1 88 Moose -Hunting in Canada. 



of a breeze springing up, or of the night becoming too much over- 

 cast and cloudy to enable me to see him. My companions had been 

 equally unfortunate. We had spent the best fortnight of the season 

 in this way, and had shifted our ground and tried everything in vain. 

 At last, we decided on one more attempt, broke camp, loaded our 

 canoes, and started. We made a journey of two days, traversing 

 many lovely lakes, carrying over several portages, and arrived at our 

 destination about three o'clock in the afternoon. We drew up our 

 canoes at one of the prettiest spots for a camp I have ever seen. It 

 lay beside a little sheltered, secluded bay at the head of a lovely lake, 

 some three or four miles in length. The shores near us were 

 covered with " hard-wood " trees — birch, maple, and beech, in their 

 glorious autumn colors ; while the more distant coasts were clothed 

 with a somber, dark mass of firs and spruce. Above the ordinary 

 level of the forest rose at intervals the ragged, gaunt form of some 

 ancient and gigantic pine that had escaped the notice of the lumber- 

 man or had proved unworthy of his ax. In front of us, and to the 

 right, acting as a breakwater to our harbor, lay a small island covered 

 with hemlock and tamarack trees, the latter leaning over in various 

 and most graceful angles, overhanging the water to such an extent 

 as sometimes to be almost horizontal with it. Slightly to the left 

 was a shallow spot in the lake marked by a growth of rushes, vividly 

 green at the top, while the lower halves were of a most brilliant 

 scarlet, affording the precise amount of warmth and bright color- 

 ing that the picture required. It is extraordinary how everything 

 seems to turn to brilliant colors in the autumn in these northern 

 latitudes. The evening was perfectly still ; the surface of the lake, 

 unbroken by the smallest ripple, shone like a mirror and reflected 

 the coast-line and trees so accurately, that it was impossible to tell 

 where water ended and land began. 



The love of money and the love of sport are the passions that 

 lead men into such scenes as these. The lumberman, the salmon- 

 fisher, and the hunter in pursuit of large game, monopolize the 

 beauties of nature in these Canadian wilds. The moose (Cervus 

 A Ices) and caribou (Cervus rangifer) are the principal large game 

 to be found in Canada. The moose is by far the biggest of all ex- 

 isting deer. He attains to a height of quite eighteen hands, and 

 weighs about twelve hundred pounds or more. The moose of 



