432 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
make an attempt on the musk ox when the more timid caribou 
are scarce. The animals we killed were all in good condition, 
and an examination of their stomachs showed that they had 
been feeding on the different mosses that grow in profusion 
in the Barren Ground. The snow had drifted away from the 
ridges, leaving the ground bare in many places, so that the 
moss was easily obtainable without pawing away the snow. 
We killed over forty, as the Indians were, of course, anxious 
to get as many robes as they could haul, to trade for ammuni- 
tion and blankets at the Fort, and after we had loaded the 
sleighs with skins and meat we made the best of our way back 
to the woods, which we reached on December 2, after various 
mishaps through getting lost and the dogs playing out in the 
soft snow. Shortly afterwards we fell in with the caribou 
again, and reached Fort Resolution a few days before Christ- 
mas. 
The short Arctic summer was at its height when I saw the 
musk ox again, at the head waters of the Great Fish river, after 
a long and tedious journey with dog sleighs, and as we spent 
six weeks in the heart of the Barren Ground I had every 
opportunity to notice the habits of these strange animals. 
Between the hunting grounds of the Yellow Knives and those 
of the Esquimaux, farther down stream, lies a debatable land of 
perhaps sixty miles in width, which affords the musk ox a 
sanctuary, and here there were scattered bands in every direc- 
tion. At this season the big bulls were usually found alone, 
the cows and calves keeping together in small bands of ten to 
twenty. Their natural increase seems to be small, and calves 
were scarce in proportion to the number of cows. The Indians 
told me that a cow only calves once in two years, and this is 
probably true, as among the animals that we killed for food 
we found none that had lost a calf. ; 
I have often been asked whether the flesh of the musk ox — 
is good to eat, but people do not reflect that in the north, where 
the supply of provisions is uncertain, any kind of food is good. ~ 
A fat cow killed in the fall hardly smells or tastes of musk, 
