78 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



ways of civilization. Then, too, they had taken the boys in 

 hand and were instructing them in relation to the hunter's art. 



The first thing they did with the traps, after seeing that the 

 old ones were in working order, was to boil both the new ones 

 and the old ones for about half an hour in pots in which was 

 placed either pine, or spruce, or cedar brush. This they did — 

 Oo-koo-hoo explained — to cleanse the old traps and to soften 

 the temper of the new ones, thus lessening the chances of their 

 breaking in zero weather; and also to free both old and new 

 from all man-smell and to perfume them with the natural scent 

 of the forest trees, of which no animal is afraid. The traps they 

 used were the No. 1, "Rat," for muskrats, ermines, and minks; 

 the No. 2, "Mink," for minks, martens, skunks, and foxes; the 

 No. 3, "Fox, "for foxes, minks, martens, fishers, wolves, wolver- 

 ines, skunks, otters, and beavers; the No. 4, "Beaver," for beav- 

 ers, otters, wolves, wolverines, and fishers; the No. 5, "Otter," 

 for otters, beavers, wolves, wolverines, and small bears; and the 

 "Bear" trap in two sizes — A, large, and B, small, for all kinds 

 of bears and deer. Traps with teeth they did not use, as they 

 said the teeth injured the fur. 



Next to the knife, the woodsman uses no more useful imple- 

 ment than the axe. Even with the professional hunter, the 

 gun takes third place to the knife and the axe. As between the 

 two makes of axes — the American and the Canadian — the for- 

 mer appears the best. It is really a good fair-weather axe, but 

 winter work proves the superiority of the Canadian implement. 

 The latter does not chip so readily in cold weather. Further- 

 more, the eye of the American axe is too small for the soft-wood 

 helve usually made in the northern forest, since in many parts 

 no wood harder than birch is to be had. But to reduce the high 

 temper of the American axe, the hunter can heat the head in fire 

 until it becomes a slight bluish tinge and then dip it in either fish 

 oil or beaver oil. The sizes of axes run: "Trappers," 1| lbs.; 

 " Voyageurs, " 2§ lbs., " Chopping, " 3| lbs., and "Felling, " 4 lbs. 



