COUNTRY VERY BEAUTIFUL 271

is done, Afterwards I return to the valley to secure my
moose.

This last season there were more big caribou bulls
about than I have ever found hitherto, but though the
particular piece of country they were in has never, to my
knowledge, been hunted before, or if it has by only an
occasional trapper, never have I found caribou so wild
and hard to approach. As a general thing all you have
to do is to be careful that you have the wind right when
you make your final stalk, and it seldom matters whether
you show yourself, as long as you are five or six hundred
yards away. But this year nearly every stalk had to be
made as carefully as with a moose.

Of the whole of this vast territory there is none that is
more delightful than that caribou range and the moose
country in its vicinity. It is not only the pick of the
game country, but has a charm and beauty that must be
seen to be appreciated. A man who had journeyed
many thousands of miles to reach there, and who had
travelled everywhere on this continent that is worth visiting,
said to me after witnessing one of the glorious sunsets,
“It is well worth the whole journey for the pleasure of
seeing such a marvellous country, even if no game was
in it.” So that you may get some slight idea of what
it is like, I will endeavour to give you a description of
what we saw, though it will be but a feeble attempt to
do it justice.

On this particular occasion we had just killed a couple
of caribou up on the plateau six or seven miles from
camp and were pushing our horses along as fast as we
could, so as to get back before dark. The ground behind
us rose gently for a couple of miles to where we had left
our caribou. In places it consisted of long stretches
covered with moss and short grass, with here higher
knolls and there gulches and hollows of various sizes.
Farther back still, a wide range of mountains, most of
which were broken up and rugged, with great gaping
basins, vast rock slides, and some bluffs, formed an imposing
background. From out of one of these basins, cutting