220 THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



and yet was but slowly overtaking them. They made 

 the water foam around them. Their heads, necks, 

 shoulders, backs, rumps, and tails were out. I never 

 before saw land animals move so fast in the water. A 

 fawn in danger of being left behind reared up on its 

 mother's back and hung on with forefeet. The leader 

 was a doe or a young buck, I could not be sure which; 

 the last was a big buck. They soon struck bottom 

 and bounded along on the shore. It was too dark for 

 a picture. 



As we were turning in for the night 30 Caribou came 

 trotting and snorting through the camp. Half of 

 them crossed the water, but the rest turned back when 

 Billy shouted. 



Later a band of two hundred passed through and 

 around our tents. In the morning Billy complained 

 that he could not sleep all night for Caribou travelling 

 by his tent and stumbling over the guy ropes. From 

 this time on we were nearly always in sight of Caribou, 

 small bands or scattering groups; one had the feeling 

 that the whole land was like this, on and on and on, 

 unlimited space with unlimited wild herds. 



A year afterward, as I travelled in the fair State of 

 Illinois, famous for its cattle, I was struck by the idea 

 that one sees far more Caribou m the north than cattle 

 in Illinois. This State has about 56,000 square miles 

 of land and 3,000,000 cattle; the Arctic Plains have 

 over 1,000,000 square miles of prairie, which, allowing 

 for the fact that I saw the best of the range, would set 

 the Caribou number at over 30,000,000. There is a 

 good deal of evidence that this is not far from the truth. 



