HUNTING A CHEISTMAS DINNEE. 



The winter of 1884-85 may have been exceptionally mild 

 and open in England, but it was very far otherwise in Montana, 

 the climate of which is as variable and fond of extremes as that 

 of North China, where the sea freezes over for months, though 

 the heat of summer is intense. 



The winter in question settled steadily down as December 

 came on, and maintained itself through January and February 

 with an awful and bitter severity, very trying to the new arrival 

 in the Territory. It then suddenly broke up, and dissolved — 

 almost in a day — into warmth and spring. But for those three 

 months the thermometer ranged nightly between 25° and 55° 

 below zero. In the daytime a bright sunshine would often 

 warm the air to an extent that allowed one to throw off a 

 greatcoat, or even to wield an axe without a coat at all. 

 When, however, the sky was gloomy, and the hoar-frost drifted 

 on the breeze, the cold even at midday was so intense as to 

 be almost unbearable, though feet were equipped in heavy 

 " German socks " and over-shoes, hands encased in mittens, and 

 ears, nose, and cheeks protected by silk kerchiefs. Even thus 

 the cold would penetrate to one weak point or another, and 

 nothing but hasty and violent exercise, often amounting in 

 itself to absolute torture, would avail to ward off pronounced 

 frost-bite. Let the discomfort and pain be what it might, it 

 would then be absolutely necessary to dismount and run, or 

 waddle, by your horse's side — the whole time keeping the 

 disengaged arm banging on the body, and thus sustaining some 

 dearee of circulation. 



Christmas Eve (1884) was preceded by such a day — fully 40° 



