134 CANADIAN WILDS. 



and grey foxes are wanting, but as they are 

 only traded in one or two of the Company's 

 posts and I was never at either, I will say noth- 

 ing about them, but of the above grades and 

 colors of foxes I have traded and trapped many. 



A black cross is so very near a silver that it 

 is only a savant that can tell the difference. A 

 black cross has yellow hairs growing inside the 

 ears and a patch of yellow near each fore leg, 

 whereas a silver has none. Unscrupulous trap- 

 pers very often try to get over these giving- 

 away marks by plucking the hairs out of the 

 ears and by greasing and smoking the side 

 patches. 



The first thing a trader does when a doubt- 

 ful skin is offered is to look into the ears; if 

 the hairs are wanting, he breathes on his hand 

 and gently passes it down over the side. If the 

 hand is blackened this is a proof number two 

 and the smart "Alec" is found out. 



Coming back to Anticosta; forty years ago 

 the privilege of hunting was leased by the then 

 owner of the seigniory to a man from Quebec, 

 who each autumn repaired to the island with 

 four or five men who hunted on shares, Mr. Cor- 

 bett, supplying food, traps and ammunition, got 

 a certain per cent, of the furs each caught. 



They laid their small schooner up in a shel- 



