298 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



hermit-like life is spent in gathering pelts for the 

 great fur markets of the world. And yet the 

 trapper is a man to be envied, especially so if his 

 country is one rich in fur-bearing animals, for then 

 he can make a good living, and, greatest of luxuries, 

 be his own master. The lives of trappers are all 

 very much alike, varying chiefly with the climatic 

 conditions in which they live. In Florida the life 

 is seen in its easiest form, free from most of the 

 hardships incidental to the cold country of the vast 

 north, but then the profits are small, for the 

 southern skins, being thinner, bring lower prices. 

 Let us follow a Canadian trapper during one 

 year of his life, and we shall have some slight idea 

 of the method by which he gains his living. When 

 the nights begin to be cold and the maples in the 

 forests show the scarlet danger-sign that warns the 

 land of the approach of the awful cold of winter, 

 and when the shivering poplars and silver birches 

 throw off their leafy covering that they may the 

 better be able to bear up against the heavy, clinging 

 snows ; when the beavers strengthen their houses, 

 gather their winter supplies of food, and the 

 squirrels collect quantities of nuts and seeds and 

 cache them beneath the trees, then nature clothes 

 all her animals with heavy coats of fur that they 

 may be protected against the coming winter, and 

 the trapper knows that the time has come when he 

 must repair his log or birch-bark shanties, and take 

 in his food supplies, just as the beaver is doing. 

 Each man has his territory wherein he may set his 

 traps, and if his claim be good it is undisputed. 

 He may hold it for life provided he never leaves it 



