IN THE BARREN GROUNDS 213 



whose very existence depends on their hunting, so wanting 

 in skill and judgment. Had it been less serious I should 

 have been amused by the spectacle of a snow-shoed Ind- 

 ian chasing the fleetest quadruped on earth. As it was, I 

 could not suppress a smile in irony, perhaps. 



And this is the Northland Indian's method of hunting 

 caribou. Sometimes when hunting singly or in pairs they 

 make the nearest approach they know to a stalk ; but the 

 usual method, invariable when they are in a body, is to 

 rush on to the caribou, and trust for success to their own 

 numbers and the confusion of the animals. If it were 

 not that the Barren Ground caribou or reindeer is a stupid 

 sort of creature, the Indians would score no oftener than 

 they do on moose or the woodland caribou. But the 

 reindeer appears to profit no more by experience than 

 the Indians themselves. 



After this experience of caribou-hunting I joined no 

 more " chasing " parties ; I was having every day all the 

 running I could well attend to, and so thereafter when we 

 sighted reindeer I devoted myself to stalking those that 

 had been cut off from the main body. But never in all 

 my life have I seen such wretched marksmanship as those 

 Indians displayed. They not only miserably bungled 

 their approach to the caribou, but their indiscriminate 

 firing and the commotion they and the dogs created made 

 it about impossible for me to get within range. 



Not the least trying of Barren Ground hunting is the 

 bewildering glare that assails your eyes when you have 

 put up your glasses, as you must so soon as you start in 

 pursuit of game. Even the darkest of smoked goggles, 

 and, what are still better, those of native manufacture, 

 that are made of bone, with only a T-shaped aperture be- 

 fore the eye, cannot insure you against snow-blindness. 

 There were very few bright days during our wanderings 



