290 The King of the Thundering Herd 



low bush cranberries. Some of the way the 

 ground beneath is like jelly, trembling and 

 quivering as you approach, while in other 

 places it is a black peat, where many a tree 

 has been sucked down into the soft ooze. 



This lonely country is threaded by many 

 rivers, and dotted by numerous lakes ; so 

 it is the abode of all the little furred folk 

 for whose sleek hides man has ever been so 

 greedy. 



There Umisk, the beaver, builds his 

 strange, cunningly constructed dam across 

 the stream, flooding the lowlands, and in 

 the middle of his lake rears his symmet- 

 rical mud-house, wise little Venetian, 

 nearer to the ways of man in his mode of 

 life than any other of God's creatures. 



There Nekik, the otter, coasts down his 

 slide upon his belly with as much delight 

 and abandon as a boy might upon a new 

 sled. 



There Wuchusk, the musquash, whom 



