256 SNOW-SHOES. 



ceived by tins American Nimrod with a truly Scottish 

 hospitality. Without, the snow fell in thick flakes, and 

 lashed the windows of the apartment in which Mr. How- 

 ard and I were regaling ourselves over a bottle of good 

 sherry wine. 



" Fill your glass and mine, Benedict," said Mr. How- 

 ard ; "I wish to drink to France, to your dear country, 

 and to all hunters who, like yourself, are animated with 

 the sacred fire. I have not forgotten, my gallant friend, 

 that I have promised to help you kill a cariboo before you 

 return to New York. You are aware that the brute 

 runs with an almost incredible rapidity, and that, to ap- 

 proach him, you must follow up his trail in snow-shoes 

 in those great rackets which you see hanging to yonder 

 wall." 



And Mr. Howard showed me two immense pattens of 

 an oval form, shaped like the rackets with which we play 



in England and France. 

 It is the chaussure which 

 the Indians use to pre- 

 vent their sinking in the 



snow. 



" You will have some trouble," he continued, " in 

 making use of these rackets the first time you put them 

 on ', but I am sure that after fifteen to twenty paces, at 

 the utmost, you will soon surmount that difficulty. You 

 know/' he added, "that my friend, the Indian Monai. 

 has promised to come here as soon as the weather is 

 favourable for hunting the cariboo. Now, as no time is 

 more favourable for this kind of sport than when the 

 ground is covered with snow, I opine that he will before 

 long make his appearance, perhaps even this very even- 



