A GRAND SPECTACLE 153

two smaller bulls made an imposing spectacle, but the
old bull was too grand for me to describe with a full
measure of justice. He stood nearly, but not quite,
facing me; his chocolate-coloured body, with its lighter
patches on the sides, was as round as a barrel, as he was
rolling in fat; and his sleek hair, with the sun shining on
it, had a sheen like silk. His huge white neck, with well-
grown mane, was held to its full height, so that his long
massive horns, with an array of numerous diverging
points, were shown off to fullest advantage. His poise,
which was simply perfect, was the essence of stateliness.
Scattered here and there in close proximity to the bull,
standing at various angles and in different positions, but
all with their heads held high and most of them snorting,
were the cows and two other bulls. It was indeed a sight
for the gods; what would not an artist have given for
such an opportunity, or even one whose hobby is photo-
graphy. Alas! my camera had slipped my memory and
was snugly lying in a bag on my saddle. It was not long,
however, before the spell was broken. One of the cows
worked round enough to get a touch of my wind, thus
catching the tainted odour of hated mankind; then the
others joined her, and they all got it. Snort after snort
then came in quick succession, and at last the big bull
reared almost straight up like a horse and, with one huge
plunge, was off with mighty bounds, and the whole band
after him. This time they were going for good at a
hard gallop, but soon changing their gait to that perfect
trot which for grace and beauty rivals that of a prize
hackney in the show ring.

A moose, when trotting, has fine action and covers a lot
of ground, but a caribou has every other animal beaten
hands down at this gait. Whenever I see one stepping
out at fullspeed it holds me spell-bound with admiration ;
those huge hoofs of theirs, while massive and clumsy
looking to handle, hardly appear to touch the ground, and
give one the impression that they could travel over eggs
without breaking them.

The pace at which caribou walk is most deceptive.