ON THE GANDER RIVER. 221 



down that vista was enough, for there in the middle 

 distance, about three hundred yards away, a big stag 

 was just crossing. I have seen many caribou, but none 

 in so beautiful an environment. The water did not 

 reach beyond his hocks, and he was splashing through 

 it at a stately walk. Against the almost absolutely 

 black background of the dark water and dripping 

 woods his huge white mane showed up splendidly, and 

 splendidly the shadowy form of his mighty antlers. 



He was coming from the further bank to my side of 

 the river. I crept forward, keeping as much in cover 

 as I could, but, finding the weed -grown, water- worn 

 rocks too slippery, I lay down behind a boulder and got 

 my focus with the glass. The stag was still in the 

 river, but now rapidly nearing the bank. As soon as I 

 had him in the field of vision I was sure that I had seen 

 the stag before. The formation of the bays was very 

 distinctive, as were the hooked points on the tops. It 

 was undoubtedly the same stag I had been pursuing 

 when I fell a fortnight earlier. I could have shot at 

 him in the water, and it would have been quite a fair 

 shot, as he had by then reached the shallows, but there 

 is a law in Newfoundland against the shooting of deer 

 in the water. It is, moreover, an excellent law, as it 

 prevents the killing of caribou when swimming across 

 the great lakes, for at such times they could easily be 

 overtaken by canoes and their backs broken with an axe, 

 even if they are not shot at close range, for the caribou 

 is a good swimmer and will readily cross a lake four or 

 five miles broad. When swimming they show the 

 whole of the back, and the little scut-like tail sticks up 

 straight. Their extraordinary buoyancy is said to be 

 due to the fact that the hairs of their coats are hollow ; 



