00-KOO-HOO'S EL DORADO 99 



sufficient for his present need, he caches the remainder in snow 

 or earth for future use. He is as cleanly as a house cat, and his 

 flesh when cooked resembles a cross between rabbit and veal. 



MARTEN TRAPPING 



After setting a number of snares for lynxes we resumed our 

 march, and on rounding the end of a httle lake, saw two fresh 

 moose-tracks. Following them up, we finally came to a park- 

 hke region, where was very httle underbrush, and where most 

 of the trees were pine and spruce — an ideal spot for marten. 

 So Oo-koo-hoo, forgetting all about his moose-tracks, made 

 ready to set some marten traps. 



For one marten an Indian catches in a steel trap he catches 

 a dozen in wooden deadfalls; but with the white trapper it is 

 difi'erent — he rehes chiefly on the steel traps. Steel traps are 

 set either in the open or in the tracks of the marten in ex- 

 actly the same way as for foxes, and either with or without 

 tossing-poles. The largest and best deadfalls used by the In- 

 dians are those they set for bears. The city-dwelling author, 

 or illustrator, who has not hved in the wilderness, would never 

 think of depicting an Indian trapper with a big hand-auger 

 hanging from his belt, perhaps no more than he would depict 

 a pirate armed with a big Bible; yet, nevertheless, it is a fact 

 that the Indian trapper nowadays carries an auger much as 

 the old buccaneer carried his cutlass — thrust through his belt. 

 Somehow or other, I never could associate Oo-koo-hoo 's big 

 wooden-handled auger with his gun and powder-horn, and all 

 the while I was curious as to what use he was going to make of 

 it. Now I was to have my curiosity satisfied. 



First he selected an evergreen tree about a foot in diameter — 

 this time it was a pine — and with his axe cut a horizontal notch 

 one to two inches deep; then he blazed the tree six or eight 

 inches down to the notch, in order to form a smooth, flat sur- 



