HUNTING IN THE SELKIRKS. i6l 



The white goats were too musky to eat, and 

 we saw nothing else to shoot ; so we speedily 

 became reduced to tea, and to bread baked 

 in the frying-pan, save every now and then for 

 a feast on the luscious mountain blueberries. 

 This rather meagre diet, coupled with inces- 

 sant fatigue and exertion, made us fairly long 

 for meat food ; and we fell off in flesh, though 

 of course in so short a time we did not suffer 

 in eitlier health or strength. Fortunately the 

 nights were too cool for mosquitoes ; but once 

 or twice in the afternoons, while descending 

 the lower slopes of the mountains, we were 

 much bothered by swarms of gnats ; they 

 worried us greatly, usually attacking us at a 

 time when we had to go fast in order to reach 

 camp before dark, while the roughness of the 

 ground forced us to use both hands in climb- 

 ing, and thus forbade us to shield our faces 

 from our tiny tormentors. Our chief luxury 

 was, at the end of the day, when footsore and 

 weary, to cast aside our sweat-drenched clothes 

 and plunge into the icy mountain torrent for 

 a moment's bath that freshened us as if by 

 magic. The nights were generally pleasant, 

 and we slept soundly on our beds of balsam 

 boughs, but once or twice there were sharp 

 fr(j.sts, and it was so cold that the hunter and 

 I huddled together for warmth and kept the 

 fires going till morning. One day, when we 

 were on the march, it rained heavily, and we 

 were soaked through, and stiff and chilly when 

 we pitched camp ; but we speedily built a 

 great brush lean-to, made a roaring fire in 

 front, and grew once more to warmth and 

 comfort as we sat under our steaming shelter. 

 II 



