battle and siege tradi- tions, of their warlike Highland followers : the Black, burns. Warrens, McLeans, McNicols, McNeils. Harveys — transmogrified now into thorough Jean-Bapfistes speaking no other language than the French."' — " I protest," sung out the sporting Commodore against having any more sea or land tales at present' If there is a thing sacred to an Englishman, or I may say, to a British subject, it is his dinner. Let us then go through this performance, like real Britons." Instanter, the commodore and his sympathetic guests, like he of Pinafore, ''went below" ; the helm was -M mm Hi "! ■ t I r; ...:i-i — 142 — entrusted to old Carleton, the sailing-master ; and mer- rily the yatch sailed along. An hour or two later, the Hirondelle was safely moored to the pier, at Pointe a Pic, where a very pleasant surprise awaited the Anti- quary. A renowned Prince Edward Island poet, author of " Robervaf,'" " K migration of the Fairies,^' " Osiris,'' &c., in quest of topographical information respecting the visit, his hero, *'Roberval," had paid, in 1543, to the Saguenay district, was then rusticating at Murray Bay. The bard was introduced forthwith by the Antiquary to the yatching party, as the Squire of Hernewood, and warmly greeted. The Commodore and friends all landed, ascended the hill, and strolled round the bay. On their return they were glad to take a rest, and readily accepted, at Roc.hij Hollow, the generous hospitality of Lt.-Col. D. C. T.^its owner. Refreshments were passed round; long life and lirosperity was drank to the mist and heather of old Scotia. The party, including the P. E. Island poet, then re-embarked on board the Hirondelle. It had been decided to cruise round for one day before landing the bard at the cottage he had leased, six miles lower down at C((i)-a-V Aigle. Soon the trim Hirondelle, all sail set, heading for the next watering-place — Rioiereda Loup, was mer. rily cleaving her way, amidst the rippling surf and numerous white caps on the sand bar outside the bay, at a speed of nine miles an hour. Serene as was his wont, stood the Commodore at the helm ; Mac of the Isles w^as scanning the horizon with his marine glass for the appearance of the inward Allan steamer ; the Antiquary was deep in a discussion with I ! — 143 the Squire of Hernewoocl, anent the origin of the Mur- ray Bay mounds or mamelons, whilst Pierre, the cabin boy was scolding Fox, whose tail, in his hurry to pass round the cigars, he had crushed, whilst the dog lay curled up in the sunshine, close to the companion. " Illustrious son of Apollo," ejaculated the Commo- dore, with a majestic wrinkle in his Olympian brow addressing the squire, "dost thou know that no mortal man, ever since the days of old Peter Kalm, ventured on Ohamplain's sacred stream, for the first time without paying tribute. For you it will not be filthy lucre, but a poet's tribute." — " Hold, Commt>dore," put in the Antiquary," the collectors of the Legendary Lore of the St. Lawrence will be satisfied with a contribution, a tribute if you will, in prose." — Reassured, the bard and seer looked undaunted and replied, " Commodore, I bow to the decree of fate ; but remember, that whether I am to pay trilnite in verse or in prose, 1 fear no rival. A strange, but poetical tale I am prepared to unfold, anent my island home.'* Perhaps you have heard of the apparition of the spectral ship of the Gulf — believed in, along the shore of the North Bay. In fact for thirty and odd years I have met fisher- men who have seen it, or have seen other fishers who had seen it. About three years since I was informed that she was off the coast. She is seen both by night and day, at night carrying lights. On cross-examination the evidence became hazy, and the witnesses did not remember what kind of weather she was seen in, or how the wind blew, or what her professional rig (war or merchant ?) but she was always under sail, a large ji",' 11 1. 1 — 144 — ship. She does not advertise her route in the shipping list, nor publish her log, but her cruising ground is from east of East Cape of Prince Edward Island to Escuminac. Legend does not say what the ship was. The ship " Canseau " wrecked on this coast, was of some note, but I do not think it is she. On the north coast of P. E. Island, near East Cape, is a locality, called from the earliest French times, Naufrmje. There I w^ould look for the mystery as to the spectral craft herself : antiquarians or scientists (optic, occult, or ocular) must decide whether it is a fata morqana or imagination. Possibly you may recollect some verses I published some years ago under the heading " A leyenO of A}itlcosti T' it should have been " of the North Bay"or "of theGulf." Obscurely mixed up with the spectral ship is •' The IjUjht on TnjoH Bar,'' in the straits of Northumberland; a ship's lights are seen on dusky nights on the bar of Tryon two or three miles off shore. Why off Tryon ? Once on a date of era uncertain, a fool hardy mariner put off in a boat to board the evident ship. Man nor boat never returned. Whether they perished or were taken on board and added to the phantom crew and equipment remains a mystery. There is further more a fine legend of the " Rappel of the French dead" in Charlottetown ; you are wel- come to it, as it first appeared as a story told in camp. The Rappel of the Dead. — *'You all know^ about the fall of Louisbourg, how they battered away at it for ever so long, and at last took it. Had I time I could demonstrate to you the weak points of the defence, in a manner that would make — 145 — at ak ,ke old Tocllieben stare. However, I haven't time, and if I had, you might not understand it ; so it's no matter. The French had two or three forts in Ulsle St. Jean, as Prince Edward Island was then called, and kept small garrisons there, although what possible use they could be in an island all forests in summer, and frozen in six months of winter, it would have puzzled Napier of Magdala, or Grant of the Wilderness to say. Pro- bably they were mere stockades with a ditch. I visited one of these forts at North River, but found nothing more professional than an outline of mounds in a field, and a pyramid of turnips of the calibre of sixty eight pound shot. Very likely the posts were merely to catch deserters from Cape Breton, and keep scoundrels from the mainland from trading with the Indians, whose occasional hunting ground it was ; for let me tell you the island had moose and cariboo at that time, although how they got there God wot ! unless the straits were more firmly frozen to the mainland than they are now, — aye, and beaver too, for you can see the remains of the beaver meadows, and deer antlers are occasionally turned up in the furrows. The bears must have had a grand time then, for there is possibly good bear hunting in the west of the Island even now. Of course when Louisbourg capitulated, the garrisons were withdrawn, and were sent back to old France. Not all, though ; for they left some of their number under the sod, about a company strong, I should think, if my story be true. Some were doubtless scalped by our Micmac brothers, and some must have died from natural causes, although the island is so extraordinar- ily healthy, that there are always more folks over a hundred years old there, than there is any use for. An officer of rank, the commandant or somebody, and a 10 vi 1:1 1 ■ 111,. m St ■■■yf m :|'!l! I vM — 146 — '4 full staff of company officers must have died too — and a drummer. The way I know the strength of the missing men's roll you shall hear. All of them died and wore buried with military honors of course, but they would not stay buried. Their cemetery was at Porf-h-joi/e, where Charlottetowii now stands, and in the line of one of the principal streets of that village. As Charlotte- town grew, the Mansion was built over the old French military burial ground, and the family took possession, unmindful of the dead who slept below. But I tell you for a fact, that at midnight they heard the tap of muffled drums in the cellar, then the sound of marching feet, then the clash of grounding arms. It was the midnight parade of the dead. Then after an interval sufficient for inspection, the measured tramp of feet was again heard to tap of drum. The men were marching off the ground. One does not like to have a barrack of disembodied troops of the line in his cellar without knowing the reason why. So the lie v. Mr. , when he fell heir to the estate, determined to see what could be done in the premises. He was by no means a timid man, but on the