244 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



The Dog-rib Indians have a mode of killing these animals, which 

 though simple, is very successful. It was thus described by Mr. Went- 

 zel, who resided long amongst that people. The hunters go in pairs, 

 the foremost man carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin 

 of the head of a deer, and in the other a small bundle of twigs, against 

 which he, from time to time, rubs the horns, imitating the gestures 

 peculiar to the animal. His comrade follows treading exactly in his 

 footsteps, and holding 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 round their fore- 

 heads, and the foremost has a strip of the same kind round his 

 wrists. 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 their right or left feet 

 simultaneously. If any of the herd leave off feeding to gaze upon 

 this extraordinary phenomenon, 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 dropt, and they both fire nearly at the 

 same instant. The herd scampers 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 instant, and having loaded as 

 they ran, greet the gazers with a second fatal discharge. The con- 

 sternation of the deer increases, 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. 



A party who had been sent to Akaitcho returned, bringing 

 three hundred and seventy pounds of dried meat, and two hundred 

 and twenty pounds of suet, together with the unpleasant informa- 

 tion, that a still larger quantity of the latter article had been found 



