WILD ANIMALS AND MEN 231 



on the outer side; that is why a fur- trader — when looking only 

 at the inner side— can tell whether a skin has been taken in 

 winter or summer. In dressing leather the inner side is rubbed 

 well with brains which are then allowed to soak in for three or 

 four days ; then the skin is soaked in a vessel filled with water — 

 but not in a river — for about two days more ; then it is stretched 

 again and let dry, then scraped with a bone, shell, or steel 

 scraper — if it is a moose skin, only on one side, but if it is a 

 caribou skin, on both sides. The object of scraping is to 

 further soften the skin. After that, it is taken off the stretcher 

 and rubbed together between the hands and pulled between 

 two people. Then it is stretched again and smoked over a 

 slow fire that does not blaze. 



Woodsmen hunt moose for food and clothing. Townsmen 

 hunt moose for the satisfaction of killing. But should the 

 townsman fail in his hunt, he may hire a native "Head Hun- 

 ter" to secure a head for him; and that reminds me of one night 

 during the early winter, when a strange apparition was seen 

 crossing the lake. It appeared to have wings, but it did not 

 fly, and though it possessed a tail, it did not run, but contented 

 itself with moving steadily forward on its long, up-turned feet. 

 Over an arm it carried what might have been a trident, and 

 what with its waving tail and great outspreading wings that 

 rose above its horned-like head, it suggested that nothing less 

 than Old Beelzebub himself had come from his flaming region 

 beyond to cool himself on the snow-covered lake. But in 

 reality it was just Oo-koo-hoo returning with a fine pair of 

 moose horns upon his back, and which he counted on turning 

 over to the trader for some city sportsman who would readily 

 palm it off as a trophy that had fallen to his unerring aim, and 

 which he had brought down, too, with but a single shot . . . 

 of $25. 



While at work I recalled how Oo-koo-hoo had surmised, 

 before he had examined the carcass, that he had broken the 



