134 HUNTING CAMPS. 



brow antlers being perfectly equal and fulfilling exactly the 

 description of " hands clasped in prayer/' It is singular 

 how few caribou grow the brows evenly. There is no single 

 specimen in the British Museum from Siberia, Canada, or 

 Norway which displays this distinctive beauty. Nearly all 

 Newfoundland stags carry two brow antlers, but one is 

 almost invariably inferior to the other, that on the left being 

 usually the finer. 



I sent off Jack to bring up Sam and the packs, and on 

 their return we camped in a drogue of birches not very far 

 from the body of the caribou. While we were setting up 

 our lean-to the rain began again to fall heavily, but as we 

 had been walking up- wind we were able to light a fire with- 

 out spoiling any more ground for hunting. It is astonishing 

 how quickly one can light a good fire in Newfoundland, for 

 quantities of inflammable birch bark are to be found every- 

 where. In a few minutes we had boiled a kettle of tea and 

 were as comfortable as our soaking garments would allow 

 us to be. The tea was hardly drunk before the wind shifted 

 several points to the west, and, guessing that this change 

 would have its effect upon the weather, Jack and I started 

 at once again, leaving Sam Dewey to his duties in camp. 



By the time we had crossed a little river and come out 

 upon a wide marsh we could hear Dewey 's axe-strokes 

 from among the birches, and as we walked over a rise we 

 found to our disgust that two stags, which must have been 

 lying down upon the marsh, had heard them also, for we 

 saw the pair trotting away over a ridge, and soon afterwards 

 we came upon their fresh tracks. We only saw them as 

 they passed over the sky-line, therefore we neither of us 

 got more than a momentary glimpse of the stags, which, 

 however, was enough to tell us that one was a very fine 

 animal. His track also was large. A caribou differs from 

 either elk or moose in that, when once he is frightened, it is 

 almost hopeless to expect to see him afterwards. A moose 



