useful to the Ckipewya7is, 437 



the males are rather dangerous to follow, and instances have oc- 

 curred of native hunters having been severely injured and even 

 killed by them. They fight rather with their fore feet than with 

 their horns. 



The uses to which the various parts of the Moose are put, are 

 many. The hide supplies parchment, leather, lines, and cords ; 

 he sinews yield thread and glue ; the horns serve for handles to 

 knives and awls, as well as to make spoons of ; the shank bones 

 are employed as tools to dress leather with ; and with a particu- 

 lar portion of the hair, when dyed, the Indian women embroider 

 garments. 



To make leather and parchment, the hide is first divested oi 

 hair by scraping, and all pieces of raw fiesh being cut away, if then 

 washed, stretched and dried, it will become parchment. In convert- 

 ing this into leather a further process of steeping, scraping, rub- 

 bing and smearing with brains is gone through, after which it is 

 stretched and dried, and then smoked over a fire of rotten wood 

 which imparts a lively yellow color to it. The article is then 

 ready for service. Of parchment, as such, the Chipewyans make, 

 little use ; but the residents avail themselves of it, in place of glass 

 for windows, for constructing the sides of dog-carrioles, and for 

 making glue. The leather is serviceable in a variety of ways* 

 but is principally made up into tents and articles of clothing, and 

 in the fabrication of dog-harnesses and fine cords, wallets, &c. 

 The capotes, gowns, firebags, mittens, moccasins and trousers made 

 of it are often richly ornamented with quills and beads, and when 

 new, look very neat and becoming. The best dressers of leather? 

 in these parts, are the Slave Lake Chipewyans and Liard's River 

 Slaves. 



The lines and cords are of various sizes, the largest being used 

 for sled fines and pack-cords, the smaller answer for lacing snow- 

 shoes and other purposes. In order to make sled lines pliant — a 

 very necessary quality when the temperature is 40*^ or 50° below 

 the zero of Farht. — the cord is first soaked in fat fish liquor, it is 

 then dried in the frost, and afterwards rubbed by hauling it 

 through the eye of an axe ; to complete the operation it is well 

 greased, and any hard lumps masticated until they become soft, 

 by which process a line is produced of great strength and pliancy, 

 and which is not liable to crack in the most severe cold. 



To obtain thread, the fibres of the sinews are separated and 

 twisted into the required sizes. The Moose furnishes the best 



