Among other fish, splendid
salmon were found in the lakes and rivers, and animal life swarmed on
hill and in dale. Woods and valleys, plains and ravines, teemed with
it. On every plain the red-deer grazed in herds by the banks of lake
and stream. Wherever there were clusters of poplar and elder trees and
saplings, the beaver was seen nibbling industriously with his sharp
teeth, and committing as much havoc in the forest as if he had been
armed with the woodman's axe; others sported in the eddies. Racoons
sat in the tree-tops; the marten, the black fox, and the wolf prowled
in the woods in quest of prey; mountain sheep and goats browsed on the
rocky ridges; and badgers peeped from their holes.
Here, too, the wild horse sprang snorting and dishevelled from his
mountain retreats--with flourishing mane and tail, spanking step, and
questioning gaze--and thundered away over the plains and valleys,
while the rocks echoed back his shrill neigh. The huge, heavy,
ungainly elk, or moose-deer, _trotted_ away from the travellers with
speed equal to that of the mustang: elks seldom gallop; their best
speed is attained at the trot.
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