. Guns and gunning. one human artery that beatsin the the life of a man is in the wilderness,so is the trail. All the human sufferings, hardships,and dangers, sought and mastered by the advanceguard of civilization—the trail builders—are reflectedin every tortuous curve of the dim path. As thehunter with the call of the wilderness in his ear,pushes beyond civilization into the wild land, andbeyond again into the unknown, the trail writes downin living letters the story of his joys and sorrows. Take twenty experienced frontiersmen, and sendthem one at a time through an untrammelle
. Guns and gunning. one human artery that beatsin the the life of a man is in the wilderness,so is the trail. All the human sufferings, hardships,and dangers, sought and mastered by the advanceguard of civilization—the trail builders—are reflectedin every tortuous curve of the dim path. As thehunter with the call of the wilderness in his ear,pushes beyond civilization into the wild land, andbeyond again into the unknown, the trail writes downin living letters the story of his joys and sorrows. Take twenty experienced frontiersmen, and sendthem one at a time through an untrammelled wilder-ness to a given point, and on comparing the trails, wewould find that the majority had followed practicallythe same route. This route is always theline of least resistance, and in following it wetake the wild animals as teachers. Whenbig game animals first enter a country—andthey are always changing their feeding-grounds—they do not know their surround-ings, and consequently travel to and fro by 81. e^a instinct. Their movements are also eiffected by thecharacter of the country, and they follow the easiestnatural route to their destination. In time they beatdown trails and discover the safest fords, until theirsystem of roads is complete. Then come the hunter and prospector. Theydo not know the country, and use the trails the wildanimals have made. With the rattle of firearmscomes the tank-a-tink of the pack-train bell, andthe trails are widened and flattened by the hoofs ofmules and horses. As the country becomes settledthe trail changes to a road; and at last, where oncethe moose and wapiti called and bugled, naturesmusic is drowned by the scream of the locomotive. This all goes to show that trails are not madein a night and that the man who can pick out thebest road through an unexplored country must havea liberal wildemess education. WOOD AND In wilderness travel, three things WA T^R are absolutely necessary to ensure success and comfort,—wood, water, and
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