NORTHERN OCEAN 215 



sets in, the deer-skins are not only very thin, but in general 1771. 

 full of worms and warbles ^ ; which render them of little use, "^^ * 

 unless it be to cut into fine thongs, of which they make fishing- 

 nets, and nets for the heels and toes of their snow-shoes. 

 Indeed the chief use that is made of them in Winter is for the 

 purpose of food ; and really when the hair is properly taken 

 off, and all the warbles are squeezed out, if they are well-boiled, 

 they are far from being disagreeable. The Indians, however, 

 never could persuade me to eat the warbles, of which some of 

 them are remarkably fond, particularly the children. They 

 are always eaten raw and alive, out of the skin ; and are said, 

 by those who like them, to be as fine as gooseberries. But the 

 very idea of eating such things, exclusive of their appearance, 

 (many of them being as large as the first joint of the little 

 finger,) was quite sufficient to give me an unalterable disgust 

 to such a repast ; and when I acknowledge that the warbles 

 out of the deers backs, and the domestic lice, were the only 

 two things I ever saw my [198] companions eat, of which I 

 could not, or did not, partake, I trust I shall not be reckoned 

 over-delicate in my appetite. 



The month of October is the rutting season with the deer 

 in those parts, and after the time of their courtship is over, 

 the bucks separate from the does ; the former proceed to the 

 Westward, to take shelter in the woods during the Winter, and 

 the latter keep out in the barren ground the whole year. This, 

 though a general rule, is not without some exceptions ; for I 

 have frequently seen many does in the woods, though they 

 bore no proportion to the number of bucks. This rule, there- 

 fore, only stands good respecting the deer to the North of 

 Churchill River ; for the deer to the Southward live pro- 



[^ These are larvs of a fly {Hypodenna /zma/al), the eggs of which are laid 

 in the skins of the deer in the early part of the summer. Here they develop 

 to the size of buckshot or larger, and those portions of the skin covering them 

 become very thin, so that when the hide is taken off and tanned it is so full 

 of holes, a quarter of an inch or more in diameter, as to be almost entirely 

 useless.] 



