CHAP. in. MARTEN TRAPS. 45 



the top, made with an axe. These form two sides of a 

 triangular box, open above and on one side, which serves 

 as the door, where a small piece about an inch high is 

 left attached to the butt- end to hold the fall in its place 

 when it descends. The fall is made from a neighbouring 

 tree, which should not be more than three inches in 

 diameter ; when stripped of its branches it is merely a 

 pole, one end still attached by a few fibres to the stump, 

 and the other supported over the door of the trap by a 

 small piece of wood, which rests on a cross bit, to which 

 the bait is attached. Snow falls to the depth of three 

 and four feet in these wilds, and the traps are generally 

 near the level of the snow in mid-winter. The marten 

 enters the door to get at the bait, and while tearing it 

 away, the cross stick is moved, displacing the small stick 

 supporting the fall, which descends on the back of the 

 animal and kills it. The hue of marten traps had been 

 constructed during the previous winter by the Abenakis 

 Indian who accompanied us, and who bore the name 

 of Pierre, by which designation he will be described in 

 future chapters. The Labrador martens are very valu- 

 able, being equal in the richness of their fur to those of 

 the Mackenzie Eiver ; but they are no longer numerous in 

 the wilds of Eastern Canada. 



By Saturday evening we had conveyed all the baggage 

 to the north end of the Grand Portage, and there re- 

 mained only the canoes to bring down the abrupt descent 

 of 280 feet, which led us once again to the Moisie. 



The vegetation on this descent was very luxuriant, all 

 the trees being in full leaf, and many of them of large 

 growth. The most imposing were the spruce, some of 



