The Journey to the Polar Sea Part 6

This deity is represented sometimes by rude images of the human figure but more commonly merely by tying the tops of a few willow bushes together; and the offerings to him consist of everything that is valuable to an Indian; yet they treat him with considerable familiarity, interlarding their most solemn speeches with expostulations and threats of neglect if he fails in complying with their requests. As most of their pet.i.tions are for plenty of food they do not trust entirely to the favour of Kepoochikawn but endeavour at the same time to propitiate the animal, an imaginary representative of the whole race of larger quadrupeds that are objects of the chase.

In the month of May whilst I was at Carlton House the Cree hunter engaged to attend that post resolved upon dedicating several articles to Kepoochikawn and, as I had made some inquiries of him respecting their modes of wors.h.i.+p, he gave me an invitation to be present. The ceremony took place in a sweating-house or, as it may be designated from its more important use, a temple which was erected for the occasion by the wors.h.i.+pper's two wives. It was framed of arched willows, interlaced so as to form a vault capable of containing ten or twelve men ranged closely side by side, and high enough to admit of their sitting erect. It was very similar in shape to an oven or the kraal of a Hottentot and was closely covered with moose-skins except at the east end which was left open for a door. Near the centre of the building there was a hole in the ground which contained ten or twelve red-hot stones having a few leaves of the taccohaymenan, a species of prunus, strewed around them. When the women had completed the preparations the hunter made his appearance, perfectly naked, carrying in his hand an image of Kepoochikawn, rudely carved and about two feet long. He placed his G.o.d at the upper end of the sweating-house with his face towards the door and proceeded to tie round its neck his offerings, consisting of a cotton handkerchief, a looking-gla.s.s, a tin pan, a piece of riband, and a bit of tobacco which he had procured the same day at the expense of fifteen or twenty skins.

Whilst he was thus occupied several other Crees who were encamped in the neighbourhood, having been informed of what was going on arrived and, stripping at the door of the temple, entered and ranged themselves on each side; the hunter himself squatted down at the right hand of Kepoochikawn. The atmosphere of the temple having become so hot that none but zealous wors.h.i.+ppers would venture in the interpreter and myself sat down on the threshold and the two women remained on the outside as attendants.

The hunter who throughout officiated as high priest commenced by making a speech to Kepoochikawn in which he requested him to be propitious, told him of the value of the things now presented, and cautioned him against ingrat.i.tude. This oration was delivered in a monotonous tone and with great rapidity of utterance, and the speaker retained his squatting posture but turned his face to his G.o.d. At its conclusion the priest began a hymn of which the burden was, "I will walk with G.o.d, I will go with the animal"; and at the end of each stanza the rest joined in an insignificant chorus. He next took up a calumet filled with a mixture of tobacco and bear-berry leaves and, holding its stem by the middle in a horizontal position over the hot stones, turned it slowly in a circular manner, following the course of the sun. Its mouth-piece being then with much formality held for a few seconds to the face of Kepoochikawn it was next presented to the earth, having been previously turned a second time over the hot stones; and afterwards with equal ceremony pointed in succession to the four quarters of the sky then, drawing a few whiffs from the calumet himself, he handed it to his left-hand neighbour by whom it was gravely pa.s.sed round the circle; the interpreter and myself, who were seated at the door, were asked to partake in our turn but requested to keep the head of the calumet within the threshold of the sweating-house. When the tobacco was exhausted by pa.s.sing several times round the hunter made another speech, similar to the former but was if possible still more urgent in his requests. A second hymn followed and, a quant.i.ty of water being sprinkled on the hot stones, the attendants were ordered to close the temple, which they did by very carefully covering it up with moose-skins. We had no means of ascertaining the temperature of the sweating-house; but before it was closed not only those within but also the spectators without were perspiring freely. They continued in the vapour bath for thirty-five minutes, during which time a third speech was made and a hymn was sung and water occasionally sprinkled on the stones which still retained much heat, as was evident from the hissing noise they made. The coverings were then thrown off and the poor half-stewed wors.h.i.+ppers exposed freely to the air; but they kept their squatting postures until a fourth speech was made in which the deity was strongly reminded of the value of the gifts and exhorted to take an early opportunity of showing his grat.i.tude. The ceremony concluded by the sweaters scampering down to the river and plunging into the stream. It may be remarked that the door of the temple and of course the face of the G.o.d was turned to the rising sun; and the spectators were desired not to block up entirely the front of the building but to leave a lane for the entrance or exit of some influence of which they could not give me a correct description. Several Indians, who lay on the outside of the sweating-house as spectators, seemed to regard the proceedings with very little awe and were extremely free in the remarks and jokes they pa.s.sed upon the condition of the sweaters and even of Kepoochikawn himself. One of them made a remark that the shawl would have been much better bestowed upon himself than upon Kepoochikawn, but the same fellow afterwards stripped and joined in the ceremony.

