100 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMEUICA. 



not for the immense herds of this Deer that exist there. Of the Caribou-horns 

 they form their lish spears and hooks, and, jirevious to tlie introduction of 

 European iron, ice-chisels and various other utensils were likewise made of 

 them. 



The hunter breaks the leg bones of a recently slaughtered Deer, and 

 while the marrow is still warm, devours it with relish. Tbe kidneys, part of 

 the intestines — particularly the thin folds of tlie third stomach, or many-plies — 

 are likewise occasionally eaten when raw; and the summits of the antlers, as 

 long as they are soft, are also delicacies in a raw state. 



The colon, or large intestine, is inverted, so as to preserve its fatty append- 

 ages, and is, when either roasted or boiled, one of the richest and most .savory 

 morsels the country affords, either to tlie native or white resident. The 

 remainder of the intestines, after being cleaned, are hung in the smoke for a 

 few days, and then broiled. 



The stomach and its contents — termed by the Eskimos nerrooks, and by 

 theGreenlanders nerrikak nerriookak — are also 'eaten; and it would appear that 

 the lichens and other vegetable matters on which the Caribou feeds are more 

 easily digested by the human stomach when they have been mixed with the 

 salivary and gastric juices of a ruminating animal. Many of the Indians 

 and Canadian voyageurs preCer this savor}' mixture after it has undergone a 

 degree of fermentatio:), or lain to season, as they term it, for a few days. 



The blood, if mixed in proper proportion with a strong decoction of fat 

 meal, forms, after some nicety in the cooking, a rich soup, which is very pal- 

 atable and highly nutritious, but difhcult of digestion. 



When all the soft parts of the animal are consumed , the bones are pounded 

 small, and a large quantity of marrow is extracted from them by boiling. This 

 is used in making the better parts of the mixture of dried meat and fat, which 

 is named pemmican, and it is also preserved by the young men and w^omen for 

 anointing the hair and greasing the face on dress occasions. The tongue 

 roasted, when fresh or when half-dried, is a delicious morsel. 



When it is necessary to preserve Caribou-meat for use at a future period, it 

 is cut into thin slices and dried over the smoke of a fire, and then pounded 

 between two stones. This pounded meat is dry and husky when eaten 

 alone; but when a quantity of the black fat, or depouiUe, of the Deer is added 

 to it. it is one of the greatest treats that can be offered to a resident in the fur 

 countries. 



The Caribou travel in herds varying in mimber from eight or ten to two 

 or three hundred, and their daily excursions are generally toward the quarter 

 whence the wind blows. The Indians kill them with the bow and arrow or 

 gun, take them in snares, or spear them in crossing rivers and lakes. The 

 Eskimos also take them in traps ingeniously formed of ice or snow. Of all 

 the Deer of North America, the Barren-ground Caribou is the easiest to 

 approach, and they are slaughtered in the greatest numbers. A single family 

 of Indians will sometimes destroy two or three hundred in a few weeks, and in 

 many cases they are killed for their tongues alone. 



This Deer is described as of an unsuspecting but inquisitive disposition. 

 The northern hunter, when he sees a Caribou feeding in the open plain, 



