THTBTT YEAB3 A HTTSTEP.. 13 



I will now lay before the reader the height of 

 the mountains, the kind of game that is to be found 

 on them, and other particulars of the country, from 

 the mouth of Pine Creek to the first point Every 

 family owned a canoe for the purpose of traveling up 

 and down the river. In winter they had good ice to 

 travel on, which lasted about three months. That 

 was the season in which the greatest amount of busi- 

 tM done by the settlers. The mountains were 

 about a mile in height, and abundance of deer, bear?, 

 foxes, wolves and panthers, but no elk were fou: 

 them. 



The most successful mode of killing deer from the 

 first of June to the last of September was to fire-hunt 

 them, which was done in the following manner: The 

 deer would come to the river after dark to eat the 

 moss which grew on the bottom, and collect together 

 about the ripples, in groups from three to ten. The 

 hunters would build a fire of yellow pitch pine in 

 the middle of a canoe and station a man in the 

 stern to steer, and one or two more in front to fire at 

 the deer. When there were no deer in sight they 

 could push and paddle the canoe along. When they 

 came within sisrht of the deer the canoe was allowed 

 to float down with the current, and the steersman 

 laid it in a position the most advantageous for those 

 who were in the bow with guns. The deer would 

 generally raise their heads and stand looking at the 

 fire until the canoe came within a few yards of them. 

 The hunters could judge by their movements whether 

 thev would make a break or stand still until thev 



