Jan. 17, 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



491 



were thus entirely in their power, were obliged to work for 

 them, to sell them their fish and to purchase their supplies 

 at their stores. In tills way, it is said, the fishermen were 



: illy in debt for provisions and clothing, and their 

 utmost exertions were unavailing to throw off the load. 



Then followed the mortgaging of their farms and small hold- 

 ings, and iu process of time these passed into the hands of 

 their creditors. This could only result in one way— in the 

 utter discouragement of the people. Many of them sold 

 their possessions for what they would bring, and emigrated 

 to Upper Ciinada or the United States, there to engage- in 

 farming, lumbering, or other occupations. This state of 

 things in a less degree continues up to the present, lime, and 

 more or less emigration is still taking place. Lately, how- 

 ever, a change for the better has come about. New people 

 have gone into the fishing business, and there is more com- 

 petition. As it consequence of this, the people receive hotter 

 prices for their fish, and are able to purchase their supplies 

 on better terms. Living, when judged by our American 

 standard, is very cheap here. The prices of all commodities 

 produced at home are very low, while those which are 

 brought from without, such as flour, tobacco and similar 

 articles, are not high. 



Among the principal fishing houses are Chas. Kobines & 

 Co., Le BoutUlier Bros.. John & Eiias Collas. The amount 

 of fish exported by these firms is enormous. It is stated that 

 they send out from 130,001) to 150,000 quintals of dried fish per 

 annum, representing from 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 pounds of 

 green dregaed fish— a quantity inconceivably great, 



The kindness of the gentleman to whom 1 had been re- 

 commended by Mr. Gregory, had made the arrangement of 

 my hunt a very easy matter, so that on arriving at the Basin 

 preparations were soon in train, and after one day's interval 

 all was ready. 



The sun had only just risen one bright Ocloher morning 

 when w T e drove out of Gaspe. The frost of the night before 

 had been sharp. The hard ground rang under the pony's 

 hoofs, and the wheels crashed through thick ice in the 

 puddles in the road. At Joseph Eden's house my bag and 

 blankets were transferred to the cart, and we set out for the 

 St. John's River, Two other carts, carrying the canoes and 

 provisions, had gone on before. The York River flows into 

 Gaspe Basin at its head, and the St. John's is the next stream 

 to the westward, the portage between the two being about 

 miles. The road between the two streams is fairly good, 

 haviug been cut out and kept in repair for Lord Dufferin, 

 who for several years leased the salmon fishing in the St. 

 John's. 



It was too cold to drive with comfort, but just the day for 

 a walk. The clear air was fresh and bracing: there was the 

 lovely view from the hilltops, and besides this, there was 

 the possibility of seeing a caribou during the walk, and a 

 strong probability of killing a partridge or two. The road 

 crossed the river bottom of the York, and then ascending a 

 sleep hill through a spruce forest, passed out into a clearing 

 of burned woods, and continued west over the rolling hills. 

 The greatest elevation above tide-water is about 500 feet. 

 From several points, beautiful views are to lie had of the 

 Basin and its surrounding hilts, and to the south three or 

 four little lakes, half hidden by the surrounding trees, 

 flashed brightly in the. morning sun. 



Caribou are occasionally killed in this burnt clearing, 

 though it is too near the settlement for them to be found, 

 except us stragglers. All along our path blueberries grew in 

 great abundance. They had been nipped by the frosts, 

 and the leaves still clinging to the stems were red, and the 

 berries shrunken and wrinkled, but sweet and delicious to 

 the taste. We were not the only berry pickers, for every 

 now and then we could see where the bears had just been 

 ting on the fruit, and our progress started from Uie 

 ground great numbers of birds gathered here for the same 

 purpose. Bobius and rusty grackles and woodpeckers and 

 blue snowbirds were the most numerous, but one little white 

 snowbird flew from the ground and alighted on a black stump 

 by the roadside, from which he looked at. me with soft, con- 

 fiding eyes. I stood there within four feet of him and we 

 gazed at each other for awhile. I had just come from a 

 country still balmy with the soft breath of. the late summer, 

 and it was almost a shock to me to see this little winter bird, 

 apparently at home. It made me realize what even the 

 boreal vegetation had not yet succeeded in doing, that 1 had 

 really "changed my skies." 



