ought of leaving this meat thus exposed by the side of the carcass, as
the simplest course, not fearing that any creature would touch it; but
nothing did. This could hardly have happened on the bank of one of our
rivers in the eastern part of Massachusetts; but I suspect that fewer
small wild animals are prowling there than with us. Twice, however, in
this excursion I had a glimpse of a species of large mouse.

This stream was so withdrawn, and the moose-tracks were so fresh, that my
companions, still bent on hunting, concluded to go farther up it and camp,
and then hunt up or down at night. Half a mile above this, at a place
where I saw the aster puniceus and the beaked hazel, as we paddled along,
Joe, hearing a slight rustling amid the alders, and seeing something black
about two rods off, jumped up and whispered, "Bear!" but before the hunter
had discharged his piece, he corrected himself to "Beaver!"--"Hedgehog!"
The bullet killed a large hedgehog, more than two feet and eight inches
long. The quills were rayed out and flattened on the hinder part of its
back, even as if it had lain on that part, but were erect and long between
this and the tail. Their points, closely examined, were seen to be finely
bearded or barbed, and shaped like an awl, that is, a little concave, to
give the barbs effect. After about a mile of still water, we prepared our
camp on the right side, just at the foot of a considerable fall. Little
chopping was done that night, for fear of scaring the moose. We had moose-
meat fried for supper. It tasted like tender beef, with perhaps more
flavor,--sometimes like veal.

After supper, the moon having risen, we proceeded to hunt a mile up this
stream, first "carrying" about the falls. We made a picturesque sight,
wending single-file along the shore, climbing over rocks and logs,--Joe,
who brought up the rear, twirling his canoe in his hands as if it were a
feather, in places where it was difficult to get along without a burden.

We launched the canoe again from the ledge over which the stream fell, but
after half a mile of still water, suitable for hunting, it became rapid
again, and we were compelled to make our way along the shore, while Joe
endeavored to get up in the birch alone, though it was still very
difficult for him to pick his way amid the rocks in the night. We on the
shore found the worst of walking, a perfect chaos of fallen and drifted
trees, and of bushes projecting far over the water,