paigners, while through the crackling flames were to be seen the requisite number of pots and kettles for our supper. Our beds were next laid, consisting of an oil-cloth spread on the bare earth, with three blankets and a pillow, and, when occasion demanded, with cloaks and great coats at discretion; and, whether the wind howled or the rain poured, our pavillion of canvass formed a safe barrier against the weather. While part of our crews, comprising all the landsmen, were doing duty as stokers, and cooks, and architects, and chambermaids, the more experienced voyagers, after unloading the canoes, had drawn them on the beach with their bottoms upwards, to inspect, and, if needful, to renovate the stitching and the gumming; and, as the little vessels were made to incline on one side to windward, each with a roaring fire to leeward, the crews, every man in his own single blanket, managed to set wind and rain and cold at defiance, almost as effectually as ourselves. Weather permitting, our slumbers would be broken about one in the morning by the cry of "Léve, léve, léve!" In five minutes, woe to the inmates that were slow in dressing; the tents were tumbling about our ears; and, within half an hour, the camp would be raised, the canoes laden, and the paddles keeping time to some merry old song. About eight o'clock, a convenient place would be selected for breakfast, about three quarters of an hour being allotted for the multifarious operations of unpacking and repacking the equipage, laying and removing the cloth, boiling and frying, eating and drinking; and, while the preliminaries were arranging, the hardier among us would wash and shave, each

person carrying soap and towel in his pocket, and finding a mirror in the same sandy or rocky basin that held the water. About two in the afternoon we usually put ashore for dinner; and, as this meal needed no fire, or at least got none, it was not allowed to occupy more than twenty minutes or half an hour. Such was the routine of our journey, the day, generally speaking, being divided into six hours rest and eighteen of labor. This almost incredible toil the voyageurs bore without a murmur, and generally with such an hilarity of spirit as few other men could sustain for a single forenoon.

The buffalo is larger than the domestic cattle, excepting that its legs are shorter. Its large head, about a third part of its entire length, gives it a very uncouth appearance, while its shaggy beard and mane resembles the lion's, though on a larger scale; and, when running tast, it tosses its rugged frontispiece at every step. But, notwithstanding it terrific looks, it is really a timid creature, excepting that, when urged by despair, to do justice to its physical powers, it becomes a fearful antagonist. Several parties, of about six or eight men each, having been formed for the occasion, each division approached its own chosen quarry cautiously, till within a few hundred feet of the devoted band, when it rushed at full gallop on its prey.. Taking the alarm, the animals immediately started off at a canter in single file, an old bull usually taking the lead. When alongside, as they soon were, the hunters fired, loading and discharging again and again, always with fatal effect, without slackening their pace. The dexterity with which the experienced sportsman can

manage his gun is quite wonderful. While his steed is constantly galloping, he primes his lock, pours out the proper quantity of powder, first into his left hand and then into the muzzle, drops a ball upon the charge without wadding, having merely wetted it in his mouth, and then knocks down the fattest cow within his reach,-all within less than half a minute. The morning's chase resulted in about fifty killed; but so abundant were provisions at this moment, that, after taking the tongues, we left the carcasses to the mercy of the wolves. The affair, however, is very different when the professional hunters go in hundreds to the plains to make as much as they can of the buffalo. When they meet the herd, which often makes the whole scene almost black with its numbers, they rush forward, pell-mell, firing and loading as already mentioned; and, while the bullets fly, amidst clouds of smoke and dust, the infuriated and bewildered brutes run in every direction with their tormentors still by their sides. By reason of the closeness of the conflict, serious accidents from shots are comparatively rare; and nearly all the casualties are the result of falls, which few riders have leisure either to prevent or soften. When the buffaloes are dispersed, or the horses exhausted, or the hunters satisfied, then every man proceeds to recognize his own carcasses, having marked one with his cap, another with his coat, a third with his belt, a fourth with his firebag, and so forth; and then comes into play the science and art of curing what had been killed.' [One mode of hunting the bison, not noticed by Sir George Simpson, is for the Indians to disguise themselves in the skins of the