44 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



of those dangerous little quills that the women dye and use to 

 such good advantage in their fancy work. As to the Indian 

 method of dressing meat and skins more anon, when we are 

 finally settled upon the fur trail. 



That evening, while flames were leaping after ascending 

 sparks, and shadows were dancing behind us among the trees, 

 we lounged about the fire on packs and blankets and discussed 

 the events of the day. When I asked Oo-koo-hoo why he had 

 addressed the deer in such a manner, he replied that it was the 

 proper and regular way to speak to an animal, because every 

 creature in the forest, whether beast, bird, or fish, contained 

 the spirit of some former human being. He further explained 

 that whenever the men of the olden time killed an unusually 

 large animal with an extra fine coat, they did not save the skin 

 to sell to the trader, but burnt the carcass, pelt and all, and in 

 that way they returned the body to the spirit again. Thus 

 they not only paid homage to the spirit, but proved them- 

 selves unselfish men. He went on to say that from the time 

 of the Great, Great Long Ago, the Indian had always believed 

 as he did to-day that every bull moose contained the 

 spirit of a famous Indian chief, that every caribou bull con- 

 tained the spirit of a lesser chief, and so on down through the 

 whole of the animal creation. Bears, however, or rather the 

 spirits animating them, possessed the greatest power to render 

 good or evil, and for that reason the hunter usually took the 

 greatest care to address Bruin properly before he slew him. 



It is no wonder that the Indians still retain such ideas when, 

 as Lord Avebury says: "We do not now, most of us, believe 

 that animals have souls, and yet probably the majority of 

 mankind from Buddha to Wesley and Kingsley have done so." 



Another thing Oo-koo-hoo told me was that out of respect 

 to the dignified spirit possessed by the bull moose, women were 

 never allowed to eat of the head, nor was a moose head to be 

 placed upon a sled upon which a woman had ever sat; for if 



