IN QUEST OF TREASURE 45 



that were done, bad luck would follow the hunter to the end 

 of his days. He knew of a hunter who on one occasion had 

 been guilty of that irreverence; afterward, whenever that 

 hunter would see a moose, the moose — instead of trying to 

 escape — would indifferently bark at him, and even follow him 

 back close to camp; and when that hunter would go out again, 

 other moose would do the very same thing. Moreover, the 

 hunter was afraid to kill any moose that acted that way, for he 

 well knew that the animal was simply warning him of some 

 great danger that was surely going to befall him. So, in the 

 end, the hunter fretted himself to death. Therefore every 

 hunter should take great care to burn all the bones of a moose's 

 head and never on any account allow a woman to eat thereof 

 or to feed it to the dogs. In burning the head, the hunter was 

 merely paying the homage due to so noble a creature. 



Again, a hunter might find that though he had formerly 

 been a good moose hunter, and had always observed every 

 custom, yet he now utterly failed to secure a moose at all. He 

 might come upon plenty of tracks, but the moose would always 

 escape, and prove the efforts of an experienced moose hunter 

 of no more avail than those of a greenhorn. In such a case, 

 there was but one thing to do, and that was to secure the 

 whole skin — head, legs, and all — of a fawn, stuff it into its 

 natural shape, set it up in the woods, wait till the new moon 

 was in the first crescent, and then, just after sundown, engage a 

 young girl to shoot five arrows at it from the regular hunting 

 distance. If she missed, it was proof that the spirit had 

 rejected the girl, and that another would have to be secured to 

 do the shooting. If success were then attained, the hunter 

 might go upon his hunt, well knowing he would soon be re- 

 warded by bringing down a moose. Of course such ideas seem 

 strange to us, but, after all, are we in a position to ridicule the 

 Indians' belief i ? I think not, if we but recall the weird ideas 

 our ancestors held. 



