CARIBOU MIGRATIONS. 283 



grounds of Northern Canada, has given a most graphic 

 description of the scene, which occurred near the great 

 Slave Lake. Scattered bands were almost continually 

 in sight from its commencement, he says, which rapidly 

 increased in numbers until October 2oth, when he was 

 aroused by his men with a cry of " La Foule La 

 Foule ! " The great army of migratory deer were 

 indeed upon them, having suddenly arrived like a thief 

 in the night. 



"We could hear (he says) the clatter made by a band of 

 travelling caribou. * La Foule ' had really come,, and during 

 its passage of six days, I was able to realize what an extra- 

 ordinary number of these animals still roam in the barren 

 grounds. All the south side of Mackay Lake (a sheet of 

 water to the north of the Slave Lake) was alive with moving 

 beasts, while the ice seemed dotted over with black islands, 

 and still far away on the north shore, with the aid of glasses, 

 we could see them coming like regiments of infantry on 

 the march. The snow was broken into broad roads, and I 

 found it useless to try and estimate the number that passed 

 within a few miles of our encampment. The buffalo were 

 all, for the most part, killed out before my time, but notwith- 

 standing the tall stories that are told of their numbers. I can- 

 not believe that the herds on the prairie ever surpassed in 

 size 'La Foule' of the Caribou." * 



These great migrations among wild animals are strange 

 and remarkable phenomena, which occur in almost 

 every part of the world where large areas of wild 

 lands exist. Sometimes they are caused, as in these 

 far northern regions, by the rigour of the climate; at 

 other times, as in arid countries bordering on the 

 tropics, they are caused by the drying up of the 



* The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by Warburton Pike, 

 1892, pp. 82, 83. 



