7992 



Quadrupeds. 



animals are numerous the Tinne tribes of the Mackenzie valley subsist 

 altogether on them, and the skins furnish almost entirely their winter 

 clothing — robes, shirts, capotes, mittens and socks being made, which 

 afford a sufficient protection against the most severe cold, though they 

 do not form lasting garments, as the hair falls out very quickly. 



Moose (Alces americanm). Is found in greater or lesser numbers 

 throughout the wooded portions of the district. Its food consists of 

 the coarse grass of the swamps and the shoots of various kinds of 

 willows. It produces from one to two at a birth. In size it is rather 

 larger than a horse, and a buck in its grease will weigh as high as 

 800 fbs. without the offal. When in good condition the flesh is sweet 

 and tender, and is highly esteemed as an article of food, but should 

 the animal be poor, or have been subjected to violent exertion pre- 

 viously to death, the meat is scarcely eatable. The nose or moufle is 

 considered by some the greatest delicacy of the North-west, contesting 

 the palm with bear's paw, beaver tail, reindeer tongue, buffalo boss 

 and sheep ribs. The Indians sometimes snare the moose, and in the 

 spring, when the action of the sun has formed a thick crust upon the 

 snow, they drive them into drifts and spear them in numbers. It is 

 not a gregarious animal, and to hunt it requires more skill than is 

 necessary in the pursuit of either reindeer or buffalo. In the winter, for 

 some time before the hunter comes on his chase, he removes his snow 

 shoes, and despite the thermometer being many degrees below zero, 

 sometimes takes off his leggins ; he then makes his approach cautiously, 

 cutting such twigs of willows as may be in his way with his teeth, and 

 avoiding, when possible, dry brush and fallen timber. As the slightest 

 unusual sound is sufficient to frighten this animal ,Uhe chosen period for 

 hunting it is during the continuance of a heavy gale of wind. During the 

 rutting season, which happens in the fall, the males are rather dangerous 

 to follow, and instances have occurred of native hunters having been 

 severely injured and even killed by them. They fight rather with their 

 fore feet than with their horns. The uses to which the various parts 

 of the moose are put are many. The hide supplies parchment, leather, 

 lines and cords ; the sinews yield thread and glue ; the horns serve 

 for handles to knives and awls, as well as to make spoons of ; the shank 

 bones are employed as tools to dress leather with ; and with a parti- 

 cular portion of the hair, when dyed, the Indian women embroider 

 garments. To make leather and parchment the hide is first divested 

 of hair by scraping, and all pieces of raw flesh being cut away, if then 

 washed, stretched and dried, it will become parchment. In converting 

 this into leather a further process of steeping, scraping, rubbing and 



