262 A SPORTING PARADISE 



fastened to a neighbouring bough. The noose 

 dropped over the hare-path, so that it would catch 

 the head of the animal as it proceeded to its 

 feeding-ground. The following day our labours 

 were rewarded with two fine catches. On the 

 fourth day a severe frost set in, and the melting 

 slush became a gigantic field of glossy ice, so 

 slippery, that Herbert had six falls before he re- 

 turned from the hare-traps. To enable us to walk, 

 we skinned the hares and bound the fur to our feet. 

 The sudden change in the weather was extremely 

 trying, and the slippery condition of the path 

 made us both warm. Nothing, perhaps, is more 

 tiring than a journey over smooth ice. Almost 

 every step is accompanied by a slide of a few inches, 

 and occasionally, when walking carelessly, one finds 

 oneself on the verge of losing the equilibrium, 

 and sustaining a bad accident. The mind, there- 

 fore, is kept in a state of tension all day. This is 

 not only worrying, but fatiguing, and soon brings 

 the perspiration upon the brow. It appeared that 

 during the night there had been a few showers 

 of rain, and this was followed by what is called 

 "a silver frost." 



" During early spring," writes a celebrated 

 English traveller, "the following is not a rare 



