HOW TO HUNT CARIBOO. 77 



from as great an adept in it as the cariboo. In summer 

 this animal becomes almost aquatic in its life ; for, 

 whether it result from the pestering annoyance of the 

 legions of mosquitoes or black flies that constantly hover 

 around them, or its love for the refreshing influence of the 

 bath, it appears to spend day after day submerged, with 

 little else than its nose, eyes, and horns above water. At 

 this season it feeds but little during day ; but when the 

 sun has set, and the atmosphere becomes cooler, it sallies 

 off to the woodland and swamps in search of its favourite 

 lichens and ground shrubs. The shooting of one species 

 of deer so much resembles another, and T have already 

 described so many adventures in pursuit of moose and, 

 hereafter, in the pursuit of the more common Virginian 

 deer, that I will' tax the reader's patience no further 

 than to add, that to be successful in pursuit of cariboo, 

 unless when they are swimming the great rivers in their 

 annual migrations, the hunter must be cool and self- 

 possessed, have an extensive knowledge of woodcraft, and 

 powers of endurance to bear fatigue of no ordinary 

 quality. 



The peculiar and varied formations that the horns of 

 the cariboo assume have been the subject of much contro- 

 versy among the cognoscenti. Why palmation should 

 occur in one antler over the brow and in another at the 

 extremities, has been accounted for by individuals doubt- 

 less to their own satisfaction, but I fear not at all so to 

 the general public. For myself, when I have formed a 

 theory in reference to this animal's antlers, and possibly 

 nursed it for some time, I had the misfortune or otherwise 