I did not learn that the Indians wors.h.i.+p any other G.o.d by a specific name. They often refer however to the Keetchee-Maneeto, or Great Master of Life, and to an evil spirit, or Maatche-Maneeto. They also speak of Weettako, a kind of vampire or devil into which those who have fed on human flesh are transformed.

Whilst at Carlton I took an opportunity of asking a communicative old Indian of the Blackfoot nation his opinion of a future state; he replied that they had heard from their fathers that the souls of the departed have to scramble with great labour up the sides of a steep mountain, upon attaining the summit of which they are rewarded with the prospect of an extensive plain, abounding in all sorts of game and interspersed here and there with new tents pitched in agreeable situations. Whilst they are absorbed in the contemplation of this delightful scene they are descried by the inhabitants of the happy land who, clothed in new skin-dresses, approach and welcome with every demonstration of kindness those Indians who have led good lives, but the bad Indians, who have imbrued their hands in the blood of their countrymen, are told to return from whence they came and, without more ceremony, precipitated down the steep sides of the mountain.

Women who have been guilty of infanticide never reach the mountain at all but are compelled to hover round the seats of their crimes with branches of trees tied to their legs. The melancholy sounds which are heard in the still summer evenings and which the ignorance of the white people considers as the screams of the goat-sucker are really, according to my informant, the moanings of these unhappy beings.

The Crees have somewhat similar notions but, as they inhabit a country widely different from the mountainous lands of the Blackfoot Indians, the difficulty of their journey lies in walking along a slender and slippery tree laid as a bridge across a rapid stream of stinking and muddy water.

The night owl is regarded by the Crees with the same dread that it has been viewed by other nations. One small species, which is known to them by its melancholy nocturnal hootings (for as it never appears in the day few even of the hunters have ever seen it) is particularly ominous. They call it the cheepai-peethees, or death bird, and never fail to whistle when they hear its note. If it does not reply to the whistle by its hootings the speedy death of the inquirer is augured.

When a Cree dies that part of his property which he has not given away before his death is burned with him, and his relations take care to place near the grave little heaps of firewood, food, pieces of tobacco, and such things as he is likely to need in his journey. Similar offerings are made when they revisit the grave, and as kettles and other articles of value are sometimes offered they are frequently carried off by pa.s.sengers, yet the relations are not displeased provided sufficient respect has been shown to the dead by putting some other article, although of inferior value, in the place of that which has been taken away.

The Crees are wont to celebrate the returns of the seasons by religious festivals but we are unable to describe the ceremonial in use on these joyous occasions from personal observation. The following brief notice of a feast which was given by an old Cree chief according to his annual custom on the first croaking of the frogs is drawn up from the information of one of the guests. A large oblong tent or lodge was prepared for the important occasion by the men of the party, none of the women being suffered to interfere. It faced the setting sun and great care was taken that everything about it should be as neat and clean as possible. Three fireplaces were raised within it at equal distances and little holes were dug in the corners to contain the ashes of their pipes.

