may be the thickness of the ice. They keep running about the borders
of the lake, their noses close to the ground, and the moment they
discover a retreat, begin to bark and jump on the ice; the hunter then
cuts a hole with his trench, and with a stick which he carries along
with him feels for the beaver; should he find one, he introduces his
bare arm into the hole, and seizing his prey by the tail, drags it out
on the ice, where it is dispatched with a spear. There is less danger
in this operation than one would imagine, for the beaver allows itself
to be seized without a struggle, but sometimes inflicts severe wounds
on his captor after he is taken out of the water.

When the retreat is not inhabited, the entrance to it is barred by
sticks, and the hunter proceeds to chisel again, and continues his
operations until the beaver is either taken, or shut out from all his
haunts, in which case he is compelled to return to the house to take
breath, where he is either shot or caught in a trap.

The language of these Indians is a dialect of the Sauteux or Bungee,
intermixed with Cree, and a few words of French derivation. The
greater part of them have a smattering of French or English; but the
acquisition of a foreign language is extremely difficult to them,
from the peculiar formation of their own, which wants the letter r.
An Algonquin pronounces the word "marrow" "manno" or "mallo." Their
dialect has all the softness of the Italian, but is extremely poor and
defective.




CHAPTER XV.