THE INDIANS 195 



difficulty when the face is stiff with cold. It may be noted 

 that the Scotch and English, whose relative facility in 

 catching the Indian sounds has been remarked; have also 

 a long inheritance of northern conditions. 



Eastward from Mingan the people travel the Natashquan, 

 St. Augustine, and Eskimo rivers. Their lands are chiefly 

 in the region between the Hamilton and the St. Lawrence. 

 Southward from the Mealy Mountains of Hamilton Inlet 

 and the Sandwich Bay coast lies an indefinite, unmapped 

 area of high territory, partly barren, where large lakes 

 supply the rough rivers passing north, east, and south. 

 In winter, white or Eskimo-white hunters penetrate one 

 or two hundred miles into this area. The Hamilton River 

 also is hunted by the shore people. These go up in the 

 fall in boats, returning on snow. The inland life of these 

 shore-dwelling hunters is as little like that of the Indians 

 as well may be. Their winter method is to take what 

 supplies can be hauled on sleds by hand, set traps along their 

 route, the length of which is determined somewhat by snow 

 conditions, and take up the catch of fur on their return 

 march. They are known as " planters"; their occupation 

 is " furring." Cabins are built by some at strategic points, 

 and these " tilts" may be taken as the sign of white blood 

 in the land. The Indian, held to no base, uses the movable 

 lodge only. The shore hunter is bound, his campaign 

 limited, by his large dependence on transported provisions. 

 If half-emancipated from, or better, only half-subjugated 

 by, "the white man's burden,' ' he lacks yet the full inherit- 

 ance, the ferity, which saves existence to the Indian born. 

 The broad difference between the two, the fur catcher and 

 the Indian, is that between hunting and the hunting life. 



