102 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



" dead fall," or wooden trap, after the following 

 manner. Having cut dow^n a number of saplings, 

 these are divided into stakes of about a yard in 

 length, w^hich are driven into the ground so as to 

 form a palisade, in the shape of half an oval, cut 

 transversely. Across the entrance to this little en- 

 closure, which is of a length to admit about two- 

 thirds of the animal's body, and too narrow to admit 

 of its fairly entering in and turning round, a short 

 log is laid. A tree of considerable size is next felled, 

 denuded of its branches, and so laid that it rests upon 

 the log at the entrance in a parallel direction. The 

 bait, which is generally a bit of tough diied meat, 

 or a piece of a partridge or squirrel, is placed on the 

 point of a short stick. This is projected horizontally 

 into the enclosure, and on the external end of it rests 

 another short stick, placed perpendicularly, which 

 supports the large tree laid across the entrance. The 

 top of the trap is then covered in with bark and 

 branches, so that the only means of access to the bait 

 is by the opening betw^een the propped-up tree and 

 the log beneath. When the bait is seized, the tree 

 falls down upon the animal and crushes him to death. 

 An expert trapper wdll make forty or fifty traps 

 in a single day. 



The steel traps resemble our ordinary rat-traps, 

 but have no teeth, and the springs are double. In 

 the large traps used for beavers, foxes, and w^olves, 

 these have to be made so powerful that it requires 

 all the force of a strong man to set them. They 

 are placed in the snow, and carefully covered over ; 



