76 TRANSACTIONS iSqQ-'oO 



For the Huions of the Reserve, a more important, and cer- 

 tainly more congenial means of living than agriculture, is hunting. 

 Beaver, otter, marten, mink, cariboo, are still in fairly large 

 numbers over the vast unsettled track which extends towards 

 Lake St. John ; but moose, the most valuable for manufacturing 

 purposes, is scarce now. 



Just as Gros-Louis had done the evening previous, the 

 Tsiouis of the Reserve bitterly complained of inter- 

 ference with their hunting privileges on the part of the 

 whites, through governmental regulations and leases to clubs. 

 Forest rangers were on the look-out, and frequently con- 

 fiscated the pelts and destroyed the traps of the poor Indians. 



The resources derived from their farms and their hunt- 

 ing expeditions are inadequate for the support of these 

 Hurons, and they would be in utter misery, were it not 

 for some additional revenue obtained in various ways : draw- 

 ing firewood from the reserve to the Lorette villagers, day 

 labour performed on the railwa}^ and elsewhere in the 

 vicinity, and oftentimes, the very material help provided by 

 their women folk. The occupant of the first house I 

 entered on the Reserve, was an old man supported partl}^ 

 by a son living with him but working for a baker at St. 

 Ambroise ; and partlj^ b}' a daughter, who kept his house 

 and did some sewing for outsiders. 



Now and then a Huron will leave the village or the Reserve 

 and spend a few years in the United States, emplo^^ed as common 

 laborer, when he will return to his former home. 



To sum up the labour system of Lorette : Hunting is to- 

 day of little account, except for very few of the Hurons ; but a 

 number of the men hire out periodically as guides to parties of 

 sport seekers from the cities. Farming is not carried on to any 

 appreciable extent. The only important means of living are 

 manufacturing industries, such as the making of baskets and of 

 various fancy wares, the making of canoes and of snowshoes, and 

 above all, the making of moccasins and the dressing of hides there- 

 for. It is to be observed that the hides used in the manufacture 

 of moccasins are for the greater part imported : East India elk 

 and antelope. Of the skins the produce of the region, moose has 

 become scarce, cariboo is suitable only for mittens, gloves and the 



