On Snow - Shoes to the Barrend Grounds. By Caspar Whitney. (Osgood,
McIlvaine, and Co.)—We have here a narrative of a hunting excursion undertaken in search of wood-bison and musk- oxen, by a gentleman who had previously had some experience in big-game shooting in the Rocky Mountains. The wood-bison are now much reduced in numbers, and our author was unsuccessful in obtaining any, for though a herd was once sighted, the animals were scared away by the premature discharge of the gun of an Indian who accompanied the party, and who was too impatient to wait till they were within fair range. However, forty musk-oxen were shot in the course of the journey, for this animal is still fairly common over a considerable tract of country bordering on the Arctic Ocean. Mr. Whitney succeeded in pushing further north than any previous traveller by land has accomplished, and reached a point only fifty miles from the coast, when he was compelled to return, because the Indians refused to accompany him any further. He had no white companion, as Mr. Heming, an artist who started on the journey with him, was disabled by a fall, and compelled to abandon the attempt. The total length of the journey from Edmonton, where the railway ceases, is esti- mated at 2,801 miles, of which nearly 2,000 were coveted on snow- shoes, the rest being equally divided between canoe, battue and walking, and sleigh and horses. The entire journey occupied rather more than five months,—from the end• of December, 1894, to the middle of June, 1895. During the greater part of this literally Arctic expedition, undertaken as it was in mid-winter, the thermometer usually stood at 40 or 50 degrees below zero. Much interesting information is given concerning the character of the country, the history of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the customs, super- stitions, and traditions of the Indians. The book is written in an easy style, and is nicely got up, and most of the illustrations are from photographs taken by the author himself; some few however, are Mr. Heming's. It will be read with interest both by sportsmen and by general readers.
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