SWIMMING CARIBOU. 285 



into the water and swam close past our canoe 

 almost immediately we left the old lumber 

 camp. We stopped paddling as soon as they 

 entered the lake, and as they had not got our 

 wind they did not take alarm at the sight of the 

 canoe, but swam past within a hundred yards 

 of us. They were then swimming very fast, but 

 after they had got a little further out into the 

 lake they scented ns, and after stopping for a 

 moment to look round, they went off at a greatly 

 increased rate of speed. They very soon 

 landed on the further shore, along which, after 

 first having shaken themselves like dogs, they 

 trotted for some distance before turning into 

 the forest. 



No other animal that I have ever seen 

 swimming keeps so much of its body above the 

 water as a caribou. About a third of the 

 whole length of the body is always above the 

 surface, and the little saucy-looking tail, the 

 underpart of which is snowy-white, is always 

 carried cocked straight in the air. The 

 buoyancy of the caribou when swimming is 

 no doubt due to the peculiarity of its coat, 



