MOOSE HUNTING. 165 



cates witli tlie water beneatli, and at various distances 

 breathing holes are kept open, covered with smaller 

 mounds of cut reeds, about the size of mole-hills. 

 As long as the frost remains severe the musk-rat's 

 house is impregnable ; but when the sun shines on it 

 with greater power, enemies force an entrance 

 through the softening walls. The fox, the wolverine, 

 and the mink prey upon the musk-rats towards the 

 end of winter ; and the Indian, armed with a long, 

 slender spear, barbed at the point, approaches 

 stealthily the family dwelling, and plunging the 

 weapon through the middle of it, often impales two 

 or three at a single thrust. 



When the skunk- skin which served us as a 

 weather-glass informed us through our noses that 

 the thaw was at hand, (^) we looked eagerly forward 

 to the prospect of hunting moose. We had found 

 many tracks within a few miles of our house, and 

 expected to have some good sport with the assistance 

 of Rover. The surface of the snow thawed by the 

 sun during the day is frozen into a firm crust by the 

 night-frosts of the early spring. This is strong 

 enough to bear a man on snow-shoes, or a dog of no 

 great size, but breaks through beneath the small feet 

 and gigantic weight of the moose. When pursued 



(^) The skin of a skunk, which had been thrown aside near our 

 hut, gave out no scent when the frost was very severe, but on the 

 least abatement of the cold, its odour was perceptible. From the 

 variations in the intensity of the smell we could judge very closely 

 of the warmth of the weather. The scent is by no means so dis- 

 agreeable as it is generally represented, and only when very powerful 

 is it at all disgusting. The Indians use the gland which furnishes the 

 secretion as a cure for headache, and other maladies. 



