240 CANADIAN WILDS. 



was a middle-aged half-breed, born and brought 

 up to trapping, and the other was an old Nova 

 Scotian who had trapped and hunted for forty 

 years and yet he died in a bear trap. 



Man was not intended to live alone, and a 

 trapper who passes the best part of his life far 

 away from his fellow man becomes selfish, 

 crabbed and morose. No matter how successful 

 he may have been in his hunting years, when 

 old age comes on, his last moments are gener- 

 ally passed alone in some miserable shanty, cov- 

 ered with dirty and musty old clothes and blan- 

 kets, no one to pass him a drink of water or 

 wipe the death sweat from his brow, or else 

 some good person on the fringe of civilization, 

 partly from charity or necessity, takes in the 

 broken old hulk and keeps him until the end. 

 A grave somewhere outside the fence is pointed 

 out as where "Old Pierre," the trapper, is 

 buried. I have several such resting places in 



mind as I pen these lines. 



No, I maintain a companion in hunting and 

 trapping is a necessity in many ways. In se- 

 lecting one they should be alike in only two 

 points age and honesty. If the head of the 

 partnership is short, stout and of a phlegmatic 

 nature, his chum ought to be say five feet ten 

 inches high, weigh one hundred and fifty 

 pounds, of a nervous energetic nature and cheer- 



