34 



FEROCITY OF EAGLES. 



found that the dog had been torn to pieces to afford a 

 meal for two eaglets, which the red men despatched, 

 but not without being attacked by the parent, which 

 in turn also succumbed under a violent blow it received 

 on the head from a deftly-wielded blow of a club. 

 It was a poor solatium for my loss, yet it was 

 assuredly a slight satisfaction to obtain the revenge 

 that I did. 



If the dog had not been in the water, and so placed 

 at the utmost disadvantage, the result would probably 

 have been different, even if the two combatants had 

 been left to fight it out alone, for Snow was equal to 

 any emergency that his weight and size could success- 

 fully combat with. 



There is no doubt but that many Indian children 

 are killed in their infancy by white-headed eagles. 

 Among the Chippewas, which were the tribe I was 

 then principally acquainted with, late in spring, when 

 these people returned to their fixed dwellings, at the 

 conclusion of the winter hunt, narratives of the mis- 

 deeds produced by these predatory birds were far 

 from uncommon. This is the way that these disasters 

 generally happen. When a papoose is born, the squaw, 

 for facility of transport, straps the child upon a 

 board, which is covered with an ample padding of 

 moss. The husband kills a cariboo, or moose. 

 Sufficient for a meal he fetches home with him, then 

 sends his wife " to pack " the remainder of the carcass 

 to camp. After both have fed to repletion, the 

 " good man " goes to sleep, while the woman starts 

 on a tramp through the woods, or over the barrens, 

 to fetch home the remainder of the meat. Not to be 

 hampered with additional and unnecessary weight, 

 and, further, to be secure from the attack of the first 

 ravenous grey wolf that should chance to skulk about 

 the camp, the papoose is hung up to the limb of an 

 adjoining tree till the maternal parent returns from 

 her toil. The infant is completely he pless in its 



