Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/197

 weapon of the Indian hunter. He carried at his back a sword, consisting of a wooden handle to which the horn of the deer was firmly fastened, and wore in his belt a heavy tomahawk, an instrument of stone sometimes sharpened at both ends.

The most destructive plan adopted by the Indians in hunting was to hem the game in with a circle of fire. Establishing themselves in small parties at points which had been selected beforehand, they ignited the leaves, and, as the belt of flame contracted, the deer fled to the centre, where, in the tumult of voices, and confusion produced by the smoke, they were easily slain. In this way many were taken at one time. The Indians also ran deer into narrow angles of land surrounded on all sides but one by wide streams; when the animals took refuge in the water they were seized by hunters, whose boats had been floating in ambush by the shore. According to a third method, the hunter covered himself with the hide of the animal, his arm being thrust through the skin of the neck as far as the stuffed head, which was thus held upright; crawling on his knees from tree to tree, and carefully keeping the open side of the head concealed from the gaze of the intended victim, the hunter, by pausing occasionally as if to browse, was able to approach near enough to use his bow and arrow with certainty.

During several weeks of the spring the Indians abandoned their towns to go on hunting excursions in the less frequented parts of the country; the women