

THE INDIANS 191 



time to hunt, and unencumbered by children or old persons. 

 On the Long Portage of the Bersimis, Low's exploring party 

 spent a full week. It appears on his map as the " ten- 

 mile portage/ 7 and passes over a mountain more than one 

 thousand feet high. 



In the earlier days of the fur trade, these movements were 

 by no means general with the people, partly because the 

 comparatively few articles then required in trade were 

 easily transported, and the trading was done at some dis- 

 tance inland. In the nearer regions, formerly the best 

 hunting districts, fur is now scarce and large game almost 

 wholly wanting. Previous to white occupation of the 

 shores, it is probable that long journeys were not often 

 undertaken for any purpose, while those performed were 

 favoured by a game supply which was usually ample. 

 The seasonal migrations of the recent period bear very 

 heavily upon the young and feeble, and must seriously 

 affect the current mortality figures. 



The periods of actual straits and starvation usually 

 occur late in the winter, when reserve supplies are ex- 

 hausted. It would be hard now to name a district of the 

 peninsula where subsistence upon the country the year 

 through is reasonably dependable. 



The prime disaster to the game resources was not due to 

 improved firearms or such access of direct destruction as 

 swept away the buffalo and other western game, but was 

 incidental to a succession of tremendously destructive 

 forest fires. From the Gulf to the barrens, three-fourths 

 of the country has been laid waste within the white period, 

 the thin mat of organic soil being burned wholly away over 

 large areas, leaving only rock and sterile subsoil. The great 



