INDIANS AND GAME. 305 



in those countries, and are supposed to be 

 decreasing in numbers, for they are certainly 

 very destructive. 



Formerly, the only hunters in the country 

 were Indians armed with spears and bows and 

 arrows, and the toll these primitive savages 

 levied on the game was probably not very 

 heavy ; but the Indian hunter of to-day is 

 armed with a Winchester repeating rifle of the 

 latest pattern, and according to several 

 trappers, to whom I talked on the subject, he 

 kills a great deal more game than is generally 

 supposed, never missing an opportunity of 

 killing an animal, whether he wants it or 

 not. 



Besides the half-civilised Indians, there are 



the white trappers, the prospectors and the 



miners, all of whom must kill game or get it 



killed for them, or go without fresh meat. The 



trappers have but little time for big game 



hunting, and as a rule only kill a very limited 



number of moose and caribou. The prospectors, 



too, wander about killing a head of game here 



and there, but are not regular hunters, and 



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