Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/395

Rh their absence, pots made of native clay are used The cooking is done by the women, who taste the meat from the moment it is put on the fire until looked. The remainder of the fire is then thrown out through the hole in the roof by the young men, and, as soon as the hut is clear of smoke, the flap that covers the chimney-hole is hauled over for the night. The hunters return usually about this time of the day, and upon entering the hut take off most of their clothes. After eating pounds of the deer-meat, alternating the cooked with raw meat, and drinking quantities of the soup, they smoke a pipe, and all hands go to sleep. All the household are fond of stripping and baking themselves before the fire, particularly the old people, who go so close as to almost blister themselves. They say the heat makes them young, and drives away their pains.

The deer are not usually hunted as in the manner just described, but are killed in the following fashion: For miles before arriving at a village, long rows of stakes were noticed stuck in the snow. They consisted of bushes about six feet high, and were placed about fifty feet apart. Against the white background they give the appearance of a man. Two lines of these bushes are made, their outer extremities a mile apart. The lines gradually converge, so as to form a lane. At the end of this lane is a corral, built of brush and wood, through which a deer can not penetrate. The brush is hung with nooses to catch the animals should they attempt to pierce the confines. A herd of deer being sighted, they are driven by the natives toward the entrance of this trap. The deer flee from one side of the lane to the other, mistaking the bushes for men, and finally enter the corral, where they are killed with bow and arrow. Hundreds are killed every season in these traps.

The first of December, as there was then plenty of snow on the ground, the sledging-trips commenced. I had looked forward to them, anticipating a great deal of pleasure. My idea of sledging was based upon a half-forgotten picture in an old school atlas, representing a man dressed in furs comfortably seated upon a sled, brandishing a long whip over six dogs in front, all on a trot.

The first thing to be considered upon preparing for a sledging trip is the question of provisions—for both party and dogs—cooking-utensils, clothing, tent, and numerous smaller articles, until the prospect of comfortably tucking one's self in a robe on the sled looks very much like riding upon the hump of a camel. At least two persons are necessary in the management of a sled: one to run ahead for the dogs to follow, and the other to remain with and guide the vehicle. The dogs will follow a beaten path, but in crossing the trackless country it is always necessary to have a runner ahead. The sleds were loaded so heavily that all thought of