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fat or flesh. The hair is also removed, if so desired. This is done most 
easily when the skin is frozen, with the aid of a serrated end scraper; 
otherwise, the skin is soaked and scraped with a knife. The skin is then 
repeatedly soaked in water mixed with moose brains, alternating with 
stretching and pulling. It is probable that a hollowed-out log about 6 
feet long and 1 foot in diameter was used for this purpose; one was found 
in a probable camping spot on McTavish bay. When the soaking and 
stretching are finished, the skin is smoked and dried over a fire of dried 
willow and afterwards rubbed with a stone scraper and pulled to softness. 
Caribou skins are whitened by allowing them to dry and bleach in the 
sun instead of smoking them. If a yellow colour is desired, which is 
generally the case with moose skins, the skin is sewed up so that smoke 
is concentrated from a fire of rotten wood. 
Bags of various descriptions are made from these skins. One of 
the most common was the old fire-bag, a small decorated pouch, which 
carried the flint and steel, tobacco, and a small knife. These bag's were 
of various patterns and had decorations of porcupine quil s or moose- 
hair. Moss-bags for carrying babies were made of tanned skins without 
hair, although in winter they were generally lined with rabbit skins. 
The child was put in the bag immediately after birth and the bag was 
laced. The child was thus carried on the back and seldom taken out 
during the first year except to change the moss. Despite the suitableness 
of the moss-bag, it has practically gone out of existence, a diaper of moss 
being now used. Bags of all sizes, made of loosely woven babiche with 
a band of decorated skin around the top and perhaps the sides and bottom, 
were used for carrying game and were very strong and light. They were 
carried by a line over one shoulder. 
Gun cases and quivers were made of tanned skins ornamented with 
fringes and bands of porcupine quills. Carrying straps, particularly 
used by women for carrying babies, are highly ornamented, in modern 
times with beads and embroidery. They are generally about 4 feet long, 
tapering from a middle width of about 4 inches. 
Whips vary in length from about 5 to 7 feet. A whole tanned caribou 
skin is used in their construction and they are braided smoothly round. 
About a foot of the upper part is tripled and twisted. The cracker is 
about 1 foot long and is made of three-ply twisted strips of tanned skins, 
knotted in various places. The handles are about a foot long, sometimes 
carved in a fashion introduced by the rndtis, but more often at the present 
time only decorated with wool and tassels which hold the whip on the 
surface of the snow if dropped, making it easy to find. When not in 
use, the whip is often hung around the neck. 
Dog-shoes are used in the late winter and spring, especially on the 
great lake where the ice candles and cuts the feet. They are little bags 
of tanned skin with tie-strings attached. They have been largely replaced 
by copies in canvas, which are not efficient because they quickly wear 
out and are a continual nuisance to the driver, who must stop and change 
them on a long trip. 
Snares and Traps. The snares still used are principally for rabbits. 
These are made of twisted sinew and are set in the rabbit runs in a number 
of slightly different ways, but all so that the loop, which is spread by 
