CHAP. xir. CAUTION OF CARIBOU HERDS. 183 



low hiss behind me ; it was Louis, who wanted to call 

 our attention without making any noise, and who 

 dared not move in order to touch us. My brother and I 

 turned round just in time to see the Nasquapee stretch 

 his arm cautiously up the rock to get a gun which I had 

 put out of harm's way, and Louis, with suppressed ex- 

 citement, was pointing towards a herd of caribou which 

 were passing at the foot of the hill, not 150 yards from 

 where we were seated. The deer stopped, hearing the 

 noise of the men bringing the canoes on the opposite side, 

 they pricked up their ears and sniffed the air, and, before 

 Michel could point the gun, bounded off. 



Stuck on a dead branch hard by was a bear's skull. 

 Michel said that Domenique had killed it there two years 

 ago. I took it down and was going to bring it with me, 

 but Michel beo-aed Louis to ask me to let it remain ' It 



Do 



was not lucky to take it away, it ought not to be touched. 

 But he would leave a piece of tobacco between the jaws, 

 if I would give him a bit, and that would preserve 

 our luck, otherwise we should see no more bears during 

 summer.' 



I asked Louis whether the Nasquapee had any super- 

 stition about the bones of animals, and particularly of 

 bears. He shook his head in reply, and said that it was 

 much better to leave the bones alone ; he remembered 

 the time when he was hunting with two other Indians 

 and they came to a bear hole, and while he was em- 

 ployed in cutting away the brandies which the animal 

 generally draws before the entrance to the domicile he 

 has adopted or scooped out, the bear sprang through 



