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.