Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819-20-21-22, Volume 2 | Page 3

white, before it is completely shed. The Indians form their robes of the skins procured in autumn, when the hair is short. Towards the spring the larv? of the oestrus attaining a large size, produce so many perforations in the skins, that they are good for nothing. The cicatrices only of these holes are to be seen in August, but a fresh set of ova have in the mean time been deposited[2].
[2] "It is worthy of remark, that in the month of May a very great number of large larv? exist under the mucous membrane at the root of the tongue, and posterior part of the nares and pharynx. The Indians consider them to belong to the same species with the oestrus, that deposits its ova under the skin: to us the larv? of the former appeared more flattened than those of the latter. Specimens of both kinds, preserved in spirits, were destroyed by the frequent falls they received on the portages."--DR. RICHARDSON'S Journal.
The rein-deer retire from the sea-coast in July and August, rut in October on the verge of the barren grounds, and shelter themselves in the woods during the winter. They are often induced by a few fine days in winter, to pay a transitory visit to their favourite pastures in the barren country, but their principal movement to the northward commences generally in the end of April, when the snow first begins to melt on the sides of the hills, and early in May, when large patches of the ground are visible, they are on the banks of the Copper-Mine River. The females take the lead in this spring migration, and bring forth their young on the sea-coast about the end of May or beginning of June. There are certain spots or passes well known to the Indians, through which the deer invariably pass in their migrations to and from the coast, and it has been observed that they always travel against the wind. The principal food of the rein-deer in the barren grounds, consists of the cetraria nivalis and cucullata, cenomyce rangiferina, cornicularia ochrileuca, and other lichens, and they also eat the hay or dry grass which is found in the swamps in autumn. In the woods they feed on the different lichens which hang from the trees. They are accustomed to gnaw their fallen antlers, and are said also to devour mice.
The weight of a full grown barren-ground deer, exclusive of the offal, varies from ninety to one hundred and thirty pounds. There is, however, a much larger kind found in the woody parts of the country, whose carcase weighs from two hundred to two hundred and forty pounds. This kind never leaves the woods, but its skin is as much perforated by the gad-fly as that of the others; a presumptive proof that the smaller species are not driven to the sea-coast solely by the attacks of that insect. There are a few rein-deer occasionally killed in the spring, whose skins are entire, and these are always fat, whereas the others are lean at that season. This insect likewise infests the red-deer (wawaskeesh,) but its ova are not found in the skin of the moose, or buffalo, nor, as we have been informed, of the sheep and goat that inhabit the Rocky Mountains, although the rein-deer found in those parts, (which are of an unusually large kind,) are as much tormented by them as the barren-ground variety.
The herds of rein-deer are attended in their migrations by bands of wolves, which destroy a great many of them. The Copper Indians kill the rein-deer in the summer with the gun, or taking advantage of a favourable disposition of the ground, they enclose a herd upon a neck of land, and drive them into a lake, where they fall an easy prey; but in the rutting season and in the spring, when they are numerous on the skirts of the woods, they catch them in snares. The snares are simple nooses, formed in a rope made of twisted sinew, which are placed in the aperture of a slight hedge, constructed of the branches of trees. This hedge is so disposed as to form several winding compartments, and although it is by no means strong, yet the deer seldom attempt to break through it. The herd is led into the labyrinth by two converging rows of poles, and one is generally caught at each of the openings by the noose placed there. The hunter, too, lying in ambush, stabs some of them with his bayonet as they pass by, and the whole herd frequently becomes his prey. Where wood is scarce, a piece of turf turned up answers the purpose of a pole to conduct them towards the snares.
The rein-deer has a quick eye, but the hunter by