20 CAPTAIN CART WEIGHT'S 



ness. I observed, that these fences were of two 

 kinds. Those Indians who lived on the South side 

 of the river, erected theirs on the top of the bank, 

 and extended it for a mile or two in length. Where 

 they found plenty of tall trees, they felled them 

 so as to fall parallel to the river, and one upon 

 another; the weak places they filled up with the 

 tops of other trees. Where any open place inter- 

 vened, they made use of a sort of sewell, made of 

 narrow strips of birch rind, tied together in the 

 form of the wing of a paper kite: each of these 

 was suspended from the end of a stick, stuck into 

 the ground in an oblique position, that it might 

 play with every breeze of wind. These sewells 

 were placed at no great distance from each other, 

 and the effect produced by their motion, was con- 

 siderably heightened by the noise of the strips, 

 when they struck against each other. By these 

 means, the deer^ were deterred by the sewells 

 from attempting to enter the woods at the open 

 places, and the fences were too high to be over- 

 leaped, and too strong to be forced. Of course, 

 they were compelled to walk along the shore, until 



1 The name deer is used by Cartwright as it is by the present day in- 

 habitants of Newfoundland and Labrador for the caribou, — the American 

 reindeer. There are no other deer native to either Newfoundland or 

 Labrador. The Newfoundland caribou, Rangifer terroe-novce, belongs in the 

 group of woodland caribou. In Labrador the woodland caribou, Rangifer 

 caribou, occurs throughout the wooded portions and in Cartwright's time 

 was abundant on the southeastern coast. In the treeless northern region 

 the barren ground caribou occurs, Rangifer ardicus. The reindeer of 

 northern Europe, Rangifer tarandus, is a smaller animal and is at present 

 writing being introduced by Dr. W. T. Grenfell into Newfoundland and 

 later into Labrador to take the place of the Eskimo dogs as a beast of 

 burden, and to supply milk, mea?t and clothing. 



