THE CHASE. ■ 3G9 



His comrade follows, treading exactly in his footsteps and hold- 

 ing the guns of both in a horizontal position, so that the muzzles 

 project under the arms of him who carries the head. Both 

 hunters have a fillet of white skin around their foreheads, and 

 the foremost has a strip of the same around his waist. They 

 approach the herd by degrees, raising their legs very slowly but 

 setting them down somewhat suddenly, after the manner of a 

 deer, and always taking care to lift right or left feet simultane- 

 ously. If any of the herd leaves off feeding to gaze upon this 

 extraordinary plienomenon it instantly stops, and the head begins 

 to play its part by licking its shoulders and performing other 

 necessary movements. In this way the hunters attain the very 

 centre of the herd without exciting suspicion, and have leisure to 

 single out the fattest. The hindmost man then pushes forward 

 his comrade's gun, the head is dropped, and they both fire nearly 

 at the same instant. The deer scamper off, the hunters trot after 

 them. In a short time the poor animals halt to ascertain the 

 cause of their terror ; their foes stop at the same moment, and, 

 having loaded as they run, greet the gazers with a second fatal 

 discharge. The consternation of the deer increase ; they run to 

 and fro in the utmost confusion, and sometimes a great part of 

 the herd is destroyed within the space of a few hundred yards." 



This long extract is fully justified by the amount of real infor- 

 mation which it contains as to the habits of the Barren-ground 

 Caribou. From the facts stated I arrived at a different conclu- 

 sion from that stated by Captain Franklin. He says the Rein- 

 deer " has a quick eye ; " but his conduct shows that he has the 

 dullest eye of the genus. Any of the others with whose habits 

 we are well acquainted would have detected the counterfeit, es- 

 pecially when one hunter was following the other, long before 

 they reached the herd. The facts related demonstrate that the 

 sense of smell is not so reliable as has been often stated, else the 

 hunters, under no circumstances, could have reached the middle 

 of the herd without creating alarm. 



As further illustrating the habits of this animal, I must quote 

 from what Captain Lyon says of the mode of hunting it by the 

 Esquimaux. " The Reindeer visits the Polar regions at the lat- 

 ter end of May, or early part of June, and remains till Septem- 

 ber. On his first arrival he is thin and his flesh is tasteless, but 

 the short summer is sufficient to fatten him to two or three 

 inches on the haunches. When feeding on the level ground an 

 Esquimau makes no attempt to approach him, but should a few 



24 



