DEER-SICKNESS. 175 



cause of all my trouble, leaving his younger 

 brother to replenish the fire and attend to my 

 wants. The elder boy returned after an hour 

 or two, having killed the deer, the proof, the 

 split heart tucked in his belt. Darkness was 

 then setting in, but the boys made ready to 

 start for camp. What had taken me hours of 

 toil to cover, they passed over in a very short 

 time; in fact, we only saw my trail once or 

 twice on the way out to the lake. 



That night, after supper the chief told me of 

 the '"deer-sickness," and warned me against per- 

 sistently following the trail. He continued and 

 told how the Indians did and in after years I 

 saw their mode and practiced it myself. He ex- 

 plained to be that a pungent odor exuded from 

 the deer's hoofs when they were pursued and 

 it was this that caused my weakness and dis- 

 tress. 



The Indians in following deer cut the trail 

 once in a while merely to make sure they are 

 going in the right direction and to ascertain the 

 freshness of the tracks. This is done with a two- 

 fold purpose, first to avoid the odor from the 

 fresh tracks and secondly to run or walk in the 

 most open parts of the forest. Moose, caribou, 

 and deer when fleeing from an enemy invariably 

 pass through the thickest bush, because the 

 snow is shallower under thick, branchy trees 



