Newfoundland at that time contained a number of very large wolves, some of the largest in the world. I have shot in my life-time three animals of this species, of which two were large western timber wolves and the third was a very light Newfoundland wolf. The skin of the Newfoundland wolf is so much larger than the others that beside him they look like puppy dogs. Probably this species is now totally extinct, like the Great Auk and other unique island fauna. Mattie, fearing that one of these animals might discover our caribou, set to work at once, swiftly and deftly skinning out its head. So much interested were we in this process that we did not heed the oncoming of night. When the task was finished and the head and skin had been placed m the branches of a tree, it was practically dark. I said, "Mattie, what shall we do?" He answered, "Got no axe, can't make no fire, we freeze if we stay here." I said, "Can you find the way back in the dark?" and he replied, "I find my way all right if you can follow." When we reached the little stream it was so dark that, like a fool, I plunged over the bank and received a bad fall. In extending my arm automatically, a short, sharp spine from a tree entered the palm and stuck out of the back of my hand. It had broken off and we had no way of extracting it. It checked the flow of blood and in a few moments my arm was swollen almost to my shoulder. I was therefore obliged to hand my rifle to Mattie, and to guard my head with my left hand. It was amazing to me to observe the certainty with which the Indian in thick darkness wound his way through the forest, now turning aside to avoid an invisible bog, now ascending the mountain above a windfall (a tangled mass of trees blown down by some old gale). Thus we continued for three or four hours, and at last we emerged from the forest about a hundred yards from the point where we had entered it. I looked across a low valley and saw the welcome sight of our blazing campfire

In his sense of direction and in his marvellous ability to find his way through trackless spaces, I have never known Mattie's equal. All good guides possess this faculty in some degree. One reason for this is that such men keep their minds constantly on what they are doing, noting carefully every feature presented by the country, and thinking of nothing else. Civilized men, on the contrary, allow heir minds to stray to past events and to other scenes. Very few of them concentrate their attention strictly on landmarks.