174 PURCHASING SKELETONS. 



several of the weasel and mink, one martin {Muste/a Ajnericana) , 

 and a variety of the common red squirrel {Sciurus Htcdsonius) . 

 It often amuses me to hear the reports, so frequently current, of 

 the fabulous " wealth of the American gentleman who has lately 

 come on the coast, buying everything that is of no use to anybody." 



One fellow brought me a common porcupine and said that he 

 heard that I was giving five dollars for porcupines, but wanted to 

 know if I could not give him six ! I gave him a dollar, and 

 considered that he had made a pretty good bargain at that. He 

 was contented, since he had been induced to ask the price by his 

 father and others who undoubtedly thought that they could easily 

 "make a good thing" out of the American who might not know 

 the difference. With reference to one other animal whose skele- 

 ton I procured, I would say that the wolverine, or glutton ( Gulo 

 iuscus), — called " Carcajou " by the Indians — is becoming either 

 more and more rare about this locality, in fact all along the coast, 

 or has retired far inland. It is seldom caught ; its fur rarely 

 appears in collections — that is in comparison to what it did ten 

 years ago even — and is so poor, and the price so low, that it 

 would hardly pay one to hunt it. The Indians have ceased 

 to capture it, and out of a thousand dollar batch of fur you will 

 not find more than ten dollars worth of its skins. The animal has 

 undoubtedly gone farther into the interior, where it hunts the 

 deer by pouncing upon it from some concealed spot in the 

 trees above, when the animal passes, and tearing its throat sucks 

 its blood. 



Monday the 1 7th. While up the bay this morning there came on 

 a tremendous snowstorm. The flakes were larger I think than any 

 that I ever saw before or have seen since ; it often appeared as if I 

 saw them fully half as large as my hand. 



For the last three or four days one of the men has been suffering 

 intensely with a felon on his thumb ; all manner of poultices and 

 applications have been tried to cure it, but none have been so 

 effectual as the soft, outer rind of the common larch {Larix Amer- 

 icana^, boiled in hot water and then kneaded into a poultice. It 



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