OO-KOO-HOO 'S EL DORADO 109 



two boards are fastened to four cross-bars with deerskin thongs, 

 never with pegs or nails, and the ground-lashing is made fast to 

 the cross-bars. A wrapper of deerskin is provided in which to 

 lash the load. The lashing thong is eighteen to twenty feet 

 in length. Dog-sleds are made much longer, and up to about 

 sixteen inches hi width, and are provided with an extra line 

 that trails out behind, by which the driver holds back the sled 

 when going down hill, in order to prevent it from over-running 

 the dogs. A hunting-sled, however, is usually hauled by man 

 by means of a looped strap, or tump-line, with a broad centre 

 which goes over the hunter's shoulders or head, and has its two 

 ends fastened to the first cross-bar below the prow. 



During the next few days Oo-koo-hoo and Amik had also 

 finished setting their traps, snares, and deadfalls for all the 

 furred creatures of the woods, including wolves and bears. 

 Already the camp had taken on a business-like air, for the big 

 stretching frames for the skins of moose, bear, and caribou had 

 been erected near the lodges; and as the hunters had secured 

 both moose and caribou, the frames were already in use. 

 Trapping had begun in earnest, and though fairly successful 

 a number of fine skins having been already taken the hunters 

 were still worried over the wolverines. On one path alone they 

 had found nothing but a fox's foot, and the tails of four martens; 

 besides, several of their traps were missing. In another place, 

 where they had dressed a caribou killed by Oo-koo-hoo, and had 

 left the meat overnight for the women and boys to haul in next 

 day, wolverines had found it and defiled it in their usual way. 



The women, too, had had their troubles as owls had visited 

 their snares, and robbed them of many a pelt. Worse in some 

 respects than the wolverine is the owl, for while the wolverine 

 leaves a track that one can trail, and either find what is left of 

 the game, or overtake and punish the marauder, the owl leaves 

 no trail at all, and though he frequently eats only the brain or 

 eyes of the game, he has a habit of carrying the game away and 



