230 
VIRGINIAN DEER. 
August to the month of December. In Carolina, the haunch and loin 
only are served up on the tables of the planters, the shoulders and skin 
are the perquisites of the driver, or negro huntsman. The Indians eat 
every part of the Deer, not omitting the entrails and the contents of the 
stomach the latter many of the tribes devour raw, without subjecting 
them to any cooking or roasting process. It is stated, even by white men, 
that the stomach, with all its half-digested ingredients, is very palatable. 
Hunger and hardships seldom fail to give a zest to the appetite. Vege- 
table food is scarce in the wilderness or on the prairies. The traveller 
who has long been obliged to sleep in a tent and make his toilet in the 
woods, soon becomes indifferent to the etiquette of civilized life, and does 
not inquire whether his dish has been prepared according to the recipe of 
the cookery-books. A Deer paunch contains a mixture of many ingre- 
dients, picked up from various shrubs, seeds, and grasses, and may become 
a substitute for vegetables where the kitchen-garden has not j'ct been in- 
troduced. According to a northern traveller (Lvon’s Narrative, p. 242 ), 
who referred, however, to another animal, the reindeer of our continent, 
It is “ acid and rather pungent, resembling a mixture of sorrel and radish 
leaves,” its smell like fresh brewer’s grains.” As we have never been 
subjected to the necessity of testing the virtues of this primitive chowder, 
we are unable to pronounce it a delicacy, and must leave the decision to 
those who may be disposed to make the experiment. 
The capture of the common Deer exercised the ingenuity and patience 
of the Indian, ages before the pale faces intruded on his hunting-grounds, 
with their rifles, their horses, and hounds. He combatted with the wolf 
and the cougar for their share of the prey, leaving on our minds a melan- 
choly impression of the near approach of the condition of savage life to 
that of the brute creation. Different modes of hunting were suggest- 
ed by the peculiar face of the localities of the country, and the de- 
grees of intelligence or native cunning of the several tribes. The bow 
and arrow evidently must have been in common use throughout the whole 
length and breadth of our land, as the numerous arrow-heads still every 
where turned up by the plough abundantly attest. 
The Rein Deer, inhabiting the extensive, cold, and inhospitable regions 
of the British possessions to the north of Quebec, were caught in snares 
manufactured from the hide, and sometimes of the sinews, of the animal. 
During the season of their annual migrations, rude fences of brush-wood 
were constructed, which were a mile or two apart at the entrance, nar- 
rowing down to nearly a point at the other end, in which the snares were 
placed, and at the termination of this “cul de sac” was erected a high 
fence or pound, secured by stakes, stones, and other strong materials, in 
