MOUNT CORMACK REGION 209 



canoes would shortly appear and scare them along the lake 

 shore towards us. McGaw, Joe, and I accordingly took 

 stones in our hands, and played at being ancient Britons, 

 just like naughty schoolboys. We lay in the caribou trail, 

 and, as soon as the canoe approached the deer near enough 

 for them to get the wind, there was a wild rattle of stones 

 and the game was rushing like a charge of cavalry down 

 upon us. All the five deer almost trod upon us as we 

 raised ourselves on our knees and saluted the attack with 

 a volley of rocks. One deer cleared Joe's head within a 

 few inches. Of course we did not hit anything, but enjoyed 

 the consternation and the sport as much as if we had slain 

 a noble hart. 



As the sun was setting and the men were building camp, 

 more and more deer appeared. McGaw pursued one lot 

 that appeared to have a stag amongst them, but no stag 

 was there when he had headed them, so we went to bed 

 without any damage having been done except to a portion 

 of my knickerbockers which had tried conclusions with some 

 sharp rocks. 



In the morning McGaw started for the end of the lake 



with the intention of taking the height of Mount Cormack, 



whilst I hunted an area to the east of Sit Down Lake, and 



gradually worked round to the foot of Sit Down Mountain, 



which I ascended to make some observations. During the 



day we walked many miles, and encountered numbers of 



doe caribou and a few young stags, but not one adult stag 



was to be seen, a state of things I had quite expected. Not 



so Joe, who had declared that we should find plenty of 



stags out in the open ground at this season, and could not 



now account for their absence. On questioning him closely, 



I found that when he had been to Pipestone before, the 



o 



