and the Maritime Provinces. 183 



" I confess to a dislike for snow," said the Judge ; " I used to be as 

 great an enthusiast as any one, but the cold weather subdues my ardor 

 tremendously now-a-days. If it could always be summer I should ever be 

 contented in the woods, but when the icy blasts of winter, that Doc. 

 refers to, are hustling through the pines I am perfectly satisfied with my 

 club at home and the social amenities of urban life. Such fearful priva- 

 tions as moose and caribou hunters sometimes pass through in pursuit of 

 their favorite quarry are almost incomprehensible to me." 



" I dare say some of them wonder that salmon fishermen are willing 

 to undergo the hardships they are sometimes called upon to endure," 

 remarked the Doctor; " they must commiserate us when black flies, midges 

 and mosquitoes are rampant; it is fortunate that men have varied tastes 

 and proclivities, otherwise we should be badly jostled." 



"Yes, Doctor," I added; "if all who 'go a-fishing' were to change 

 their tastes and take up salmon fishing, we would be jostled, indeed. For- 

 tunately, a large proportion of anglers are satisfied with trout fishing, and 

 they obtain from it most delightful sport. What is there more beautiful 



" We are told by experienced travellers in northern climes, that nobody 

 need be frozen to death in the snow. There is no need of a constitution 

 especially organized or sedulously acclimatized to the snow ; the benighted 

 traveler who loses himself in the white expanse, with the heavy flakes fall- 

 ing thickly around him, need not possess the hardihood of the Highlander, 

 who cares for no covering save his plaid, and looks upon a snow pillow as 

 an effeminate luxury. He who finds himself in such a position, and knows 

 how to avail himself of the means around him, will welcome every flake 

 that falls, and instead of looking upon the snow as an enemy, whose white 

 arms are'ready to inclose him in a fatal embrace, he hails the soft masses 

 as a means of affording him warmth and safety. 



"Choosing some spot where the snow lies deepest, such as the side of 

 a bank or a tree or a large stone, he scoops out with his hands a hollow 

 in which he can lie, and wherein he is sheltered from the freezing blasts 

 that scud over the land. Wrapping himself in his garments, he burrows 

 his way as deeply as he can, and then lies quietly, allowing the snow to 

 fall upon him unheeded. The extemporized cell in which he reclines soon 

 begins to show its virtues. The substance in which it is hollowed is a very 

 imperfect conductor of heat, so that the traveler finds that the caloric 

 exhaled from his body is no longer swept off by the wind, but is conserved 

 around him, and restores warmth and sensation to his limbs. The hollow 

 enlarges slightly as the body becomes warm, and allows its temporary 

 inhabitant to sink deeper into the snow, while the fast-falling flakes rapidly 

 cover him, and obliterate the traces of his presence. 



"There is no fear that he should be stifled for want of air, for the 

 warmth of his breath always keeps a small passage open, and the snow, 

 instead of becoming a thick, uniform sheet of white substance, is broken 

 by a little hole, round which is collected a mass of glittering hoarfrost, 

 caused by the congelation of the breath. There is no fear now of perish- 

 ing by frost, for the snow-cell is rather too hot than too cold, and the 

 traveler can sleep as warmly, if not as composedly, as in his bed at home.' 



