114 TUENER ON THE INDIANS 



They are now divided into about a dozen parties, each hunting upon a tract for a year or 

 less, and changing about as fancy may dictate. Certain members of the various groups do 

 not meet for years, and then the meeting between the older men is quite affecting : tears 

 and protestations of joy are profuse. 



Their summer journeying is accomplished by means of the birch-bark canoe ; in winter 

 the flat-sled (iabaskhan) is used for bearing the household and other valuable effects. The 

 large, oval snow-shoe is made here to perfection. 



To give a complete history of the Naskopies, would require many pages beyond the 

 limits of this paper ; but judging from a personal acquaintance of over two years, and 

 having given much thought to the subject, I cannot assert that the Naskopie has any 

 bad trait of character, or any vices worthy of comment. He is honest, faithful and ever 

 ready to aid a friend. 



By way of passing the long evenings of the cold winter, the elders relate stories calcu- 

 lated to inspire the children with wonder, or else with a desire to emulate the siibjects of 

 their folklore. Many of their recitals haA'e a hidden meaning, which is better discovered 

 than indicated. The principal characters in their folklore are invested with attributes so 

 utterly at variance with the actual nature of the creatures, that a few words of explana- 

 tion may be necessary to show the unreality of their stories. 



The wolverine is the most cunning and vicious creature for its size on the face of the 

 globe. Possessed of prodigious natural strength, combined with extraordinary adroitness, 

 it is seldom taken unawares ; although of slow motion, it is never-tiring in its journeys, 

 seeking to destroy and defile all it is unable to consume or obtain. When caught, or known 

 to dwell in a crevice or hollow, the Indian mind can conceive of no torture too violent 

 to inflict upon the savage brute whose ancestors and side relations are made the recipients 

 of all the execrations that the vigor of an Indian mind can invent. Heaps of impreca- 

 tions and curses are poured upon the last breath of the beast expiring under the merciless 

 hand of its persecutors. 



The hare is well know to be the most timid of quadrupeds ; yet, in the Naskopie folk- 

 lore it is endowed with attributes of even its arch-enemy, man, whose very footprints 

 strike terror into the timorous beast. The stolid rock is endowed with mental properties ; 

 and the jay, with qualifications rendering him the companion of man ; in their personifi- 

 cations jays control man, or even the most savage brutes of the forest and stream. 



Morals abound in these stories, and their recital impresses a sense of pity, or, perhaps, 

 of the ridiculous upon the hearer. 



The stories that follow are written with as little difference as the respective languages 

 will allow. Their simplicity may be amusing, but therein lies their value as ethnological 

 studies. 



II. — Examples of the Folklore of the Naskopies. 



1. — The Venhiresome Hare. 



A young hare lived with his aged gi-andmother. They were very poor, having at times no fire 

 and seldom an abundance of food to eat. She was too old to procure food, and the few sticks he could 

 pick up near the tent door made but little fire to keep them warm in the tent full of holes, and which 

 she was unable to mend, because she had no deerskins with which to patch it. 



