THE MOOSE 47 



for seven years, and "you have an inkling of 

 the unconscious thought which governs every 

 little mother in the wilderness." 



Camping out in the snow, in a climate where 

 the mercury frequently falls during December 

 and January ten or twenty degrees below zero, 

 seems, at first sight, to be a terrible matter ; 

 but it is not really a hardship. In the depths 

 of the forest no wind can penetrate, and when 

 well sheltered, no matter how low the tempera- 

 ture, a man walking or taking any sort of 

 exercise never suffers from cold. 



The proper time to build a camp is in summer 

 or autumn. The bark then peels off the white 

 birch and white spruce trees in large sheets, 

 4 ft. or 5 ft. square, and with it a roof can be 

 constructed in a very short time capable of resist- 

 ing any weather. In winter, when the sap is 

 frozen, it is hard to get this bark, and it is 

 necessary to adopt the more tedious operation 

 of splitting cedar into boards. 



Once when I had returned with a friend to 

 a camping-ground carefully prepared during the 

 summer for us by a backwoodsman, we found 

 the place had been burnt down. We had been 

 walking all day on snow-shoes, and had pictured 



