t at all at home--he would soon exterminate their whole
race. His great 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 most
remote deserts. His range 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
degrees 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 most predatory animals, a nocturnal prowler. The female brings
forth two, sometimes three and four, at a birth. The cubs are of a
cream colour, and only when full-grown 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 many thousands of the skins annually.

The Canadian voyageurs call the wolverene "carcajou;" while among the
Orkney and Scotch servants of the Hudson's Bay Company he is oftener
known as the "quickhatch." It is supposed that both these names are
corruptions of the Cree word _okee-coo-haw-gew_ (the name of the
wolverene among the Indians of that tribe). Many words from the same
language have been adopted by both voyageurs and traders.

Those points in the natural history of the wolverene, that might 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 what we have recorded, also
related many adventures and stories current among the voyageurs, in
which this creature figures in quite as fanciful a manner, as he does in
the works either of Olaus Magnus, or Count de Buffon.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

A GRAND SUNDAY DINNER.

After remaining a day at their first camp on the lake, our voyageurs
continued their journey. Their course lay a little to the west of
north, as th