Note 31 — Front matter

Thus G. B. Grinnell, Story of the Indian, p. 61, in his description of the primitive Indians’ method of trapping buffalo, says: “Some men went forth naked, others carried a dress made of the entire skin of a buffalo, the head and horns arranged like a buffalo head, while the rest of the skin hung down over the wearer’s back,” etc. This “caller” went near to a herd of buffalo, got them in pursuit of him, then led them into the trap, a chute, or to a precipice, the fall from which often proved fatal to the entire herd. Again, in Ethn. Rep. 1884-85, p. 484, about Central Eskimo seal hunting, is stated: If a hunter is close to an animal he imitates its movements. Some utter sounds similar to those of a blowing seal. “The sealskin clothing makes man and seal look so extremely alike that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other at some distance.” And on p. 508, about deer hunting: In a plain the Central Eskimos carry guns on their shoulders, two men going together, so as to resemble the antlers of a deer. The men imitate their grunting. If they lie on the ground at some distance they greatly resemble the animals themselves. According to Ross the “inhabitants of Boothia imitate the appearance of the deer, the foremost of two men stalking a herd bearing a deer’s head upon his own.” Ethn. Rep. 1888-89, p. 534:—“The old manner of hunting antelope and deer: the hunter would disguise himself by covering his head with the head and skin of an antelope, and so be enabled to approach the game near enough to use his bow and arrow. In a similar manner the Hidatsa would mask themselves with a wolfskin to enable them to approach buffalo.” Ethn. Rep. 1901-02, p. 439;—Two of the party of hunters (Zuñi) out after deer “wear cotton shirts with sleeves to the elbow, the front and back of the shirt being painted to represent as nearly as possible the body of the deer; the hands and the arms to the elbow and also the sleeves are colored to represent the deer’s forelegs. Each wears the skin of a deer’s head over his head.... In this dress the two huntsmen imitate as closely as possible, even to the browsing, the game they would catch.”