Page:The American Indian.djvu/35

Rh and the hunters must follow with equal speed. So the cache method was devised to solve the problem. The kill of the day is dressed as quickly as possible and then cached, after which the pursuit is again taken up. Thus, each family group will have a number of stores in various accessible places upon which they may draw in case of need.

The bison area is contiguous to the caribou area, but is of far less extent. It is also entirely inland, and like the upper portion of the caribou area, is comparatively treeless, except along the water courses and upon the higher ridges. The tribes formerly residing here are known to us as Buffalo Indians, and no characterization could be more exact. Along the foothills of the mountains, elk were formerly abundant and also mountain sheep, and out on the plains antelope were to be met, but these were obscured by the seething masses of bison, or buffalo encountered everywhere, summer or winter. Edible fish were not abundant, and some of the tribes observed a taboo against them as well as all water animals.

The methods of hunting bison bear certain analogies to those employed in the caribou area. Before horses were introduced, small herds were enticed or stampeded into enclosures where they were shot down at will; at other times they were rounded up by systematic grass firing and while in compact formation attacked at close range by foot men. In favorable times, the surplus meat was dried and packed in bags.

This is a convenient place to note the manufacture of pemmican, a process which appears in some parts of the caribou area, but which seems to be more characteristic of this area. To make pemmican, the dried meat of the buffalo was pounded fine with stone hammers and packed in bags which were then sealed with melted fat. A special variety of pemmican was prepared by pulverizing wild cherries, pits and all, and mixing with the pounded meat. This is known in the literature as berry pemmican. There was also a variety in eastern Canada and New England made of deer and moose meat. When properly protected, pemmican will keep for many months and being compact and easily transported forms an exceedingly valuable food. From the very first it was adopted by Canadian