THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 65 



body — men, women, and children — wears during the cold season, the best 

 skins are those of the young animals killed in July or August, as the 

 hair is short and does not fall off so readily as in coats made from the skin 

 of a full-grown caribou; while the strong sinews lying along the back- 

 bone of an old bull make the very best thread for sewing. Anything that 

 ,is left over after supplying the whole family finds a ready sale at the 

 fort, where there is always a demand for dried meat, tongues, grease, 

 3ssed skins, and babiche, so that the Dog-ribs and Yellow-knives, 

 irhose country produces little fur, with the exception of musk-ox robes, 

 re thus enabled to afford some few of the white man's luxuries, tea and 

 )bacco being especially dear to the Indian's heart. 



The skins of the caribou are in the best condition in Sep- 

 tember, and the meat is best in September and October, 

 when, in the words of J. W. Tyrrell, 'Hhe males are roUing 

 fat, and as food their flesh is equal to the finest beef." In 

 the spring the flesh is poor, as it also is in the summer. In 

 the spring the skins are of little value, on account of the 

 shedding of the hair, and the frequent abundance of warbled 

 hides, to which reference will be made later. 



The increase in the number of rifles supplied to the Es- 

 kimos on the Arctic coast has resulted in a great increase in 

 the number of caribou killed. At the same time, the abiUty 

 to obtain this form of food so easily has led to a change in 

 the habits of the Eskimos. Formerly they usually hunted 

 seal during the winter, and continued until late in May. 

 Now, Doctor R. M. Anderson informs me, they are coming 

 ashore one or two months earlier than was their former 

 custom, and living on the caribou which are migrating 

 steadily northward in April and May. While they are 

 migrating they are most easily killed. But the worst feature 

 of this spring killing, which of course is illegal, is that most 

 of the caribou killed are females which are crossing to Vic- 

 toria Island to give birth to fawns in June. It is of the 

 greatest importance to the conservation of the caribou that 

 this practice should be stopped, and recommendations to 



