INDIAN MODE OF HUNTING BEAVER. 89 



We each carried an axe, and the first order I got 

 was to cut some dry sticks that stood at the dis- 

 charge, each stick to be about 4 ft. long. These, 

 as fast as cut, the Indian drove across the creek, 

 after he had cut a trench in the thin ice from 

 shore to shore. This was to prevent the beaver 

 from going down the creek. 



The next thing was to break open the lodge 

 from the top. This was done to scare the bea- 

 vers out into the lake and make them resort to 

 the washes. The beaver washes have their en- 

 trances under water, and go up sometimes a 

 considerable distance from the shore, terminat- 

 ing generally under the roots of a tree. The 

 beavers flee from wash to wash, as the hunter 

 finds them out, and as each wash is discovered 

 by the dogs (which scent the beavers through 

 the frozen surface) the hunter stakes up the 

 entrance to prevent them from returning. 



Beaver washes vary in number according to 

 the formation of the lake, from two to three up 

 to twenty. The practiced eye of the hunter tells 

 him at once if the lake has few or many. And 

 this is why Wa-sa-Kejic said we would soon 

 kill the beaver. At last the three dogs remained 

 pointing and listening about 12 ft from the 

 shore under a spruce of considerable size. The 

 Indian set to work to stake up the entrance, 

 which he did as fast as I could furnish the 

 sticks. 



