2s6 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



in the early morning. He will come straight up 

 to you, within a few yards — walk right over you 

 almost — answering, " speaking," as the Indians 

 term it, as he comes along, if nothing happens to 

 scare him ; but that is a great if. So many un- 

 avoidable accidents occur. The great advantage 

 of moose-calling is, that it takes one out in the 

 woods during the most beautiful period of the 

 whole year — when Nature, tired with the labour of 

 spring and summer, puts on her holiday garments, 

 and rests luxuriously before falling into the deep 

 sleep of winter. The great heats are past, though 

 the days are still warm and sunny ; the nights are 

 calm and peaceful, the mornings cool, the evenings 

 so rich in colouring that they seem to dye the 

 whole woodland with sunset hues, for the maple, 

 oak, birch, and beech trees glow with a gorgeous- 

 ness unknown to similar trees at home. If the 

 day is windy, you can track the moose and cariboo, 

 or perchance a bear, through the deep shady 

 recesses of the forest. On a still day, you may 

 steal noiselessly over the smooth surface of some 

 lake, or along a quiet reach of still river water, 

 fringed with alder, winding tortuously through 

 natural meadows, or beneath a ridge crowned with 

 birch and maples, whose feathery branches and 



