IIIRDT t s SPORTING ADVENTURES. * THESE volumes contain an account of sundry

sporting excursions made by Lieutenant Hardy in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick, with descriptions of the country and scenery among which his excursions carried him. According to our author, a finer country than the thinly-settled or unsettled districts of those colonies no sportsman could desire. The angler will find there rivers almost filled with salmon, trout, and other fish, ready to rise at any thing ; for the distant waters are unvisited except by a few settlers with a turn for fly-fishing, and they do not wander to the remoter streams. The more adventurous sportsman, who is ready to undergo toil and hardship and run some risk in pursuit of plea- sure, may follow the moose and cariboo or rein-deer, probably en- counter a bear or wolf, and meet with plenty of lesser game, if he likes to throw away his ammunition upon it,—which at times he may have to do as a case of necessity. -For in these forests there is no hotel or road-side house or even shanty. You must set up your own hut, or put to rights one erected by some former hunter. The comforts of forest life—tea, sugar, and what not—you must carry with you ; when your provisions are exhausted you must kill game or fast. The irregularity of the surface, the freshness of the waters, the variety or extent of the prospect, the charm of the woods, and in autumn the gorgeous colours of the foliage, combined with the attraction of " sport," render the life of the hunter in Acadia (the old French name of the Provinces) delightful. To some sports- men there are drawbacks. It requires patienee to sit silent in the woods while the Indian imitates the call of the cow moose ; a man must have natural powers of endurance and some training to chase a stricken moose when he has " crept" upon the gigantic animal, or to track him upon snow-shoes. To many it would not be plea- sant to sleep in a half-open hut amid rain or snow. Still less agreeable is it to lose yourself when solitary in the woods, and wander about confused, hungry, and anxious. Use, however, will harden a man to these matters. It is the summer heat, and its worse than Egyptian plague of flies, that really torment you.

"The greatest drawback to our enjoyment, during our stay on this river, was the annoyance which we received from the bloodthirsty attacks of the mosquitoes, black-flies, and, the most venomous of all, the little Mid scarcely discernible sand-fly. Commencing their tortures at daybreak, they would throughout the day swarm round us in thousands, alighting on our fame, hands, behind our ears—in fact, on every exposed part whence blood was to be extracted. If not immediately brushed off, they quickly insert their long proboscis into the flesh with a sharp sting.

"The bite generally bleeds, and shortly causes a large white lump, with most disagreeable itching. I have often thrown down my rod in despera- tion, and crawled under the thickest bushes, to escape their attacks.

"The trout, notwithstanding the heat of the 'sun, rose tolerably well in the rough water, where the run joined the pond. In a short time, however, we were compelled to throw down our rods, from the attacks of those pests the black-flies. They bit our faces with such relentless ferocity, that our features were scarcely distinguishable from blood. We seated ourselves around a pile of rotten wood which had been ignited, the dense smoke from which kept them at a distance.

"The settlers, who are equally exposed to their annoyance as the new comers, anoint their faces, necks, and hands, with the fat of salt pork : a mixture sold at druggists' stores in Nova Scotia, and labelled 'Angler's de- fence,' is also very efficacious in keeping them off, as they abhor acids, of which, together with some essential oil, this mixture is composed."

The feeling of cold must be borne. The risk of taking cold seems nothing when once fairly out in the woods. In some hints to those sportsmen who may be tempted to follow his steps, Lieutenant Hardy confirms Franklin's opinion that those who live in the open air never take cold.

"Many sportsmen think it necessary to go out for a fishing-excursion with their legs encased in high cumbrous water-proof boots or leggings. It is a great mistake. They are the worst possible things for slipping on the stones and rocks in brooks or rivers and encumber the general motions of the body. One must make up one's mind to get wet—possibly, regularly ducked ; which would be a worse case if the boots were on at the time, as they would fill with water, and prevent the possibility of getting dry so long as they were on. " A good pair of dry worsted socks, taken in the pocket, to put on when the day's sport is concluded, will prevent the chance of a cold, catarrh, or rheumatism. 'When on a fishing expedition of several days, the sportsman, living constantly in the open air, need not fear any of these maladies. It is the change from a house to a camp, or vice versa, which is to be dreaded on this account. An Indian will tell you, that if he goes into a house, and sits by a fire, he is sure to catch cold ; SO do you generally in your Bret night in camp, but by the next night it is all gone. The secret is that you are breath- ing the same atmosphere.'

The seeds of disease may however be sown. In Bacon's words, "strength of nature in youth passeth over many excesses which are owing a man till his age."

The sports of Acadia want the danger with its excitement that at- tend upon the lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, and elephant shooting of Afri- ca or Ceylon. Neither have they the animation which characterizes the horseback chase of buffaloes in the prairies. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have a freshness which the other countries from fre- quent description are deficient in. Lieutenant Hardy tells his story pleasantly and unaffectedly. The descriptions, from being too ge- nerically the same, are rather overdone ; the account of the sporting adventures bas the open-air natural character that seems to attend upon all such exploits when simply told. With his narrative the author also mingles some account of the wild animals and of the half wild Indians of the country. Here is an interesting descrip-

tion of a young moose which our author obtained.

"Having reared and kept for upwards of eight months a young moose, I noticed several curious facts concerning the habits and actions of these animals.

