Canadian Wilds: Tells About the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Indians and Their Modes of Hunting, Trapping, Etc.Hunter, Martin
History
Canadian Wilds: Tells About the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Indians and Their Modes of Hunting, Trapping, Etc.
Hunter, Martin
Hudson's Bay Company; Hunting -- Canada
One of the party from the bay was a Scotch half-breed, and from him,
for the first time, I learned the art of caring properly for the
feet. He made me cast aside all my woolen knitted socks, and out of
his abundance he supplied me with smoked fawn-skin socks, ankle high,
made in the fashion of a moccasin, only with no tops or welts of
seams. The top and bottom pieces of leather were herring-boned
together, a slit was made in the top half to insert the foot and this
was put on the bare foot. On top of this two other shoe socks, made
of duffle or blanketing, were placed and the moose skin moccasin over
all, the leather top of which was tied about the naked ankle.
I ventured to opine that I would possibly be cold there, or freeze,
but my new friend told me the object was to keep the feet from over
heating. "And this and the knitted socks is the cause of all your
suffering."
"Now listen to me," he went on; "at every noon day fire, or in fact
any time a lengthened halt is called, sit on the brush before the
fire and take off both moccasins and all your socks, turn them inside
out and beat them on a stick or the brush to take out all the creases
the feet have made. Let them cool wrong side out and while this is
taking place, have your feet also cooling. Let them become thoroughly
cold before replacing your socks and shoes and when doing this put
those that were on the right foot on to the left, and vice versa.
This affords a wonderful relief to the tired feet and you resume the
journey with a rested feeling. At night, after the last pipe is
smoked and you are about turning in to get what sleep you can with no
roof to cover you but the far-off heavens, then turn up your pants to
the knee and jump, bare-footed and bare-legged into the nearby snow
and stand in it until you can bear it no longer, then stand near the
blazing camp-fire and with a coarse towel, or bag, rub the legs and
feet well until the blood is tingling, and the color of your lower
extremities resembles a boiled lobster, and my word for it, you will
rest better, sleep sounder and arise refreshed--what you never
enjoyed before."
Fitted out as I was and following his advice of the snow bath, I made
the return journey with ease and pleasure. I made long tramps for
twenty years following and never again was I troubled by either
blisters or cut feet. Even making short trips about the post hunting,
I never allowed a knitted sock near my feet.
CHAPTER XXII.
DEER-SICKNESS.
The Indian term "deer-sickness" is in reality a misnomer, as it is
not the deer that is sick but the party following its tracks. The
idea of writing this article came to me by reading "Scent Glands of
the Deer," which appeared in _Forest and Stream_ of May 13, and I
remembered how I had the deer-sickness thirty-eight years ago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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