MOOSE-CALLING IN NEW BRUNSWICK 



as Forty-four joined the Nepisiguit River. Here we found our 

 other guide, John Landry, camped by the roadside. For many 

 miles the high hills on either side of the river had been at one 

 time burnt over, and were now covered with blueberry bushes 

 and a second growth of small birches. John reported that 

 black bear were unusually plentiful in these berry patches, and 

 that a hunting-party camped about a mile below the main 

 river had shot five of these animals in the past two weeks. 



The next morning we travelled six rough miles to the shores 

 of a beautiful sheet of water known as California Lake, where 

 we camped and sent the empty wagon back to civilization, in- 

 structing the driver to return for us when we should send word 

 to Bathurst by one of the guides. The waters of the lake were 

 filled with small brook-trout weighing from a quarter to three- 

 quarters of a pound, and an afternoon's fishing from a cata- 

 maran furnished sufficient fish for several meals. Loaded down 

 with heavy packs, the next morning we tramped six miles 

 through burnt timber to where we camped at noon at the 

 edge of green woods bordering a stream known as the South 

 Branch of Forty, For their own convenience, the lumbermen 

 of this country have given names to the streams which flow 

 into the Nepisiguit River, indicating approximately the distance 

 between Bathurst and their junction with the main river. This 

 is an excellent idea, for, while the distances given are not al- 

 together accurate, it gives the traveller a general idea of how 

 far he is from certain streams. 



The country in which we located was probably the best moose 

 country in New Brunswick, and consisted mainly of spruce, 

 balsam, and birch covered hills, between which wound sluggish 

 creeks, occasionally broadening into mud - ponds and swamps. 

 About three-quarters of a mile from camp was a small pond 

 known as the South Branch Pond, by which we did almost all of 

 the moose-calling. This sheet of water, nestling among high, 

 wooded hills, covered an unfathomable depth of black mud 



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