In a recess at its upper end one large image of Kepoochikawn and many smaller ones were ranged with their faces towards the door. The food was prepared by the chief's wife and consisted of marrow pemmican, berries boiled with fat, and various other delicacies that had been preserved for the occasion.

The preparations being completed and, a slave whom the chief had taken in war having warned the guests to the feast by the mysterious word peenasheway, they came, dressed out in their best garments, and ranged themselves according to their seniority, the elders seating themselves next the chief at the upper end and the young men near the door.

The chief commenced by addressing his deities in an appropriate speech in which he told them that he had hastened as soon as summer was indicated by the croaking of the frogs to solicit their favour for himself and his young men, and hoped that they would send him a pleasant and plentiful season. His oration was concluded by an invocation to all the animals in the land and, a signal being given to the slave at the door, he invited them severally by their names to come and partake of the feast.

The Cree chief having by this very general invitation displayed his unbounded hospitality next ordered one of the young men to distribute a mess to each of the guests. This was done in new dishes of birch bark, and the utmost diligence was displayed in emptying them, it being considered extremely improper in a man to leave any part of that which is placed before him on such occasions. It is not inconsistent with good manners however but rather considered as a piece of politeness that a guest who has been too liberally supplied should hand the surplus to his neighbour. When the viands had disappeared each filled his calumet and began to smoke with great a.s.siduity, and in the course of the evening several songs were sung to the responsive sounds of the drum and seeseequay, their usual accompaniments.

The Cree drum is double-headed but, possessing very little depth, it strongly resembles a tambourine in shape. Its want of depth is compensated however by its diameter which frequently exceeds three feet.

It is covered with moose-skin parchment, painted with rude figures of men and beasts having various fantastic additions, and is beat with a stick.

The seeseequay is merely a rattle formed by enclosing a few grains of shot in a piece of dried hide. These two instruments are used in all their religious ceremonies except those which take place in a sweating-house.

A Cree places great reliance on his drum and I cannot adduce a stronger instance than that of the poor man who is mentioned in a preceding page as having lost his only child by famine, almost within sight of the fort.

Notwithstanding his exhausted state he travelled with an enormous drum tied to his back.

Many of the Crees make vows to abstain from particular kinds of food either for a specific time or for the remainder of their life, esteeming such abstinence to be a certain means of acquiring some supernatural powers, or at least of entailing upon themselves a succession of good fortune.

One of the wives of the Carlton hunter, of whom we have already spoken as the wors.h.i.+pper of Kepoochikawn, made a determination not to eat of the flesh of the Wawaskeesh or American stag; but during our abode at that place she was induced to feed heartily upon it, through the intentional deceit of her husband who told her that it was buffalo meat. When she had finished her meal her husband told her of the trick and seemed to enjoy the terror with which she contemplated the consequences of the involuntary breach of her vow. Vows of this nature are often made by a Cree before he joins a war party, and they sometimes, like the eastern bonzes, walk for a certain number of days on all fours or impose upon themselves some other penance equally ridiculous. By such means the Cree warrior becomes G.o.d-like; but unless he kills an enemy before his return his newly-acquired powers are estimated to be productive in future of some direful consequence to himself.

As we did not witness any of the Cree dances ourselves we shall merely mention that, like the other North American nations, they are accustomed to practice that amus.e.m.e.nt on meeting with strange tribes before going to war and on other solemn occasions.

The habitual intoxication of the c.u.mberland House Crees has induced such a disregard of personal appearance that they are squalid and dirty in the extreme; hence a minute description of their clothing would be by no means interesting. We shall therefore only remark in a general manner that the dress of the male consists of a blanket thrown over the shoulders, a leathern s.h.i.+rt or jacket, and a piece of cloth tied round the middle. The women have in addition a long petticoat; and both s.e.xes wear a kind of wide hose which, reaching from the ankle to the middle of the thigh, are suspended by strings to the girdle. These hose or, as they are termed, Indian stockings, are commonly ornamented with beads or ribands, and from their convenience have been universally adopted by the white residents as an essential part of their winter clothing. Their shoes, or rather short boots for they tie round the ankle, are made of soft dressed moose-skins, and during the winter they wrap several pieces of blanket round their feet.

