Moose -Hunting in Canada. 187 



ness was an important object, and consequently when it was filled 

 with good birch-wood and well under way, it became red-hot, and 

 rendered the atmosphere in the tent insupportable. In about half an 

 hour or so it would cool down a little, and one would drop off to 

 sleep, only to wake in about an hour's time shivering, to find every- 

 thing frozen solid in the tent, and the fire nearly out. Such a method 

 of passing the night is little calculated to insure sound sleep. In the 

 depth of winter it is quite impossible to warm a tent from the outside, 

 however large the fire may be. It must be built at such a distance 

 that the canvas cannot possibly catch fire, and hence all heat is dis- 

 persed long before it can reach and warm the interior of the tent. 

 It is far better to make a " lean-to " of the canvas, build a large fire, 

 and sleep out in the open. A "lean-to" is easily made and scarcely 

 needs description. The name explains itself. You strike two poles, 

 having a fork at the upper end, into the ground, slanting back 

 slightly ; lay another fir pole horizontally between the two, and rest- 

 ing in the crutch ; then place numerous poles and branches leaning 

 against the horizontal pole, and thus form a frame-work which you 

 cover in as well as you can with birch-bark, pine boughs, pieces of 

 canvas, skins, or whatever material is most handy. You build an 

 enormous fire in the front, and the camp is complete. A " lean-to" 

 must always be constructed with reference to the direction of the 

 wind ; it serves to keep off the wind and a certain amount of snow 

 and rain. In other respects it is, as the Irishman said of the sedan- 

 chair with the bottom out, more for the honor and glory of the thing 

 than anything else. For all practical purposes, you are decidedly 

 out of doors. 



Although the scenery of the greater part of Canada cannot justly 

 be described as grand or magnificent, yet there is a weird,' melancholy, 

 desolate beauty about her barrens, a soft loveliness in her lakes and 

 forest glades in summer, a gorgeousness of color in her autumn 

 woods, and a stern, sad stateliness when winter has draped them all 

 with snow, that cannot be surpassed in any land. I remember, as 

 distinctly as if I had left it but yesterday, the beauty of the camp 

 from which I made my first successful expedition after moose last 

 calling season. I had been out several times unsuccessfully, some- 

 times getting no answer at all ; at others, calling a bull close up, but 

 failing to induce him to show himself; sometimes failing on account 



