It requires the prime part of the skins of from eight to ten deer to make a complete suit of warm clothing for a grown person during the Winter; all of which should, if possible, be killed in the month of August, or early in September; for after that time the hair is too long, and at the same time so loose in the pelt, that it will drop off with the slightest injury.
Beside these skins, which must be in the hair, each person requires several others to be dressed into leather, for stockings and shoes, and light Summer clothing; several more are also wanted in a parchment state, to make clewla as they call it, or thongs to make netting for their snow-shoes, snares for deer, sewing for their sledges, and, in fact, for every other use where strings or lines of any kind are required: so that each person, on an average, expends, in the course of a year, upwards of twenty deer skins in {197} clothing and other domestic uses, exclusive of tent cloths, bags, and many other things which it is impossible to remember, and unnecessary to enumerate.
1771. August.
All skins for the above-mentioned purposes are, if possible, procured between the beginning of August and the middle of October; for when the rutting season is over, and the Winter sets in, the deer-skins are not only very thin, but in general full of worms and warbles[87]; which render them of little use, unless it be to cut into fine thongs, of which they make fishing-nets, and nets for the heels and toes of their snow-shoes. Indeed the chief use that is made of them in Winter is for the purpose of food; and really when the hair is properly taken off, and all the warbles are squeezed out, if they are well-boiled, they are far from being disagreeable. The Indians, however, never could persuade me to eat the warbles, of which some of them are remarkably fond, particularly the children. They are always eaten raw and alive, out of the skin; and are said, by those who like them, to be as fine as gooseberries. But the very idea of eating such things, exclusive of their appearance, (many of them being as large as the first joint of the little finger,) was quite sufficient to give me an unalterable disgust to such a repast; and when I acknowledge that the warbles out of the deers backs, and the domestic lice, were the only two things I ever saw my {198} companions eat, of which I could not, or did not, partake, I trust I shall not be reckoned over-delicate in my appetite.
1771. August.
The month of October is the rutting season with the deer in those parts, and after the time of their courtship is over, the bucks separate from the does; the former proceed to the Westward, to take shelter in the woods during the Winter, and the latter keep out in the barren ground the whole year. This, though a general rule, is not without some exceptions; for I have frequently seen many does in the woods, though they bore no proportion to the number of bucks. This rule, therefore, only stands good respecting the deer to the North of Churchill River; for the deer to the Southward live promiscuously among the woods, as well as in the plains, and along the banks of rivers, lakes, &c. the whole year.
The old buck's horns are very large, with many branches, and always drop off in the month of November, which is about the time they begin to approach the woods. This is undoubtedly wisely ordered by Providence, the better to enable them to escape from their enemies through the woods; otherwise they would become an easy prey to wolves and other beasts, and be liable to get entangled among the trees, even in ranging about in search of food. The same opinion may probably be admitted of the Southern deer, which always reside among {199} the woods; but the Northern deer, though by far the smallest in this country, have much the largest horns, and the branches are so long, and at the same time spread so wide, as to make them more liable to be entangled among the under-woods, than any other species of deer that I have noticed. The young bucks in those parts do not shed their horns so soon as the old ones: I have frequently seen them killed at or near Christmas, and could discover no appearance of their horns being loose. The does do not shed their horns till the Summer; so that when the buck's horns are ready to drop off, the horns of the does are all hairy, and scarcely come to their full growth.
1771. August.
The deer in those parts are generally in motion from East to West, or from West to East, according to the season, or the prevailing winds; and that is the principal reason why the Northern Indians are always shifting their station. From November till May, the bucks continue to the Westward, among the woods, when their horns begin to sprout; after which they proceed on to the Eastward, to the barren grounds; and the does that have been on the barren ground all the Winter, are taught by instinct to advance to the Westward to meet them, in order to propagate their species. Immediately after the rutting season is over, they separate, as hath been mentioned above. The old vulgar saying, so generally received among the lower class of people in England, concerning the bucks shedding their yards, or more properly the glands of the {200} penis, yearly, whether it be true in England or not, is certainly not true in any of the countries bordering on Hudson's Bay. A long residence among the Indians has enabled me to confirm this assertion with great confidence, as I have seen deer killed every day throughout the year; and when I have mentioned this circumstance to the Indians, either Northern or Southern, they always assured me that they never observed any such symptoms. With equal truth I can assert, and that from ocular demonstration, that the animal which is called the Alpine Hare in Hudson's Bay, actually undergoes something similar to that which is vulgarly ascribed to the English deer. I have seen and handled several of them, who had been killed just after they had coupled in the Spring, with the penises hanging out, dried up, and shrivelled, like the navel-string of young animals; and on examination I always found a passage through them for the urine to pass. I have thought proper to give this remark a place in my Journal, because, in all probability, it is not generally known, even to those gentlemen who have made natural history their chief study; and if their researches are of any real utility to mankind, it is surely to be regretted that Providence should have placed the greatest part of them too remote from want to be obliged to travel for ocular proofs of what they assert in their publications; they are therefore wisely content to stay at home, and enjoy the blessings with which they are endowed, resting satisfied to collect such information for their own amusement, and the gratification of the public, as those {201} who are necessitated to be travellers are able or willing to give them. It is true, and I am sorry it is so, that I come under the latter description; but hope I have not, or shall not, in the course of this Journal, advance any thing that will not stand the test of experiment, and the skill of the most competent judges.