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Altogether we got five deer in four days' hunting, and were away six days; we returned rather triumphantly, with the legs of our venison sticking up about us in the sleigh, and we immediately cut up and divided the spoil among the messes and our friends, and were thus able to gratify, par la bouche, those who had not an opportunity to assist at the sport.

"The last week of deer shooting, the end of January, and snow lying thick on the ground, we engaged in another hunting 'scrape,' and this time on snow-shoes. Bailie, now our chief huntsman, and with another aid-de-camp, a Royal Engineer, and a Highland officer, 'we took the road,' the two sleighs laden with ourselves and with provant and munitions of the chase. We slid along merrily to the music of the sleigh-bells, and felt all the exhiliration of the bracing air, while the sight was gratified by each tree and branch being crusted over with frosted silver, consequent on hard and sudden frost succeeding a damp fog.

"To assist the warmth of the fur robes about our lower man, and vary our journey, a vigourous snow-ball fight was maintained between the sleighs, but which the horses did not seem to understand or to relish.

"After a drive of seventeen miles, we reached Tuttle's place on Dog Lake. A small log house received us, consisting of two rooms and a porch in front, to assist in keeping out the cold; round us was an amphitheatre of ridges covered with trees. It was a quiet sheltered spot by the side of a forest lake; at the door, the children threw crumbs to some familiar cross-bills. "It was very interesting to notice these winter visitants from the solitudes of Hudson's Bay, and at a time, too, when no other bird was near. Their cross bills, which at first appear a defect, are admirably contrived for separating the scales of the seeds of the coniferous trees, from which they usually derive their sustenance; the bill also assists in climbing.

"Hearing that there was a fiddle in the neighbourhood, we commissioned it and danced, 'covering the buckle' morè Scoticè, till it was time to turn into our buffalos on the floor. Next morning, with three pair of socks and moccasins, we essayed snow-shoeing; and it was ludicrous to witness the mishaps of

those who figured on the broad racquettes for the first time; at one moment, one shoe overlapping the other, the wearer would be rivetted to the spot; at the next he would be on his knees, or prostrated on his face, among the snow. However, with a little practice of lifting the front of the shoe well up, and sliding the after-part over the snow, the trick' was found out.

"To get to our hunting-ground, we put our 'traps' on a sleigh, and tramped after it through the forest; occasionally stopping to hew our way with the axe through fallen trees, when the objectionable practice of 'pistoling' with pocket-flasks was resorted to -pour passer le temps; nothing unsteadies the hand of a hunter so much as this, or renders him more susceptible to cold, as we noticed in others, during a forced journey in Russia some years

before.

"We took our stations at the runways; Tuttle went round a hill, barking like a dog! three does soon appeared, and one fell. It was evening, and time to make camp' in the snow. An old tree was first felled, as the back log' of our fire; then two crutches, seven feet out of the ground, were set up at the distance of twelve feet from each other, and on them was laid a ridge pole; on it rested, at an angle of 45 deg., other poles, and on them were carefully disposed hemlock feathers,' or small branches of hemlock-pine, broken off, and laid like thatch on the sloping roof of our wigwam, which was open in front to the huge fire, and closed at the side with boughs. Lastly, the snow was shovelled away from our lair with wooden spades, formed with the axe, and boughs were spread for our bed on the ground.

6

"After our evening meal of pork, biscuit, and tea, and hearing strange tales from Nat Lake, Indian Jim, and other rough woodsmen, who accompanied us, we tried to sleep; it was not easy at first, as the cold was 52 deg. below the freezing-point, which would rather have astonished a person first from the old country; at last we all became unconscious under our buffalos, save those who tended the fire.

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In the morning, after sundry saltatory movements, running round the trees, and springing in the air, to supple our limbs, somewhat benumbed with the intense cold, we broke our fast,

by 'frizzling' pieces of meat on the ends of sticks in our old Cape fashion of the Karbonatje, and as the sleigh could go no farther, we divided the baggage, and each carrying a portion (the goodhumoured Sapper shouldered two thirty-five pound bags) we 'made tracks' for Horseshoe Lake. This lake is a fine piece of water in the heart of the forest, with islets and rocky shores, and high trees about it; as we passed over it, a wild-looking dog rose suddenly from a dark substance on the ice-it was a deer, which had been run down, lying frozen and half devoured: the dog would not allow itself to be caught, but snarled defiance, and seemed an independent hunter.

