140 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU 



etc. ; a little water is applied during process of 

 rubbing, but skin never allowed to become very 

 moist. Inside skin soft and flexible when finished, 

 and the outside hairs, untouched. 



Caribou-hide is best (thickest) in spring, and 

 no good in mid-winter (being then thin). The 

 hair, apparently, feeds on, and derives nutriment 

 from the skin, for when the hair is long in winter 

 the skin is thin, and in the spring when the hair 

 is new and short, the skin is thick and at its best. 

 Before leaving this subject I will endeavour to 

 tell of a few experiences of photographing Caribou : 

 experiences that were not very successful, because 

 of the action of intense cold on the focal-plane 

 shutter, but which give considerable detail of 

 Caribou habits and winter hunting. 



It was with old Philip Merasty, a halfbreed, 

 and Eaglefoot, a Chipewyan, that I made my 

 most determined attempt to photograph Caribou ; 

 and the last attempt I made, since cold and 

 unsuitable apparatus completely baulked me from 

 further effort. 



Philip, without knowing it, was, like many 

 an Indian, an unread wilderness naturalist. The 

 clouds, the water, the fish, the land the forests, 

 the birds, the animals all in his country he had 

 studied for a lifetime, and, at ripe old age, he 

 was full of wisdom of the wild. He had watched 

 me skin and label specimens, watched my manoeu- 

 vres to take wild-life photographs, watched my 

 making pencil sketches ; and in time had proved 

 himself a staunch confederate in assisting my 

 researches. 



Eaglefoot, perhaps, had equal knowledge, but 



