Page:Tourist's Maritime Provinces.djvu/362

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THE TOURIST'S MARITIME PROVINCES

room of the homestead with its spindle chairs and mahogany settees, his nimble mind will spin tales for you of days of his youth when hump-backs and sulphur-bottoms roving the gulf were hunted for their oil, and bow-heads were pursued in hand to hand conflict for their rich treasure of balleine.

People are loth to die in this benign Gaspesie. A venerable character of the district constructed years ago the chest which was to hold his bones and put it beneath his bed in anticipation of an approaching demise. The casket has fallen to decay, but its intended occupant is still hale as "the green-robed senators" of these mighty woods.