Caribou Hunter: A Song of a Vanished Innu Life

In this simple yet moving memory of a life lived on the land, Innu hunter Mathieu Mestokosho reveals a world that existed between 1890 and 1960, the world of a trapper-hunter in the immense hinterland of Labrador. In 1971, Mestokosho told his story to Serge Bouchard, a young anthropologist who was collecting accounts of old Innu hunters and who subsequently translated and edited Mestokosho’s story for publication. First published in French in 1977 and reissued to great acclaim in 2004, the book is now being published in English for the first time.rnrnMestokosho recalls his childhood and the long, difficult journeys he undertook as an adult. He describes how the Innu loved their land—empty to others but full to them.The world of Mathieu Mestokosho is gone, but his song remains—solemn, poetic, profoundly human.