A BLACK BEAR HUNT 



177 



That night we made a modest camp in a well-wooded brook 

 valley which bore many signs of being in present use as bear cover. 



Next morning we took up our march for a mountainous district 

 a few miles distant. Here, where the woods fell away for a little 

 space on the side of a steep mountain slope, two bears were made 

 out in the act of feeding. It was not as easy as it appeared to 

 get at them, however, as the way to them led through a densely 

 wooded ravine where one could easily lose his general direction. To 

 obviate this difficulty, we stood Nicola, the younger Indian, on a 



A VETERAN MICMAC BEAR HUNTER WITH HIS SQUAW AND DAUGHTER. 



commanding spur of rock, and instructed him to make signals by 

 waving his arm when we came out at the lower extremity of the 

 open patch. This answered admirably. Guided by his directions, 

 I approached within sixty yards of the two animals roaming slowly 

 towards me along a caribou path. I fixed my attention on the leader 

 while I dropped out of view between two huge boulders among a 

 mass of prickly evergreen tresses of the creeping ground juniper. I 

 had time to watch him closely. He had a peculiarly arched profile, 

 singular tawny spots of hair on his shoulders, his coat otherwise 



F.C. N 



