MAsca ii, igos-t 
FORESt And STkEAM. 
191 
II into the afternoon then. The days are so short at 
" time of the year, and we were so far north, that I 
setter when about dusk we came out on our own lake, 
e Indians are wonders in finding their way in those 
ods. There were no hills or other landmarks, and 
T jiigh they had not been in this particular locality for 
:; they could go straight through the brush and strike 
ake just about where they wanted to, nor did they 
; a compass. That night we fairly gorged on meat, 
i consequently I had a good dose of nightmare; but 
timfe was more careful, and had no second attack, 
king our lunches and our dog team, we went straight 
our caribou and got it out with little trouble ; nothing 
;i disturbed it, and there was enough meat tO' last for a 
g time — in fact, a shoulder was brought home. 
l/V'e were entitled to another head, and as I wanted a 
iter one and the Indians could use the meat, we con- 
med to hunt. Caribou hunting in that country was ihe 
!-dest work I ever had, and at night I would be entirely 
lausted. We always carried the snowshoes, but only 
d them about half the time on account of the density 
trees. The snow was light enough to do without 
n-i in places ; besides, the heavy underbrush made walk- 
with them almost impossible. The wrenches, strains 
.1 falls we got (I in particular) made it very laborious 
ifk, but that was part of the hunting, and had tO' be- 
lured. From the way caribou are hunted and shot in 
\v Fcamdland, one is apt to lose respect for the sport, 
friend just returning from that country tells me that 
i|saw and counted over two hundred caribou in a couple 
? weeks, he simply having tO' sit behind a blind and 
ose his head. The New Foundland caribou are mag- 
cent animals, and it seems a shame that they can be so 
ily slaughtered. Thej^ are there by the thousands, 
■y say, but so were the buffalo, by the millions, but now 
hing remains. 
'he hunting as I found it on this trip was the nearest 
roach to true hunting and stalking that I have ever 
, and the only pity is that the Quebec caribou are so 
;;rior to those of New Foundland. No moose tracks 
e seen at all, and the few deer we ran across we let 
, My limited experience has made me think moose are 
: easiest animal of the deer tribe to get; and why is it 
: so large and valuable an animal appears so stupid? 
ave seen them and caribou stand and look at you for 
i longest time, and in the case of the caribou even after 
ts had been fired. Where would the Virginia deer 
e been by that time? 
/e had been on these long tramps every day now for 
r a week in quest of the second head, and had visited 
ethe likely marshes and bogs, but without success. If 
had been after deer or moose we would have known 
■e were none about and moved; but caribou are here 
'day and somewhere else to-morrow, and so we hunted 
f and one day (the coldest we had, 30 below with a 
d wind) we set out as usual only with a sweater apiece 
! extra clothing, and had gone to a small lake about 
-en miles to the northwest, when we struck a couple of 
more pain. There he was down and had not seen us, 
about fifty vards oflf. One shot now killed him almost in- 
stantly, and such a sight he was ! How this or any other 
animal had gone so long or lived at all was a wonder ; the 
bullet had struck about the middle of his back, just under 
the backbone. It had made a very small hole in entering, 
but the exit showed a hole as large as a saucer; in fact, 
so large that without touching him you could look right 
down and into his entrails. He had bled very little ex- 
ternally on account of the wound being so far up, but had 
filled up completely inside. So much for the shocking 
power of this new rifle, and without exception I believe it 
THE LYNX, AND A GOOD SIZED ONE. 
the best hunting arm made in this country to-day. Thave 
killed instantly other game with it, but that is another 
story. The trajectory is very flat, the recoil I felt less 
than the .35, real or imaginary, and I found it very 
accurate. There was not much excuse for such poor 
shooting, but the intense cold, excitement and fatigue had 
helped to unsettle me. We did nothing but clean and 
cover him with snow, as the day was going very fast and 
he would keep providing the wolves did not find him. 
