THICK SPRUCE WOODS. 127 



[ had now shot four out of the five caribou 

 stags that I was entitled to kill, and I was not 

 long in getting the fifth. September 19th was 

 a soaking wet day, rain falling steadily all the 

 time. Saunders and I went for a long tramp, 

 but saw nothing except a single doe caribou, 

 and I fancy that in wet weather, during the 

 summer and early autumn, these animals do 

 not usually travel in the open marshes, but lie 

 up in the shelter of the thick spruce woods, 

 where it is -very difficult to find them. In the 

 afternoon the rain came on more heavily than 

 ever, and fell in drenching showers without 

 intermission until after midnight, when a 

 strong wind, almost a gale, came on from the 

 north-west and quickly blew off all the rain- 

 clouds. 



On the following morning the weather was 

 bright and cold, with the north-west wind still 

 blowing strong. Saunders and I again went 

 up the river and into the country to the south- 

 west of our camp, and when within a few 

 hundred yards of the spot where I had shot 

 the first stag on the 17th I suddenly saw a doe 



