HUNTING, 179

Trapping.

Even grizzly bears were formerly killed by means of traps, huge contri-
vances made of green timber, in the shape of the side of a roof yielding to
the action of some figure-of-four device. A Carrier is even on record as having
suffered instant death by the fall of such a trap whose mechanism he was
incautiously testing. Yet it may be said that more commonly martens, lynxes
or foxes and marmots are the special objects of the trapper’s attentions, though
not a few other kinds of
fur-bearing animals will at
times gladden his heart as
he visits his death-dealing
appliances.

The marten trap (fig. 39)
consists of a low enclosure
of pickets erected against,
or close to, the trunk of
a tree, within which the
bait is secured to the end
of a trap stick connected
with a small upright piece,
in such a way that when
treaded upon by the game
in its attempt to get at the
bait, a fall stick a drops
on the intruder. The whole
mechanism is usually hid-
den from view by means
of dry twigs and vegetable
debris, leaving out only an
opening in front, which
seldom fails to tempt the
curiosity of the game.

The lynx trap is more ingenious and somewhat complicated, though its
working principle is analogous. The reader will not fail to notice in fig. 40
the plug-like piece of wood against which the tread stick is so arranged that
the least pressure on the latter causes it to fly off, thereby releasing the whole
apparatus, which then lets the oblique stick press down on the entrapped
animal. Fig. 41 will still better explain the essential parts of the trap.

A third kind of trap (fig. 42) is proper to the Sékanais, who use it against
marmots. It is built entirely on the figure-of-four principle, and it is a modi-
fication of the same that formerly did duty against beaver. We have its ele-
ments herewith represented (fig. 43) both separately and made ready for easy
transportation,

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