26 BUFFALO IN SNOW TIME. 



with its forefeet, like the reindeer, but rather by 

 shovelling" with its broad and powerful nose; and 

 that it did make its way down to the grass, and did 

 sustain its mighty frame in fairly good condition, 

 even under stress of all these accumulated difficulties, 

 there is ample evidence to prove. We may perhaps 

 be pardoned if we here venture to point out how this 

 came to be possible, though this is a matter more 

 properly dealt with in our arctic section. 



When the great snows descend during the course 

 of winter in a sub-arctic climate, vast accumulations 

 soon form, as the intense cold of course prevents the 

 snow from thawing, and it therefore remains in a per- 

 fectly dry state in the form of a powder as fine as 

 flour, which will brush off clothes like ordinary dust, 

 without adhering to them, or wetting* them. Under 

 great cold, snow does not consist of large flakes and 

 crystals, such as we are accustomed to in our own 

 country, but rather of dust, which will not cake to- 

 gether; indeed in all this great region of which we 

 now speak, it is doubtful whether it would be possible 

 to make a single snowball the snow is too dry for that. 



Such being the condition of the snow, therefore, it 

 is easy to conceive that it is possible that animals can 

 make their way through it to the ground, and obtain 

 food in a way which would not be possible were it 

 in a heavy compressed or half melted state. It is also 

 probable that this is one of those wonderful and beau- 

 tiful provisions of Nature specially intended to act as 

 a means whereby plants and animals might be enabled 

 to exist in these desolate regions where the snow 

 itself, which covers all things deep in its glittering 

 mantle, acts as a dress, or covering, to protect the 