It was afternoon when we reached the beautiful river, up 

 which we were to proceed, and a little later the cart made its 

 appearance. The two canoes, in which we were to ascend 

 the stream, were what is styled the Gaspe canoe, built of 

 thin poplar planks, and in shape very much like the Indian 

 canoe, but, less wide. They are beautifully graceful craft. 

 and a very great improvement on the old-fashioned birch, 

 much steadier, and, of course, more durable. Those which 

 we hail were constructed by Joseph Edeu, who is one of the 

 best canoe builders along the coast. Each canoe was fur- 

 nished with a shoe of poplar planks, screwed to the bottom 

 to protect this from injury when it is dragged over the stones 

 in the shallow riffles. When the water is low there is often 

 uot enough to float the loaded canoe iu the shoaler places, 

 and then the men step out, and, taking hold of the gunwale, 

 lift and drag it along until the water becomes deep enough 

 for them to resume the easier task of poling. 



The water was very low now ; lower, the men said, than 

 it had been for many years, aud it was supposed that the 



work of ascending the river would be very difficult. For 



this reason it had been thought best to take two canoes and 

 four men. so as to make the load for each craft a light one, 

 and progress as rapid as possible. The few pounds of pro- 

 visions and blankets which constituted all our baggage, were 

 therefore divided as evenly as possible, and a little after one 

 o'clock the crews stepped from the flat rock at the water's 

 edge into the canoes and pushed off. 



The St. John's Biver is a beautiful stream, flowing down 

 to the sea between high Mils. Its course is rapid, and foam- 

 ing riffles aud low falls succeed one another at frequent in- 

 tervals. Between these there are long quiet reaches, where 

 the water is not more than two or three feet deep, and oc- 

 casionally salmon pools, which are from fifteen to thirty 

 feet iu depth. The water is marvellously clear, and one can 

 distinguish each pebble that rests upon the bottom. Scarcely 

 anywhere, except iu Lake Tahoe, and in some of the hot 

 springs iu the Yellowstone Park, can 1 remember to have 

 seen water so pellucid. The hills among which it flows are 

 composed of a loose slate, sometimes changing to a friable 

 laminated shell, or again, to a more heavily bedded solid 

 limy rock, which, when recently fractured, gives forth a 

 strong odor of petroleum. Usually the rock dips at an angle 

 of about 45 degrees west to northwest, but in some places the 

 beds are nearly horizontal. Much of the drift in the river 

 bed has e v idently come from these adjacent rocks, but some 

 of it is quite unlike anything that I saw in the neighborhood. 

 Numerous boulders, some of them very large, were com- 

 posed of a very bard conglomerate of small pebbles cemented 

 together by a fine, hard, sandy matrix. Blocks of a coarse 

 green porphyry were abundant, as well as several different 

 kinds of trachyte, one of which is dark purple, the crystals of 

 orthoclase forming in a worn specimen beautifully regular 

 sagittate markings. 



As we poled slowly up the river, we saw numbers of large 

 salmon lying in the pools, assd usually there were to be seen 

 not far from the salmon, from one to a dozen great trout. 

 The latter, at the salmon's spawning time, accompany them 

 continually, and eat all the spawn that they can secure. 

 Both fish were out of season now, and we made no attempt 

 to capture them. 



