290 CARIBOO TRACKS. 



and hurrying on to pom- their crystal waters into 

 some of the innumerable little lakes that appeared 

 on every side. In all directions, where the ground 

 was sufficiently sound, I could see cariboo-tracks 

 crossing and recrossing each other, telling plainly 

 how numerous these animals must be in this remote 

 range at certain seasons of the year. The surface, 

 however, in occasional places was so spongy that such 

 traces had disappeared, and care had to be taken not 

 to trespass upon them too recklessly. Experience 

 and observation had taught me that those parts 

 where the vegetation on the surface was greenest 

 were the most impassable. At the same time, 

 I know that in Ireland, where this brilliancy of 

 herbage is regarded as a warning to trespassers, 

 there are many sober, brown-looking pieces of bog 

 where, without suspecting danger, the unwary may 

 find themselves caught in a toil as firm in its grip as 

 the grasp of the usurer upon the unfledged subaltern. 

 I feel convinced that if we had reached here 

 months sooner we should have witnessed an exodus 

 of reindeer to the north, equal in numbers to those 

 herds of buffalo that have never failed to strike 

 with astonishment the traversers of the Western 

 plains. However, in all probability they would 

 have been low in flesh, for if this were their winter 

 quarters, and I strongly surmise such to be the 

 case,- the depth of the snow which lies on the soil 

 of such high latitudes in uncultivated regions, even 

 late on in spring, could scarcely fail to cause these 



