AN EVENING WITH AN OLD TRAPPER. 133 



" How many animals have you generally taken on a win- 

 ter's trip ? " 



" That depends, of course, entirely upon my fortune in 

 securing good trapping ground. My son Samuel and I 

 trapped one season in Upper Canada, and caught forty-seven 

 beaver ; and the furs of other animals, which we caught at 

 the same time, would bring as much money as that of the 

 beaver. The best specimen of luck I ever had was in setting 

 twenty-seven traps, and finding a mink, fisher, or marten in 

 twenty-five of them. That was on my second trip to Can- 

 ada."" 



" How much money did you generally make ? " 



" That is another difficult question. 1 have made from $5 

 to $75 a month." 



" Well, then, how much did you make in your best trip?" 



" The best trip I ever made was forty j^ears ago. I went 

 out on Dead River, in the State of Maine. I was absent 

 from home just one month (started December 3d, and re- 

 turned January 3d) ; sold my fur for ninety-seven dollars, 

 and fur was then very cheap. The same fur would now 

 bring several hundred dollars. Two of us have often made 

 $100 a month, or $50 apiece." 



" What do you take for an outfit ? " 



" A double-barrel gun ; a hatchet (I used to carry an axe, 

 but now prefer the hatchet) ; a butcher-knife ; a pocket-knife ; 

 a camp-kettle holding about six quarts ; a frying-pan ; a pint 

 dipper or cup, and a spoon. I go lightly clad, never taking 

 an overcoat, and only a single woolen blanket. For a win- 

 ter's campaign, I take 40 lbs. flour, 10 lbs. pork, 6 qts. beans, 

 5 lbs. sugar, and 1 lb. of tea. The two last items might be 

 disjiensed with. I have lived a week at a time in the woods, 

 eating nothing but moose meat ; and Reuben Howard, a trap- 

 per from Connecticut, says he has lived two months at a time 

 on deer's meat alone." 



" If you were starting now, would n't you take some little 

 conveniences for cooking and camping, beside those you have 

 mentioned ? " 



" No ; the longer one lives the life of a hunter and trapper, 



