CHAPTER VIII.

_Of their_ HUNTING.

HUNTING is the principal occupation of the Indians; they are trained to it from their earliest youth, and it is an exercise which is esteemed no less honourable than necessary towards their subsistence. A dextrous and resolute hunter is held nearly in as great estimation by them as a distinguished warrior. Scarcely any device which the ingenuity of man has discovered for ensnaring or destroying those animals that supply them with food, or whose skins are valuable to Europeans, is unknown to them.

Whilst they are engaged in this exercise, they shake off the indolence peculiar to their nature, and become active, persevering, and indefatigable. They are equally sagacious in finding their prey, and in the means they use to destroy it. They discern the footsteps of the beasts they are in pursuit of, although they are imperceptible to every other eye, and can follow them with certainty through the pathless forest.

The beasts that the Indians hunt, both for their flesh on which they subsist, and for their skins, of which they either make their apparel, or barter with the Europeans for necessaries, are the buffalo, the elk, the deer, the moose, the carribboo, the bear, the beaver, the otter, the martin, &c. I defer giving a description of these creatures here, and shall only at present treat of their manner of hunting them.

The route they shall take for this purpose, and the parties that shall go on the different expeditions are fixed in their general councils which are held some time in the summer, when all the operations for the ensuing winter are concluded on. The chief-warrior, whose province it is to regulate their proceedings on this occasion, with great solemnity issues out an invitation to those who choose to attend him; for the Indians, as before observed, acknowledge no superiority, nor have they any idea of compulsion; and every one that accepts it prepares himself by fasting during several days.

The Indians do not fast as some other nations do, on the richest and most luxurious food, but they totally abstain from every kind either of victuals or drink; and such is their patience and resolution, that the most extreme thirst could not oblige them to taste a drop of water; yet amidst this severe abstinence they appear cheerful and happy.

The reasons they give for thus fasting, are, that it enables them freely to dream, in which dreams they are informed where they shall find the greatest plenty of game; and also that it averts the displeasure of the evil spirits, and induces them to be propitious. They also on these occasions blacken those parts of their bodies that are uncovered.

The fast being ended, and the place of hunting made known, the chief who is to conduct them, gives a grand feast to those who are to form the different parties; of which none of them dare to partake till they have bathed themselves. At this feast, notwithstanding they have fasted so long, they eat with great moderation; and the chief that presides employs himself in rehearsing the feats of those who have been most successful in the business they are about to enter upon. They soon after set out on the march towards the place appointed, painted or rather bedaubed with black, amidst the acclamations of all the people.

It is impossible to describe their agility or perseverance, whilst they are in pursuit of their prey; neither thickets, ditches, torrents, pools, or rivers stop them; they always go strait forward in the most direct line they possibly can, and there are few of the savage inhabitants of the woods that they cannot overtake.

When they hunt for bears, they endeavour to find out their retreats; for, during the winter, these animals conceal themselves in the hollow trunks of trees, or make themselves holes in the ground, where they continue without food, whilst the severe weather lasts.

When the Indians think they have arrived at a place where these creatures usually haunt, they form themselves into a circle according to their number, and moving onward, endeavour, as they advance towards the centre, to discover the retreats of their prey. By this means, if any lie in the intermediate space, they are sure of arousing them, and bringing them down either with their bows or their guns. The bears will take to flight at sight of a man or a dog, and will only make resistance when they are extremely hungry, or after they are wounded.

The Indian method of hunting the buffalo is by forming a circle or a square, nearly in the same manner as when they search for the bear. Having taken their different stations, they set the grass, which at this time is rank and dry, on fire, and these animals, who are extremely fearful of that element, flying with precipitation before it, great numbers are hemmed in a small compass, and scarcely a single one escapes.

They have different ways of hunting the elk, the deer, and the carribboo. Sometimes they seek them out in the woods, to which they retire during the severity of the cold, where they are easily shot from behind the trees. In the more northern climates they take the advantage of the weather to destroy the elk; when the sun has just strength enough to melt the snow, and the frost in the night forms a kind of crust on the surface, this creature being heavy, breaks it with his forked hoofs, and with difficulty extricates himself from it: at this time therefore he is soon overtaken and destroyed.

