The Zoologist — Marcpi, 1870. 2047 



wounded with a spherical bullet from an eleven-bore gun, appeared to 

 increase its speed for about four hundred jards, and then rolled over 

 dead. On going up to the animal, we found that the bullet had 

 entered on the near side of the tail, and after traversing the whole 

 length of the body had come out in front of the near shoulder. 

 Before we had finished grallouching the deer it commenced to snow 

 and rain, and we hastened to sling each of us a quarter of venison at 

 our backs and strike the homeward trail, a distance of some six miles 

 to camp ; but with eighty pounds of meat at our backs and a miserably 

 rough track to travel, we none of us had a dry thread about us before 

 reaching half that distance. Night had fully set in before we got to 

 camp, and as none of us had a change of clothes we were obliged to 

 dispense with that luxury, and immediately set to work to make a fire 

 and cook our supper of venison steaks, which all seemed to enjoy, 

 although not under the most favourable circumstances, but "hunger 

 needs no sauce," and, sticking our wooden spits between our legs, we 

 managed to stow away an amount of venison and ship's biscuit that 

 would have astonished the majority of our stay-at-home friends. After 

 supper came the friendly pipe, and, despite the pouring rain, we once 

 more fought our "cariboo battle," and turned in for the night, but, 

 although tired, not to sleep, for the torrents of rain had caused a 

 mountain rill on each side of us to overflow, and not only put out our 

 fire but almost swamped our little •' tilt," so that we had to turn out 

 and dig a trench round both to carry off the surplus water. With the 

 appearance of "old Sol" the storm passed away, and we again 

 ascended the hills, which we found covered with snow half a leg 

 deep; however, we managed to find our deer, which fortunately the 

 wolves had not scented, and to bring the remainder to camp. Here 

 I again enjoyed a hearty supper, but ray companions were " down in 

 the mumps" — I am not joking: the preceding rough night had cer- 

 tainly affected them with that ludicrous-looking complaint of the jaws 

 termed "mumps" or parotitis, and they dared not wade the brook 

 which intervened between our camp and the lake where we had left 

 our boat, and which, owing to the heavy rain, had swollen consider- 

 ably. After waiting a i\tvf more days, which fortunately proved fine, 

 the brook had fallen sufficiently low to admit of our carrying our 

 loads of venison to the boat, and thence home without further mis- 

 haps. This is rather a dreary picture of cariboo-hunting, but all 

 excursions are not attended with like results, and even if such were 

 so, what are they to the ardent sportsman or naturalist .'' 