con- trary, being of Scottish descent, had a hard practical head, and besides he came of a family of soldiers, and, more over he* was in holy orders. Thus trebly armed, he, on many occasions descended into the cellarage, and always with the last stroke of twelve by the church there came the first tap of the drum and the sound of marching feet. Not the brutal noise of ammunition boots, but rather the soft pit a-pat of mocassins, for it is natural to suppose that the dead march lighter than the living. — n? — The good clergyman was fairly puzzled. He said naught to them. Had he been as good Catholic as he was good Protestant, he would no doubt have sung a mass for the souls in the cellar. Whether the company had had the route for other quarters, or whether their term of service has expired, these spectre troops muster no more. But that they did muster, is as true as the mutiny act. " Ivirt THE LIGHT ON TRYON BAR Off Murray Bay, Sept., 189— *' A gallant fleet sailed out to sea With the pennons streaming merrily, On the hills, the tempest lit And the great ships split In the gale. And the foaming fierce sea-horses, Hurled the fragments in their forces To the ocean deeps, Where the Kraken sleeps, And the whale." M vt, it r — Song of the Mermaids in " De Roderval " Hunter Duvar, Scarcely had the Squire of Hernewood had time to draw breath, after delivering to his appreciative audience, his weird, martial Prince Edward Island legend, when a pathetic appeal w^as made to him by the whole party, for its twin sister, the Spectral Ship of Tryon Bar, previously meutioned. Laying aside his cigar, and raising to its full extent the collar of his cape to effectually exclude the drench- t — 148 - ing spray, caused by tlio plunging of the swift Iliroti' delle, tiie Squire proceecUnl as follows : — "Instead of a pleasant summer cruise in a snug, commodious yatch, over St. Lawrence's sparkling tide, just imagine yourselves— as more than once was my fate — swiftly skimming in a well equipped ice-boat over the frozen surface and icy hummocks rushing wildly, between our island and terra Jinna, on a bleak winter day, and I shall try and repeat a tale I once heard, though it may be out of my power to retrace the rollicking, cheery ways of tlie narrator." THE LIGHT ON TRYON JJAR Scene: The ice-boat between Cape Traverse, P. E. I., and Cape Tormentine, N. B., going smoothly along over a field of glib ice, so as to admit of conversation among the passengers, who are harnessed to the boat, and pulling it along as captives might a Roman chariot. A middle-aged man with a far-away-look in his eyes as if he wrote editorials for a newspaper, takes the parole. To a fellow-dragsman : — ''Pass: "I think, sir, you belong to this coast. Can you give me any information respecting a strange light that is sometimes seen on Tryon Bar ? " — J. B. : " My name is Bouncer, Jim Bouncer. — Pass : Pardon me, Mr. Bouncer, I am really much interested in the matter from a scientific point of view. Have you ever seen the light yourseli' ? " —J. B. : " Maybe I have, and maybe I have n't. It ain't a thing to spaak of. " — Pass : "Do oblige me. You have yourself seen it ? " J ; ) ! -149- — J. B. : *' Well (seeing it's you) I have seen it. And don't you go for to see it if you can help it. That light never shows 'copting for mischief, some widow woman's cow slips her calf, or the mackerel won't school, or something. First time I see that there light my red mare took the strangles, and the next time a sow that I was raising — a Berkshire she was, and nigh on two hundred, — choked on a potato. Sam Sinker blames that unlucky light for his wife having twins, and him a poor man. Don't you ask to see it mister. " — Pass : '^ Really you excite my curiosity. Pray tell me all about it and when we reach Tom Allan's I will stand something short. What is the light like ? '' — J. B. : " Like ! Like a ship on the shoals, only her lights burn a kind of blue. A big ship at that, for her ports are open and you see the lights shining through, kind of misty like. After dark is her time. Warm, muggy weather, when the bar looks twice as far off the land. You know the kind o' weather, Pilot ? '' — Pilot : "I knows 'um. " — 2n(I Pass " May I be blizzard, but this is a tough yarn. " — J. B. : " Seems to be lying broadside on. Can't quite make out her build or rig, but can kind of see her sheets shivering, — dim like — none of them taut, and her to' gallensails and skyscrapers lost in the fog. Tell you what, that there ship is not navigated by no niortial crew. She never cleared from no custom house, and hasn't no port of entry 'cept it be Tryon Bar. Lubbers is aboard that ship. m f:r;. — 150 — A. B. seamen wouldn't lay her on that there shoal. Some says they have heard men shouting aboard, but I never did. Bob Quittles, hiin as sails out of St. John — tells me has heard them yell often, and Bob is a 'sponsible man that could not be hired to tell a lie, except about a matter of smuggling or such. You have heard of Oapting Kidd's ship, the Flying Dutchman, mister ? That's her. If it's not her, it's Dave Jone's own tender." — Pfffis: " Why don't some of you fishermen put off, and see what it really is ? — J. B. : "Not any for me, thank ye, squire. That ha« been done once too often already. I've heard my father say that Joey Smiff — you didn't know Joej, he was afore your time — but a catavvampus was Joey, and he swore he would go off to the light ship, and sample her pursers rum. He had about three caulks in him when he said it. Men tried to hold him and asked him not, but he said he would. And he did. Shot his dory clean through the breakers like acurrmuree, about twenty minutes after an awful yell came ashore, and whether Joey was drowned, or the ghostisses had keel- ed-hauled 'him, can't say. But Joey never came back. Neitheir his boat. She was a 14 feet keel, spruce, and carried a kedge. Anyhow it was all up with Joey, and you could not buy no Tryon man to go out there no more." — Divinity Student : (who was hauling very feebly " Really this is a singular aberration. Suetonius remarks " Here the ice boat came l)ump against a floating hummock, and the voyagers scrambled on board and took to the oars : — 151- id "Superb ! Hip ! Hip ! ! Hurrah ! ! !was the enthu- siastic exclamations of all on board." "Commodore ! added the Squire of Hernewood," I presume you or some of your friends, might like to hear how Mr. Jim Bouncer's narrative of the Spectral Ship might look in verse ; here goes the legend with some variations, as versified by a Prince Edward Island poet : — How once on a time a ship was lost, Cut by the ice from stem to hold, From out the north the wind it blew : There was no time to make a landing ; And the fated ship, with all her crew And spars, went down all standing. A ten gun brig as I've heard tell ; But whose she was, or whence she came, Men know not now, nor what befel The crew of this ship without a name, Sailors to her, mayhap, in boats From some sea-hell came steering, And stole her men, or cut their throats, And went a-bucc.ineering. Her cruising ground, St. Lawrence Gulf, From Entry Isle to Gabarus Bay ; And she burned and plundered from Cape Wolfe, On both sides up to the Saguenay, Till she sank : but in judgment, it may^be. And without the power of choosing Between the devil and the deep sea, Was sent again a-cruising. Sometimes when fisherman froui the shore On stormy nights looks out to sea, lo gueiis if a day to plv the oar And cast the net to-morrow will be — ■ ■ ■■>«, ■ fm :! . i ■''■ ; »;|S mw — 152 — (For well he knows will he weep and wail Should hunger be in his biggin), He suddenly sees a ship full-sail, And men up in the rigging. When weird gray clouds drift o'er the moon, And ground-swell breaks with sullen roar. And titfully, in mournful tune, The wind pipes from the Labrador, Some home-returning chaloupe trig Or mackerel-boat or banker Reports a spectral ten-gun brig Seen riding at an anchor. When great black rocks heave up their backs. And shake their flowing manes of kelp. The Lighthouse keepers on the Stacks Have heard a far, weird cry for " Help ! " And seen upon the Deadman's Ledge, Where lines of surf were breaking, A large ship lying on its edge, With all her canvas shaking. Some of the oldest sailor's sons Have seen her lift in the ofHing, And heard dull sounds of minute-guns From out that floating coflin. With all sail set aloft and alow. She comes and goes like a vision, And still pursues ^for aught I know), Her diabolic mission. Hunter duvar. "Did you ever. Commodore, hear of the mj^sterio is lady of Sable Island mentioned by judge Haliburton, asked the Anti(j[nary." — "Never, replied the Commodore." Then rejoined, Jonatlian Oldbuck I will tell it in a few words. 