_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.