They are fond of European articles of dress, considering it as mean to be dressed entirely in leather, and the hunters are generally furnished annually with a capot or great coat, and the women with shawls, printed calicoes, and other things very unsuitable to their mode of life but which they wear in imitation of the wives of the traders; all these articles, however showy they may be at first, are soon reduced to a very filthy condition by the Indian custom of greasing the face and hair with soft fat or marrow instead of was.h.i.+ng them with water. This practice they say preserves the skin soft and protects it from cold in the winter and the mosquitoes in summer, but it renders their presence disagreeable to the olfactory organs of an European, particularly when they are seated in a close tent and near a hot fire.

The only peculiarity which we observed in their mode of rearing children consists in the use of a sort of cradle extremely well adapted to their mode of life. The infant is placed in the bag having its lower extremities wrapped up in soft sphagnum or bog-moss, and may be hung up in the tent or to the branch of a tree without the least danger of tumbling out; or in a journey suspended on the mother's back by a band which crosses the forehead so as to leave her hands perfectly free. It is one of the neatest articles of furniture they possess, being generally ornamented with beads and bits of scarlet cloth, but it bears a very strong resemblance in its form to a mummy case.

The sphagnum in which the child is laid forms a soft elastic bed which absorbs moisture very readily and affords such a protection from the cold of a rigorous winter that its place would be ill supplied by cloth.

The mothers are careful to collect a sufficient quant.i.ty in autumn for winter use; but when through accident their stock fails they have recourse to the soft down of the typha, or reed mace, the dust of rotten wood, or even feathers, although none of these articles are so cleanly or so easily changed as the sphagnum.

The above is a brief sketch of such parts of the manners, character and customs of the Crees as we could collect from personal observation or from the information of the most intelligent half-breeds we met with; and we shall merely add a few remarks on the manner in which the trade is conducted at the different inland posts of the Fur Companies.

The standard of Exchange in all mercantile transactions with the natives is a beaver skin, the relative value of which as originally established by the traders differs considerably from the present worth of the articles it represents; but the Indians are averse to change. Three marten, eight muskrat, or a single lynx or wolverine skin, are equivalent to one beaver; a silver fox, white fox, or otter, are reckoned two beavers, and a black fox or large black bear are equal to four; a mode of reckoning which has very little connection with the real value of these different furs in the European market. Neither has any attention been paid to the original cost of European articles in fixing the tariff by which they are sold to the Indians. A coa.r.s.e butcher's knife is one skin, a woollen blanket or a fathom of coa.r.s.e cloth eight, and a fowling-piece fifteen. The Indians receive their princ.i.p.al outfit of clothing and ammunition on credit in the autumn to be repaid by their winter hunts; the amount entrusted to each of the hunters varying with their reputations for industry and skill from twenty to one hundred and fifty skins. The Indians are generally anxious to pay off the debt thus incurred but their good intentions are often frustrated by the arts of the rival traders. Each of the Companies keeps men constantly employed travelling over the country during the winter to collect the furs from the different bands of hunters as fast as they are procured. The poor Indian endeavours to behave honestly and, when he has gathered a few skins, sends notice to the post from whence he procured his supplies but, if discovered in the meantime by the opposite party, he is seldom proof against the temptation to which he is exposed. However firm he may be in his denials at first his resolutions are enfeebled by the sight of a little rum and, when he has tasted the intoxicating beverage, they vanish like smoke and he brings forth his store of furs which he has carefully concealed from the scrutinising eyes of his visitors. This mode of carrying on the trade not only causes the amount of furs collected by either of the two Companies to depend more upon the activity of their agents, the knowledge they possess of the motions of the Indians, and the quant.i.ty of rum they carry, than upon the liberality of the credits they give, but is also productive of an increasing deterioration of the character of the Indians and will probably ultimately prove destructive to the fur trade itself. Indeed the evil has already in part recoiled upon the traders; for the Indians, long deceived, have become deceivers in their turn, and not unfrequently, after having incurred a heavy debt at one post, move off to another to play the same game. In some cases the rival posts have entered into a mutual agreement to trade only with the Indians they have respectively fitted out, but such treaties, being seldom rigidly adhered to, prove a fertile subject for disputes and the differences have been more than once decided by force of arms. To carry on the contest the two Companies are obliged to employ a great many servants whom they maintain often with much difficulty and always at a considerable expense.*

