268 A HUNTING RENDEZVOUS. 



visible, and Mr. Howard, pointing to a broad mark on 

 the frozen ground, said, 



" As this is the first time you have seen a cariboo's 

 track, please remember that it resembles that of a bull's 

 hoof is as large and as heavy ; and when you catch sight 

 of the gigantic animal, I promise you a pleasure which 

 will repay you for all your fatigue." 



After a series of marches and counter-marches, or 

 rather of glissades upon the snow, we arrived at a cabin 

 which had been constructed many years before as a 

 hunting rendezvous for Mr. Howard and Monai. It was 

 square built, and consisted of trees placed one upon an- 

 other, and maintained in this horizontal position by poles 

 or posts, outside and inside, thrust deep into the earth. 

 The roof, also formed of trunks of trees in a slanting- 

 position, was covered, like the sides of the hut, with bark 

 and plastered mud. 



This log-cabin, though uninhabited, was in a capital 

 condition, and the thick snow-covering which enveloped 

 it rendered it a very comfortable abode. Monai soon 

 cleared the entrance, swept out the interior, and lit, in a 

 rude kind of chimney, where the fireplace consisted of 

 rough stones untouched by a workman's hammer, a blaz- 

 ing fire which recruited our stiffened and weary limbs. 

 While the Indian was thus engaged, Mr. Howard and 

 myself cut up a supply of fuel, and cut down some cedar 

 boughs for the mattresses on which we were to pass the 

 night. Upon this improvised litter we spread our 

 woollen wrappers ; and I can assure my readers it made a 

 by no means uncomfortable bed. 



Twilight gave place to darkness ; Monai lighted a torch 

 of resin, and fixed it in one corner of the hut ; our sup- 



