night had

As far as

yet stirring, and the snow during the obliterated all traces of the day before. Lorette we had a broad, well-hardened track, but occasionally much encumbered with drifts; an hour carried us there, and Jacques was in waiting to receive us. He immediately asked for something to drink, which we unwisely granted, for he soon grew very troublesome and loquacious, taking his place rather unsteadily in the luggage sleigh: whenever we stopped he demanded more liquor, but was refused; he begged that some of his wages for the expedition might be advanced; he assured us that he was a man of honour, and insinuated that we were by no means of a convivial temperament. In a short time he managed, in spite of us, to become intoxicated to such a degree that we threatened to leave him behind; but he had just sense enough left to lie down in the sleigh and sleep the greater part of the journey. Once these wretched creatures taste "firewater," they have no restraint over themselves, and would give anything they possess, or risk their lives, for more.

The country we passed through for some distance on either side of the road was cleared, but beyond that lay everywhere "the bush." We crossed many streams half frozen over, where the waters

rushed along through narrow channels in the ice, and tumbled over large transparent blocks accumulated at the bends. The white snow over the undulating ground, and the black lines of the hills and forests, gave the effect of an etching to the beautiful scene. In summer, when decked in nature's varied colouring, this is a lovely land.

The snow began to fall heavily and fast, and the roads became narrow and deep; every here and there we met sleighs laden with wood or corn, driven by habitans: when there is not room on the track to pass, they pull their horses to the very edge on their side; the sleigh sinks down into the soft snow, which is five feet deep; by hanging on with all their might, they keep it from upsetting; then our driver forces his horses past-the sleighs come in contact—ours, the lighter of the two, is pushed off the track; the horses slip into the soft snow, plunge out again, and, with loud 'sacrés' and 'marche doncs' from the driver, and struggling and balancing on our part, we pass by. Sometimes, however, the collision ends by both conveyances and their contents being upset and plunged into the snow, where we, wrapped up in our robes, and convulsed with laughter, remain quite as inactive as the sacks of corn in the opposing sleigh.

About nightfall we arrived at a miserable hamlet, some ten miles from our journey's end, and stopped at the George Inn (a log hut) for some little time, to rest our tired horses. This establishment contained only a bar and a sleepingroom for the family. The proprietor was a Londoner, and spoke as if he had known better days. He told us that he was living comfortably, and was quite contented; that he had not been beyond the township for years, but occasionally got a Quebec paper, which gave him news of the great world. As he shewed us from the window, the clearing of a few hundred acres, with some dozen wretched log houses upon it, the rapid progress of his adopted residence seemed to be a great source of pride to him. "For," said he," when I came to this place thirteen years ago, it was quite in its infancy."

Darkness added very much to the difficulties of the journey; but we were on an excursion for amusement, and wisely made even our troubles minister to the purpose. We descended by a narrow winding road, to the ice bridge over the river St. Anne; on one side was a high cliff covered with bare firs and huge icicles, and whose top we could not see; below was much the same, where we could not see the bottom. When we were on the

steepest part, the wheeler found the weight pressing on him from behind, inconvenient, so he sat down and proceeded in a slide. The leader, alarmed at this novelty, plunged forward into the darkness, and disappeared over the cliff at one side of a huge pine tree, while we, the sleigh, and the wheeler, twisted up into an apparently inextricable mass of confusion, remained on the other; the traces and reins still connecting us with the invisible leader, as we judged by violent jerks at the cariole, simultaneously with the crashing of branches in front. This time we laughed less, and did more, than on the other occasions. As soon as we crept from under the capsized vehicle, we tried to fish out the leader from the darkness into which he had fallen. Both the drivers, and Jacques, who by this time had slept himself sober, came to our assistance, and, after a good deal of hauling and whipping, and the use of some very strong language by the Canadian drivers, we succeeded in getting the animal on the solid road again. He had fallen across the strong branches of a pine tree, and for several minutes remained in this perilous situation, partly supported by the traces, and kicking furiously all the time; he was too much exhausted by this to be put to again, so we drove him on in front, and had to

help him out of snow-drifts half-a-dozen times in the course of the remainder of our journey.

At length the other horses also gave in; it was as dark as pitch, and we had already travelled so far that we began to have a vague idea we had lost our way, in which our guide, the half-sobered Indian, seemed to participate. He, however, set to hallooing lustily; and, to our great joy we saw, in about a minute afterwards, a light in a house only a few yards off, which Jacques announced to be the place of our destination for the night.

Very cold and tired, I impatiently got out of the sleigh, and made a rush towards the beacon, but at the first step went up to my neck in the snow; the weary leader, thinking I had found the right road, plunged in after me—to my great terror -and in this predicament we both remained till the Indians from the house came with lights, and hauled us out.

Monsieur Boivin was the proprietor of the house where we were to pass the night. Its appearance was not favourable, and we found it did not improve on acquaintance. There was only one room, about thirty feet square, with two beds in the far corner, and in the middle a stove which kept it at oven heat. Our party