ores
alone, and finds his food among the finny tribes of the seas that
surround them. In marshy ponds, existing here and there, the musk-rat
(_Fibre zibethieus_) builds his house, like that of his larger cousin,
the beaver. Upon the water sedge he finds subsistence; but his natural
enemy, the wolverene (_Gulo luscus_), skulks in the same neighbourhood.
The "Polar hare" lives upon the leaves and twigs of the dwarf
birch-tree; and this, transformed into its own white flesh, becomes the
food of the Arctic fox. The herbage, sparse though it be, does not grow
in vain. The seeds fall to the earth, but they are not suffered to
decay. They are gathered by the little lemmings and meadow-mice
(_arvicolae_), who, in their turn, become the prey of two species of
_mustelidae_, the ermine and vison weasels. Have the fish of the lakes
no enemy? Yes--a terrible one in the Canada otter. The mink-weasel,
too, pursues them; and in summer, the osprey, the great pelican, the
cormorant, and the white-headed eagle.

These are the _fauna_ of the Barren Grounds. Man rarely ventures within
their boundaries. The wretched creatures who find a living there are
the Esquimaux on their coasts, and a few Chippewa Indians in the
interior, who hunt the caribou, and are known as "caribou-eaters."
Other Indians enter them only in summer, in search of game, or
journeying from point to point; and so perilous are these journeyings,
that numbers frequently perish by the way. There are no white men in
the Barren Grounds. The "Company" has no commerce there. No fort is
established in them: so scarce are the fur-bearing animals of these
parts, their skins would not repay the expense of a "trading post."

Far different are the "wooded tracts" of the fur countries. These lie
mostly in the southern and central regions of the Hudson's Bay
territory. There are found the valuable beaver, and the wolverene that
preys upon it. There dwells the American hare, with its enemy the
Canada lynx. There are the squirrels, and the beautiful martens
(sables) that hunt them from tree to tree. There are found the foxes of
every variety, the red, the cross, and the rare and highly-prized
silver-fox (_Vulpes argentatus_), whose shining skin sells for its
weight in gold! There, too, the black bear (_Ursus Americanus_) yields
its fine coat to adorn the winter carriage, the holsters of the dragoon,
and the shako of the grenadier. There the fur-bearing animals exist i