118 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



gone on for weeks, yet the supply seemed as plentiful 

 as ever. 



This circumstance afforded an explanation of the 

 fact that many of the rivers and fresh- water lakes in 

 this country are destitute of fish, as all but the 

 deeper ones freeze to the bottom, and therefore any 

 fish they contained would be destroyed. 



When the trappers turned homewards they found 

 that the wolverine had followed them closely. On the 

 ground which they had passed over on the previous 

 day, every trap was already demolished and the 

 baits abstracted. Cheadle fondly imagined that at 

 last his enemy was outwitted and destroyed, but 

 Misquapamayoo's sharper eyes discovered each of 

 the baits which had been poisoned, lying close at 

 hand, bitten in two and rejected, whilst all the 

 others had disappeared. The baits had been made 

 with great care, the strychnine being inserted into 

 the centre of the meat by a small hole, and when 

 frozen it was impossible to distinguish any difference 

 in appearance between them and the harmless ones. 

 It seemed as if the animal suspected poison, and bit 

 in two and tasted every morsel before swallowing it. 

 The baits had purposely been made very small, so 

 that in the ordinary course they would have been 

 bolted whole. That the same wolverine had fre- 

 quented our path from the first, we knew^ perfectly 

 well, for he was one of unusually large size, as 

 shown by his tracks, which were readily distinguish- 

 able from the others we observed from time to time. 



