138 THE BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU 



the Caribou is splendid food. The choice parts 

 the Indians select, when opportunity occurs, are 

 the tongue, the heart, the kidneys, the brisket, 

 all fat, and the limb-bones (after most of the 

 meat has been removed) for the [marrow therein. 

 The tongue is undoubtedly the choicest part of 

 all, and a delicious delicacy. In past days the 

 Hudson Bay Company used to send out from 

 Du Brochet Post many tongues and barrels of 

 Caribou fat. 



Indians, as I have already said elsewhere, have 

 an observant and very intelligent knowledge of 

 wild life. This is borne out in the Chipewyan 

 manner of speaking of Caribou, when hunting 

 them. They will not say, " There is a caribou" 

 but will use a name which describes its indivi- 

 duality as well, since they have a series of names 

 which discriminate at once the condition, or 

 age, or sex, of the animals they encounter. Thus 

 names mean: "a fat Caribou," "Caribou in 

 poor condition," "a Caribou doe in fawn," "a 

 young fawn," " a yearling Caribou," " a three- 

 year-old Caribou," " a five-year-old Caribou," 

 " a doe Caribou," " a buck Caribou " — and so on. 



As well as providing the Chipewyans with 

 great stores of winter food the Caribou supplies 

 them with skins for clothing. In the past, 

 Caribou skins furnished them with all their 

 material for clothing and the covering for their 

 teepees. Now, when they can, they get white 

 man's clothing, and canvas for their teepees, in 

 fur-barter with the Hudson Bay Company and 

 Revillion Brothers — a change which is decaying 

 native skill and native beauty. There are 