153 The Sable Island Ghost. "In the year 1802, the transport •' Princess Amelia" was wrecked off the south side of the island. Part of the cargo consisted of some furniture belonging to the Queen's father, Prince Edward. Among the passengers on board were a number of officers, soldiers and their wives and servants — in all about 200 persons. They all perished. At that time some piratical vagabonds made the island a base of operations for their terrible work, as there was then no regular establishment kept on the island. It is supposed that some of the poor souls of that unfortunate vessel reached shore in safety, and were murdered by the w^reckersfor their property. Captain Torrens. of the 29th Regiment, then lying at Halifax, was sent to look after the missing ones, and was wrecked too, but escaped to shore wdth his life, together with others. In a hut they found some arms w^hich the captain appropriated. On returning to the hut on one occasion the first thing he saw inside was a lady sitting by the fire, with long, dripping hair hang- ing over her shoulders. Her dress was covered with sand, and clung to her as though it was wringing wet. " Where did you come from, madam ? " he asked, but her only reply was to hold up her hand, and then he saw that one of the fingers had been cutoff, and was still bleeding. He got a ])ana. .^e, and was a1)out to offer his assistance in dressing tl)o wound when the mystcious visitor rose up suddenly, and slip])iiig past him started for the beach. He followed, bogging her to return, and as ho thought she must be out of her mind, ran after her. Hut the quicker ho ran. the ([uicker she fied, until reaching the shore she plunged into the waves and disapx)eared. Then he returnecl to the hut, :ii ^m i 1- ■I J. 1 ii ii — 154 — and was amazed to find that the stranji^e visitor had preceded him. Again she held up her wounded hand, and this time he took a good look at her to be able to identif}^ her afterwards if necessary. All at once it struck him that it was the wraith of some woman mur- dered for her jewelry ; ond as he gazed, he recognized the features of a Mrs. Copeland, a lady well known in Halifax, as the wife of Dr. Copeland, of the 7th Regi- ment. When she saw that he recognized her she rose smiled, and disappeared. Captain Torrens got the name of three of the most prominent wreckers, and after a good deal of difficulty found the man who had stolen the lady's ring, and disposed of it to a Halifax jeweller, at whose shop he found it. It was identified at once by the ladies of the regiment, and by some of the doctor's brother officers. Judge Haliburton, in a foot note in his history of the island, vouches for the truth of the narrative. — Morumfj Chronicle, 26th May 1883. The IlirondcUe, with every stitch of canvas set, was merrily bowding along in the direction of Kamouraska, when Jonathan Oldbuck, at the steward's suggestion, proposed to the Commodore to run alongside the splen- did government wharf, at Pointe-aux-Or'ujnaux, lliviere- Ouelle. " We are sure, said he, of replenishing easily, our depleted commissariat, at that delightful summer resort of Tourists, the Laurentine House, and of pro- curing a supply of salmon, fresh smelts, trout and other products of the sea : a visit to Bkirre-OueUe will also afford us the pleasure of witnessing possibly, the capture in the stake or weir enclosures on the beach, of the porpoise or white whale, so graphically described by the learned Abbe H. R. Casgrain, the historiographer 155 — •o- of Riviere-Ouelle, his native parish. This luiwieldly and excentric fish in its wanderings, has lately been thns caught more than one hundred at a time. It is at Pohife-aux-Orh/naitx, that our friend the Abbe places the last scene of his tragical Legend, La Jongleihse. A quaint tradition, possibly connected with the capture of these porpoise in early times, is still repeated at Canadian fire-sides. A club of farmers had acquired the monopoly of the Ririi're Onelh beaches, to plant their fishery stakes and other engines of warfare* &c., against the denizens of the deep. Others coveted the spot, as the profits from the porpoise fishery, were occa- sionally very remunerative. Outsiders were not invited ; it was better to keep the matter dark. A strange tale was circulated at the time. The supernatural inci- dent was supposed to have occured on St. JeanBaptiste Day — (24th June) — when porpoise fishing was at its height. St. Jean-Baptiste Day, in the olden times was kept up with much festivety.Theday closed usually with a dance, followed by copious libations to the rosy god ; ample stores of old Jamaica rum were provided. On the holiday in question, quite a number of farmers from the adjoining parishes had driven to Riviere-Ouelle, to witness the results of an extraordinary catch of por- poise which had taken place the day previous. A grand carouse w'as held ending with songs and a dance to music furnished by the village fidler. " A la claire fontaine." '' Par derriere chez man perey Malbrouck neii va-t-en f/iierre, duly encored had waked the echoes of Fointe-oHx-Orignaux. The ladies too had been helped twice to Sanyree, a rather seduc- tive cordial ; the secret of its composition has now" been lost. There is something misty about the tradition, as ,: m . 1 ^r^.! m ■'•:'■'>!'■■■■% n r..i!i — 156 — to when the spectral hands on the walls were seen ; some of the invited guests, retiring, in the moon-light, to the rocky shore under the potent fumes of old Jamaica, had indulged in a nap, whilst the most vigor- ous were inclined to keep up the dance until sunrise ; the village fiddler, however, at 11.30 struck up Sir Roger (h Coverhnj, which meant that the feast was over. The light of the expiring candles had grown very dim. It was then that the strange apparitions were noticed on the walls : hands advanced or retreat towards or from the guests as they moved forward or backward. The ghostly arms extended their lleshless palms as if desirous of shaking hands, then disappeared and reappeared on the walls opposite ! ! ! At midnight, the spirits suddenly' rushed to the beach : the rising tide having floated the gruesome car- cases of the porpoise, they bestrode them and imme- diately the eyes of the dead animals became sparkling lights ; flashes of Are were emitted from the blow holes of their heads, and phosphorescent illumination followed in the wake of the sea steeds of their ghostly riders? who rapidly disappeared until lost sight of in the distant sea. The terrified St Denis and Kamouraska guests, instantly hitched up their Marche doncs, vowing Point€-((ux-Marsoihs, was an uncanny place : the spot was dreaded for years. Let us now examine on the rockj^ beach the inex- plicable snow-shoe impressions, perceptible to this day, though fading away. I had an opportunity of seeing them, some ten years ago, under the guidance of my friend, Abbe Casgrain, the annalist of Rivivre-Ouelle. Trulv Old Nick must have been at a loss for out door exercise, in the winter months to indulge in a snow-shoe tramp, over thi> forlorn shore at that season! — 157 — — " Now, Mr. Oldbuck and gentlemen, I can add to your legends, as good and as true a story " if you will favor me Avith your attention " said Mac of the Isles : THE MAGIC FIDDLER. AN ASH WEDNESDAY LEGEND. '1 ' m '' Did you ever hear tell of the curious legend of The Magic Fiddler? It illustrates the dire fate which overtook the transgressors of the 11. C. Church rules, which govern that tiuie-honored institution, the Lenten season. I learnt it when a boy from an aged, genial country priest. " — •• No. " readily replied the jolly navigators of the IlifomMIe : " Do let us have it ! " — '• Evidently, my nautical friends, you must all belong to the unenlightened squad of city land-lubbers, to whom the crisp stories, blood-curdling legends, and odd traditions of the sweet olden time, current on the shores of the lower St. Lawrence, are like a closed book. Here, then, is my Mardi-Gras legend. Mardi-Gras, you are doubtless aware, is the popular French name of the annual dancing and feasting bout, preceiling, in French Canada, the gruesome, penitential term of Lent ; not tlie modern, improved edition, but the vigorous 40 days* fish Lent of old. It began at 12 o'clock, midnight, on Shrove Tuesday, imposed daily extra prayer, fasting and total abstinence from all flesh diet ; now, eggs, butter, beef broth, even