130 NEWFOUNDLAND 



the bottom of a small hole in the river, and smiling sadly 

 as he waved the frying-pan in his hand. 



"Guess this yer old thing (indicating his extempore baler) 

 ain't much more use! 'less I bale out de whole stream, and 

 that ain't surprisin' difficult now," he added, contemplating 

 the shoal of rocks. 



" Well," I suggested, " let us pack the stuff down to 

 Migwell's Brook, and we will try and do a mend with the 

 stag's skin and a biscuit tin." It was dusk as we reached 

 our destination. Moving the water-logged goods and heads 

 was no light task, but it was finished just as the sun set. 



On our way up stream we had left the dried fat of two 

 stags hanging on a tree at the Migwell's Brook camp. I 

 had also placed out of reach a wooden box containing lOO 

 Eley's brass shot cartridges. Knowing that bears were 

 common round here, we thought that these things would be 

 safe from their attentions, but such was not the case. The 

 first thing that met our gaze was the broken cartridge box 

 lying on the ground, and its contents scattered all over the 

 camp. About twenty of the cartridges had actually been 

 chewed and half-eaten by the bears, doubtless for the ex- 

 traction of the grease-laden wads covering the powder, and 

 the marks of their teeth were plainly indented on the outer 

 coverings (see photograph). It was a curious diet in truth, 

 for brass cartridges are not mentioned amongst the food of 

 these omnivorous beasts. The results miorht have been even 

 more interesting had our visitors bitten into the " cap " ends 

 of the cartridges. 



During the evening Saunders and I " tailed " a gun and 

 a Mannlicher for the bears, but without result. 



Next morning we spent in mending up the broken canoes. 

 A Huntley and Palmer biscuit tin was flattened out and nailed 