We camped that night about a mile above the Owl Capes 

 — so called because of the abundance of owls usually found 

 near these prominent hills — having come about seven miles 

 on the river, and thus having made good progress. The 

 men had not been in the canoes half the time, and there had 

 been much dragging of the craft over shallows and sandbf 



This was my first camp in the Canadian forests, and it was 

 as different, as possible from anything that I had ever seen 

 before. The canoes having been beached, and their loads 

 carried up above high-water mark, were turned over and 

 emptied of what little water had been taken into them by 

 the men's feet and left upside down to draiu. Our tent — 

 which was merely a light cotton lean, shaped like, and about 

 the size of, one-half a common A tent, cut down through the 

 ridge pole and uprights — was set up in a thick grove of 

 lurches, by tying its upper border to a cross-pole supported 

 on the branches of two trees about ten feet apart, and its 

 lower edge to pins driven iu the ground three feet back from 

 the cross-pole. The sloping walls thus covered the heads 

 and shoulders of the occupants, whose feet would extend 

 toward the fire. About six feet in front of the tent two 

 stakes, four feet long, were driven in the ground, and against 

 these were piled, one on top of the other, four green logs, 

 each eight feet long and one in diameter. A huge fire was 

 built in front of these back logs, which reflected a large por- 

 tion of the heat into the tent, thus rendering it very warm, 

 at times even uncomfortably so. From the spot where the 

 beds were to be spread, all stumps, roots and inequalities were 

 removed, and then a thick bed of fir boughs was spread on 

 the ground, extending from the back of the tent, well out 

 toward the fire. While these preparations for the camp were 

 being made, two of the men were busy collecting a great pile 

 of firewood, which was laid up close to the tent to replenish 

 the fire from time to time during the night. 



After supper, as we were stretched at ease upon the fragrant 

 boughs before the fire, I began to make inquiries of Joseph 

 and William as to the nature of the ground over which we 

 were to hunt, and the game which we hoped to see. They 

 told me that many years ago the country had been burned 

 over, ami was now again growing up with a low scattering 

 growth of firs and spruce. There are, however, many wide 

 valleys and hillsides, either quite bare of trees, or at least so 

 scantily covered with them that the deer can be seen a long 

 way off. At the same time this young growth affords ex- 

 cellent cover under which to approach the animals. Every- 

 where in these open spots, the so-called reindeer moss is 

 abundant, and furnishes food for the deer, but they do not 

 usually seek this until a snowfall has occurred. Until then, 

 they remain in the thick woods, feeding upon the "pigeon 

 berries" and other plants whose leaves are still green, and 

 upon the moss which grows upon the trees. When, how- 

 ever, the ground is covered witli snow, they leave the woods 

 and resort to the open spots where they dig for the moss. 

 They paw away the snow with their fore feet just as a horse 

 digs to get at the grass, and the long, thin hoof makes an 

 effective snow shovel. At this time of the year tbey collect 

 in flocks sometimes numbering one hundred, and arc then 

 readily captured. 



Tb e caribou are great bullies, and do not hesitate to im- 

 pose on the weaker members of the herd ; this is especially 



seen in the winter, when they are digging for the moss. If 

 a small deer with great labor makes his way down to a good 

 patch of the succulent lichen, some bigger one will be sure 

 to come and drive his weaker brother from the spot, seizing 

 upon his hole by the right of the stronger. This may per- 

 haps explain the fact that the female caribou does not lose 

 her horns until the spring. During the winter, when sbe is 

 pregnant, she requires all the nourishment she can get, and 

 were it uot for the possession of these weapons of offense, 

 she would be likely to be greatly imposed upon by the larger 

 aud stronger males, who probably have just about as much 

 gallantry as the nudes of other species of deer— and no more. 

 Her horns, however, enable her to hold her own in the 

 struggle for food, and to beat off the Big bullies. 