They did not, and the dog team, after their u.sual one- 
meal-a-day of rolled oats, took him out, and, outside of 
the head, was all used by the Indians. The hide will 
make many a pair of moccasins, and such footwear as 
they make. I was_ afraid of cold feet and had foolishly 
taken rubber and oil-tan shoe packs ; the first nearly froze 
me, and the second cracked open besides blistering and 
form and rust or fog the glass when you bring them in a 
warm place. 
Every one going out with an Indian or alone should 
Carry a small ax and a hunting knife (the latter should 
not be the usual kind with six or eight-inch blade, but one 
of four or five-inch blade), matches, compass, and last, 
but not least, a "ditty bag" containing string, salt, fish- 
hooks and line, a few ounces of chocolate, a field cleaner 
for your rifle, rags, and any little thing that you think 
might be useful in case you miss your Avay. 
After spending several days in cleaning the heads of 
the caribou, the mink and the lynx, gathering in the' traps 
and picking out a couple of good hares and partridges for 
mounting, we were ready to start, and as the Indians in- 
tended coming back for a few days in the near future to 
get more winter meat, we left all their belongings, and 
one dog team took in everything we had left. During our 
stay at the little shack the men had lived in the tent; in 
fact, they had two "A" tents fitted together, and with 
a stove were fairly comfortable. They kept the fire going- 
all night, Ayhile in our hut toward morning it was nearly 
as cold inside as it was outside. 
The travel was very rough going in, the extra snow 
having covered the holes and uneven places so that every 
place looked alike, and you did not know where to step. 
The post was reached in good time, the men paid off, and 
a most novel and enjoyable trip ended. 
Stephen P. M. Tasker. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Theory of the Canyon Wind. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The writer of "As It Happened in the Caiion," in the 
''Game Bag and Gun Department" of Feburay 25, inci- 
dentally states the fact that the wind always blows up a 
canon in the daytime and down it at night, and says he 
never has figured out why it is so. Doubtless most per- 
sons who have been much in the mountains have noted 
the facts, which are substantially as stated hy the writer 
of the sketch ; but out of my experience I ask leave to 
modify the statement thus : In the daytime, when the 
wind blows, it blows up a canon; in the night there is 
always a down-canon wind. My observation is confined 
virtually to the mountain regions of the West. 
Many windless days have I known in the mountains- 
days when the air in the canons was without movement, 
hot and oppressive ; but always at dusk a gentle breeze 
flowed down the canons, and continued through a great 
part of the night. Often toward morning, however, move^ 
ment of air currents ceased. 
In some canons I have observed that during the sum- 
mer the atmosphere was at rest through the morning and 
early forenoon, and that the up-cahon wind started at a 
regular hour, as if it were running on a fixed schedule. 
I recall- to raind how my team of sharpshooters was 
beaten in a 500-yard rifle match, shot over a range at the 
IN THE LAND OF THE CREES. 
OUR WINTER QUARTERS. 
fi tracks that were apparently but a few hours old. 
must have followed three or four miles, but luckily 
were taking us nearer the camp when we saw them. 
