No. 382.] ANIMALS. OF NORTHWESTERN ALASKA. 731 
Two or three hunters were out on snowshoes nearly every day 
at this season. In the utter absence of anything like cover, 
stalking was absolutely out of the question, and their practice 
was to travel straight after the deer as fast as they could. 
Sometimes the deer would go straight away at such a pace that 
they would make good their escape, but in most cases their 
curiosity would get the better of them, and one or more would 
begin to circle round to get a better view of the pursuer, who 
would immediately alter his course so as to head them off. As 
soon as he got within 500 or 600 yards, he would open fire with 
his Winchester, and keep it up until the deer was killed or 
driven away. Strange as it may seem, many deer were killed 
in this fashion. The natives were very lavish of their ammuni- 
tion, and their reckless shooting had already made the deer very 
wild. Most of the deer, however, were obtained at the inland 
hunting grounds already referred to. Many of the natives 
used to go to these grounds in the autumn, as soon as enough 
snow had fallen to make sledging practicable, and remained 
there until the days grew too short for hunting. At this sea- 
son they found the deer abundant and moving about in large 
herds. According to their account, the deer left this region 
and went further inland when the winter night set in, and did 
not return till about the first of February, when with the return 
of the sun the great deer-hunting season began. At this sea- 
son half the village used to resort to the rivers, where they 
encamped in permanent and comfortably fitted up snow houses, 
usually in small parties of two or three families each, at some 
distance from each other. Here they stayed until it was time to 
return for the whaling, usually about the end of March or the 
middle of April. The men spent all the available daylight 
hunting deer, while the women occupied themselves dressing 
Skins and fishing through the ice of the river, usually with 
excellent success. Heavy loads of frozen meat and fish and 
rough-dried skins used to be brought in, and the return of the 
hunters was always celebrated with great feasts, when the pot 
was kept boiling all day long and every visitor was entertained 
with venison. The does drop their fawns in the spring some- 
where not far eastward of the Point. At this season the Eskimos 
