Two long poles are fastened by a collar to the dog's neck;
their ends trail on the ground and are kept at a proper distance by a
hoop which is lashed between them immediately behind the dog's tail; the
hoop is covered with network upon which the load is placed.
The boys were amusing themselves by shooting arrows at a mark and thus
training to become hunters. The Stone Indians are so expert with the bow
and arrow that they can strike a very small object at a considerable
distance and will shoot with sufficient force to pierce through the body
of a buffalo when near.
The buffalo pound was a fenced circular space of about a hundred yards in
diameter; the entrance was banked up with snow to a sufficient height to
prevent the retreat of the animals that once have entered. For about a
mile on each side of the road leading to the pound stakes were driven
into the ground at nearly equal distances of about twenty yards; these
were intended to represent men and to deter the animals from attempting
to break out on either side. Within fifty or sixty yards from the pound
branches of trees were placed between these stakes to screen the Indians
who lie down behind them to await the approach of the buffalo.
The principal dexterity in this species of chase is shown by the horsemen
who have to manoeuvre round the herd in the plains so as to urge them to
enter the roadway which is about a quarter of a mile broad. When this has
been accomplished they raise loud shouts and, pressing close upon the
animals, so terrify them that they rush heedlessly forward towards the
snare. When they have advanced as far as the men who are lying in ambush
they also rise and increase the consternation by violent shouting and
firing guns. The affrighted beasts having no alternative run directly to
the pound where they are quickly despatched either with an arrow or gun.
There was a tree in the centre of the pound on which the Indians had hung
strips of buffalo flesh and pieces of cloth as tributary or grateful
offerings to the Great Master of Life; and we were told that they
occasionally place a man in the tree to sing to the presiding spirit as
the buffaloes are advancing who must keep his station until the whole
that have entered are killed. This species of hunting is very similar to
that of taking elephants on the island of Ceylon but upon a smaller
scale.
The Crees complained to us of the audacity of a party of Stone Indians
who two nights before had stripped their revered tree of many of its
offerings and had injured their pound by setting their stakes out of the
proper places.
