OR, THE LAKE LANDS OF CANADA. 5 



tions to purchase one of these desirable animals, which had 

 been previously taken in the chase by some other hunter ; 

 the bargain having been made, the deer is brought to the 

 ambitious sportsman, who then fires a charge of buck-shot 

 or a rifle-bullet into the dead carcass, and on this act his 

 claim to have shot or killed the much-coveted game is 

 based. 



Havinof now mentioned some of the characteristics of 

 the pseudo-sportsman, we turn, with increased pleasure, to 

 a consideration of the more noble character, — the true 

 hunter. The true hunter, in many particulars, resembles 

 the true soldier, and in several respects their lives are es- 

 sentially the same : both are inured to hardships and like- 

 wise exposed to dangers, while unusual fatigue, severe and 

 often prolonged deprivation, are their common lot. Both 

 are stimulated by conquest and likewise depressed by 

 failure. The true hunter's enthusiasm, like the true sol- 

 dier's, resembles, in some respects, the spirit which ani- 

 mates, under certain circumstances, the old war-horse and 

 the decrepit hunting-dog. Instances are occasionally re- 

 lated in which a noble charger has been compelled by ad- 

 verse circumstances to accept service on the farm in his old 

 age; but even now, when harnessed to the plough, we are 

 told that this noble animal is frequently so excited by the 

 bugle-notes sounding the cavalry charge that he rears his 

 head and tail, cocks his ears, and dashes away in search of 

 an unseen enemy, — showing that he has not yet lost his 

 fires of youth, and that he still desires to participate in the 

 bloody work of war, — to hear the boom of the cannon, the 

 rattling shots of the carbine, or to see the flashes of the 



