106 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



and resource ; and tliat, supposing tlie gun to liave 

 been set, and afterwards found cut down as related, 

 there is little doubt that La Eonde interpreted the 

 mode of procedure with perfect correctness. An 

 Indian or half-breed reads the signs left behind as 

 easily and truly as if he had been present and wit- 

 nessed the whole transaction. In other instances, 

 where we have had ample opportunities of judging, 

 w^e never detected a mistake in their reading of the 

 language of tracks — marks left printed on that 

 book the hunter reads so well, the face of Nature. 



Until nearly the end of December we employed 

 ourselves by accompanying La Eonde on his trap- 

 ping expeditions. We thus could distinguish the 

 track of every animal found in the forest, and learnt 

 much of their habits and peculiarities. Cheadle was 

 especially fascinated by this branch of the hunter's 

 craft, and pursued it with such diligence and success, 

 that he was very soon able to make a trap and set it 

 almost as quickly and skilfully as his accomplished 

 preceptor. La Eonde. There is something strangely 

 attractive in the life, in spite of the hardships and 

 fatigues which attend it. The long, laborious march, 

 loaded wdth a heavy pack, and cumbered with a 

 quantity of thick clothing, through snow and w^oods 

 beset with fallen timber and underwood, is fatiguing 

 enough. The only change is the work of making the 

 traps, or the rest at night in camp. Provisions 

 usually fall short, and the trapper subsists, in great 

 measure, upon the flesh of the animals captured to 

 obtain the fur. But, on the other hand, the grand 



