IN QUEST OF TREASURE 43 



by a number of large islands dividing the river into mere 

 creeks, we chanced upon a woodland caribou bull, as it stood 

 among the rushes in a marshy bend watching us from a distance 

 of not more than forty yards. As I crouched down to be out of 

 the hunter's way, I heard him say: 



"I'm sorry, my brother, but we need you for both food and 

 clothing, so turn your eyes away before I fire." The next 

 moment the woods echoed the report of his smooth-bore muzzle- 

 loader — the kind of gun used by about 90 per cent, of the 

 fur hunters of the forest. Why? Because of the simplicity of 

 its ammunition. Such a gun never requires a variety of cum- 

 bersome shells for different kinds of game, but with varying 

 charges of powder and shot or ball, is ready for anything from a 

 rat or duck to a bear or moose. 



Before bleeding the deer, Oo-koo-hoo did a curious thing: 

 with his sharp knife he destroyed the deer's eyes. When I 

 questioned him as to his purpose he replied: "As long as the 

 eyes remain perfect, the spirit remains within the head, and 

 I could not bear to skin the deer with its spirit looking at me." 

 Though Oo-koo-hoo was in many ways a wise old man, he held 

 some beliefs that were past my understanding, and others that, 

 when I tried to analyze them, seemed to be founded on the 

 working of a sensitive conscience. 



Hearing the report of the gun, the others hurried to the 

 scene. While the deer was being bled the old grandmother 

 caught the blood in a pail — into which she threw a pinch of salt 

 to clot the blood — as she wished to use it for the making of a 

 blood pudding. Then the carcass was loaded aboard Oo-koo- 

 hoo's canoe, rather, indeed, overloading it. Accordingly, I 

 accepted Amik's invitation to board his craft, and at the first 

 good place we all went ashore to clear the ground for the 

 night's camp. There was a porcupine there, and though it 

 moved but slowly away, my friends did not kill it, for they had 

 plenty to eat, and did not want to be bothered with taking care 



