86 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



knot holes, and in cracks, so that his storehouse was in 

 every tree that surrounded my camp. Well did he know 

 what the winter meant ; the long, cold months when all 

 would be covered with snow. No berries would then be 

 found, for beneath the snow they were being preserved for 

 the early spring supply. Life for many months would be 

 dependent on the carefully-arranged stores placed well above 

 snow level. And so my little companion continued each day 

 to lay up his stock of winter food, nothing too small to escape 

 his searching eyes, and anything 1 wished to keep had to 

 be well hidden, for during the day while I was away from 

 camp the jays from all the neighbourhood met and cleared 

 camp for me, leaving no trace of food exposed. It is no 

 wonder that the untidy camper dislikes these birds and calls 

 them robbers, and rather than be tidy he kills the birds 

 which are such cheerful company to the solitary man. 



At the iirst gleam of day my canoe was in the water, 

 after the ice near the bank had been thoroughly broken, 

 and I was soon floating noiselessly on the smooth, dark 

 water. Beautiful crystal snow-flowers had formed on the 

 ice, which in some places was moving slowly with the 

 current. The banks of the river were entirely covered 

 with frost and snow-coated trees and grass, so that the 

 whole country looked almost like a perfect fairyland, and 

 one almost expected to see gauze-winged elves peeping 

 from behind the glistening trees. Indeed, it was not long 

 before a slight crackling among the bushes announced the 

 approach of some living things, not fairies, but beautiful 

 silvery Caribou, fifteen or twenty of them ; snow-white 

 fawns, whose dark eyes alone stood out clearly from the 

 pearly background ; large does, white and grey ; and a white- 

 necked stag whose orange-coloured antlers broke the 

 sparkling ice from surrounding bushes. The little herd 