(*Footnote. As the contending parties have united the evils mentioned in this and the two preceding pages are now in all probability at an end.)

There are thirty men belonging to the Hudson's Bay Fort at c.u.mberland and nearly as many women and children.

The inhabitants of the North-West Company's House are still more numerous. These large families are fed during the greatest part of the year on fish which are princ.i.p.ally procured at Beaver Lake, about fifty miles distant. The fishery, commencing with the first frosts in autumn, continues abundant till January, and the produce is dragged over the snow on sledges, each drawn by three dogs and carrying about two hundred and fifty pounds. The journey to and from the lake occupies five days and every sledge requires a driver. About three thousand fish averaging three pounds apiece were caught by the Hudson's Bay fishermen last season; in addition to which a few sturgeon were occasionally caught in Pine Island Lake; and towards the spring a considerable quant.i.ty of moose meat was procured from the Basquiau Hill, sixty or seventy miles distant. The rest of our winter's provision consisted of geese, salted in the autumn, and of dried meats and pemmican obtained from the provision posts on the plains of the Saskatchewan. A good many potatoes are also raised at this post and a small supply of tea and sugar is brought from the depot at York Factory. The provisions obtained from these various sources were amply sufficient in the winter of 1819-20; but through improvidence this post has in former seasons been reduced to great straits.

Many of the labourers and a great majority of the agents and clerks employed by the two Companies have Indian or half-breed wives, and the mixed offspring thus produced has become extremely numerous.

These metifs, or, as the Canadians term them, bois brules, are upon the whole a good-looking people and, where the experiment has been made, have shown much aptness in learning and willingness to be taught; they have however been sadly neglected. The example of their fathers has released them from the restraint imposed by the Indian opinions of good and bad behaviour; and generally speaking no pains have been taken to fill the void with better principles. Hence it is not surprising that the males, trained up in a high opinion of the authority and rights of the Company to which their fathers belonged and, unacquainted with the laws of the civilised world, should be ready to engage in any measure whatever that they are prompted to believe will forward the interests of the cause they espouse. Nor that the girls, taught a certain degree of refinement by the acquisition of an European language, should be inflamed by the unrestrained discourse of their Indian relations, and very early give up all pretensions to chast.i.ty. It is however but justice to remark that there is a very decided difference in the conduct of the children of the Orkney men employed by the Hudson's Bay Company and those of the Canadian voyagers. Some trouble is occasionally bestowed in teaching the former and it is not thrown away, but all the good that can be said of the latter is that they are not quite so licentious as their fathers are.

Many of the half-breeds both male and female are brought up amongst and intermarry with the Indians; and there are few tents wherein the paler children of such marriages are not to be seen. It has been remarked, I do not know with what truth, that half-breeds show more personal courage than the pure Crees.*

(*Footnote. A singular change takes place in the physical const.i.tution of the Indian females who become inmates of a fort, namely they bear children more frequently and longer but at the same time are rendered liable to indurations of the mammae and prolapsus of the uterus, evils from which they are in a great measure exempt whilst they lead a wandering and laborious life.)

