CARIBOU OR AMERICAN REINDEER. 
121 
t 
Throughout the whole line of coast frequented by the Esquimaux it is 
customary to see long lines of stones set on end, or of turfs piled up at 
intervals of about twenty yards, for the purpose of leading the Caribou to 
stations where they can be more easily approached. The natives find by 
experience that the animals in feeding imperceptibly take the line of direc- 
tion of the objects thus placed before them, and the hunter can approacli a 
herd that he sees from a distance, by gradually crawling from stone to 
stone, and remaining motionless when he sees any of the animals looking 
towards him. The whole of the barren grounds are intersected by Caribou 
paths, like sheep-tracks, which are of service to travellers at times in 
leading them to convenient crossing places of lakes or rivers.” 
The following account of a method of “ impounding” Deer, resorted to 
by the Chepewyan Indians, is from Hearne : 
“ When the Indians design to impound Deer, they look out for one of 
the paths in which a number of them have trod, and which is observed to 
be still frequented by them. When these paths cross a lake, a wide river, 
or a barren plain, they are found to be much the best for the purpose ; and 
if the path run through a cluster of woods, capable of affording materials 
for building the pound, it adds considerably to the commodiousness of the 
situation. The pound is built by making a strong fence with brushy trees, 
without observing any degree of regularity, and the work is continued to 
any extent, according to the pleasure of the builders. I have seen some 
that were not less than a mile round, and am informed that there are 
others still more extensive. The door or entrance of the pound is not 
larger than a common gate, and the inside is so crowded with small 
counter-hedges as very much to resemble a maze, in every opening of which 
they set a snare, made with thongs of parchment Deer-skins well twisted 
together, which are amazingly strong. One end of the snare is usually 
made fast to a growing pole ; but if no one of a sufficient size can be found 
near the place where the snare is set, a loose pole is substituted in its room, ' 
which is always of such size and length that a Deer cannot drag it far 
before it gets entangled among the other woods, which are all left 
standing, except what is found necessary for making the fence, hedges, &c. 
The pound being thus prepared, a row of small brush-wood is stuck up in 
the snow on each side of the door or entrance, and these hedge-rows are 
continued along the open part of the lake, river, or plain, where neither 
stick nor stump besides is to be seen, which makes them the more distinctly 
observed. These poles or brushwood are generally placed at the distance 
of fifteen or twenty yards from each other, and ranged in such a manner 
as to form two sides of a long acute angle, growing gradually wider in 
proportion to the distance they extend from the pound, which sometimes is 
vol. in. — 16 
