IN THE LAND OF THE MOOSE, THE BEAR, 

 AND THE BEAVER. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY GAME RANGE OF THE BUFFALO WOOD BISON- 

 HUDSON BAY COMPANY RIVAL COMPANY FEUDS POPULATION PRAIRIES 

 RIVERS ICE-FLOES "THE BARREN GROUNDS" MUSK OXEN NATIVE 

 TRIBES CANNIBALISM TRADITION OF THE DELUGE BOUNDARY OF THE 

 WOODS MACKENZIE RIVER DISTRICT. 



THE vast territory of North-Western Canada, compris- 

 ing an area almost equal to that of Europe, offers an 

 attractive field to the explorer or hunter. Here may 

 be found the deer, the moose, the elk or wapiti (Cervus 

 Canadensis), the fierce grizzly bear, and the cougar, or 

 "painter" as he is styled by the backwoodsman. Fur- 

 bearing animals, persecuted for many generations by 

 the hardy employes of the Hudson Bay Company, exist 

 still in considerable numbers in the tangled forests; 

 but the buffalo, once the staple of subsistence of many 

 tribes, no longer thunders across the plains in count- 

 less thousands. Only in scattered bands do these 



