144 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



the moose can travel, and to come up with him 

 requires immense endurance on the part of a man, 

 but no skill except that involved in the art of 

 running on snow-shoes. You simply start the 

 animal and follow after him for a day, or some- 

 times two or three days, when you come up with 

 him and walk as close as you like and shoot him. 



If the snow lies very deep in early spring, moose 

 may be slaughtered with ease. The sun thaws the 

 surface, which freezes up again at night and forms 

 an icy crust strong enough to support a man on 

 snow-shoes, or a dog, but not nearly strong enough 

 to support a moose. Then they can be run down 

 vdthout trouble. You find your moose and start 

 a dog after him. The unfortunate moose flounders 

 helplessly in the snow, cutting his legs to pieces, 

 and in a very short time becomes exhausted, and 

 you can walk up to him, knock him on the head 

 with an axe, or stick him with a knife, as you think 

 best. Hundreds and hundreds of moose have been 

 slaughtered in this scandalous manner for their 

 hides alone. The settlers also dig pits for them 

 and snare them, both of which practices, I need 

 hardly say, are most nefarious. There is nothing 

 sportsmanlike about them, and they involve waste 

 of good meat, because, unless a man looks to the 



