MIGRATION AT MILLAIS'S LAKE 71 



and by the afternoon reached the point on the Mollygojack 

 where we had camped coming up. 



Saunders was anxious to stop at this point, as he wanted 

 to show me, if possible, the track of an extraordinary caribou 

 stag that haunted this place for several seasons. Dan Burton, 

 Stroud, Saunders, Wells, and Mr. Selous had all seen the 

 track of this wonderful stag, and it was unanimously agreed 

 that nothing like it had ever been seen before by any of 

 them. The spoor was said to be almost as large as that of 

 a moose, so naturally I was most anxious to see it- 



When we arrived at the point, the low state of the lake 

 prevented the heavily-laden canoe from getting near the 

 shore, so Saunders, who wore seal-boots, kindly offered to 

 carry me on his back. It was a well-meant offer, but entirely 

 disastrous. Saunders was a little man and I somewhat large, 

 whilst the bottom of the lake was of slippery mud. The 

 shifting of weight from the boat to the biped also caused 

 a loss of balance, so over the old man's head I dived into 

 three feet of water and two of mud. It was comical but cold, 

 and when Saunders had skilfully retrieved me by the seat 

 of the trousers, we all three sat on the shore and had a 

 good laugh whilst I changed into dry clothes. 



Almost at once we found the track of the great stag ; 

 he had been here not many hours before, as his numerous 

 footprints plainly showed. I certainly never believed a 

 caribou could have made such a track, and went at once 

 for my camera to take a picture. The measurement across 

 the hoof prints was 7f inches, just the span of my out- 

 stretched hand. The fellow who made this spoor must 

 indeed have been a Goliath amongst his species, and I 

 regretted that I had to hurry on to Canada, where Indian 

 guides were waiting, or I should certainly have spent a week 



