Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21
I'm CLOUDS OF SILVER
|sThe Tourist on the Saguenay River
Rides Into Ha-Ha Bay.
AREETED BY THE FORESTS ODORS
EsAnds Feasted-on Blueberries That Haven't
TheirEqual Anywhere.
"A CHARMING RESORT FOR SUMMER
tcoRREsroNDRNoD OF THE DISPATCH

fyoyager up the Saguenay begins his ex
p1oring at the spotwhere one of thee earties
French colonies was planted. IA
tTadaussac," says Parkham, sat the mouth
of the Saguenay, under the shadowNo Of saw
age and Inaccessible rocks, feathered with
tpine frs and birch trees, were built
clnster-ofwooden hutsand storehouses, and
16 men were left ITO gather the expected
harvest-of furs"
"And here they would have died Of
hunger in thewinter," says<Garneau, "had
they not been received into thecabips of the
savages."
This first attempt tatDsettlement, about the
year 1902, was repeated later, and often,
before any firm establishment was made,
Yet in 1917 Tadaussao was the most import
ant trading post on the st. Lawrence, out.
ranking Quebec and Montreal In that yeal
the first mass was said there in q chapel
built of branches, 'twhile two soldiers kept
flies off the priest with green boughs." Nc
flies sally out from Tadaussao to afflict the
tourist now; but this may be because the
steamer arrives there at night, both going to
and returning from the Saguenay, You
if you would see that summer resort which
has grown
Over the Old Trading Post
Itis like approaching huge condensed
lump of night with few beacons dotting its
'front.' a constellation-the dipper. Voices
come down from invisible hotels and make
tunes move about there, and though you
get an impression that the resorters have to
climb ladders up the hills, they are so merry
at their clattering that it seems the most
agreeable exercise in the world.
But by sunshine Tadaussac Is not formid.
able. Here the St. Lawrence river is 50
many miles wide that two hours steaming
are required to cross it, and the heights are
the beginning Of that sublime cleft which
seems to have opened betwixt mountain
ridges to let out the Saguenay.
Swarming to Tadaussac come the-hunter,
the priest who loves to fish, the member Of
Parliament and his family, the Canadian
and American tourist of every variety.
Many prefSr this rugged spot to the smooth
drives, the easy boating and gipsy-like vii
lsge Of fMelicite Indians, to say nothing of
country cottages and hotels, at Cacouna
Bay, on The opposite side of the St. Law
renee. Perhaps few of all these. passers
-who care to recall the fact that Champlain
retreated to Tadaussao after the starving
fort of Quebec was first taken by Kirke.
But nearly everyone viii straggls into the
bold church, built in the seventeenth oen-
tury, containing among lbs venerable OBJ
iectsan image ofthe-child- Jesus, presented
by Louis XIV
The River Flows BlaclA
soundings at the mouth of the Saguenay
reveal the fact that its bed is far below the
| bed of the river into which 1t fowa st.
Lawrence water is impid blue-green. The
water of the Saguenay, swelling and bilow-
| ing Ground steamer, looks black as ink,
its salty mottles, or where it foams like
clear ale upon its own pebbles
This mountain looked gulf is by no means
a river of islands Like the St. Lawrence. 1t
lies smooth, deep, savagely dark, CHASING
heights whose shadows creep out and creep
out until they nearly cover the surface.
Neither is it full of ports. There are no
breaks and bays and coves for. convenient
landing until that huge square side lake
| called Ha-Ha Bay is reached. Well might
the first explorers burst into a shouting
laugh when they found this splendid open
ing among cliffs. 1t lets you out Of the
Saguenay into an entirely new northern
world
Beside the foaming little river-and per-
| 'haps this is the reason they called it Ha-Ha
also, for nothing makes man so cheerful as
his ready dinner-they see camp of Mon
taignais Indians, Just squatting around the
kettle. No gong has to be sounded for
these ravenous voyagers; and the Frenoh-
men who ventured first on this continent
were always so we'll bred that they were re-
oeived without question in the best Indian
society. A chief rises to meet them and
make them free of the hotch-potch in the
kettle; the voiceless dogs snuff around their
heels; pappooses regard them with stolid
gaze But best welcome of ALL q bronzed
maid brings birch bark platter heaped
with blueberries fresher than the first leaves
of spring, sweeter than honey, wilder than
deer flesh; in short, such aboriginal blue
berries as can be found nowhere, ,butsat Ha-
Ha Bay.
The hills here slope down to q beach;
grass grows in the seams of their rock -baved
sides. A trout stream called Ha-Ha river
makes descent over stones from the west.
And as soon as you Land the woody odor of
blueberries meets you; not such blueberries
as come to market, all bruised and bleeding
their freshness away; but the virgin fruit,
each berry yet in its veil of mist, huge
complete globe. I always had a contempt
for blueberries. until I saw them at Ha-Ha
Bay
What the Explorers Saw.
Picture the earliest explorers of this
river They climb the granite hiI[breasts
do these explorers; we will say it is about
sunset, and the bay behind them is a vision
of rising mist and silver afterglow. In air
their lives they never tasted such freshness
in the air before. 1t is heaven only to
breathe there. But men are so strangely
constituted that air is no stay to their
stomachs. They must have bread; Drawn if
they can get it, and fish or wild fowl where
ever that is to be had. These explorers are
very hungry; too hungry towait for fish orr
game.
The -Blueberries Still Popular.
A couple of centuries have passed since.
that occasion, yet newcomers continue to
seek this heavenly spot and the native handa
continues to fill them up with blueberries.
Though a man of average appetite usually
prevents one or two crates being shipped
during his stay, the steamers are loaded
with coffin-shaped boxes all season. A New
York club is said to have five or six lakes
among the hills. Traces of it may be found
in excellent coffee, imported by member
of the club. The Canadian habitant knows
nothing about coffee. His beverage is tea,
made almost strong enough to float him on
snowshoes.
Voiture drivers whisk around st. Al
phonse wharf, ready to stow you into their
covered buckboards for spin among the
heights or gallop to st. Alexis, a mile or
$50 distant at the other corner of the bay.
In Canadian cities the cabmen call their
carriages wagons. But when you penetrate
the wilderness on any kind of wheeled
vehicle it is sure to be a voiture. st. Alexis
would be named Lumberville with us. See
what it is to be brought up by the pictur-.
n II