140 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



fight in it, or will finish it altogether. But if hit in the head or 

 even in a paw, the chances are that the bear will jump; and 

 then watch out, for it will either run or fight! 



"In hunting bears, however, the hunter must remember that 

 he should guard most against scent and sound betraying him, 

 since a bear's sight is not very keen. If the bear happens to be 

 feeding, the hunter may easily approach, provided that the wind 

 is right and he keeps quiet; but if the bear hears the slightest 

 sound or catches a single whiff of scent away he goes! If, 

 however, the hunter approaches in an open place and the bear, 

 seeing him, sits up to get a better look, the hunter should 

 immediately stand perfectly still, and wait thus until the bear 

 again resumes feeding or moves away. Then the hunter rushes 

 forward, but all the while watches keenly to see when it stops 

 to look again; and at the first sign of that the hunter becomes 

 rigid once more. Such tactics may be successful two or three 

 times but rarely more, so then the hunter had best fire. Now, 

 my son, when you go hunting you will know what to do, and if 

 Amik would only pay attention to what I say, he, too, might 

 become a better hunter, for I have had much experience in 

 hunting both black and grizzly bears." 



NEYKIA AND HER LOVER 



As the weeks passed, the children devoted themselves to 

 their winter play and spent most of their days in the open air. 

 Tobogganing was their greatest sport. Often did they invite 

 me to take part in this, and whenever, in descending a slope, 

 a sled-load was upset, it always created hilarious laughter. 



The younger children, even during the severest part of the 

 winter when it registered forty or more degrees below zero, 

 were always kept comfortably warm, sometimes uncomfortably 

 warm, in the rabbit-skin coats that their mother and their 

 grandmother had made for them. The rabbit skins were cut 



