74 VOYAGE TO THE 



their tents whereever they find a convenient place, 

 keeping, however, within their own district. 



They cultivate no land, and subsist entirely by the 

 chase, and upon the spontaneous produce of the earth. 

 Acorns, of which there is a great abundance in the 

 country, constitute their principal vegetable food. In 

 the proper season they procure a supply of these, 

 bake them, and then bruise them between two stones 

 into a paste, which will keep until the following sea- 

 son. The paste before it is dried is subjected to 

 several washings in a sieve, wdiich they say deprives it 

 of the bitter taste common to the acorn. We cannot 

 but remark the great resemblance this custom bears 

 to the method adopted by the South-sea Islanders to 

 keep their bread fruit, nor ought we to fail to notice 

 the manner in which Providence points out to differ- 

 ent tribes the same wise means of preserving their 

 food, and providing against a season of scarcity. 



The country inhabited by the Indians abounds in 

 game, and the rivers in fish ; and those tribes which 

 inhabit the sea-coast make use of muscles and other 

 shell fish, of which the haliotis gigantea is the most 

 abundant. In the chase they are very expert, and 

 avail themselves of a variety of devices to ensnare and 

 to decoy their game. The artifice of deceiving the 

 deer by placing a head of the animal upon their 

 shoulders is very successfully practised by them. To 

 do this, they fit the head and horns of a deer upon the 

 head of a huntsman, the rest of his body being 

 painted to resemble the colour of a deer. Thus dis- 

 guised, the Indian sallies forth, equipped with his bow 

 and arrows, approaches the pasture of the deer, whose 

 actions and voice he then endeavours to imitate, tak- 

 ing care to conceal his body as much as possible, for 



