pursue them in their light bark-canoes and kill them without trouble or danger.
When the " surround " is performed in a valley at a distance from water, the hunters form a complete circle, determining the size of it by their own number. Then they practice the same stratagem, burning their old rags in a hundred little fires round about, to prevent the deer from escaping from the circle. Pursued in every direction, the terrified animals flee from one clump of wood or brush to another, until finally, enveloped on all sides and finding no issue, they fall into the hands of the hunters. It is seldom
that a deer escapes them. It follows also that the hunters themselves are considerably endangered. In the eagerness and excitement of such a chase, bullets and arrows are liable to fly wild or glance, and do mischief.
When the snow is very deep in the valleys, and has taken on a crust, sufficient to bear the hunter on his snowshoes, then hunting is a veritable joke to him; the whole herd of deer is soon captured, from the least even unto the greatest. The poor beasts soon become exhausted in the snow and have no chance to escape. They are easily killed with clubs, lances and even knives. A young Indian who was at the Sacred Heart Mission assured me that, without weapon of any kind, he simply jumped on the deer's back, grasped his horns and twisted his neck. He killed eight in this way, in the present hunt.
Sometimes as many as 200 to 3oo are killed in a single surround. Ordinarily, however, the number is less. After the hunt, the flesh of the deer is divided among all the families by the chief of the tribe, or by him who has managed the expedition. The portions are regulated according to the number of persons constituting the different families. The hunter who kills the animal has sole right to the skin.
In winter, the hunts are generally made in common. Bears are as numerous in the Cceur d'Alene countries as in the other mountainous districts. Often the Indians come upon their tracks or ravages while looking for their food