104 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



and again follows it until lie an-ives at one of the 

 wooden traps. Avoiding the door, he speedily tears 

 open an entrance at the back, and seizes the bait with 

 impunity ; or if the trap contains an animal, he drags 

 it out, and, with w^anton malevolence, mauls it and 

 hides it at some distance in the underwood, or at the 

 top of some lofty pine. Occasionally, w^hen hard 

 pressed by hunger, he devours it. In this manner he 

 demolishes the whole series of traps, and w^hen once 

 a w^olverine has established himself on a trapping- 

 walk, the hunter's only chance for success is to change 

 ground, and build a fresh lot of traps, trusting to 

 secure a few furs before the new path is found out by 

 his industrious enemy. 



Strange stories are related l^y the trappers of the 

 extraordinary cunning of this animal, which they 

 believe to possess a wisdom almost human. He is 

 never caught by the ordinary " dead fall." Occasion- 

 ally one is poisoned, or caught in a steel trap ; but 

 his strength is so great, that many traps strong 

 enough to hold securely a large wolf will not retain 

 the w^olverine. When caught in this way, he does 

 not, like the fox and the mink, proceed to amputate 

 the limb, but, assisting to carry the trap with his 

 mouth, makes all haste to reach a lake or river, where 

 he can hasten forward at speed, unobstructed by trees 

 and fallen w^ood. After travelling far enough to be 

 tolerably safe from pursuit for a time, he devotes 

 himself to the extrication of the imprisoned limb, in 

 which he not unfrequently succeeds. The wolverine 

 is also sometimes killed by a gun, placed bearing on a 



