BEAR STORIES 89 



these feasts I should have expected an invitation 

 to a funeral shortly afterwards, but nothing out 

 of the ordinary happened. Through the efforts 

 of the missionaries these superstitious rites and 

 customs have been partially abolished on the 

 coast, but they are carried on just the same as 

 soon as the Indians go inland for the hunt. 

 Similar feasts are also held in honor of the cari- 

 bou and the beaver, and also for birds, such as 

 geese and loons. I have never heard of a fish 

 feast in this section. In honor of whatever ani- 

 mal or bird, the feast is held, no other kind of 

 meat figures, and provision is always made to 

 have more than will be eaten. They will actual- 

 ly starve themselves for a time in order to collect 

 the required quantity. 



Some years ago I sold a No. 5 bear trap to an 

 old Indian named "Ka-mikamust," the One 

 Who Sings. It was a Newhouse trap, and had a 

 spread of jaws of about eleven inches. I had orig- 

 inally paid twelve dollars for it, for traps were 

 dear in those days. It had been a very lucky trap 

 for me, and I had caught several fine bears in 

 it. I used to set it near the path leading to the 

 pools on the Godbout River. The last time I 

 set it a large bear got fast in it, and as it was set 

 with a drag, (a heavy piece of wood fastened to 

 the chain), the bear had hauled it around consid- 

 erably, up and down along the edge of the river, 

 but he could not go far into the woods, as the drag 



