FOREST SPORTS. 
223 
sportsman, on the mountain , within a few miles of Montreal 
during a morning’s walk from that populous city, in the pursuit 
certainly, if not of rats and mice , of much smaller Deer than the 
gigantic and wide-antlered Moose. 
My friend, Aleck B—, of the lower province, the best walker, 
by the way, and one of the best shots it has been my fortune to 
encounter on this side of the Atlantic,—in one day, if I mistake 
not largely, killed seven of these glorious animals on the river St. 
Maurice, in the rear of the pretty village of Three Rivers, all of 
which he ran into upon snow-shoes, after a chase of, I think, 
three days. 
As it is necessary to encamp out during these chases, often 
for several nights in succession, and as it is very unadvisable to 
discharge a gun at any small game during these excursions, for 
fear of alarming the legitimate objects of pursuit, it is necessary 
to carry not only ammunition, but food, drinkables, spare cloth¬ 
ing, and blankets, for several days’ consumption, and nights’ 
comfort. These are packed upon small light sledges, or tohog - 
gins , as they are called, which are made of light wood by the 
Indians, and can be drawn along over the crusted surface of 
the snow, loaded with a weight of 130 lbs. either of provision, 
or of meat on the return march, by a single man on snow-shoes, 
without diminishing his speed, which may be reckoned at five 
or six miles the hour. 
The provisions usually carried by sportsmen on excursions 
of this kind, consist of salt pork, mutton, sea biscuit, coffee, and 
liquors, such as the taste of the party may suggest; and on 
these, with the aid of such condiments as sugar, salt, and pepper, 
a party may subsist, not unassisted by their good rifles, for many 
days, not only comfortably, but luxuriously. 
The first thing to be done previous to starting, is to don the 
snow-shoes, without which it is impossible to make any head¬ 
way upon snow, and with which, when there is a stout crust, a 
practised traveller upon them will run down a Moose, even if 
alarmed, and at his speed, to a certainty, in a race of ten or 
twelve hours’ duration. 