The girls at the forts, particularly the daughters of Canadians, are given in marriage very young; they are very frequently wives at twelve years of age and mothers at fourteen. Nay, more than once instance came under our observation of the master of a post having permitted a voyager to take to wife a poor child that had scarcely attained the age of ten years. The masters of posts and wintering partners of the Companies deemed this criminal indulgence to the vices of their servants necessary to stimulate them to exertion for the interest of their respective concerns. Another practice may also be noticed as showing the state of moral feeling on these subjects amongst the white residents of the fur countries. It was not very uncommon amongst the Canadian voyagers for one woman to be common to and maintained at the joint expense of two men; nor for a voyager to sell his wife, either for a season or altogether, for a sum of money proportioned to her beauty and good qualities but always inferior to the price of a team of dogs.

The country around c.u.mberland House is flat and swampy and is much intersected by small lakes. Limestone is found everywhere under a thin stratum of soil and it not unfrequently shows itself above the surface.

It lies in strata generally horizontal but in one spot near the fort dipping to the northward at an angle of 40 degrees. Some portions of this rock contain very perfect sh.e.l.ls. With respect to the vegetable productions of the district the Populus trepida, or aspen, which thrives in moist situations, is perhaps the most abundant tree on the banks of the Saskatchewan and is much prized as firewood, burning well when cut green. The Populus balsamifera or taccamahac, called by the Crees matheh meteos, or ugly poplar, in allusion to its rough bark and naked stem, crowned in an aged state with a few distorted branches, is scarcely less plentiful. It is an inferior firewood and does not been well unless when cut in the spring and dried during the summer; but it affords a great quant.i.ty of potash. A decoction of its resinous buds has been sometimes used by the Indians with success in cases of snow-blindness, but its application to the inflamed eye produces much pain. Of pines the white spruce is the most common here: the red and black spruce, the balsam of Gilead fir, and Banksian pine also occur frequently. The larch is found only in swampy spots and is stunted and unhealthy. The canoe birch attains a considerable size in this lat.i.tude but from the great demand for its wood to make sledges it has become rare. The alder abounds on the margin of the little gra.s.sy lakes so common in the neighbourhood. A decoction of its inner bark is used as an emetic by the Indians who also extract from it a yellow dye. A great variety of willows occur on the banks of the streams and the hazel is met with sparingly in the woods.

The sugar maple, elm, ash, and the arbor vitae,* termed by the Canadian voyagers cedar, grow on various parts of the Saskatchewan but that river seems to form their northern boundary. Two kinds of prunus also grow here, one of which,** a handsome small tree, produces a black fruit having a very astringent taste whence the term choke-cherry applied to it. The Crees call it tawquoymeena, and esteemed it to be when dried and bruised a good addition to pemmican. The other species*** is a less elegant shrub but is said to bear a bright red cherry of a pleasant sweet taste. Its Cree name is pa.s.seeaweymeenan, and it is known to occur as far north as Great Slave Lake.

(*Footnote. Thuya occidentalis.)

(**Footnote. Prunus virginiana.)

(***Footnote. Prunus pensylvanica.)

The most esteemed fruit of the country however is the produce of the Aronia ovalis. Under the name of meesa.s.scootoomena it is a favourite dish at most of the Indian feasts and, mixed with pemmican, it renders that greasy food actually palatable. A great variety of currants and gooseberries are also mentioned by the natives under the name of sappoommeena but we only found three species in the neighbourhood of c.u.mberland House. The strawberry, called by the Crees oteimeena, or heart-berry, is found in abundance and rasps are common on the sandy banks of the rivers. The fruits. .h.i.therto mentioned fall in the autumn but the following berries remained hanging on the bushes in the spring and are considered as much mellowed by exposure to the colds in winter. The red whortleberry (Vaccinium vitis idea) is found everywhere but is most abundant in rocky places. It is aptly termed by the Crees weesawgummeena, sour-berry. The common cranberry (Oxycoccos pal.u.s.tris) is distinguished from the preceding by its growing on moist sphagnous spots and is hence called maskoegomeena, swamp-berry. The American guelder rose whose fruit so strongly resembles the cranberry is also common. There are two kinds of it (Viburnum oxycoccos and edule) one termed by the natives peepoonmeena, winter-berry, and the other mongsoameena, moose-berry.

