208 MOOSE-HUNTING, SALMON-FISHING, ETC 



game of euchre. While all this was being 

 performed, we were edified and exhilarated 

 by a tune we designated the "' Honker' 

 Quick-step," for to the right of us, to the left 

 of us, in front of us, and behind us, there 

 was nothing but geese, geese, geese. The 

 brants and ducks were not in it then. That 

 channel in front of the island, only some 

 300 yards away, had opened by the current 

 a third of a mile, and it was literally packed. 

 The geese at night on the flood remained, 

 and fed on the morning ebb, leaving for the 

 ice at day-dawn. The question came up at 

 the table as to the quantity we had seen that 

 afternoon, the number ranging between forty- 

 five and seventy-five thousand, so we settled 

 on the lesser number, which was well within 

 bounds. 



As the weather was growing warm, the 

 ice was breaking up fast, thus opening up 

 other harbours, so that the next day we 

 observed a very marked difference in the 

 numbers visible. However, we had another 

 afternoon of excellent shooting, not exactly 

 on the same ground, but nearer the ice-floe, 

 and farther to the north, as the wind had 