\iOw and a bull were looking right at us about thirty 
iis oft". Neither of us expected to get* that close, 
gpugh we were tracking them with extreme caution, 
he signs showed we were getting very near ; they had 
1 feeding, which accounts for our overtaking them in 
slow stalk. If they had been wise one look would 
been enough, and they would not have waited; but 
I is the nature of the poor creatures, I guess. I shot 
i:iedly, expecting they would be off, and, as usual, 
£.e a poor shot. ' He was hit and off, but I was certain 
■w some blood on his side, and further knew a shot 
1 that rifle would kill sooner or later with a body 
nd. When we got to where he had been, we found 
after taking a few steps, just enough to put him out 
ight, he had started to walk around in a circle, and 
a few drops of blood were on the snow, and after 
jjiad started straight no more at all showed. That was 
IV ; a bullet from a .405 broadside, close range, and, 
lew, in the body, had not made him bleed.^ Anyhow, 
followed, and at the end of a mile the Indian was in- 
;d to give it up, but the more I thought of the poor 
ture possibly dying a lingering death, the more deter- 
ed I was to follow it. Another mile and we found 
w drops of blood where, strange to say for a caribou, 
ad jumped over a log about three feet high instead of 
= around it. This was encouraging, and at the end 
nother half mile we saw where he had lain down, and 
'!ng the next half mile he had lain down four or five 
•s, and in all of these beds there was blood. We had 
1 going- fast, but now moved very carefully, as he was 
ri far off, and if he heard or scented us he would be 
■'only to lead another long chase and cause himself 
boards. Four pairs of heavy woolen socks, a duffle — neep, 
as they call it — (a piece of blanket material cut into a 
strip and wound round the foot, not so much for cold as 
to protect the foot from the snowshoe thongs), and then 
this soft, dry moccasin over all. As long as you kept 
away from the fire and water you could keep warm in the 
coldest weather, but once wet, and then the trouble 
started. The fear of getting our feet wet made the walks 
very much longer than otherwise they would have been, 
as we could have cut across lakes instead of going around 
them. The snow on top of the water kept it from freez- 
ing in the coldest weather, but if your feet were wet 
through and through, you had to be quick about a change 
or they would freeze, and some very quick back steps 
saved us with only the moccasins and one or two pair of 
socks wet. The next few steps and this would freeze 
the water already absorbed by your moccasin, and such 
a weight as one had to carry ! You simply had to sit 
down and pick the ice off, and even then the weight was 
very noticeable. This is one of the little things to guard 
against in such cold weather hunting, and then when you 
are having lunch at 25 to 30 below zero, keep away from 
the fire, as the snow on your clothing melts rapidly and is 
quickly absorbed, to be frozen when you move from the 
fire. Gloves of any sort were out of the question. 
Woolen mitts inside of leather ones were the only things 
to keep your fingers warm. They should be large and 
easily pulled off when you want to shoot ; heavy-weight 
woolen underclothes, flannel shirt, a good strong and 
warm business suit made quite large, with the addition of 
a sweater (the latter I rarely used), would be the proper 
clothing, with the exception of a woolen cap covering the 
ears and oyer this any kind of a hat. Rifles, binoculars 
and camera should be kept cold, otherwise moisture will 
cutting one's feet terribly. The cold made them like 
mouth of San Gabriel Canon in Southern California, by 
that same scheduled wind. The local team knew the wind 
and fixed the hour for the shoot accordingly. Our sight- 
ing shots were fired in a calm, and my first shot on the 
score, following two buUseye sighters, missed the target. 
There were no flags where the wind drew up the river 
bed, and there was no wind at the firing point, and before 
we caught on we had too many wig- wags to make a 
decent showing. 
This is my theory of the canon winds : During the day 
the air near the ground becomes heated, of course, and as 
the sun's rays strike the mountain sides more nearly per-; 
pendicular to the surface than in the valley, the rising 
of warm air begins first or most markedly on the moun- 
tain, and an upward draft through the canons is created. 
At night the air at higher altitudes cools off rnore quickly 
than in the valley. That is a fact, whatever the explana- 
tion of it may be. It is cold on the mountain at night 
when it may be warm in the valley. 
After sunset, the warm air continues to rise from the 
valley, and the cooler air flows down the mountain to 
take its place. This movement goes on until the tempera- 
ture of the surface layers is nearly equalized, and the 
atmospheric equilibrium being restored, we have the dead 
calm that usually precedes the dawn. 
Such seems to me to be a reasonable explanation of the 
canon wind. If there is a defect in the theory, I would 
be glad to have it exposed. A. K 
"No-w, Johan-^'," taid the teacher, "take the chalk and dra-w . 
us a tfout." "What kind, ma'am?" inquired Johnny. "Oh, the 
kind old Mf. Tibbs says he catches." .Johnny made great s-weeps 
vnth the chalk. "Hold on, Johnny. That looks more like a -whale 
than a trout." "It is the kind Mr. Tibbs says he catches." 
"Well, it is too large. Rub it out and start all over again." 
Tohnriy did so, and dre-w a tiny fish. "Whjr, what in the -world 
IS that? It looks like a minnow." "That is the kind of trout 
^r. Tibl?s catches."— London Fishing Gazette, 
