A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL. 261 



could. Next morning at daybreak we made ready to 

 start. I was finishing my toilette by putting on my mo- 

 cassins, when Mr. Howard arrested my arm, saying, 



" Listen, my friend, to your first lesson. First put on 

 these woollen hose; now wrap these two pieces of felt 

 around your feet, and 

 next don your mocas- 

 sins; finally, let me fas- i 

 ten to your feet these 

 formidable snow-shoes. 

 Now, Benedict, stretch MODE OF FASTENING SNOW-SHOE. 

 your legs wide apart when you walk ; for if you adopt 

 your ordinary gait, your new cliaussure being three feet 

 long, you will be sure of a downfall." 



And without another word he seized his gun, and fol- 

 lowed Monai, who was about fifty paces ahead of me. 



I had scarcely made three steps forward, before down 

 I went on my nose. Without a groan I rose again; and 

 after two or three similar capsizes, which, fortunately, 

 owing to the thickness of the snow, were not dangerous, 

 I learned how to make use of my snow-shoes. 



After two hours' walking in the midst of a dense forest 

 of cedars and pines, we arrived on the banks of a spring 

 of hot water, where we took a few moments' repose ; then 

 we resumed our route. I observed that Monai, who 

 acted as our guide, advanced very cautiously, examined 

 the imprints on the snow and the fractures in the branches 

 of the trees. At length he stopped short before a pros- 

 trate trunk, and, bending over one of its sides, he thrust 

 his arm into the snow. 



"There are stags close at-* hand," said Mr. Howard; 

 " see, their ordure is quite fresh. These animals cannot 



