For fifty miles of our journey beyond this point we saw companies
of the caribou every day, and sometimes many times a day, though we
did not again see them in such numbers. The country was a network
of their trails, in the woodlands and bogs cut deep into the soft
soil, on the barren hillsides broad, dark bands converging to the
crossing place at the river.
At the time I made my journey the general movement of the caribou
was towards the east; but where they had come from or whither they
were going we could not tell. Piles of white hair which we found
later at a deserted camp on Cabot Lake where the Indians had
dressed the skins, and the band of white hair clinging to the west
bank of the George River, opposite our camp of August 15th, four
feet above the then water-level, pointed to an earlier occupation
of the country, while the deep cut trails and long piles of
whitened antlers, found at intervals along the upper George River,
all indicated that this country is favourite ground with them. Yet
whether they had been continuously in this territory since the
spring months or not I did not ascertain. The Indians whom we
found at Resolution Lake knew nothing of their presence so near
them.
Towards the end of August the following year Mr. Cabot, while on a
trip inland from Davis Inlet, on the east coast, found the caribou
in numbers along the Height of Land, and when he joined the Indians
there, though the great herd had passed, they had killed near a
thousand. It would therefore seem not improbable that at the time
I made my journey they were bending their steps in the direction of
the highlands between the Atlantic and the George.
The movements of the barren ground caribou of Labrador have never
been observed in the interior as they have been in the country west
of Hudson Bay. So far as I can learn I alone, save the Indians,
have witnessed the great migration there; but from such information
as I was able to gather later at the coast, their movements appear
to be as erratic as those of the caribou of northern Canada. [See
Warburton Pike's "Barren Grounds of Northern Canada".]
From Mr. John Ford, the Agent of the Hudson's Bay Company's Post at
the mouth of the George River, I learned that they cross in the
neighbourbood of the post at different times of the year. He has
seen them there in July and August, in October and November, in
January, February, and March. They are seen only a few days in the
summer time, but in winter stay much longer - sometimes two months.
In 1903 they were near the post all through February and March. On
one occasion in the summer one of Mr. Ford's Eskimo hunters went to
look for caribou, and after walking nearly all day turned home,
arriving shortly before midnight, but without having found a trace
of deer. The next morning at three o'clock they were running about
on the hills at the post in such numbers that without trouble as
many could be killed as were desired.
From the George River post they hunt west for the caribou, which
are more often found in the vicinity of Whale River post than at
either George River or Fort Chimo to the west. For the five years
preceding my visit the caribou had crossed regularly in November at
Whale River. That is to say they were seen there in great numbers,
but no one knew whence they had come, or whither they went. Their
coming cannot, however, be counted upon every year.
In September 1889 the whole band of George River Eskimo went for
the annual hunt, by which they expect to supply themselves with
winter clothing. Day after day they travelled on without finding
the deer. When provisions gave out they were so far away from the
post that they dared not turn back. One family after another
dropped behind. Finally, the last little company gave up, one
young man only having the strength to go any farther. He, too, was
about to sink down, when at last be came upon the caribou. He went
back to help the others, but in spite of their best efforts twenty-
one of the band perished from starvation.
That the caribou of Labrador have greatly decreased in numbers
seems certain. Mr. Peter M'Kenzie, Chief Factor of the Hudson's
Bay Company in the east, who was a fellow-traveller on my return
journey, told me that many years ago while in charge of Fort Chimo
he had seen the caribou passing steadily for three days just as I
saw them on this 8th of August, not in thousands, but hundreds of
thousands. The depletion of the great herds of former days is
attributed to the unreasoning slaughter of the animals at the time
of migration by Indians in the interior and Eskimo of the coast,
not only at Ungava, but on the east coast as well, for the caribou
sometimes find their way to the Atlantic. The fires also which
have swept the country, destroying the moss on which they feed,
have had their share in the work of destruction.
Only twice during the journey did we find trace of their enemy - the
wolves. These hunt the caribou in packs, cutting out a single
deer, and following him till his strength is gone, when they jump
on him and pull him down. Mr. M'Kenzie tells how, when on one of
his hunting trips at Fort Chimo, a caribou came over the ridge but
a short distance from him followed by seven wolves. The animal had
almost reached the limit of his strength. He ran with head low and
tongue hanging out. From cover of a boulder Mr. M'Kenzie waited
for them to pass, and one after another he dropped four of the
wolves.
