AFTER VIRGINIAN DEER 179 



became very monotonous, and as no snow fell to make a moose 

 hunt in the country further north likely to be followed by success, 

 my cook and I at the end of a fortnight returned to Mattawa. 



The largest head had 13 points, 6 and 7 ; lengths of horn, 14 

 inches, 6 inches round base near skull, and 5 from point to 

 point, but very much larger ones are occasionally met with. 



Three things no man has ever seen, so say the hunters here. 

 The gall bladder of a deer, a bear in cub, and the nest of the 

 blue jay. The two latter may possibly be very rarely met with, 

 but bears and blue jays being in the woods, they no doubt breed 

 there ; the former is true, for deer are without a gall bladder, as 

 also so it is said the bear. The want of this important organ 

 is supposed by the Indians to make these animals proof against 

 every kind of poison. 



