A good voyage! a clear
run! short portages and long rests! Some inquired whether their
friends had paid for the bear and buffalo skins they were going to
buy, or they complimented each other on their nice heads of hair,
which it was hoped they would not leave behind as keepsakes with the
Iroquois squaws.
The boat-songs of the Canadian voyageurs are unique in character,
and very pleasing when sung by a crew of broad-chested fellows
dashing their light birch-bark canoes over the waters rough or
smooth, taking them, as they take fortune, cheerfully,--sometimes
skimming like wild geese over the long, placid reaches, sometimes
bounding like stags down the rough rapids and foaming saults.
Master Jean La Marche, clean as a new pin and in his merriest mood,
sat erect as the King of Yvetot in the bow of the long canoe which
held the Lady de Tilly and her family. His sonorous violin was
coquettishly fixed in its place of honor under his wagging chin, as
it accompanied his voice while he chanted an old boat-song which had
lightened the labor of many a weary oar on lake and river, from the
St.
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