28 o 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
no perceptible cause; the wind carried sparks 
which were invisible in the bright sunlight, and 
these ignited wherever they fell, as though they 
had adhered to tinder. 
Two or three large spruce were blazing 
among the branches, although unharmed below. 
These were, after much labour, felled, and the 
fire extinguished. None of our party desisted 
from our hard w T ork until every spark was 
extinct, and I wish that the unsophisticated 
strangers who had caused the trouble had been 
present, not only to aid in the labour, but to benefit 
from the curses that were levelled at their backs, 
for setting a forest on fire by such gross careless¬ 
ness. Our people declared with much force, 
that if we had not been in the neighbourhood to 
extinguish the fire at its commencement, the whole 
of the slopes would have been consumed, which 
I had termed the “ten mile forest.” 
On 6th September we had a fall of snow. 
For thirty hours the flakes fell without a moment’s 
cessation. There was not a breath of wind, and 
the entire surface of the country was covered, to 
the depth of 8 inches, with the winter’s garment. 
This was extreme misery; we had only two 
apologies for tents—one for the four men, a similar 
pattern for ourselves. It was dark when we awoke 
in the morning, through the deep coating of snow 
which lay upon our roof. Presently the flat 
battens which did the service of tent-poles collapsed, 
and down came the tent upon us as we lay upon 