There is also a berry of a bluish white colour, the produce of the white cornel tree, which is named musquameena, bear-berry, because these animals are said to fatten on it. The dwarf Canadian cornel bears a corymb of red berries which are highly ornamental to the woods throughout the country but are not otherwise worthy of notice for they have an insipid farinaceous taste and are seldom gathered.

The Crees extract some beautiful colours from several of their native vegetables. They dye their porcupine quills a beautiful scarlet with the roots of two species of bed-straw (Galium tinctorium and boreale) which they indiscriminately term sawoyan. The roots, after being carefully washed, are boiled gently in a clean copper kettle, and a quant.i.ty of the juice of the moose-berry, strawberry, cranberry, or arctic raspberry, is added together with a few red tufts of pistils of the larch. The porcupine quills are plunged into the liquor before it becomes quite cold and are soon tinged of a beautiful scarlet. The process sometimes fails and produces only a dirty brown, a circ.u.mstance which ought probably to be ascribed to the use of an undue quant.i.ty of acid. They dye black with an ink made of elder bark and a little bog-iron-ore, dried and pounded, and they have various modes of producing yellow. The deepest colour is obtained from the dried root of a plant which from their description appears to be cowbane (Cicuta virosa). An inferior colour is obtained from the bruised buds of the Dutch myrtle and they have discovered methods of dyeing with various lichens.

The quadrupeds that are hunted for food in this part of the country are the moose and the reindeer, the former termed by the Crees mongsoa, or moosoa, the latter attekh. The buffalo or bison (moostoosh) the red-deer or American stag (wawaskeeshoo) the apeesee-mongsoos, or jumping deer, the kinwaithoos, or long-tailed deer, and the apistat-chaekoos, a species of antelope; animals that frequent the plains above the forks of the Saskatchewan are not found in the neighbourhood of c.u.mberland House.

Of fur-bearing animals various kinds of foxes (makkeeshewuc) are found in the district, distinguished by the traders under the names of black, silver, cross, red, and blue foxes. The two former are considered by the Indians to be the same kind, varying accidentally in the colour of the pelt. The black foxes are very rare and fetch a high price. The cross and red foxes differ from each other only in colour being of the same shape and size. Their shades of colour are not disposed in any determinate manner, some individuals approaching in that respect very nearly to the silver fox, others exhibiting every link of the chain down to a nearly uniform deep or orange-yellow, the distinguis.h.i.+ng colour of a pure red fox. It is reported both by Indians and traders that all the varieties have been found in the same litter. The blue fox is seldom seen here and is supposed to come from the southward. The gray wolf (mahaygan) is common here. In the month of March the females frequently entice the domestic dog from the forts although at other seasons a strong antipathy seemed to subsist between them. Some black wolves are occasionally seen.

The black and red varieties of the American bear (musquah) are also found near c.u.mberland House though not frequently; a black bear often has red cubs, and vice versa. The grizzly bear, so much dreaded by the Indians for its strength and ferocity, inhabits a track of country nearer the Rocky Mountains. It is extraordinary that although I made inquiries extensively amongst the Indians I met with but one who said that he had killed a she-bear with young in the womb.

The wolverine, in Cree okeekoohawgees, or ommeethatsees, is an animal of great strength and cunning and is much hated by the hunters on account of the mischief it does to their marten-traps. The Canadian lynx (peeshew) is a timid but well-armed animal which preys upon the American hare. Its fur is esteemed. The marten (wapeestan) is one of the most common furred animals in the country. The fisher, notwithstanding its name, is an inhabitant of the land, living like the common marten princ.i.p.ally on mice. It is the otchoek of the Crees, and the pekan of the Canadians. The mink (atjackash) has been often confounded by writers with the fisher. It is a much smaller animal, inhabits the banks of rivers, and swims well; its prey is fish. The otter (neekeek) is larger than the English species and produces a much more valuable fur.

