fish--taken from the gill-net that had been set overnight below the
rapid--the work of portaging round the rapids was begun and by about
ten o'clock was finished. Noon overtook us near the mouth of Caribou
River, up which we were to ascend on the first half of our journey to
Oo-koo-hoo's hunting grounds. About two o'clock we entered that stream
and headed westerly toward a spur of mountains that lay about a week's
travel away and through which we had to pass to gain our winter camping
ground. An hour later, as Oo-koo-hoo and I preceded the party,
paddling up one of the channels caused by a number of large islands
dividing the river into mere creeks, we chanced upon a woodland caribou
bull, as it stood among the rushes in a marshy bend watching us from a
distance of not more than forty yards. As I crouched down to be out of
the hunter's way, I heard him say:

"I'm sorry, my brother, but we need you for both food and clothing, so
turn your eyes away before I fire." The next moment the woods echoed
the report of his smooth-bore muzzle-loader--the kind of gun used by
about 90 per cent. of the fur hunters of the forest. Why? Because of
the simplicity of its ammunition. Such a gun never requires a variety
of cumbersome shells for different kinds of game, but with varying
charges of powder and shot or ball, is ready for anything from a rat or
duck to a bear or moose.

Before bleeding the deer, Oo-koo-hoo did a curious thing: with his
sharp knife he destroyed the deer's eyes. When I questioned him as to
his purpose he replied: "As long as the eyes remain perfect, the spirit
remains within the head, and I could not bear to skin the deer with its
spirit looking at me." Though Oo-koo-hoo was in many ways a wise old
man, he held some beliefs that were past my understanding, and others
that, when I tried to analyze them, seemed to be founded on the working