88 FOUEST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



the whole affair by an unlucky stumble over a brittle! 

 windfall, or clanked your gun-stock against a tree-stem.j 

 It will thus be readily seen that success in moose huni 

 ing entirely depends upon the excellence of the Indiai 

 hunter who accompanies the sportsman. His art, or" 

 "gift," is hardly to be comprehended by description; 

 it is as evidently the result of long practice — not, per- 

 haps, individual practice, but of the skill which he has 

 inherited from his forefathers, who before the advent of 

 Eastern civilisation, regularly " followed the woods ^' — as 

 is the high state of perfection to which the various breeds 

 of sporting dogs have been brought by artificial means. 



Soon confused in the maze of woods through which 

 your Indian leads you after moose, you chance to ask 

 him at length where camp lies. He will tell you within 

 half a point of the compass, and without hesitation, 

 though miles away from the spot. The slightest dis- 

 arrangement of moss or foliage, a piece of broken fern, 

 or a scratch on the lichens of a granite plateau, are to 

 him the sign-posts of the woods ; he reads them at a 

 glance, running. Should you rest under a tree or by a 

 brook-side, leaving, perhaps, gloves, purse, or pouch 

 behind, next day he will go straight to the spot and 

 recover them, though the country is strange. Under the 

 snow he will find and show you what he has observed or 

 secreted during the previous summer. He is the closest 

 observer of nature, and can tell you the times and 

 seasons of everything ; and there is not an animal, bird, 

 or reptile whose voice he cannot imitate with marvellous 

 exactness. 



A faithful companion, and always ready to provide 

 beforehand for your slightest necessities, the Micmac 