The muskrat (watsuss, or musquash) is very abundant in all the small gra.s.sy lakes. They build small conical houses with a mixture of hay and earth, those which build early raising their houses on the mud of the marshes, and those which build later in the season founding their habitations upon the surface of the ice itself. The house covers a hole in the ice which permits them to go into the water in search of the roots on which they feed. In severe winters when the small lakes are frozen to the bottom and these animals cannot procure their usual food they prey upon each other. In this way great numbers are destroyed.

The beaver (ammisk) furnish the staple fur of the country. Many surprising stories have been told of the sagacity with which this animal suits the form of its habitation, retreats, and dam, to local circ.u.mstances; and I compared the account of its manners given by Cuvier in his Regne Animal with the reports of the Indians and found them to agree exactly. They have been often seen in the act of constructing their houses in the moonlight nights, and the observers agree that the stones, wood, or other materials are carried in their teeth and generally leaning against the shoulder. When they have placed it to their mind they turn round and give it a smart blow with their flat tail. In the act of diving they give a similar stroke to the surface of the water. They keep their provision of wood under water in front of the house. Their favourite food is the bark of the aspen, birch and willow; they also eat the alder, but seldom touch any of the pine tribe unless from necessity; they are fond of the large roots of the Nuphar lutea, and grow fat upon it but it gives their flesh a strong rancid taste. In the season of love their call resembles a groan, that of the male being the hoa.r.s.est, but the voice of the young is exactly like the cry of a child. They are very playful as the following anecdote will show: One day a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied five young beavers sporting in the water, leaping upon the trunk of a tree, pus.h.i.+ng one another off and playing a thousand interesting tricks. He approached softly under cover of the bushes and prepared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures, but a nearer approach discovered to him such a similitude betwixt their gestures and the infantile caresses of his own children that he threw aside his gun. This gentleman's feelings are to be envied but few traders in fur would have acted so feelingly. The muskrat frequently inhabits the same lodge with the beaver and the otter also thrusts himself in occasionally; the latter however is not always a civil guest as he sometimes devours his host.

These are the animals most interesting in an economical point of view.

The American hare and several kinds of grouse and ptarmigan also contribute towards the support of the natives; and the geese, in their periodical flights in the spring and autumn, likewise prove a valuable resource both to the Indians and white residents; but the princ.i.p.al article of food after the moose-deer is fish; indeed it forms almost the sole support of the traders at some of the posts. The most esteemed fish is the Coregonus albus, the attihhawmeg of the Crees and the white-fish of the Americans. Its usual weight is between three and four pounds, but it has been known to reach sixteen or eighteen pounds. Three fish of the ordinary size is the daily allowance to each man at the fort and is considered as equivalent to two geese or eight pounds of solid moose-meat. The fishery for the attihhawmeg lasts the whole year but is most productive in the sp.a.w.ning season from the middle of September to the middle of October. The ottonneebees (Coregonus artedi) closely resembles the last. Three species of carp (Catastomus hudsonius, C.

forsteria.n.u.s, and C. lesueurii) are also found abundantly in all the lakes, their Cree names are namaypeeth, meethquawmaypeeth, and wapawhawkeeshew. The occuw, or river perch, termed also horn-fish, piccarel, or dore, is common, but is not so much esteemed as the attihhawmeg. It attains the length of twenty inches in these lakes. The methy is another common fish; it is the Gadus lota, or burbot, of Europe.

Its length is about two feet, its gullet is capacious and it preys upon fish large enough to distend its body to nearly twice its proper size. It is never eaten, not even by the dogs, unless through necessity but its liver and roe are considered as delicacies.