Part 10 (1/2)
Marengo, am near, now seized hold of the object, and pulled it away fro to follow, struck out towards a point where the bank was low and shelving In a few -place, and shortly after Marengo arrived towing the wolverene, which was speedily pulled out upon the bank, and carried, or rather dragged, by Norht Basil's clothes, and all four oncefire
There is not aanimal in As, his shaggy coat and bushy tail, but, above all, his long curving claws and dog-like jaws, gave hi, and his look bold and vicious He walks somewhat like a bear, and his tracks are often mistaken for those of that animal Indians and hunters, however, know the difference well His hind feet are plantigrade, that is, they rest upon the ground froment of a circle He is fierce and extrelutton,” of which he is the American representative
No aniaer kinds when he can get hold of them; but as he is soem It is a common belief that he lies in wait upon trees and rocks to seize the deer passing beneath It has been also asserted that he places moss, such as these animals feed upon under his perch, in order to entice them within reach; and it has been still further asserted, that the arctic foxes assist hi the deer towards the spot where he lies in wait, thus acting as his jackals
These assertions have been lutton,” about whoe--one of them, that he eats until scarce able to walk, and then draws his body through a narrow space between two trees, in order to relieve hiiven credence to these tales upon the authority of one ”Olaus Magnus,”
whose nareat fibber”
There is no doubt, however, that the glutton is one of the acious of aniives proof of this by many of his habits; one in particular fully illustrates his cunning It is this
The marten trappers of the Hudson Bay territory set their traps in the snow, often extending over a line of fifty miles These traps are constructed out of pieces of wood found near the spot, and are baited with the heads of partridges, or pieces of venison, of which the marten is very fond As soon as the er is touched, and a heavy piece of wood falling upon the animal, crushes or holds it fast Now the wolverene _enters the trap fro the bait, and thus avoids the falling log! Moreover, he will follow the tracks of the trapper from one to another, until he has destroyed the whole line
Should a ht in the trap, he rarely ever eats it, as he is not fond of its flesh But he is not satisfied to leave it as he finds it He usually digs it fro, tears it to pieces, and then buries it under the snow The foxes, who are well aware of this habit, and who the hih to take the log from off the trapped animal, but from their keen scent can soon find it where the other has buried it in the snow In this way, instead of their being providers for the wolverene, the reverse is the true story Notwithstanding, the wolverene will eat _theet his claws upon them; but as they are much swifter than he, this seldom happens
The foxes, however, are theuns set for the purpose, with the bait attached by a string to the trigger Often the wolverene, finding the foxes dead or wounded,to exauns The wolverene killstheir burroidens it with his strong claws, and eats the whole fa wolves sometimes become his prey He lives, in fact, on very bad terms with both foxes and wolves, and often robs the latter of a fat deer which theyto dine upon The beaver, however, is his favourite food, and but that these creatures can escape hi to the water--in which element he is not at all at horeat strength and acute scent enable him to overcome almost every wild creature of the forest or prairie He is even said to be a full match for either the panther or the black bear
The wolverene lives in clefts of rock, or in hollow trees, where such are to be found; but he is equally an inhabitant of the forest and the prairie He is found in fertile districts, as well as in the e is extensive, but he is properly a denizen of the cold and snowy regions In the southern parts of the United States he is no longer known, though it is certain that he once lived there when those countries were inhabited by the beaver North of latitude 40 he ranges perhaps to the pole itself, as traces of him have been found as far as man has yet penetrated
He is a solitary creature, and, like s forth two, sometimes three and four, at a birth The cubs are of a crearown acquire that dark brown hue, which in the extreme of winter often passes into black The fur is not unlike that of the bear but is shorter-haired, and of less value than a bear-skin Notwithstanding, it is an article of trade with the Hudson's Bay Company, who procure eurs call the wolverene ”carcajou;” while a the Orkney and Scotch servants of the Hudson's Bay Company he is oftener known as the ”quickhatch” It is supposed that both, these naew_ (the na the Indians of that tribe) Many words froeurs and traders
Those points in the natural history of the wolverene, that ht be called _scientific_, were imparted by Lucien, while Norman furnished the information about its habits Norman knew the animal as one of the most common in the ”trade”; and in addition to e have recorded, also related eurs, in which this creature figures in quite as fanciful a nus, or Count de Buffon
CHAPTER XV
A GRAND SUNDAY DINNER
After reeurs continued their journey Their course lay a little to the west of north, as the edge of the lake trended in that direction Their usual plan, as already stated, was to keep out in the lake far enough to shun the numerous indentations of the shore, yet not so far as to endanger their little craft when the as high At night they always landed, either upon some point or on an island Sometimes the wind blew ”dead ahead,” and then their day's journey would be only a few ress, using the skin of the wapiti for a sail On one of these days they reckoned a distance of over forty miles from camp to camp
It was their custoeurs were Christians They had done so on their former expedition across the Southern prairies, and they had found the practice to their advantage in a physical as well as a moral sense They required the rest thus obtained; besides, a general cleaning up is necessary, at least, once every week Sunday was also a day of feasting with them They had more time to devote to culinary operations, and the _cuisine_ of that day was always the most varied of the week Any extra delicacy obtained by the rifle on previous days, was usually reserved for the Sunday's dinner
On the first Sunday after entering Lake Winnipeg the ”camp” chanced to be upon an island It was a small island, of only a few acres in extent
It lay near the shore, and ooded over its whole surface with trees of e lake usually have a great variety of trees, as the seeds of all those sorts that grow around the shores are carried thither by the waves, or in the crops of the numerous birds that flit over its waters But as the island in question lay in a lake, whose shores exhibited such a varied geology, it was natural the vegetation of the island itself should be varied And, in truth, it was so
A the low bushes and shrubs there were rose and wild raspberry; there were apple and plum trees, and whole thickets of the ”Pembina”
There is, in fact, no part of the world where a greater variety of wild fruit has been found indigenous than upon the banks of the Red River of the North, and this variety extended to the little island where our voyageurs had encamped
The camp had been placed under a beautiful tree--the tacamahac, or balsam poplar This is one of the finest trees of America, and one of those that extend farthest north into the cold countries In favourable situations it attains a height of one hundred and fifty feet, with a proportionate thickness of trunk; but it is oftener only fifty or eighty feet high Its leaves are oval, and, when young, of a rich yellowish colour, which changes to a bright green The buds are very large, yellow, and covered with a varnish, which exhales a delightful fragrance, and gives to the tree its specific name
It was near sunset on the afternoon of Saturday, the travellers had just finished their repast, and were reclining around a fire of red cedar, whose delicate sreen leaves of the poplars The fragrant s wood, mixed with the aromatic odour of the balsam-tree, filled the air with a sweet perfueurs felt a sense of pleasure stealing over them The woods of the little island were not without their voices
The screa appeared now and then arosbeak flashed under the bea sun; and the trumpet-note of the ivory-billed woodpecker was heard near the centre of the island An osprey was circling in the air, with his eye bent on the water beloatching for his finny prey; and a pair of bald eagles inging their way towards the adjacentabove the beach, where some object, fish or carrion, had been thrown up by the waves