PIERRE'S ADVENTURE. 303 



smell, which is very acute, the whole herd seek for 

 safety by instant flight. The bulls, however, are very 

 irascible, and, particularly when wounded, will often 

 attack the hunter and endanger his life, unless he pos- 

 sesses both activity and presence of mind. The 

 Eskimos, who are well accustomed to the pursuit of 

 this animal, sometimes turn its irritable disposition to 

 good account ; for an expert hunter having provoked a 

 bull to attack him, wheels round more quickly than it 

 can turn, and by repeated stabs in the belly puts an 

 end to its life.' " 



"Had you ever an encounter with one, Pierre?" 

 asked Gaultier. 



" I have ,had a good many," answered the latter 

 smiling ; " and I will tell you of an adventure which 

 befell me some years since when pursuing a band of 

 these animals. At that time I was stationed at Fort 

 Reliance, which is to the east of Eastern Slave Lake. 



" A party of us went out for the purpose of procur- 

 ing a supply of fresh meat, as the stock at the fort was 

 becoming exhausted. Musk-oxen had been seen a few 

 days before, and we took the direction in which they 

 were supposed to have gone. After a very fatiguing 

 march through rugged valleys, and over stony, sterile 

 plateaux, where the vegetation consisted chiefly of the 

 tripe de roche and a few stunted willows in the bottoms, 

 we suddenly came upon the musk -sheep in a little 

 sheltered valley where some dwarf willows surrounded 

 a large pool. 