oysters, may form part of the me nit of a modern, degenerate Lent. '* " Once on a time, in an ancient, pious settlement i i t:'H ■[•■"ii| ! ' ill I f; I'- » ■ t 111 ' ' I ' — 158- 011 the St. Lawrence, there stood in the centre of ia forest clearing a solitary dwelling, of rather pretentious appearance. It hud been partly built, — the front only, — of CaOii Stone, imported some said from Normandy, by a wealthy Calvinist, seeking a (juiet home in Cana- dian wilds, far from old world religious strife. The builder came from that staunch fortiess of the early reformed church, Rochelle. New P' ranee, all know, was never a congenial soil for the disciples of austere John Calvin. The Calvinist Manor, at the death of its owner, gradually went to decay ; the roof yielded first ; that portion of the wall exposed to easterly gales crumbled ; the feudal tower, intended to repel Indian assaults, one night was struck by lightning ; in fact, the Manor was rapidly becoming uninhabitable. It had once, t'was said, sheltered a friend of Daniel ivertk, who had married a relative of Madame de Cham plain, previous to the beautiful Helene Boule adopting the creed of her husband, the founder of Que bee. Successive autumnal gales had torn huge boughs from the once graceful elms, and uprooted some of the wide-spreading pines and lithe maples encircling the Manor. Wintry blasts whistled through its gables ; snow drifts were allowed to pile up, unchecked, round its massive iron-clasped, oaken door ; its roomy hall, how- ever, afforded shelter. Forlorn, deserted, shunned in fact by the llonian Catholic parishioners, the Calvinist's Manor was fast assuming the unhallow- ed, dreaded aspect of a haunted house. For all that* no clanking chains had yet grated here at night-fall, though there existed a vague, half-credited rumor that 159 — the parish beadle's blooming daughter.after meeting one night her cava/ier in the neighborhood, had seen there, by the light of the moon, a headless spectre on horse-back ; this had however excited little surprise, as it was on Hallowe'en night the apparition had been seen. One Shrove Tuesday, long, long ago, at the request of the Maquif/nons'-^'- of the neighboring settlement, a grand trotting match had been arranged to take place in that neighborhood. Such, in fact, had been the pur. port of the announcement made by the public crier at the church-door, after high mass, on the preceding Sunday. The icy surface of an adjoining river offered a splendid course, where the farmers of the surroun- ding parishes were to meet with their nimble trotters and Norman amblers. Great, though select was the concourse on the appointed day; betting, too, ran high. The darkness, however, of a short winter day interrupted the sport ; it was decided to continue the races on the morrow; An unknown maquignon, who said he came from a back concession, the owner of a fast, coal-black trot- tev, proposed that they should take possession for the nigl t of the deserted manor, tether their steeds in the spacious outhouses, invite the village maidens, and get up a dance, saying that he would borrow the fiddle of tbo village fiddler, and supply the music. Some tried .^ frown down the proposal, the house having sucli a bad name ; — eventually the strange visitor carried his point. In due time, and after the smoking of some very strong Canadian tobacco, the dance was organized as the guests had arrived. Many tallow candles lit up the scene. The company having assembled, chatted, 'I 11 i I * Horse Jockeys W'.. -160 — danced, and drank sawjt'ce ; * they again, and again chatted, danced, and drank saHt/rce until midnight. A grey-haired, but spruce habitanf, pulling out his mas- sive old watch said it was cime to end the entertain- ment, Jind called for a round dance, otherwise the com- pany would 1)6 sinfully encroaching on Ash Wednes- day The indefatigable fiddler objected, and struck up in his wildest mood a boisterous i/if/uc simple. One and all, they joined in, chatted, danced, and drank S(rn(/re^. A cot ill ion was then called for, and again they chatted, danced, and drank scnif/rce. Presently, the lights grew dim, but the music was l)risker than ever, and never ceased until the whole company sank out of sight, and nothing remained visible but their red tnqxes, madly dancing above ground." " That is a prime legend," ! one and all on board the yatch shouted, " but who was the Magic Fiddler ?" " I leave you to guess " replied Jonathan Oldbuck, with a knowing wink. * Mulled Wine ; this favorite cordial, used cliietly during wia ter in olden time, was made from spiced Bene-Carlo Wine. rin. — IGl — Chap. VI RivifeRE-DU-Lorp, Cacouanna — Bic — L'Islet au MASSACRE — ITS LEGEND Three hours brisk sailing lirought us to the Ricihr- du-LoHj) Pier, built by the Provincial Government, in 1S54. Rivirre-iJtf-LoHp, an important centre of the Inter- colonial and Temiscouata Railways, has of late years evoluted into the progressive town of Fraserville. Though its scif^nenr is a Fraser, and in addition, a l^ublic benefactor of the town, he was not The Fraseh, on the memorable occasion, in 18GS, when it was attempted to recon^^truct the ancient and valiant Fraser clan, and to name provincial, county and parish chieftains. In 186S, the head-chief The Fraser, was the Hon. John Fraser de Berry, L. C. Saint Marc, near Montreal, Fraserville, enjoyed not the honor of being the head-quarters of this eminent " 5Sth descendant of Jules de Berry, a rich and powerful lord, who gave a sumptuous feast to the Emporor Charle- magne, and his numerous suite at his castle in Nor- mandy, in the 8th century." The Saint Marc chieftain maintained that De Berry regaled Charlemagne with sti'awberrios (fraises, in the French language) and that the Emperor was so greatly pleased that he ordered that he should henceforth be known as "fraser de berry" and from him the Clan Fraser traces its descent. This pet schpme of the Hon. John Fraser de Berry, naturally called forth a deal of curious and harmless banter in 11 11 \%^.% IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A 1.0 I.I 'fMIIIM IIIM 14° 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 .4 6" — ► V). ^ /w '^'W. '/ /A Photographic Sciences Corporation ,-\ ^^ "% V —.162 ml ■I * : ■It 1 i the English and French press ; the numerous and very respectable Fraser clan in the Province of Quebec, having branched ofE into so many, so varied septs, some having quil^ forgotten the traditions of the land of the Gael, its national costume and language. The idea had ultimately to be abandoned as impracticable. Fraserville, with its handsome new Roman Catholic temple of worship, pretty villas, prosperous store- keepers, numerous hotels, and increasing population, was well worthy of becoming the county-town ; a distinction, until recently, enjoyed by its rival, Saint Louis de Kamouraska. At the roaring waterfall, close to the Intercolonial Railway, the stream rushes wildly over a cliff about 80 feet high, then pauses to rest in the deep pool below, ere blending its dark waters with the St. Lawrence„ Fraserville is the terminus of the Temiscouata Railway, Its sloping hills, dotted with villas — closed in by Pointe a Beatdieii, and by the river pier, in the distance, appear with advantage from the village. Riviere du Lottp, its former name, is said to have originated in the olden times, when the phocae, loups-marins, were in the habit of congregating in droves, at its entrance in the St. Lawrence, making night hideous with their cries ; long since, they have changed their haunts. I can recall Cacouanua, in 1854, when it was but an inconsiderable village and when the want of a railway, and a wharf compelled one to land in a small boat, whilst a hay cart and horse were driven in the surf to receive the baggage from the boat. It is now, in much request by our rank and fashion during the hot spell — frqmswoet June to pensive September ; its capacious -168 — a. St. Lawrence Hall, can accommodate 600 guests and the smaller hotels and cottages of the peasantry, receive as many more travellers and pleasure seekers. A number of Quebec and Montreal merchants, and pro- fessional men, have selected for themselves cool retreats, on the lofty bank skirting the highway, handy P^^^g^ ^ to the beach and sea bath- ing. Lake Saint Simon, a !