Hunting Trip after Caribou 93 



They gazed at us in wonderment for some 

 time, then walked off leisurely into the bush. 



Redirecting our course we followed the bed 

 of an old beaver pond for some distance, to a 

 secluded spot where the guide had drawn his 

 birch-bark canoe into the bush the previous 

 year. After " putting her to rights " she 

 proved to be seaworthy ; and as she glided over 

 the water after her long winter nap, I thought 

 of the many useful purposes of the birch, and 

 this " bark " seemed to welcome us to the land 

 of her growth, where she once clothed the giant 

 of her species as it towered majestically over 

 its smaller fellows. From a little tree the 

 birch grows up, and its tender boughs give life 

 and nourishment to the largest known member 

 of the deer tribe. It is bent downward by the 

 weight of the moose as he rides astride for the 

 purpose of browsing on the spring leaves, and 

 again the tree rights itself after the passing of 

 the moose. The grouse gorges its craw with 

 the buds in the early spring and looks down at 

 the fox passing along harmlessly underneath. 



In the midst of all it grows and grows until 

 one day along comes the nimrod, takes out his 



