NEWFOUNDLAND. 67 



slippery as glass, caused by the otters sliding on them in 

 play, in the following manner : — Several of these amusing 

 creatures combine to select a suitable spot. Then each in 

 succession, lying flat on his belly, from the top of the bank 

 slides swiftly down over the snow, and plunges into the 

 water. The others follow, while he crawls up the bank at 

 some distance, and running round to the sliding-place, 

 takes his turn again to perform the same evolution as 

 before. The wet running from their bodies freezes on 

 the surface of the slide, and so the snow becomes a smooth 

 gutter of ice. This sport the old trapper had frequently 

 seen continued with the utmost eagerness, and with every 

 demonstration of delight, for hours together." It reminds 

 one of tobogganing, although the attitude is not quite the 

 same. My father used to say that he knew no other 

 example of adult quadrupeds doing so human a thing as 

 joining in a regular set and ordained game. 



They had made fair progress in this third day, and at 

 its end, as there were no more hospitable tilts, they 

 were fain to bivouac under the skies. Old Joe, however, 

 was equal to the emergency. With the axe that he carried 

 at his belt, he promptly felled a number of trees in a 

 spruce wood, causing them so to fall as that their branches 

 and leafy tops should form a dense wall of foliage 

 around an open area, within which he lighted an immense 

 blazing fire, feeding it with the trunks, which he cut into 

 logs, and piled up in store sufficient for the whole night, 

 before he ceased labour. Next morning they trudged on 

 again, and while this fourth day was still early, they ar- 

 rived at the sea in Trinity Bay. The long narrow inlet 

 at the head was frozen over, and they walked down it. 

 The ice was solid enough, but fresh water had flowed over 

 it, flooding the whole to the depth of about a foot. This 

 also had frozen over during the night, but so thinly as to 