^ few iTiiles in rear, furnishes SiA? good sport to the angler, whilst riding, driving, boat- ^'^BWWW^ggggjg^ ing and pic-nics, &c., fill in ^^Qll^l&miBBS^^ the spare hours of leisure; '^^'c^SStfiy '^ '^ S^^^^ beach— pure, cool air, brilliant northern scenery, grand river-views from the heights, and excellent railway facilities such are the specialities of Cacouauna — 4^ miles froni the railway station. There is nothing very no. ^worthy about the parish of lie Verte, Green Island, which borrows its name from the isle facing the village. It leads to the extensive, old village of Trois- Pistoles, where the Intercolonial Railway's express passengers stop twenty minutes for lunch. The veterans of the Quebec Bar tell of a famous law suit, originated in this parish by a change having been made in the public road—which was laid out to run on the slope of a hill, instead of in an adjoining valley ; the residents above would have nothing to do with those living below, even in spiritual matters. Each portion had its Roman Catholic church for years. Better counsels at last prevailed; chiefly through the wise and conciliatory action of the Bishop : the church on the lower level was ultimately closed. ! I] M ill! — 164 — UV t i ■ k "About the year 1700," according to a tradition in my family, said to me, Monsieur D'Amour, a descen- dant of the primitive seigniors, a fisher from France had established his hut on the rocky banks of the river. One day, a hunter hailed him from the opposite shore, asking how much he would charge to ferry him over. — " Trots pistoles " said the disciple of old Isaac, who was also the ferryman. — " What name does that river go by ? " asked the sportsman. '' It has none as yet, but will be christened soon '' replied he of the ferry. " Call it Trois Pistoles my friend, " said the hunter. "Such is the tradition current for more than a century in my family, " said Monsieur D'Amour. Extensive lumber establishments, provided with timber limits, lately existed on this.river. The Hirondelle, on her next tack, reached the steamer's wharf at Anse a Veau : the commodore and friends then visited the splendid Tadoussac Hotel. The very name of Tadoussac takes one back to the cradle of Canadian history. Venturesome Breton, Basque and jVorman fishermen are supposed to have frequented Tadoussac long before the era of Jacques Cartier. For years, Tadoussac, Stadacona, Three-Rivers and Hoche- laga were the chief emporiums of commerce, the fur trade marts in the whole colony. Stadacona, Three- Rivers and Hochelaga have expanded into large, wealthy and populous centres, whilst Tadoussac, the most frequented of them all, in olden time, has remained !••. — 165 — stationary ; it is nothing more at present, in winter, than a dreary hamlet of 500 souls, representing 106 families. Tadoussac, when the brave St. Malo captain, landed there, was the great fur mart of the northern and eastern tribes. Here the Nepissings, the Temis- camings, the Tetes-de-Botile and the White Fish Indians met the Micmac, the Abenaquis, the Huron, the Etche- min and the Montagnais savages; the Hurons giving in exchange, for arrows, beaver, otter and cariboo skins, their flour, Indian corn, tobacco, &c. Jacques Cartier had landed at Tadoussac, in Sep- tember, 1535, and Pont Grave and Chauvin had founded there a flourishing post as early as 1599. At Chauvin's death, neither commander de Chatte, nor de Monts continued the establishment, though the fishing com- pany of De Gruay de Monts traded there until 1607. It was only in 1622 that it became a regular trad- ing post ; Champlain found ships there in 1610, and remarks that their arrival dated from the 19th May, which was an earlier date for arrivals from sea than had been witnessed for the last sixty years ; this evi- dently favours the belief that ever since de Roberval's voyage, in 1549, Basque, Norman and Breton vessels had continued to purchase there peltries. In 1648, the Tadoussac traffic yielded more than 40,000 livresm clear profit, and the commercial trans- actions, in amount, exceeded 250,000 hvres ; the weight of the fur attained at least 24,400 lbs, and there were more than 500 deer skins. In 1628, Admiral William Kertk, a former Bordeaux wine merchant took posses- A' 'kMI on - 167 ^ lar for tourists. The bay is dotted with several ele- gant villas ; one of the most conspicuous is that built by our former beloved Governor-General, the Marquis of DufEerin and Ava. Tadoussac is an Indian word and means knolls or mamelons, which is illustrative of the irregular and broken formation of the land. One of the Indian legends of the locality has furnished Adirondack Mur- ray with the subject of his sensational romance, — The Doom of the Mamelons. Yatching, on the St. Lawrence, at Tadoussac, so attractive in our day, at midsummer, had serious draw- backs, in 1663. Such at least was the experience of Sieur de Lespinay, who was taking in his yawl, the Governor's secretary, M. de Maze, from Gaspe to Quebec. " Opposite to Tadoussac, the river rose and fell with Ihe waves, with a tremulous and unusual motion, causing much alarm among the passengers. Casting at the same moment their eyes towards land, they saw a mountain moving and tumbling over in the river, so that its summit was level with the surrounding land. Scared, they steered from the shore, lest some frag- ments should reach the boat. A short time after a large ship, at the spot, felt a similar shock ; the terror- stricken sailors prepared for death : the billows w^ere agitated and lashed in every direction, without any apparent and known cause. (1) It was my pleasant task to relate elsewhere {Chro- nicles of the St. Lawrence, pages 244-45,) on the author- ity of Revd Abbe H. Raymond Casgrain, the pious legend, current at Isle-aux-Coudres, respecting the 'ill ii ::l| il !| 3 (1) Coura cTJIigtoire du Canada — Ferlaitd, Vol. 1, p. 488. :i!i nnpn m \'4.f', — 168 — death of a devoted missionary, Pere Labrosse, in 1782, at Tadoussac, and the supernatural circumstances attending it ; how P^re Labrosse after prophesying the hour of his death, and arranging for his funeral, was found at twelve o'clock at midnight, dead, with his head resting on his hands on the first step of his cha- pel, when all the bells of the surrounding parishes set a ringing by supernatural agency. THE BELL OF DEATH. A LEGEND OF TUB ISLE AUX C0UDRE8 AND TADOUSSAC. Fierce blew the strong southeastern gale, The sea in mountains rolled, A starless sky hung wildly tossed. The midnight hour had tollud, Is that a sea — is this an hour — With sky so wildly black. To launch a barque so frail as that, Ye men of Tadoussac t Strong though your arms, brave though your hearts^ As arms and hearts can be, That tiny skiff can never live In such a storm-swept sea. Where Saguenay's dark waters roll To swell St. Lawrence tide, Down to the beach that stormy night Four stalwart fishers stride. I'm On through the surf the frail boat speeds. And see — before her prow — The giant waves shrink down and crouch. As if in homage low. It — 169 — Calm as the surface of a lake Sunk deep mid wooded hills, The track spreads out before the boat, — The sail a fair breeze fills ; While all around the angry waves Rear high their foamy scalps, And frowning hang like toppling crags, O'er passes through the Alps. Who stilled the waves on Gallilee, Makes smooth that narrow track, — 'Tis faith that makes your heart so bold. Ye men of Tadoussac ! m m Fierce blows the strong southeastern gale Around the lowly pile, Where dwells the lonely missioner Of Coudre's grassy isle. His psalms are read — his beads are said, — And by the lamp's pale beam, He studious culls from sainted page Sweet flowers on which to dream. But see he starts ! strange accents come Forth from the flying rack — " Funeral rites await your care — Haste on to Tadoussac !" And from the church's lowly spire Tolled forth the passing bell. And far upon the tempest's wing Was borne the funeral knell. That night along St. Lawrence tide^ From every church's tower. The bells rung forth a requiem Swung by some unseen powci*. ]i • iff ml I! I |r f ] 'U P li if;-: 1" ■■ fi'i — 170 — The storm has lulled and morning's light Pierces the shifting mists, That hang like shattered regiments Around the mountain crests. From brief repose, the anxious priest Forth on his mission speeds, O'er pathless plain, by hazel brake Where the lone bittern breeds. At length upon the Eastern shore Ended his weary track ; Where wait the hardy fishermen — The men from Tadoussac. •* Heaven bless you," cried the holy man, I know your high behest, God's friend, and yours, and mine has gone To claim his well- won rest." " Unmoor the boat — spread out the sail," And o'er a peaceful track. Again in eager flight, the boat Shoots home to Tadoussac. Before the altar, where so oft He broke