192 BEAR-HUNTS, ETC. 
the ablest sorcerer of the tribe beats the 
runic drum,* to discover the event of the 
chase, and the side on which the animal 
ought to be assailed. During the attack, 
the hunters join in a prescribed chorus, and 
beg earnestly of the Bear that he will do 
them no mischief. When they have killed 
fim, they put the body into a sledge to carry 
it home, and the Rein-deer which has been 
employed to draw it, is exempted from labour 
during the rest of the year. A new hut is 
constructed expressly for the purpose of 
cooking the flesh; and the huntsmen, joined 
by their wives, begin again their songs of 
joy, and of thanks to the animal for permit- 
ting them to return in safety. Leams also 
acquaints us, that the Laplanders never pre- 
sume to call the Bear by its proper name of 
‘Guourhja, but term it ‘ the Old Man in 
the fur cloak,’ because they esteem it to 
have the strength of fe men, and the sense 
* <The same kind of drum,” says Dr. Richardson, 
‘shaped like a double-headed tambourine, and paint- 
ed with arbitrary characters, or rude representations 
of wild beasts and of the heavenly bodies, is common 
throughout all the various North Amertean tribes.” 
