276 EELIQULE AQTJITANICJL 



killed by stalking them on the barrens and marshes with guns ; and sometimes 

 they are caught in nooses set in their " runways." 



Whilst living with an Indian hunter in his wigwam on the side of Red-Indian 

 Pond, I was enabled to gain some information about the crossing of the Deer at 

 that spot. The usual time is between the 1st and 10th of November, according 

 to the weather ; the Indians say the period gets later every year. The Deer arrive 

 on the banks of the Lake in companies of from 50 to 100 in each, when, if there 

 is much " lop " on the water, they wander along shore until it subsides. They 

 then enter the water in succession, and swim across in Indian file. According to 

 a calculation I made from data given me by one of the Indians, it would appear 

 that a company, numbering about 482 head of Deer, has been seen in the water 

 at one time. 



As already mentioned, the Indians usually kill the Deer in the water by spearing 

 them, because they consider that shooting them with guns is a needless and dan- 

 gerous method. The spear-head is of steel, in the form of a common lance-head, 

 attached to a pole about 10 feet in length. When the Deer is killed by a thrust 

 between the short ribs, an attendant canoe is in waiting to drag the carcass to land. 

 As many as five or six animals may be killed in this manner out of a company. 

 It requires skill and adroitness to avoid upsetting the canoe, and to kill the animal 

 by a single stroke of the spear, thus avoiding any unnecessary holes in the skin. 

 The Indians never let out the blood by plunging a knife into its heart, nor by 

 cutting its throat. When a Deer is dead the skin is stripped from the carcass ; 

 the kidneys and heart, with the fatty membrane about the intestines, are taken 

 out and packed up in the paunch, to form a portion of the next meal, together with 

 the head : the liver is not eaten by the Micmac Indians. The lower portions of 

 the legs are separated from the knee-joint, for the sake of the covering of skin, 

 which is used in making moccasins, and for the marrow in the metacarpal bones : 

 the carcass is then cut up into quarters, which, with the portions above enume- 

 rated, are taken back to the camp. The skin is used either in making skin canoes, 

 or is prepared for conversion into moccasins, and " babiche " for snow-shoes. If 

 destined for the former purpose, it is merely shaved, and then sewn to other skins 

 to cover the frame of the canoe * ; if, on the other hand, it is required for moccasin- 

 leather and babiche, it is first of all stretched on a rectangular frame of wood to 

 dry, and subsequently thrown, in a moistened state, over a post driven in the 

 ground, when the vellum is scraped from the inside by means of either a " Saska- 



* See a description of the method of building a skin canoe in the 'Journal of the Anthropological 

 Institute,' vol. iv. pp. 435-436. 



