BIG MOOSE OF LITTLE TOBIQUE 105 



a giant caribou. Unlike the moose's, the caribou's dew- 

 claws are almost on a level with his hoof, and com- 

 bined with the wide opening of the latter they enable 

 him to travel over the snow as glibly and tirelessly as 

 if shod with snow-shoes. The hunter may, and often 

 does, run down the moose in the snow, but if he at- 

 tempts it with the caribou — well, in the pithy vernac- 

 ular of the street Arab, he will bite off considerably 

 " more than he can chaw." 



As we reached camp the sky overclouded and the 

 rain began to fall, and for four days and as many 

 nights it kept on falling. I can assure the reader that 

 when it does rain in this " blue-nosed " region it makes 

 a business of it and does nothing else. I say hlue- 

 nosed^ for 'twould be hard to find a New Brunswick 

 man with a nose of any other color. Funny ? Not at 

 all. The nose, as every one knows who has a nose, is 

 the most sensitive of all meteorologic instruments. It 

 is the "poor man's weather-glass" and 'twould be 

 funny indeed if the uninterrupted cold rains and chilly 

 fogs didn't have the effect of changing the color of 

 its tip. 



During the four days of rain the growth of fungi, 

 edible and inedible, was wonderful. Mushrooms 

 galore, of all shapes, sizes and colors sprang through 

 the earth's crust and so hurriedly that a poet might 

 imagine they had been roused from their embryonic 

 nap by the wand of a magician and were fearful of 



