294 WINTER. 



quietly sleep to death. But of a sudden a loud and sharp 

 report close to his ear rudely wakes him from his reveries. 

 What is it a rifle shot ? No : simply a tree cracking with 

 the frost. What causes these sudden cracks or reports I 

 do not know. They only occur when the mercury is below 

 zero, and are evidently not caused by the freezing of the 

 sap, for in the first place there is little or no sap in the 

 wood in winter ; and in the next place I have heard the 

 same cracks in dry and seasoned timber, as for instance in 

 walls of a house. 



Savage Winter can never lay hands on the migratory 

 birds, nor does he ever find Bruin unprepared with a den, 

 nor the beaver without a full store of provisions and a frost- 

 proof roof to his house. Come soon or come late, he will 

 find the rabbit disguised in a snow-white suit, and the fur- 

 bearing animals arrayed in warm winter-jackets. 



A thaw is looked for in Canada about the commence- 

 ment of the new year. This January thaw only lasts a 

 couple of days or so, and is often the only one in the 

 winter. It has its use. The snow lying on the top of the 

 ice is melted, but only to be frozen again, and after this 

 process it is thoroughly safe for men, horses, and the 

 heaviest loads during the remainder of the winter. 



In many parts of the Dominion the rivers and lakes form 

 a perfect network, and in summer the voyageur can, with 

 one or two trifling "portages" of his canoe, traverse the 

 country from one end to the other by four or five different 

 routes ; and wherever there is water in summer there is a 

 good road in winter. Sometimes, in the beginning of 

 winter, or after a thaw, the lakes and rivers are coated 

 over with glassy ice ; then teams, with heavy loads and 



