158 NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU 



Only a month or so ago, I heard from a trapper friend of 

 mine that a man I knew had had the good fr)rtune to 

 get a line silver fr)x, which he had sold for seventeen 

 hundred dollars (about ^340). At first sight it would 

 appear that trapping must be a paying occupation, but 

 foxes are scarce, and a man seldom gets more than four 

 or five during the season, and of course fine "silvers" 

 are rare. Beavers are on the increase, thanks to the few 

 years of protection which has been granted to them. 

 Eight years ago they were scarce, so much so that a 

 day's journey by canoe would often not discover a single 

 house or dam in use. Last autumn, I found nearly 

 twenty occupied houses within a day's walk of my camp, 

 and this was on a river which but a few years ago had 

 no signs of recent beaver. Unfortunately, this year sees 

 the end of the close season, and we may expect these 

 interesting little animals to be nearly wiped out during 

 the coming winter, except, possibly, on the reserve, where, 

 let us hope, they will not be molested, and the 

 visitor to the island will have the opportunity of seeing 

 them and their marvellous work. It seems to be a pity 

 to take off the protection just as the animals are 

 really beginning to become numerous. They are so 

 easily killed off that a single season's trapping will undo 

 the advantages gained by the years of protection. Had 

 they been allowed another ten years of immunity, they 

 would have become one of the show features of New- 

 foundland. Musk rats are not as abundant as might be 

 expected from the great extent of the country apparently 

 suited to their requirements. Nowhere have I seen them 

 in any number, and, curiously enough, they seldom appear 

 to build lodges as they do in other countries. In all 

 my wanderings in Newfoundland, I have seen but one 



