MUSK OX 432 
set out on foot into the Barren Ground, expecting to find musk 
_ oxatanytime. We travelled hard towards the north, but only 
_ fell in with two solitary bulls, both of which were killed ; the 
_ rutting season was just coming on, and the bulls were apparently 
seeking the cows. Winter was approaching, the small lakes 
were frozen up and the ground covered with snow ; we were 
unprovided with dogs and all the outfit necessary for winter 
travel, and were forced to abandon the hunt, reaching our camp 
after three weeks’ absence early in October. On this journey we 
found the caribou plentiful, and had little trouble from short 
rations. 
The next five weeks were passed at the edge of the woods, 
and it was well on in November when we started on another ex- 
pedition ; this time I went with a band of Yellow Knife Indians, 
as most of the half-breeds had deserted. Six sleighs hauled 
by twenty-four dogs carried a supply of firewood sufficient for 
three weeks with the strictest economy, and a little dried meat 
which was to last us till we reached the musk ox. Luckily, 
we had left a few meat caches on our first trip, or I think we 
could hardly have made a successful hunt, as men and dogs 
require more than the usual rations in the excessive cold which 
prevails in the Barren Ground during the early winter. After 
ten days’ fair travelling, with some delays from wind storms and 
the trouble of cutting the meat caches out of the ice in which 
we had stored them, just as we had come to the end of our 
_ provisions two bands of musk ox were discovered. By rough 
_ guessing, one band contained a hundred and the other sixty 
animals, bulls and cows of all ages. The usual methods of 
__ winter hunting were employed, and a wholesale slaughter began ; 
___ the dogs let loose from the sleighs rounded up as many of the 
_ animals as they could hold, and, going close up, we killed them 
as easily as cattle at the shambles. 
The musk ox took no notice of the men, and seemed to 
_ suppose that the dogs were their only danger ; and it is to be 
' presumed that by herding together in this manner they resist 
the attacks of wolves, which follow the caribou, and probably 
