HISTORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND MICMACS 221 



lynx, marten, and otter, out of forest materials, and are shown 

 in my illustrations. The neatest of all is the wooden "dead- 

 fall," set for the otter. 



From October to February the whole of Central New- 

 foundland is covered with traps, and, as Joe remarked, a 

 man could not go for twenty miles without having his dog 

 killed or caught by the foot, unless he keeps the animal 

 by his side. 



At the end of October the hunters go out to their homes 

 on the coast, and then start in again in November to visit 

 their traps when the snow comes. They then re-set the 

 traps, put fresh baits, and kill a couple of caribou on the 

 way to the coast, their trained dogs hauling them. The 

 traps are visited again and re-set in January or February, 

 the dogs again hauling out one or two fat doe caribou to 

 the coast. Work in the interior then closes for the year, 

 though in February many of the Indians travel inland a 

 day's journey to the main herd of the wintering caribou, and 

 conduct a " surround." Caribou are in thousands near the 

 south coast at this season. The Indians depart at daybreak, 

 and after locating a herd of several hundreds in a valley 

 they occupy all the main trails leading out of it, and send 

 some one to move the deer. As soon as they are started 

 the caribou rush for the passes, where the Indians lie con- 

 cealed, and a considerable number are killed at short range 

 with guns loaded with swan-shot. On the whole, the Indians 

 are not wasteful in their methods, far less so than the white 

 man, as every part of a deer is used, and they never kill 

 one unless it is for some special purpose. I doubt if each 

 individual hunter shoots more than ten stag and ten does 

 in a season, and this is not an excessive number, since we 

 know how abundant the deer are. 



