1 86 Moose -Hunting in Canada. 



appear as if Providence had specially designed the Canada balsam 

 fir for the purpose of making a soft couch for tired hunters. It is the 

 only one, so far as I am aware, of the coniferous trees of North 

 America in which the leaves or spiculae lie perfectly flat. The con- 

 sequence of that excellent arrangement is, that a bed made of the 

 short, tender tips of the Canada balsam, spread evenly to the depth 

 of about a foot, is one of the softest, most elastic, and most pleasant 

 couches that can be imagined ; and as the scent of the sap of the 

 Canada balsam is absolutely delicious, it is always sweet and refresh- 

 ing — which is more than can be said for many beds of civilization. 



Hunger is a good sauce. A man coming in tired and hungry 

 will find more enjoyment in a piece of moose meat and a cup of tea 

 than in the most luxurious of banquets. Moreover, it must be re- 

 membered that some of the wild meats of North America cannot be 

 excelled in flavor and delicacy ; nothing, for instance, can be better 

 than moose or caribou, mountain sheep or antelope. The "moufle," 

 or nose of the moose, and his marrow-bones are dainties which would 

 be highly appreciated by accomplished epicures. The meat is good, 

 and no better method of cooking it has yet been discovered than the 

 simple one of roasting it before a wood fire on a pointed stick. Sim- 

 plicity is a great source of comfort, and makes up for many luxuries ; 

 and nothing can be more simple, and at the same time more com- 

 fortable, than life in such a birch-bark camp as I have attempted to 

 describe. In summer-time, and in the fall, until the weather begins 

 to get a little cold, a tent affords all the shelter that the sportsman 

 or the tourist can require. But when the leaves are all fallen, when 

 the lakes begin to freeze up, and snow covers the earth, or may be 

 looked for at any moment, the nights become too cold to render 

 dwelling in tents any longer desirable. A tent can be used in win- 

 ter, and I have dwelt in one in extreme cold, when the thermometer 

 went down as low as 3 2° below zero. It was rendered habitable by 

 a little stove, which made it at the same time exceedingly disagree- 

 able. A stove sufficiently small to be portable only contained wood 

 enough to burn for an hour and a half or so ; consequently, some 

 one had to sit up all night to replenish it. Now, nobody could keep 

 awake, and the result was that we had to pass through the unpleasant 

 ordeal of alternately freezing and roasting during the whole night. 

 The stove was of necessity composed of very thin sheet-iron, as light- 