the holy bread, Clamping the well-worn crucifix The priest of God lay dead. O'twas a solemn sight, thfty say. To see that calm cold face. Upturned, beneath the sanctuary light, Within that holy place. Happy LaBrosse ! to find for judge Him, whom from realms above Thy voice had called to dwell with men — A prisoner of love ! JOHN CAVEN Oharlottetown, P. E. I. - 171 — We soon reached that picturesque and incom- parable Bay of Bic, which made the divine Emily Montague, (*) according to Mrs. Brooke, exclaim, in 1767 " I wish I were Queen of Bic ! " Bic is called, in Jean Alphonse's Routier, Cap de Marbre; it went also by the name of Le Pic. Jacques Cartier, in 1535, named the harbour itself — Islot St. Jean, having entered it on the anniversary of the day on which John the Baptist was beheaded. Under French rule, the Baron d'Avaugour, in 1668, and the famous engineer Vauban, thirty years later, had planned an important part to be played by Bic, in the general system of defences contemplated to consolidate French power, in Canada. Quebec was then to receive most extensive fortifications. Bic was to be a harbour for the French ships of war to be retained in these waters. It still cherishes fond hopes of becoming a winter har- bour of refuge and though the SS. Persia. Capt. Judkms had a narrow escape from destruction, and had to run for Halifax, leaving her boats behind where the re- mainder of the troops were disembarked, at Bic, in 1861 on landing English troops there in December, on account of the Trent embroglio. Bic is likely to play a part, in some of the wild and impraticable schemes put forth to navigate the St, Lawrence, during the close season of winter. The seigniory of Bic was granted by Count de Frontenac, 6th May, 1675 to Charles Denis de Vitre, an ancestor of Denis de Vitre, who was made to accompany the English fleet to Quebec, in 1759, as one of Admiral Saunder's pilots. (*) The History of Emily Montague — 4 voluaies— London, 1767. This curious old novel, the first Canadian novel, was written at Sillery, near Quebec by Mrs. Francis Brooke, whose husband was Chaplain to the imperial forces at Quebec. 172 — ^S f ill ) Vh Ifts Ih 1 k' ' r' ^■'■; ♦ «-.,: ; l-l: U: ■in # M: Bic Island, Biqiiot, Cap Enragi, lie Bnilde, Cap ^ VOrianal, and especially the harbour of /s/(?< an Massacre are familiar names to the coaster or mariner of the lower St. Lawrence, in quest of a haven during our autumnal storms. Mr. J. C. Tach6 has rescued in the Soirees Canadiennes the particulars of the great Indian Massacre, of which the cave was the theatre, in the early days of New France. L'IsLET Au Massacre. At the entrance of Bic Harbour, there exists a small island. For a couple of centuries back it has been known as V Islet au Massacre, Massacre Island. A deed of blood marks the spot. Tradition supplements several details unknown to history, of the horrible scene of yore, enacted at Bic. Two hundreds Micmac Indians were camping there for the night ; the canoes had been beached ; a neighboring recess or cavern in the lofty rocks which bound the coast offered an apparent- ly secure asylum to the warriors, their squaws and papooses. Wrapped in sleep, the redskins quietly awaited the return of day to resume their journey ; they slept, but not their lynx-eyed enemy, the Iroquois ; from afar he had scented his prey. During the still hours of night, his noiseless steps had compassed the slum- bering foe. Ijaden with birch-bark fagots, and other combustible materials, the Iroquois noiselessly surround the cavern ; the fagots are piled around it ; the torch applied. Kohe ! Kohe! ! Hark ! the fiendish well-known war-whoop ! The Micmacs, terror stricken, seize their arms ; they prepare to sell dearly their lives, when the lambent flames and the scorching heat leaves them but one alternative, that of rushing from their lurking h:^ -173- place. One egress alone remains ; wild despair nerves their hearts ; men. women and children crowd through the narrow passage, amidst the flames, at the same instant a shower of poisoned arrows decimates them : the human hyena is on his prey ; a few flou- rishes of the tomahawk from the Iroquois and the silence of death soon invades the narrow abode. Now for the trophies ; the scalping, it seems, took some time to be done effectually. History mentions hut ^five out of the two hundred victims, who escaped with their lives. The blanched bones of the Micmac braves strewed the cavern, and could be seen until some years back. This dark deed, still vivid by tradition in the minds of the Restigouche settlers, is mentioned in detail in Jacques Cartier's narrative. (Jacques Carfier's second voyage CL. IX.) « m ■t;j I: ■I , - I — 174 — Chap. VII RiMOURKi — C/i i»E Chatte — Devil's Point — Griffin's Cove — Cock Cove — Mount St. Anne — its Shrine k^d Legends The origin of the names of places on the Gaspe cc-st constitutes quite a study. There are undoubtedly in Canada some strange transformations and obscure origins assigned to many names— both of persons and places. The origin of Rimouski, for instance, like that of Canada and Quebec, is still shrouded in mystery. RIMOUSKI — ITS etymology. When the respected father of Responsible Govern- ment in Canada West, Robert BaMwin, in 1S45, wa& RimoHskiJied into Parliament on the recommendation of his trusted friend and colleague, Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine, who could then have predicted that the origin of the name of the shire-town of his constituency would, later on, cause such perplexity to Canadian antiquaries ? Mgr. Chs. Guay alleges that Rimouski is a Micmac term meaning Hiviere du Chien, whilst his opponents interpret it as signify ins: Terre du Chien or Maison du Chien. Abbe Tanguay stands up for another interpretation, and translates it as Terre a VOrignal. There seems to be either a dog or a moose in the case. Bishop Latieche puts forth another learned etymology :: " In the Sauteux dialect, Rimouski signifies Demeure de Chien, from Animouski, chien, and ki or qi, a dwelling." By changing n into r, it is transformed to Arimouski." Adhuc sub judice lis est The parish of St. Germain de Rimouski takes its name from its first settler, Germain i A I ' i 175- Lepage, born in France, in 1641, and established, at Rimouski, in 1663. He was the father of Rene Lepage, its first seigneur. You have no doubt heard of the strange story of the old Hermit of the He St. Bernabe, opposite to Rimouski, described by the author of Emily Montague in her romantic letter written at Sillery, near Quebec, in 1766 — the first English novel composed on Canadian soil. A lovely French Girl had fled from her old home with her lover to settle in Canadian wilds. She was shipwrecked, at St. Bernabe Island, and perished in presence of her lover — helpless to save her. Tous- saint Cartier, her lover, was not a myth ; the Church Registers of Rimouski attest his shipwreck in 1723 and his death on the 30th January, 1767. Several hours had elapsed and the Ilirondelh was leaving behind a deep furrow in the green waters of the gulf, counting on mooring at Veit's wharf, at Gaspe Basin, in a couple of days, when the commodore ex- claimed : " What a singularly picturesque cape ahead of us ? What is its name ? " " A cat crouching in the attitude of repose, " joco- sely replied Mac of the Isles " hence its French name. Cap Chatte — Cat Cape I should call it." At that moment the yatch gave a lurch to port, and we descried, right ahead of us, the singular, lofty cape known to mariners as Cap Chatte. " Not quite that," said the antiquary. ; " if I have correctly read my Canadian history ; close on three centuries back, a Frenchman of note, M. de Chatte, was connected with the early settlements on the St, Lawrence ; this landmark took his name. ! m 1(1 1, I K ■■; i — 176 - I could mention the origin of several names of noted localities, in Gaspesia — scarcely recognizable through the alterations to which they have been subjected by ignorant map-makers or inaccurate tran- slations. Thus the headland, Pointe de Monts, bearing the name of a distinguished Frenchman — connected with the dawn of New France — M. de Monts, appears on an old English map as Devil's Point, Pointe Demon, and VAnse au Gris Fonds (grey bottom) carelessly written as Anse au Griffon, instead of recalling a grey, sandy bottom, conjures up the idea of a Griffin, in Griffin^s Cove, though there is no record in history of a griffin, or of any other ferocious monster having ever haunted those latitudes. Six miles lower down than Rimouski, in the parish of Sainte