Until a tracking snow falls, the chances for success in cari- 

 bou hunting are not good. In the dense forest it is quite 

 impossible to work out a track where the moss and leaves 

 often show no signs. The work is slow, and the deer is very 

 likely to see the hunter before it is observed by him. The 

 winter, therefore, is the season chosen by those who live 

 near the haunts of the caribou for laying in their supply of 

 meat, and it sometimes happens that in a few days a small 

 party may kill twenty or thirty deer. On the other hand, a 

 very considerable proportion of those who come from a dis- 

 tance to hunt caribou here go away again without at all 

 diminishing the stock of deer iu the hills. I was told of a 

 number of sportsmen who had in receut years visited Gaspe 

 for this purpose, aud was astonished and somewhat discour- 

 aged to bear of the utter want of success which they had 

 had. One English gentleman who, by the way, has written 

 a book to tell the world of his adventures with the rifle, shot- 

 gun and rod, was camped here a month without killing a 

 single deer. His companion in that time killed just one, 

 Another gentleman, in six weeks' hunting ."killed four. Two 

 young Americans hunted a month and saw none. The only 

 really successful visiting hunters of whom 1 heard anything 

 were two Englishmen, who sent up men to build their camp 

 in August and moved up themselves in September, remain- 

 ing until January. During their stay they are said to have 

 killed fifty deer. 



I sought for a reason for such ill-luck on the part of the 

 strangers who hunted here, and, though the men were too 

 loyal to their former employers to say that their failure to 

 accomplish anything was due to their lack of skill, I con- 

 cluded that this must be the explanation of much of this lack 

 of success. Certainly as far as could be judged from what I 

 heard, there was no dearth of game. But the men insisted 

 that I must not expect to find the deer on the best hunting 

 ground now. If wo should have a snowstorm during our 

 stay in camp, then I might hope to kill some caribou, other' 

 wise it would be doubtful. 



I was anxious to get a shot at these deer. I had never seen 

 a caribou, though I had traveled in British Columbia and the 

 Northern Rocky Mountains,, where they are sometimes 

 found. I was, however, familiar with the literature of the 

 species, and now that I was in its home, felt a great desire 

 to inspect it close at band. It was long since I had started 

 upon a hunt wi th so much anxiety to be successful and — 

 absurd as it seems to tell it — I had twice since my departure 

 from home dreamed of caribou— as if I had been a boy start 

 ing out on my first hunt. A single standing shot at one, 

 within fair iange, would, 1 felt, repay me for my trip. If I 

 killed, my object would be accomplished ; if I missed, I should 

 have nothing to say, and would be content to turn about and 

 go home. Yo. 



[to be concluded.] 



THE FLICKERIXGfi. 



IT is something of a task to read the ninety-six stories sub- 

 mitted for competition; more of an undertaking to 

 select, among so many good ones, the ten that are best; and 

 perhaps most difficult, after the ten have been finally deter- 

 mined, to arrange them in their order. To give all persons 

 an opportunity to make the choice at their leisure, we pur- 

 posely made a liberal allowance of time. The date set for 

 receiving the last votes was Feb. 1. 



An inspection of the ballots already sent iu convinces us 

 that the voters have exercised some pains in selecting the 

 stories voted for. Very few cards contain any evidence of 

 having been written at random; the list in almost, eveiy case 

 is creditable. For the manner in which our friends have 

 done their part in the balloting there is abundant cause for 

 satisfaction. 



At the same time, we hope that it will not he forgotten 

 that the task of counting the ballots and determining the 

 result will involve much time. All individuals who intend to 

 vote are most respectfully requested to do so as early us they 

 may find it practicable. We wish to announce the result 

 just as soon as it can be determined after the balloting is 

 over. Vote early. The polls close Feb. 1. Votes received 

 on Feb. 3 will go to the waste basket. 



A Proposed Kansas Association".— Mr. J. D. Graham, 

 of Manhattan, Kansas, with the Fish Commissioner of that 

 State and others, proposes the formation of a State associa- 

 tion lor the protection of fish and game, and to that cud he 

 invites correspondence from game clubs and all persons in- 

 terested iu the mutter. 



Oke Way. — Disseminate sound sportsmen's literature. 



