52 Thirty Years 
the provisions were getting short, I could not, there- 
fore, with propriety, check the progress ~ by interrupt- 
ing the party ; and, indeed, it appeared to me less 
necessary, as I understood the river had been carefully 
surveyed. Inthe afternoon, we had to resume the in- 
cumbrance of the snow-shoes, and to pass over a rug- 
ged part where the ice had been piled over a collection 
of stones. The tracks of animals were very abundant 
on the river, particularly near the remains of an old 
establishment, called the Lower Nippéween. 
So much snow had fallen on the night of the 24th, 
that the track we intended to follow was completely 
covered, and our march to-day was very fatiguing. 
We passed the remains of two red-deer, lying at the 
basis of perpendicular cliffs, from the summits of which 
they had, probably, been forced by the wolves. These 
voracious animals, who are inferior in speed to the 
moose and red-deer, are said frequently to have’ re- 
course to this expedient in places where extensive 
plains are bounded by precipitous cliffs. Whilst the 
deer are quietly grazing, the wolves assemble in great 
numbers, and, forming a crescent, creep slowly towards 
the herd so as not to alarm them much at first, but 
when they perceive that they have fairly hemmed in 
the unsuspecting creatures, and cut off their retreat 
across the plain, they move more quickly, and with 
hideous yells terrify their prey and urge them to flight 
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