They all promised to follow my advice, and assured me it was not
they, but the Stone Indians, who robbed and annoyed the traders.
The Stone Indian who was present, heard this accusation against his
tribe quite unmoved, but he probably did not understand the whole
of the communication. We left them to finish their rum, and went
to look round the lodges, and examine the pound.
The greatest proportion of labour, in savage life, falls to the women
; we now saw them employed in dressing skins, and conveying
wood, water, and provision. As they have often to fetch the meat
from some distance, they are assisted in this duty by their dogs,
which are not harnessed in sledges, but carry their burdens in a
manner peculiarly adapted to this level country. Two long poles
are fastened by a collar to the dog s neck; their ends trail on the
ground, and are kept at a proper distance by a hoop, "which is lashed
between them, immediately behind the dog’s tail; the hoop is covered
with network, upon which the load is placed.
The boys were amusing themselves by shooting arrows at a mark,
and thus training to become hunters. The Stone Indians are so
expert with the bow and arrow, that they can strike a very small
object at a considerable distance, and shoot with sufficient force to
pierce through the body of a buffalo when near.
The buffalo pound was a fenced circular space of about a hundred
yards in diameter; the entrance was banked up with snow, to a
sufficient height to prevent the retreat of the animals that once have
entered. For about a mile on each side of the road leading to the
pound, stakes were driven into the ground at nearly equal distances
of about twenty yards; these were intended to represent men, and
to deter the animals from attempting to break out on either side.
Within fifty or sixty yards from the pound, branches of trees were
placed between these stakes to screen the Indians, who lie down
behind them to await the approach of the buffalo.
The principal dexterity in this species of chase is shewn by the