Some nations have a method of hunting these animals which is more easily executed, and free from danger. The hunting party divide themselves into two bands, and choosing a spot near the borders of some river, one party embarks on board their canoes, whilst the other forming themselves into a semi-circle on the land, the flanks of which reach the shore, let loose their dogs, and by this means rouse all the game that lies within these bounds; they then drive them towards the river, into which they no sooner enter, than the greatest part of them are immediately dispatched by those who remain in the canoes.

Both the elk and the buffalo are very furious when they are wounded, and will return fiercely on their pursuers, and trample them under their feet, if the hunter finds not means to complete their destruction, or seeks for security in flight to some adjacent tree; by this method they are frequently avoided, and so tired with the pursuit, that they voluntarily give it over.

But the hunting in which the Indians, particularly those who inhabit the northern parts, chiefly employ themselves, and from which they reap the greatest advantage, is the beaver hunting. The season for this is throughout the whole of the winter, from November to April; during which time the fur of these creatures is in the greatest perfection. A description of this extraordinary animal, the construction of their huts, and the regulations of their almost rational community, I shall give in another place.

The hunters make use of several methods to destroy them. Those generally practised, are either that of taking them in snares, cutting through the ice, or opening their causeways.

As the eyes of these animals are very quick, and their hearing exceedingly acute, great precaution is necessary in approaching their abodes; for as they seldom go far from the water, and their houses are always built close to the side of some large river or lake, or dams of their own constructing, upon the least alarm they hasten to the deepest part of the water, and dive immediately to the bottom; as they do this they make a great noise by beating the water with their tails, on purpose to put the whole fraternity on their guard.

They take them with snares in the following manner: though the beavers usually lay up a sufficient store of provision to serve for their subsistence during the winter, they make from time to time excursions to the neighbouring woods to procure further supplies of food. The hunters having found out their haunts, place a trap in their way, baited with small pieces of bark, or young shoots of trees, which the beaver has no sooner laid hold of, than a large log of wood falls upon him, and breaks his back; his enemies, who are upon the watch, soon appear, and instantly dispatch the helpless animal.

At other times, when the ice on the rivers and lakes is about half a foot thick, they make an opening through it with their hatchets, to which the beavers will soon hasten, on being disturbed at their houses, for a supply of fresh air. As their breath occasions a considerable motion in the waters, the hunter has sufficient notice of their approach, and methods are easily taken for knocking them on the head the moment they appear above the surface.

When the houses of the beavers happen to be near a rivulet, they are more easily destroyed: the hunters then cut the ice, and spreading a net under it, break down the cabins of the beavers, who never fail to make towards the deepest part, where they are entangled and taken. But they must not be suffered to remain there long, as they would soon extricate themselves with their teeth, which are well known to be excessively sharp and strong.

The Indians take great care to hinder their dogs from touching the bones of the beavers. The reasons they give for these precautions, are, first that the bones are so excessively hard, that they spoil the teeth of the dogs; and, secondly, that they are apprehensive they shall so exasperate the spirits of the beavers by this permission, as to render the next hunting season unsuccessful.

The skins of these animals the hunters exchange with the Europeans for necessaries, and as they are more valued by the latter than any other kind of furs, they pay the greatest attention to this species of hunting.

When the Indians destroy buffalos, elks, deer, &c. they generally divide the flesh of such as they have taken among the tribe to which they belong. But in hunting the beaver a few families usually unite and divide the spoil between them. Indeed, in the first instance they generally pay some attention in the division to their own families; but no jealousies or murmurings are ever known to arise on account of any apparent partiality.

Among the Naudowessies, if a person shoots a deer, buffalo, &c. and it runs to a considerable distance before it drops, where a person belonging to another tribe, being nearer, first sticks a knife into it, the game is considered as the property of the latter, notwithstanding it had been mortally wounded by the former. Though this custom appears to be arbitrary and unjust, yet that people cheerfully submit to it. This decision is, however, very different from that practised by the Indians on the back of the colonies, where the first person that hits it is entitled to the best share.