"We took up our position for the night in a deserted lumberer's shanty of logs, a considerable part of the roof of this small square hut being wanting, to admit the passage of the smoke: we found in it some old moccasins, a hunter's pot and axe, and two hind-quarters of deer. One of these was immediately thawed in a hole made in the ice of the lake, and roasted by means of a string hung from a beam; but during the operation those who sat up to assist were done brown' with the smoke, which filled the cabin, and refused to make its escape. The cold was still intense, and several had to rub snow on frost-bites. Those who came for pleasure thought there must be some mistake!'

"Next morning we crossed over the ice on the lake, ascended, with some labour, a wooded ridge which ran along its eastern shores, and then posted ourselves at intervals near runways, indicated by our hunters, who then went to find and drive the deer. The cold was so great that it was dangerous to touch our guns with the unmittened hand,-the skin would have come off if we had done it,-fortunately there was no wind, so that the thick gray frieze or blanket coats enabled us to hold out at our stations.

"I took with me a young forester to assist in looking out; two pair of eyes (and ears) are best on these occasions. We got behind a prostrate log, and looked to our caps, a slight grating sound was heard on the snow to our right, and a five-year-old buck bounded at a hand gallop past us. He was broadside on; we levelled and fired. A bullet took effect on his neck, he

stumbled forward, and struggling for life, the hunting knife put an end to his pain. The brawny Tuttle coming up, he cut branches and twisted them into withes, then tied the legs of the deer together, and placing the other end of the bush rope round his own body, he dragged him over the snow to the wigwam, from whence the sleigh carried off the game.

"The youngest hunter of this party, a pleasant fellow and a keen sportsman, having previously seen a rapid discharge of ⚫ pistols,' and fearing the want of ammunition on the way home, had cunningly, as he thought, buried a favourite square bottle of rum in the snow near the wigwam, but not unobserved by our new acquaintances of Dog Lake; for when he now proceeded with glee to dig up his treasure, it was nowhere to be seen, and they all laughed !'

6

"A hunting scrape,' as it is called in these Western regions, is pleasant enough when you see deer and shoot them; but when, as sometimes happens, one stands on a runway, with the thermometer considerably minus zero, for half a dozen hours, without a chance of a shot, then might the exclamation of an old campaigning friend of mine be excused-D- the runway! I'll give any body leave to flog me with nettles, or furze bushes, or thorn bushes, if you ever catch me on a runway again in winter. I was friz horrid,' could not light my pipe, pistol all fired off, and all I saw was a little bird!'

"We returned from whence we came, satisfied, in the mean time, with our experience of the Canadian forest, to a glimpse of whose sylvan shades we have taken the liberty of introducing those who may desire to draw on the light deer-skin moccasin, to harden their limbs over the windfalls, or broil their rations at the camp fire, whilst practising the merrie arte of woodcraft.""

The following description of the Moose of New York, Maine, and the British Provinces, is from the pen of Judge HALIBURTON, the historian of Nova Scotia, better known of late years as the author of "Sam Slick."

"THE moose is the largest animal of our forests, and is generally upwards of sixteen hands high. He is of the deer kind, with palmated horns, weighing from forty to fifty pounds, which are shed annually in February; he has no brow antlers. His head is long, his neck short, ears large and pointed, and nostrils greatly distended. His upper lip, commonly called the moulfe, is very broad and pendant, his legs remarkably long, his tail short, his withers elevated, and covered with thick hair, like those of the buffalo. There is also a tuft of black hair dependant from his neck; his hoofs are cloven, and when he trots the clattering of them is heard at a great distance. His colour is a dark gray, mixed with a brown; his hide is very suitable for leather, being thick and strong, yet soft and pliable; the hair is long and elastic, and proper for mattresses. His flesh is blacker than that of the ox, but tender and delicate, easy of digestion, palatable and nourishing. He ruminates like the ox, and feeds on moss, on the natural grass of intervales, and on the leaves and tender buds of a species of maple called moose-wood. When the Indians kill a moose, they carefully preserve the sinews, of which they make the strongest cords; and the tongue and moulfe are sold as great delicacies, from the latter being made a most delicious soup. His gait is an exceedingly fast trot, which he is enabled to prolong for a considerable length of time, and his course through the woods is proverbially straight. In summer, to avoid the annoyance of flies, he frequently wades into the lakes, where he feeds on aquatic grasses and pond-lilies. In winter they form herds, and when the snow is deep, they describe a circle, and press the earth with their feet until it becomes hard, which is called by the hunters a pen or yard. Here they remain until the snow is dissolved, or until they have consumed all the branches or bark suitable for food. As soon as the snow