LOST AT SEA.
"I believe, Doctor," sais I, "we have seen all that is worth notice
here, let us go into one of their houses and ascertain if there is
anything for Sorrow's larder; but, Doctor," sais I, "let us first find
out if they speak English, for if they do we must be careful what we
say before them. Very few of the old people I guess know anything but
French, but the younger ones who frequent the Halifax market know more
than they pretend to if they are like some other habitans I saw at New
Orleans. They are as cunning as foxes."
Proceeding to one of the largest cottages, we immediately gained
admission. The door, unlike those of Nova Scotian houses, opened
outwards, the fastening being a simple wooden latch. The room into
which we entered was a large, dark, dingy, dirty apartment. In the
centre of it was a tub containing some goslins, resembling yellow
balls of corn-meal, rather than birds. Two females were all that were
at home, one a little wrinkled woman, whose age it would puzzle a
physiognomist to pronounce on, the other a girl about twenty-five
years old. They sat on opposite sides of the fire-place, and both were
clothed alike, in blue striped homespun, as previously described.
"Look at their moccasins," said the doctor. "They know much more about
deer-skins than half the English settlers do.
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