snow first begins to melt on the sides of the hills, and early in May
when large patches of the ground are visible, they are on the banks
of the Copper-Mine Eiver. The females take the lead in this
spring migration, and bring forth their young on the sea-coast about
the end of May or beginning of June. There are certain spots or
passes well known to the Indians, through which the deer invariably
pass in their migrations to and from the coast, and it has been observed
that they always travel against the wind. The principal
food of the rein-deer in the barren grounds, consists of the cetraria
nivalis and cucullata, cenomyce rangifenna, cornicularia ochrileuca>
and other lichens, and they also eat the hay or dry grass which is
found in the swamps in autumn. In the woods they feed on the
different lichens which hang from the trees, They are accustomed
to gnaw their fallen antlers, and are said also to devour mice.
The weight of a full grown barren-ground deer, exclusive of the
offal, varies from ninety to one hundred and thirty pounds. There
is, however, a much larger kind found in the woody parts of the
country, whose carcass weighs from two hundred to two hundred
and forty pounds. This kind never leaves the woods, but its skin
is as much perforated by the gad-fly as that of the others ; a presumptive
proof that the smaller species are not driven to the sea-
coast solely by the attacks of that insect. There are a few reindeer
occasionally killed in the spring, whose skins are entire, and
these are always fat, whereas the others are lean at that season.
This insect likewise infests the red-deer (wawaskeeshj but its ova
are not found in the skin of the moose, or buffalo, nor, as we have
been informed, of the sheep and goat that inhabit the Rocky Mountains,
although the rein-deer found in those parts, (which are of an
unusually large kind,) are as much tormented by them as the barren-
ground variety.
The herds of rein-deer are attended in their migrations by bands
of wolves, which destroy a great many of them. The Copper Indians
kill the rein-deer in the summer'with the gun, or taking advantage
of a favourable disposition of the ground, they enclose a herd upon a
neck of land, and drive them intoi a lake, where they fall an easy
prey; but in the rutting season and in the spring, when they are
numerous on -the skirts of the woods, they catch them in snares.
The snares are simple nooses, formed in a rope made of twisted
sinew, which are placed in the aperture of a slight hedge, constructed
of the branches of trees. This hedge is so disposed as to form
several winding compartments, and although it is by no means strong,
yet the deer seldom attempt to break through it. The herd is led
into the labyrinth by two converging rows of poles, and one is generally
caught at each of the openings by the noose placed there. The
hunter, too, lying in ambush, stabs some of them with his bayonet as
they pass by, and the whole herd frequently becomes his prey.
Where wood is scarce, a piece of turf turned up answers the purpose
of a pole to conduct them towards the snares.
The rein-deer has a quick eye, but the hunter by keeping to leeward
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 and wheel around the hunter ; thus affording
him a good opportunity of singling out the fattest of the herd, and
upon these occasions they often 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
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