OO-KOO-HOO'S EL DORADO 99 



sufficient for his present need, he caches the remainder in snow 

 or earth for future use. He is as cleanly as a house cat, and his 

 flesh when cooked resembles a cross between rabbit and veal. 



MARTEN TRAPPING 



After setting a number of snares for lynxes we resumed our 

 march, and on rounding the end of a little lake, saw two fresh 

 moose-tracks. Following them up, we finally came to a park- 

 like region, where was very little underbrush, and where most 

 of the trees were pine and spruce an ideal spot for marten. 

 So Oo-koo-hoo, forgetting all about his moose-tracks, made 

 ready to set some marten traps. 



For one marten an Indian catches in a steel trap he catches 

 a dozen in wooden deadfalls; but with the white trapper it is 

 different he relies chiefly on the steel traps. Steel traps are 

 set either in the open or in the tracks of the marten in ex- 

 actly the same way as for foxes, and either with or without 

 tossing-poles. The largest and best deadfalls used by the In- 

 dians are those they set for bears. The city-dwelling author, 

 or illustrator, who has not lived in the wilderness, would never 

 think of depicting an Indian trapper with a big hand-auger 

 hanging from his belt, perhaps no more than he would depict 

 a pirate armed with a big Bible; yet, nevertheless, it is a fact 

 that the Indian trapper nowadays carries an auger much as 

 the old buccaneer carried his cutlass thrust through his belt. 

 Somehow or other, I never could associate Oo-koo-hoo's big 

 wooden-handled auger with his gun and powder-horn, and all 

 the while I was curious as to what use he was going to make of 

 it. Now I was to have my curiosity satisfied. 



First he selected an evergreen tree about a foot in diameter 

 this tune it was a pine and with his axe cut a horizontal notch 

 one to two inches deep; then he blazed the tree six or eight 

 inches down to the notch, in order to form a smooth, flat sur- 