"The calf moose in question was brought to me with another of the same • Sporting Adventures in the New World ; or Days and Nights of Moose-Hunting in the Pine Forests of Acadia. By Lieutenant Campbell Hardy, Royal Artillery. In two volumes. Published by Hurst and Blackett. age, which could not have been more than a few days old, in the end of Aprih They were bull and cow, and had been surprised in the woods by some black men who were searching for partridges. Their mother forsaking them on the approach of the men they were easily caught, and brought into lifax next day in a bullock-cart with legs bound. The cow died in a few days from the effects of a fall, which I afterwards found she had received from the cart. The young bull, by great attention and repeated visiting, lived, and appeared to thrive. Few people have succeeded in bringing up young moose; for they have generally sickened and died from want of suitable and natural food.

"I was advised to procure a domestic cow to suckle my moose calf. Knowing, however, that, from the food of the moose being principally leaves, branches, and bark, its milk could not be so rich as that of the common cow, I diluted it with an equal quantity of water, which I gave to the young moose from a bottle, thickening it gradually with a little Indian meal.

"When I found that he would mouth and swallow leaves and tender boughs, I sent into the wood every morning for a fresh supply of the young shoots of maples, moosewood, dogwood, and withered, of the leaves and berries of which last two shrubs moose are especially fond from their extreme bitterness. A lump of rock-salt appeared to afford him great satisfaction, and might have been conducive to his health.

"In November, he being at the time eight months old, and in perfectly ex- cellent health and condition, I adopted by mischance an expedient which caused his untimely and by me much regretted death. The winter having set in, and it being inconvenient to send into the woods for a supply of boughs, I resolved to try a substitute. I fixed upon turnips; of which a pailful was given to him one evening, and which he appeared to relish greatly. Next morning, to my dismay, I found the poor creature dead, his body (heedfully distended, so much so as to have caused death by suffocation, if it had not been brought on by any other internal derangement. On in- quiring as to the probable cause of his death, I learnt, too late, that turnips, when given too suddenly and in too great quantities to domestic cattle, will often cause death. • • "Bo tame was my young moose, that he would come into a room and jump several times over chairs, backwards and forwards, for a piece of bread. He bad a great penchant for tobacco-smoke ; which, if puffed in his face, would cause him to rub his head with great satisfaction against the indivi- dual.

"His gambols were sometimes very amusing. Throwing back his ears, and dropping the under-jaw, he would gallop madly up and down on a grass-plot, now and then rearing up on his hind-legs, and striking ferociously with his fore-feet at the trunks of trees, or anything within reach, varying the amusement by an occasional shy and kick behind at some imaginary ob- ject. No palings could keep him from gardens; in which, when not watched, he would constantly be found, revelling on the boughs of currant and lilac bushes; in fact, tasting fruit and flowers most indiscriminately. On being approached for the purpose of being turned out, the cunning little brute would immediately lie down ; from which position, his hide being as callous as that of a jackass, he could be got up with difficulty."

With the Indians Lieutenant Hardy mixed a good deal ; and he has formed a better opinion of them than that entertained by the settlers, or than a casual inspection of the apparently degenerated race would leave upon a stranger. He has also collected some of their mythological or supernatural tales, which may rank with those of Grey or Shortland as specimens of popular or national literature. The following allegorical satire is curious, rather as an example of the close observation and satirical power of the Indians, than as an aboriginal story. It is evidently a skit upon White man's cus- toms, though the Lieutenant does not seem to have "taken."

"The Indians have also traditionary stories connected with many, of the animals and birds of the country. They tell them in their camps, for the amuSement of their children ; but I have always noticed that they enjoy the narration of them just as much as do the younger portion of the com- munity.

" Most all the animal tell the grand story,' said an Indian, named Michael Tom, to me one afternoon, as I sat in his wigwam. " Well, Michael, let me hear some of them,' I replied. " Well, I first tell you 'bout the " Ablege-muich "—what you call urn? rabbit.'

" Well, we say to the rabbit, we say, :What make you so white, Mr. Rabbit ? '

"'Well, I just tell you how it was,' the rabbit he say, We been dinin with un wedding ; we cover all over with the white riband.' "'And what make you so short tail, sir ? ' " You see, I tell you, friend, what make me so short tail. We use to dine 'long with the gentlemen long time ago, and we use to set in the chair great deal when we go into the parlour; so the tail wore almost right off. Now you see, sir, why we got the so abort tail.'

"'Well, Mr. Rabbit, what makes you jump so all the while? Why you no trot like moose or carriboo ? '

"'Now, sir, I just tell you all 'bout it. When we done the dinin, we use to came out and play ball, and we go into the field and jump, and I got the practice so much on me that I jump all the time. I can't get out of it nohow. I very fond of the jump.' "'And what make you so long ears ? ' " ' Well, I just tell you now. We always listenin for the news to tell the gentlemen, when we dinin 'long with them ; and we all stretch the ears when the news a' coming in.' "'And what for you nose cut? Why you got the slit in the nose ?'

" I tell you, friend, why. You know, sir, when we dinin with the gen- tleman off the dinners, we use the knife and fork, and I cut my nose, you see. I was very fond of the knifes and forks, and one day I had bad aeci- dent—I cut my nose shocking.'

"Absurd though the story was, and so delighted did all the inmates of the camp appear, (Michael himself could hardly tell it for his risibility,) that I could not help joining in the universal burst of merriment."