The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-28

great outside world. In any event, the
| arrivals of the mails form perhaps the
| most notable breaks in the monotonous
| life, bringing tidings Of home and
| friends and of those things of which he
| was once part, and which linger ever
| in bis heart and memory no matter
| how long it may have been since he
| babe farewell to them all. Dances, too,
assist in killing time and if the occa-
| sion be a wedding dance is likely to
last for two or three days, for leisure is
| usually abundant in this great quiet
| land.
But hunting is the main recreation of
the majority of the officers and clerks.
| The staff at post often go off and
camp for a week, and hundred or
more geese and double that number of
ducks load the boats on the return.
The ptarmigan-brown in summer and
| white In Winter-is a good game bird,
and in some localities pinnated' grouse
| or prairie chickens are very numerous
Our ubiquitous little friend, the part
ridge, too, is nowhere more frequently
lat home" to the hunter than here, and
he is often such a stranger to the guile
of man that an Indian will walk up to
the tree upon which he is sitting and
slip the moose that he has fixed to the
end of a pole over his head After the
first snow in the fall rabbit shooting is
good sport, and in seasons when they
are plentiful fifty or sixty to the credit
of single huntsman in an afternoon is
not an uncommon score Then there is
the large game, such as moose and deer,
while now and then a stupid bear pokes
his nose in dangerous proximity to the
fort, the staff turns out and he is shot
for his fatal inquisitiveness.
At one of the posts where I was sta
toned we kept a moose for two years.
She was taken when very young by an
Indian, who killed her mother, and
brought the calf in his canoe to the fort.
She became quite tame, and in the sec
ond winter we broke her to drive in har
ness. Her chief amusements were scar
ing Indians by racing up to them and
stopping abruptly with a loud snort,
and planting her forefeet on the backs
of the train dogs. A train dog will
howl upon the slightest excuse, and the
pathetic outbursts which greeted the
successful performance Of this latter
feat appeared to cause Maud unstinted
enjoyment and certain mild wonder
which it was ludicrous to behold.
The clerks often set traps adjacent to
the fort, and in this way had another
means of passing time and of adding to
their incomes. Snowshoeing is also
popular exercise on the short days, and
at posts where they are kept horses are
In much requisiton.
At an outpost where a clerk Is alone
with his Indian servant, however, the
life is wearisome to degree, and pri-
walton not infrequently adds to the
hardship of it, Supplies may run short,
and in any case he is expected to stock
himself with fish taken in nets from the
lake, near which his post is situated, for
his table and his dogs, as well as to
augment his larder by the expert and
dligent use of his gun. Rare instances
have occurred where, through accident
supplies had not reached the far out
posts for which they were intended,
and the men had literally died Of star
walton. Out of York boats crew
which was taking up the annual sup
plies for a post far up among the Rocky
Mountains, on branch of the Macken-
zie river two or three men We're |
drowned, and the ice beginning to take,
the koat was obliged to put back to the |
district headquarters. The three men |
at the outpost We're left for some weeks
without the supplies, and when, after |
winter had set in, and it became posi-
BILE to reach them with dog trains, pro- |
visions We're at length sent Them two |
were found dead in the post, while the |
third man was living by himself in a !
small hut some distance from the fort |
building. The explanation he gave was
that he had removed to where there
was a chance of keeping himself alive |
by sharing rabbits, which were more
plentiful than at the post; but sug-
gestion Of cannibalisnl surrounded the I
affair for only the bones of his compan-
ions were found, and they were in the
open chimney place. Nothing was {
done, however, and I myself saw the
survivor many times in after years,
though 7 never spoke to him of that
winter. One of the two who went to the
relief told me of the circumstances.-To-
ronto Globe.