392 PORTY-FOUR YEARS OP 



To catch them, I set a small, common steel-trap, about 

 two inches under the water, at the place where they slide 

 down the banks, and exactly where they enter the water , 

 by which means they are forced to tread on the trap, when 

 they are caught by one foot, or both. The chain must be 

 long enough to allow the otter to enter into the water, in 

 order that the trap may sink with it to the bottom and 

 drown it, or it will bite its foot off above the trap, and 

 escape 



The following is the mode of shooting deer by fire- 

 light : 



If the deer come to a lake or river to drink, and eat the 

 moss which grows beneath the water, a canoe must be pre- 

 pared, with a piece of bark peeled from a tree, bent in the 

 middle till it forms a half-square, and secured in this posi- 

 tion by a forked stick, the lower end of which is fastened 

 to the bottom of the canoe. One side of the bark thus 

 forms a screen for the canoe, while the other side serves as 

 a shed over the gunner sitting in the bottom of the vessel. 

 A candle with a large wick, placed in the middle of the 

 bark, will give sufficient light to I'ender objects visible at 

 the distance of thirty or forty steps. 



The canoe is started in search of game with a boy to 

 pole it quietly along the stream. He must never raise his 

 pole out of the water ; for the dropping of the water which 

 falls from the pole when raised would frighten the deer. 

 As the canoe glides noiselessly along the stream, nothing 

 but the candle can be seen by the deer ; and they stand 

 watching it in amazement, till the canoe comes within eight 

 or ten steps. The reflection of the candle at a good dis- 

 tance makes the eyes of the deer appear hke balls of lire, 

 and their bodies look as white as those of sheep. They 

 will not move till shot down, as they are unaware of danger 

 vill the gun is fired ; when perhaps a dozen will dash out 



