1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN Dl^NES. 107 



regarded as entailing unavoidable failure. Most of these were based on 

 their regard for continence and their excessive repugnance for, and dread 

 of, menstruating women. 



As soon as a Carrier had made up his mind to try his chances at bear- 

 snaring, he separated a thoro for a full month previous to the setting of 

 his snares. During all that time, he could not drink from the same 

 vessel as his wife, but had to use a special birch bark drinking cup. The 

 second half of the penitential month was employed in preparing his 

 snares. The omission of these observances was believed to cause the 

 escape of the game after it had been snared. To further allure it 

 into the snares he was making, the hunter used to eat the root of a 

 species of heracleum {tselep in Carrier) of which the black bear is said to 

 be especially fond. Sometimes he would chew and squirt it up with 

 water exclaiming at the same time : Nyustluh ! may I snare you ! 



Once a bear, or indeed any animal, had been secured, it was never 

 allowed to pass a night in its entirety, but must have some limb, hind or 

 fore paws, cut off, as a means of pacifying its fellows irritated by its 

 killing. 



Speaking of the meat of snared animals, I cannot help remarking that 

 young women having their menses could not eat of their head, heart or 

 hind part without exposing themselves to a premature death through a 

 kind of rabies which was sure- to attack them in after years. This infir- 

 mity led them to keep tearing off the flesh of their arms with their teeth. 

 If perchance they were favored with a lucid moment, they improved it 

 by raakir^g their confession to the shaman. " When young, I ate of the 

 head, etc., of an animal " they would say. Thereupon the medicine man 

 would suck from the body of the patient what was represented as the 

 tabooed morsel unlawfully swallowed, and forsooth the woman was 

 cured ! 



The heart even of water-fowls was forbidden to similarly circumstanced 

 young women, who had also to abstain from cutting up the grebes which, 

 among the Carriers, are caught each spring in such large numbers. These 

 fowl are full of blood, and their being manipulated by such persons 

 would communicate to the latter either haemorrhage or unnaturally pro- 

 longed menses. 



If in the woods with his wife, the hunter would also prefer to see her 

 tear herself up in the bush and thorns, to let her pass in the narrow trail 

 wherein he may have deposited his snares preparatory to setting them. 

 Should she as much as step over without touching them, her mate would 

 certainly consider any further attempt at capturing game as futile and 

 useless. 