Luce, there exists a small indenture in the coast, forming a diminutive cove, infested with muscles — in French des Coques — ; hence's it, French name VAnse aux Coques. Some modern maps have transformed it into Cock Cove or Cock Point. Then one sees at several points in the Bay des Chaletirs, at the mouths of rivers, sand bars forming lagoons, filled with water at high tide ; the French and English settlers call them Barrachois, which I take to be a corruption of Barre Echoaee, an alluvial deposit of sand. Next day cloud-capped Mont Ste Anne, at Perce loomed out in the distance, and myriads of grey gulls* mixed up with black cormorants, and snow-white gannets were seen with loud outcry, hovering over the lofty summit of Perce Rock. Oi>posite, on the crest of Mont Ste Anne, a gilt cross in honor of the saint is conspicuous from afar, and a shrine is in process of construction, in honor of the patron and protector of distressed mariners. ']\\ — 177 — Chap viii THE " BRAILLARD DE LA MAGDELEINE." It was indeed a long stretch for the Hirondelle from Rimouski to the river Magdeleine, but with a stiff west- erly breeze blowing, the yatch anchored, that day, oppo- site to the above river, the Antiquary having prevailed on the commodore, to send his dory ashore to procure a fresh mackerel, and also to see whether the stump of the ghastly tree, from which a legend had originat- ed, still existed. " Mr. Oldbuck," chimed in the Laird of Ravens- clyffe, in the animated discussion which had sprung up, as to the origin, of the melancholy noises, men- tioned in the chronicles of Gaspesia, under the head- ing Le Bra ilia rd de la Magdeleine, " possibly as a fre- quenter for years of this coast, j'^ou can throw some light, on these mutterings and rumblings on the shore close to the sea, during a storm. " Are they, like the unexplainable noises occasion- ally heard, in some latitudes by mariners, either when the waves subside with a calm, or previous to the sett- ing in of a storm ? Thoreau, alludes to these mysterious noises around Cape Cod, on the New England coast — in his usual picturesque style. " — Yes," replied the Antiquary, " the J5>-a«7/rt re/ is in- deed an old acquaintance of mine. As early as 18th May, 1843, 1 recall hearing him mentioned by the mate of the Gasp^ Packet, Capt. Brulotte, on whose craft— I was a passenger — a delicate elem dti Petit Seminaire de Que- bee. My father, on medical advice, had sent me to a dear friend of the family, residing at Pointe St. Peter, 12 : I will tell you of the tradition, which from time imme- morial exists on this coast, respecting Mont Ste. Anne. Years ago, when the pierced rock formed part of the main-land, and offered a shelter to river craft against easterly gales, during a storm, a schooner was seen, drifting helplessly past this iron-bound shore, disabled, with rudder unshipped and rent sails. A heavy fog prevailed ; the skipper, his little son and two sailors on board seemed sorely in need of help. " Father," said the little lad, with blanched cheeks, "shall we ever see mother again ?" — " 1 fear for the worst, my son," said the sorrowful par*»nt," unless Heaven comes to our relief." "Then, father, let us make a vow to La Bonne Sainte Anner "Right, my boy. I vow to burn in her honor a taper as long — why — as long — " just at this moment a monstrous wave striking the disabled craft, nearly threw the schooner on her beam-ends — "as long" shout- ed the affrighted mariner, "as our main mast ! " His son, though much scared, still able to reflect* exclaimed : "But, father, how could you ever construct such a wax taper?" "Oh ! my darling boy," ejaculated the sorely per- plexed parent, "let us only get out of this scrape,and we can always regulate afterwards the length of the taper." At that moment the fog lifted and to the shattered craft, and its distressed crew, was revealed the lofty peak, looming over the tossed and troubled waters,and taking advantage of the haven created by the Perce rock, the schooner cast anchor under the lee of the land, thanked the Breton patron saint, and, out of gratitude, conferred on the mountain the name it has borne ever since — Mont Ste. Anne" — ISl — The Perce skipper was more fortunate than he of Gloucester, sung by the poet Aklrich. ALEC YEATON'S SON. The wind it wailed, the wind it moaned, And tiie white caps flecked tlie sea ; "An' I would to GobB- fast friends, in 1757. William Grant, in 1761. Ralph Gray, in 1774, Charles Stewart, in 1776, Simon Fraser, Jean Lee, and William Wilson, in 1780, Charles Gray Stewart, in 1805, Willam Crawford about 1860 were proprietors. William Crawford, was kind enough to communicate to me his deed of purchase, I mentioned it in the booklet entitled " Chateau Bigot," which in 1874, I had inscribed to the eminent editor of the Atlantic Monthly Magazine. William Dean Howells, visiting Quebec that year. I had, at his request, visited with him the spot were Wolfe escaladed at Wolfes- field and had also furnished him with notes for his charming book, " A Chance Acquaintance," written in Miss Lane's boarding house, No. 65 Ste. Anne street, Quebec. The work contained a chapter headed " A Picnic at Chateau Bigot." His volume has brought to us more than one of those sprightly tourists who come to Quebec to contemplate what they have not at home — fortifications, city gates, bastions, and a lofty citadel of an antique French town. In 1780 the title deeds of Beaumanoir show as pro- lirietors, distinguished merchants of Quebec : Simon Frazer, John Lees, William Wilson. In 1805 the property was transferred by notarial deed to Charles G. Stewart. Comptroller of H. M. Customs. About 1860 Mr. Craw- ford acquired it on account of the timber on the laud, and in 1881 the ruin and 140 arpents of land were trans- ferred to Leger Brousseau, Esq. Beaumanoir has seen many vicissitudes ; even its name being changed. In 1819, forgotten for many years, it seems to have rejoiced in the name of " The Hermitage, " from whence a Mr. Stewart, son of one of its former I ;>■■ — 196- proprietors, wrote in the midst of the blockade of Quebec by Arnold, in 1775, the curious letter which will be found quoted at page 477 of " Picturesque Quebec." Col. Cockburn and Mr. Bourne give it a special notice in the old Quebec Guide-Booksar.d in BnniniscpV' ces of Quebec, 1831 . A disciple of the Muses inscribed to it a pretty poem, in which the legend of the Algonquin Maid was the j^We de rhisttince. Louis J. A. Papineau described, in 1831, the state of the manor, after visiting it with his illustrious father the late Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau, and the Hon. John Neilson, his friend. The historian Ferland, mentioned to me having visited tho manor in 1824, and that he recollected the venerable Joseph Demers, Superior of the Quebec Seminary, saying that the building erected by Talon, had been finished in Intendant Bigot's day. A well-known Quebec barrister, J.P.Rheaume,Esq., informed me he had penetrated into the interior of the mysterious tenement, some years after Abbe Ferland's visit there, and that though he saw large mirrors and sideboards in it, he in company with young friends thought it an unsafe place to prolong his stay — as it was reported " haunted." My first visit there, was in 1844, described in the " Maple Leaves " for 1863. L. J. A. Pajjineau, Joseph Marmette, the novelist ; William Kii'by, the author of " Le Chien d'Or ; " W. D Howells, Edmund Rousseau, abbe Casgrain, abbe Trudel, F. X. Maheux and others have each lent it a romantic interest. I depicted it in " Picturesque Quebec ", and again in my French work " Monographies et Esquisses. " Such are all the tradi- tions connected with it I have been able to collect. It matters little whether Talon, Begon, Bigot or other magnates of the French regime ever revelled !; n the osepli lor of 5seau, •tilers it in work hradi- It. )t or klled — 197 — under the walls of the now mouldering ruin, so far as the poet or novelist is concerned. Though much deteriorated since the day when Col. Benson J. Lossing sketched its decayed outlines, it continues to attract crowds of tourists, though its shadow is rapidly growing less. For Mr Papineau's legend of Caroline, I must refer readers to Picturesque Quebec, where it appears in full. Mr. L. J. A. Papineau, seignior of Monte-Bello, Ottawa, still survives to enjoy the popularity of the legendary novelette, " Caroline, the Algonquin Maid^ written by him — sixty odd years ago — in the dreamy days of his youth. — 198 — Chap. X GASPfi Gaspi Basin — Morpheus' Domain. — Bobbing for mac- kerel. — Lt. Governor Cox. With the closing shades of evening, the Hiron- delle, is cleaving her way, through the sparkling wa- ters of Gaspe Bay, furrowed by Jacques Cartier, in 1535; by James Wolfe, in 1758, by our Prince of Wales, in 1860, and by scores of noted navigators and by tourists of many nations. Our ever-watchful Commodore, is giving directions to old Carleton not to hug too closely that treacherous sandy spit on which Commander Orlebar, R. N., ran aground in August. 