54 HILLS AND LAKES. 



on our journey, when on the opposite side of the 

 little bay we saw an animal which though not un- 

 common in these wild regions, I had not yet seen. It 

 is called the Fisher. Its weight may be that of a fox. 

 Its legs are shorter than those of that animal, while 

 its body and neck are much longer. Its form is like 

 that of the mink. Its color is a dark brown, ap- 

 proaching to black. He was moving cautiously along 

 the margin of the water, stopping, from time to time, 

 to look around him. As he passed behind a large 

 boulder, I raised my rifle, and as he again emerged 

 into sight, I fired at and killed him. The head of the 

 bay was marshy, and my guide, after divesting him- 

 self of his clothes, plunged into the water to swim 

 across. He had not calculated upon its coldness, for 

 as he plunged in, he sighed and blowed like a por- 

 poise. Being a man of nerve, however, he swam over 

 and brought the animal to our side of the bay. The 

 fur of the Fisher is fine and valuable. Its skin is 

 worth from three to five dollars, depending upon the 

 season of the year in which it is taken.. We took 

 the gentleman's hide as the spoils of war, and to pay 

 for the trouble of shooting and skinning him. The 

 death of this animal was the occasion of the christen- 



