268 The Caribou 



the walk, trot, and gallop. The one most usual to 

 them is the trot, and the spreading of their great 

 hoofs, which are split apart nearly to the hock, 

 renders them able to carry the animal over snow 

 or soft ground much in the manner that a snow- 

 shoe does a man. In the winter the frog of the 

 caribou's hoof becomes entirely absorbed, leaving 

 the interior a concave shape, the edges all around 

 become of almost razor sharpness, giving the 

 animal a firm hold on the ice or hardened crust, 

 preventing it from slipping. Captain Campbell 

 Hardy, a British army officer who knew as much 

 about caribou and their ways as any man of his 

 time, mentions as a fact, in his " Forest Life in 

 Acadie," that these animals crossed from New- 

 foundland to the mainland in winter on the ice, 

 and that Nova Scotia animals have been killed 

 measuring four feet six inches at the withers, thus 

 equalling in height the most extreme dimensions 

 of any Newfoundland specimens of which I have 

 any knowledge. On the ice the pursuit of cari- 

 bou is vain, for it can travel much faster on the 

 slippery surface than any other creature, and if it 

 suddenly sees a new danger ahead it has the habit 

 of squatting on its haunches, and in this ludicrous 

 attitude slides along until the impetus of its pace 

 has been exhausted, and then rises and shoots off 

 in another direction. In the snow its tracks are 

 clearly seen and easily followed. When first en- 