1860, his big ship "Hero," bearing Albert of Wales and his fortunes, much to the sur- prise of the old salt. Now we have shot past the light- schooner anchored on the edge of the bank ; soon we shall be in the narrows, abreast of the R. C. church and flag staff. A fevr minutes more our anchor will be dropped past Veit's wharf. O'er the lofty firgroves, casting on the water their dark shadow, the Queen of Night is shedding her mild radiance. It is half-past eight p. m. " Twenty and a half " suggests Mac of the Isles ? But what does that signify ? Sanford Fleming and his enlightened, new-fangled scheme be diddled ! The Gaspesians would never know when it was time for them to rise in the morning by his "thirteen and four- teen hour system." The last cormorant, poised on his black wings, has gone to rest up the bay. The American consul has hauled down the " stars and stripes " at sunset. :i-;. - 199 - An impressive silence reigns on the deep, placid, lapsing waters, broken only by the faint tinkle of a cow bell, the bearer of which is browsing over the dewy meadows, commanded by Fort Ramsay, ready, as of yore, to belch forth a salute should Albert of Wales, or any of his royal brothers again drop anchor in Gasp^'s his- toric bay ; its cannon, like diminutive beasts of prey crouching in the dim twilight, dot the apex of the hilb which overshadows the warehouses on the shore. Commander Wakeham's steam cruiser is anchored in the Basin ; a Cadiz brigantine is moored at the wharf to exchange her cargo of salt, for "merchantable codfish"; her wet sails are not yet furled, a passing shower having ruffled the bay that afternoon. Let us have our cheroot and Scotch night-cap, and then off to sweet oblivion and the "balmy restorer" in our cabin, for Gaspe Basin is the kingdom par excellance of the drowsy God. At dawn, we were startled by a voice, shouting from a yawl which came alongside. " Mackerel ! Fresh, quite fresh from the bay ! " whilst a flood of purple light streamed through the open skylight. It was the peerless orb of day, invading our quarters. Dressing hurriedly, I rushed on deck to witness one of the grand- est sights Gaspe Bay has in store ; a sunrise on the waters, on a bright summer morning. It was truly superb. To the south-east, the long yellowish spit of Sandy Beach, stretching more than three miles down the bay ; on the opposite side, the shore trending far away, with a background of pine and fir clad hills, dim in the distance, with here and there a fisherman's hut and boats on the strand, or a farm house, in the centre 4 ' 1 i| -200- of a green meadow, or of a waving grain field, awaiting a few more warm touches of Old Sol, to don its golden mantle. Far away I could discern the diminutive black hull of the light-ship, intended to guide the mariner round the edge of the bank. I walked on shore, ascended the heights and took in, to the best of my ability, every feature of the fair landscape, and then looked round, for busy husbandmen at work, in the early morn, but Morpheus, I found, was the king of this happy land ; there were none to be seen. What a delightful haven of rest, I thought Oaspe, must be for an overworked, sleepless, heat and mala- ria tormented New Yorker ! Exertion, commercial activity, seem here out of place, an anomaly, a delu- sion, a snare. I met one of those distressed New Yorkers. He was just returning from bobbing for mackerel, in a boat, where he had been since sunrise, with an ample umbrella to intercept the rays of the sun, beating on his devoted head ; he had caught two mackerel, and was happy. " What a glorious spot," said he to me, "to recu- perate exhausted nature ! No noise, no war telegrams, no bank troubles, no corporation frauds, no boodlers ! no presidential elections ! ! sleep, bracing, sea air, incomparable landscapes ! "The inhabitants, I admire hugely;there indeed you have character, though some may construe it, of a nega- tive kind. They rise when it suits ; they do not go about nervously, like us. No feverish haste with them, no rush to catch the train. They look to the sea more than to the land for their daily subsistence. I have made a special study of them. The elder folks seem 1 — 201- ro re le as if they could si^ ;intl smoke all day ; tliey gossip, pleasantly at tim <. about their neighhor's affairs at noon ; take a wall:, or crack iniUi jokes when the sun i>* down ; above all, th«»y retire early, sleep sound and long. Happy fellows ! Even their dunih animals, 1 fancy, hut perhaps it is only a fancy — catch the pervading influence and get into easy ways. Our hoarding house dog barks in a subdued, measured manner ; the fastest gait 1 have detected in their horses is a (piiet shuttle between a trot and an am bio ; the cows chime in with the rest, and sport in the meadows a diminutive bell, whose metallic tinkle lulls them to sleep ; roosters are objected to in the settlement, their loud crowing is calculated to awaken the old dowagers at dawn. " I should imagine that worthy old Lt.-(Tlovernor Cox, in 1774, instead of horses on his carriage, when he travelled from the shire town, New-Carlisle, to Gaspe Basin or Perce, had a span of sturdy, young, sober- minded oxen, like that illustrious Roi (VYcetot: — "Qu!vtr3 birufs, d'un pas majestueux et lent, Promenaient dans Paris, le Monarque inrlolent " Uncle Sam's earnest, humorous theory of Gaspesians tickled me, I must confess. It brought back to my mind those dreamy personages so graphically delineat- ed by De Quincy. I had been told that great travellers had occasionally seen queer sights, in the Kingdom of Cod and Mackerel. The very next day, I learned of a strange modus oper- andi which in times of yore obtained in the treatment of criminals : it happened some time after Confeder- ation, and came to light in the following manner. •V II ,i ! : ml lit' It" IK — 202 — The Government in order to correct some abuses, -which had crept into the administration of justice, and especially in the discipline of the prisons, named a com- missioner. On his arrival, at one of the jails, he found the jailor, on the Court House steps, smoking a gigantic Dutch meerschaum, seated in an easy chair ; the fol- lowing dialogue took place : The jailor : "Mr. Commissioner, I am happy, to make your acquaintance ; you are sent by Government, it is said, to straighten up matters generally. Won't you step in and see how we manage here : my turnkey is out, on the banks catching his winter supply of cod. The jail is well patronized ; I have eighteen prisoners to look after, all in capital health." — "Well! said the Commissioner, let us see them!" "Are you in a hurry, replied the genial janitor ? Could you not call after sunset ? and I will have them all in attendance, in apple pie order." — "Well, not easily : in fact I must see the jail and its inmates right off, to make up my report," re- torted the official. "Sorry, your Honor should have so little leisure ; the fact is, when the weather is fine, I turn out my captives at eight a. m. sharp ; they take a lounge round the country, do up my garden, catch a few fresh trout for my dinner ; at sun down, all return safe to their quarters. I treat them well, and they do not mind being deprived of their evening's amusements. I wanted to change this practice when I was appointed, but the county member interfered, he had a friend to look after. Wait until the evening ; they are looking up my two cows which strayed away in the woods, and I promise you to trot out every man jack of the eighteen." Tableau ! -203- Here ended the pleasant, shall I say, the instructive cruise of the Himndelle, from Montreal to Gaspe. The Commodore, got the yatch under way next mornmg, saluted as he sailed past the Jamboree, Messrs Garland & Bailey Bland's trim yatch, lying at anchor higher than Baylield House-The ^/m/r/e//^ then spread her white wings for Quebec, whilst Jonathan Old- buck took passage in the Gulf Port steamer 'Campana\ for Pictou, to sail from there, to the Magdalen Islands m the Royal mail steamer, the St-Olaf., commanded by that experienced old Salt— Capt. P. LeMaitre