248 N O R TH ERN ZOOLOGY.
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 brush-wood 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 not less than two or
three miles, while the deer’s path is exactly along the middle, between the two
rows of brush-wood.
“ Indians employed on this service always pitch their tents on or near to an
eminence that affords a commanding prospect of the path leading to the pound;
and when they see any deer going that way, men, women, and children walk along
the lake or river side under cover of the woods, till they get behind them, then
step forth to open view, and proceed towards the pound in form of a crescent.
The poor timorous deer finding themselves pursued, and at the same time taking
the two rows of brushy poles to be two ranks of people stationed to prevent their
passing on either side, run straight forward in the path till they get into the pound.
The Indians then close in, and block up the entrance with some brushy trees that
have been cut down and lie at hand for that purpose. The deer being thus
enclosed, the women and children walk round the pound to prevent them from
jumping over or breaking through the fence, while the men are employed spearing
such as are entangled in the snares, and shooting with bows and arrows those which
remain loose in the pound. This method of hunting, if it deserve the name, is
sometimes so successful, that many families subsist by it without having occasion
to move their tents above once or twice during the course of a whole winter; and
when the spring advances, both the deer and Indians draw out to the eastward,
on the ground which is entirely barren, or at least what is called so in these parts,
as it neither produces trees nor shrubs of any kind, so that moss and some little
grass is all the herbage which is to be found on it.”
Captain Franklin observes that “ the rein-deer has a quick eye, but the hunter
by keeping to leeward of them, and using a little caution, may approach very
near ; their apprehensions being much more easily roused by the smell than the
sight of any unusual object. Indeed their curiosity often causes them to come
close up to and wheel round the hunter, thus affording him a good opportunity of
singling out the fattest of the herd, and upon these occasions they become so
confused by the shouts and gestures of their enemy, that they run backwards and
forwards with great rapidity, but without the power of making their escape. The
Copper Indians find by experience that a white dress attracts them most readily,
and they often succeed in bringing them within shot, by kneeling and vibrating
the gun from side to side, in imitation of the motion of a .deer’s horns when he is
in the act of rubbing his head against a stone. The Dog-rib Indians have a mode
of killing these animals, which, though simple, is very successful. It was thus
described by Mr. Wentzel, 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 foreheads,
and the foremost has a strip of the same 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 deer scamper 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 moment, and having loaded as they ran, greet the gazers with a second
fatal discharge. The consternation 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.”