94< POINT OF HONOUR AMONG INDIAN HUNTERS. 



the long grass, on the bank of the encampment, 

 under the broad shade of which nothing was 

 visible but the dark heads of the Indians, as 

 they appeared and vanished, with the motion of 

 their canoe. When Louison inquired if he had 

 been successful, La Prise, with the character- 

 istic of a true Chipewyan, answered in the 

 negative, Oolah. Oolah ! re-echoed the inter- 

 preter, in a disappointed tone, oolah! " Mon- 

 sieur, il a manque ; who ever heard of the whoop 

 without its accompanying prey ?" Scarcely were 

 the words out, when La Prise was at his side ; 

 and as he handed him the gun, gave from 

 the other hand the fine tongue and nose of a 

 moose. " There," said he ; " I shot it through 

 the heart, through an opening between the 

 trees not wider than my hand : but it was with 

 your gun and ammunition, which, according 

 to our customs, you know, makes it your pro- 

 perty. I thought the Chief would like to have 

 the tongue and the nose*, and the rest lies at 

 the bottom of the canoe for your disposal." This 

 restraint on their appetite was the more remark- 

 able, as they had scarcely eaten any thing for 

 several days past; and the few scraps with 

 which their friends had supplied them could 

 not have sufficed for a single meal. But they 

 never infringe this law among themselves ; and 



* Considered the choice parts. 



