CHAP. xvn. TOP OF THE RIDGE PORTAGE. 277 



shore and hid themselves among the Labrador tea-plant, 

 which grew quite close to the water's edge. During our 

 rapid descent we saw the tracks of deer and caribou on 

 the portage path, and in one instance we were quite close 

 to a bear ; but the noise made by the men carrying their 

 loads through the trees alarmed the animal before I could 

 get ready to fire, and he sprang into the bushes out of 

 sight. One evening during our return I observed Michel, 

 who was always doing something when in camp, making 

 some little disks of wood, with a hole in each, and string- 

 ing them on a piece of leather ; he attached a thin strip 

 of wood to the end of the string, and, with Louis, was soon 

 engaged in a game similar to our Cup and Ball. Upon 

 enquiry I found that the game was common among his 

 people, and was frequently played by them at their lodges. 

 According to his description, the apparatus is made in 

 exactly the same manner as the Nah-bah-wah-tah of the 

 Ojibways, or the game of bones (the Nah-bah-wah-gun- 

 imk). The Nah-bah-wah-gun-nuk, or instrument with 

 which the game is played, is constructed in the following- 

 manner : The bones are made from the hoof of the deer, 

 or caribou, and made to fit one within the other to the 

 number of twelve, the one nearest to the hand when the 

 instrument is held for play being the largest. A hole is 

 bored through the centre of each, and the bones are strung 

 upon sinew or a short deer-skin thong ; at one end of the 

 thong a bone needle or skewer is attached, and at the 

 other extremity a piece of leather four inches long and 

 one and three-quarters wide, cut into the shape of an oval. 

 Small holes are made in the piece of leather, which is 

 called the tail, and four holes are drilled into the last 



