220 NEWFOUNDLAND 



fish, smoked caribou flesh, together with such civilised com- 

 modities as flour, bacon, tea, coffee, and sugar, which they 

 either exchange for furs with the Gaultois and Pushthrough 

 merchants or purchase with their fur money. In April some 

 of them go logging, and sell their timber to the mills, mend 

 their nets and traps, and do any odd work. During May, 

 June, July, and part of August, they fish about the bays, 

 creeks, and rivers, but never go to sea like the regular cod-men. 

 Much of this .fish is eaten ; the rest is salted for the dogs 

 and pigs. 



In August the regular hunters take their packs on their 

 backs, and walk to their " tilts " or birch-bark shelters in the 

 interior. Here they have stores of food, ammunition, and 

 traps laid by. Some few, like the Matthews and Benoits, 

 proceed by boat. In August and September these Indians, 

 who generally live in pairs and share results, kill four or five 

 stags apiece. The hide they use for many purposes, and the 

 flesh is dried in the fire smoke for winter use. But their 

 principal quarry at this season is the black bear, of which they 

 kill considerable numbers. Their methods are as follows. 

 The hunter repairs at daybreak to the top of the highest 

 mountain, and there waits the whole day till sunset, overlooking 

 a wide area of burnt ground and blueberry patches. Sooner 

 or later Bruin will appear, and the Indian stalks to within 

 30 yards, and shoots him with his double-barrelled muzzle- 

 loader — the gun they all use. In 1903 Noel Matthews killed 

 seven in September at Crooked Lake, and in 1904 Nicholas 

 Jeddore slew nine in the same month near Burnt Hill. 

 Bears are in consequence becoming scarce in Newfoundland. 

 About 15th October the Indians set out their great circle of 

 traps (each circle being a round of about 5 miles); most of 

 these are the ordinary gins, but numbers are made for fox. 



