136 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU 



they set themselves to wait and watch for the 

 approaching herds, and sometimes they had to 

 keep vigil for days. When Caribou came a large 

 number were allowed to pass inside the watching 

 cordon of Indians, who then formed a wide 

 ring and commenced to humour them onward 

 into the way of the snares. When the animals 

 were fairly entrapped the Indians would close 

 in from all sides, driving the Caribou to their 

 doom, and shooting them down or spearing those 

 that tried to escape. Sometimes none of the 

 herd escaped (asserted to be as many as two 

 hundred in some instances), all falling prey to 

 the Indians' skill and active watchfulness. If 

 one bears in mind the sheep-like tendency of 

 Caribou to lose their heads when thoroughly 

 alarmed, it will be understood better how hunting 

 in this manner was practicable to men with endless 

 resource in bushcraft. 



Caribou, which are strong swimmers, are also 

 killed in numbers when swimming lakes in their 

 early Fall migration. Some Indians on the 

 borders of the Barren Lands make kills in that 

 way, but they are principally made in the Eskimo 

 country, where the Eskimos, in their frail, active- 

 moving kayaks, surround a herd of animals in the 

 water and spear them to death. 



Having cited those large kills of Caribou, past 

 and present, I might be asked, Why such wasteful 

 destruction ? In answer, my experience bids 

 me defend the Indians, for of all the Caribou I 

 have seen shot by Indians (no inconsiderable 

 number) I have never known of one being wasted. 

 In the first place it is well to remember that 



