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 kind 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
herd scampers 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 instant, 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.
A party who had been sent to Akaitcho returned, bringing three
hundred and seventy pounds of dried meat, and two hundred and
twenty pounds of suet, together with the unpleasant information,
that a still larger quantity of the latter article had been found and
carried off, as he supposed, by some Dog-ribs, who had passed that
way.
The weather becoming daily colder, all the lakes in the neighbourhood
of the house were completely, and the river partially, frozen
over by the middle of the month. The rein-deer now began to
quit us for more southerly and better-sheltered pastures. Indeed,
their longer residence in our neighbourhood would have been of little
service to us, for our ammunition was almost completely expended,
though we had dealt it of late with a very sparing hand to the
Indians. We had, however, already secured in the store-house the
carcasses of one hundred deer, together with one thousand pounds of
suet, and some dried meat ; and had moreover, eighty deer stowed
up at various distances from the house. The necessity of employing
the men to build a house for themselves, before the weather became
too severe, obliged us to put the latter en cache, as the voyagers term
it, instead of adopting the more safe plan of bringing them to the
house. Putting a deer en cache, means merely protecting it against
the wolves, and still more destructive wolverenes, by heavy loads of
wood or stones ; the latter animal, however, sometimes digs underneath
the pile, and renders the precaution abortive.
On the 18th, Mr. Back and Mr. Wentzel set out for Fort Providence,
accompanied by Beauparlant, .Belanger, and two Indians,
Akaiyazza and Thoolezzeh, with their wives, the Little Forehead,
and the Smiling Marten. Mr. Back had volunteered to go and
make the necessary arrangements for transporting the stores we
expected from Cumberland House, and to endeavour to obtain some
additional supplies from the establishments at Slave Lake. If any
accident should have prevented the arrival of our stores, and the
establishments at Moose-deer Island should be unable to supply the
deficiency, he was, if he found himself equal to the task, to proceed
to Chipewyan. Ammunition was essential to our existence, and a
considerable supply of tobacco was also requisite, not only for the