184 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. xn. 



the branches, passed between his legs, and bit the other 

 man, who was standing ready with his gun. He was 

 finally killed by the other Indian, who shot him as he lay 

 rolling on the ground in the very act of folding his 

 victim in his horrible embrace. 



Not perceiving the connexion between the bear and 

 the dead bones, I asked Louis to explain himself, which 

 he did characteristically as follows. 



' I tell you ; Indian who was bit in leg was once 

 standing close to a tree where there was a bear skull like 

 this. Indian saw partridge quite close on branch, he 

 had no gun, no bow, no stick ; he took skull and threw 

 it at partridge. When he got home medicine man told 

 him bear would bite him some day and kill him.' 



Dogs are very useful to Indians, in finding bears during 

 the winter, when their hiding-places are covered with snow. 

 They smell the torpid animal, and thus discover his den ; 

 but in spring the warmth of the bear melting the snow 

 above him reveals his resting-place. A bear hunt is one 

 of the most exciting events to the Montagnais, and it 

 proves not unfrequently both dangerous and disastrous. 

 They love to relate round their camp fires the history 

 of their encounters with this redoubtable animal, and to 

 show the wounds they have received in conflict with him. 



The bears of Labrador are large and formidable, and 

 when hungry very ferocious. They have been known 

 to attack and kill Indians during the night-time when 

 sleeping under their canoes. Bears are very fond of blue- 

 berries, and are almost always to be seen in brides a few 

 years old, where they find a berry which the Montagnais 

 call mask-i-min, or bear-food. When a bear is killed by 



