A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean Part 17

[Sidenote: 1771. July.]

The twelfth was so exceedingly hot and sultry, that we did not move; but early in the morning of the thirteenth, after my companions had taken what dry provisions they chose from our unsociable strangers, we set out, and walked about fifteen or sixteen miles to the North and North by East, in expectation of arriving at the Copper-mine River that day; but when we had reached the top of a long chain of hills, between which we were told the river ran, we found it to be no more than a branch of it which empties itself into the main river about forty miles from its influx into the sea. At that time all the Copper Indians were dispatched different ways, so that there was not one in company, who knew the shortest cut to the main river. Seeing some woods to the Westward, and judging that the current of the rivulet ran that way, we concluded that the main river lay in that direction, and was not very remote from our present situation. We therefore directed our course by the side of it, when the Indians met with several very fine buck deer, which they destroyed; and as that part we now traversed afforded plenty of good fire-wood, we put up, and cooked the most comfortable meal to which we had sat down for some months. As such favourable opportunities of indulging the appet.i.te happen but seldom, it is a general {144} rule with the Indians, which we did not neglect, to exert every art in dressing our food which the most refined skill in Indian cookery has been able to invent, and which consists chiefly in boiling, broiling, and roasting: but of all the dishes cooked by those people, a _beeatee_, as it is called in their language, is certainly the most delicious, at least for a change, that can be prepared from a deer only, without any other ingredient. It is a kind of haggis, made with the blood, a good quant.i.ty of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the heart and lungs cut, or more commonly torn into small s.h.i.+vers; all which is put into the stomach, and roasted, by being suspended before the fire by a string. Care must be taken that it does not get too much heat at first, as the bag would thereby be liable to be burnt, and the contents be let out. When it is sufficiently done, it will emit steam, in the same manner as a fowl or a joint of meat; which is as much as to say, Come, eat me now: and if it be taken in time, before the blood and other contents are too much done, it is certainly a most delicious morsel, even without pepper, salt, or any other seasoning.

[Sidenote: 1771. July.]

After regaling ourselves in the most plentiful manner, and taking a few hours rest, (for it was almost impossible to sleep for the muskettoes,) we once more set forward, directing our course to the North West by West; and after walking about nine or ten miles, arrived at that long wished-for spot, the Copper-mine River.[70]

FOOTNOTES:

[AC] See the Plate, where Fig. A represents the bottom of the canoe, Fig. B being the fore-part. Fig. C is the complete frame of one before it is covered with the bark of the birch-tree; it is represented on an artificial bank, which the natives raise to build it on. Fig. D is an end-view of a set of timbers, bent and lashed in their proper shape, and left to dry. Fig. E is the representation of a complete canoe. Fig. F represents one of their paddles. Fig. G a spear with which they kill deer; and Fig. H, their mode of carrying the canoe.

The following references are to the several parts of the canoe: Fig. C.

1. The stem. 2. The stern-post. 3. Two forked sticks supporting the stem and stern-post. 4. The gunwales. 5. Small rods placed between the timbers and birch-bark that covers them. 6. The timbers. 7. The keelson.

8. Large stones placed there to keep the bottom steady till the sides are sewed on.

[AD] The tobacco used in Hudson's Bay is the Brasil tobacco; which is twisted into the form of a rope, of near an inch diameter, and then wound into a large roll; from which it is taken by measures of length, for the natives.

[57] Thus, four days after leaving Clowey, travelling in a northerly direction, they pa.s.sed out of the wooded region and reached the barren grounds, though it is evident that there had been open barren grounds to the east of them for most of the way. Their course probably lay along the height of land east of Artillery Lake. The northern edge of the forest and southern line of the barren grounds crosses this lake near the middle, the most northern woods on its eastern sh.o.r.e being in lat.i.tude 63 4' N., while on its western side the woods extend north to lat.i.tude 63 11' N.

Artillery Lake is thus described by J. W. Tyrrell, who visited it in May 1900:--

"Artillery Lake was reached by our outfit on the 26th of May, more than two weeks after it had been first visited by Fairchild and Acres, when exploring and 'brus.h.i.+ng' the trail for our voyageurs. Then its ice had been as solid as in winter, showing no signs of disruption or decay, whereas now it was rapidly decomposing, forming what is known as candle-ice, and making much open water along the sh.o.r.es. It lies in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction, and is fifty-five miles in length, ... and the superficial area of the lake is about one hundred and ninety square miles. Its sh.o.r.es are bold and high, in some places about two hundred feet above the lake, and for the most part they present a bare, desolate appearance, especially on the easterly sh.o.r.e where few trees of any kind can be seen.

"Such small groves as were found are shown on the map, but on the westerly side, about ten miles from the south end, the sh.o.r.e is quite well timbered with small spruce, and they continue northerly, although thinly scattered, for a distance of twenty miles, eight miles farther north than the last grove on the east sh.o.r.e. There the woods cease entirely." (Report on an Exploratory Survey between Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay. By J. W. Tyrrell. Ann. Report, Dept. of the Interior, Ottawa, 1901. App. 26, Part III., pp. 17-18.)

[AE] I have observed, during my several journies in those parts, that all the way to the North of Seal River the edge of the wood is faced with old withered stumps, and trees which have been blown down by the wind. They are mostly of the sort which is called here Juniper, but were seldom of any considerable size. Those blasted trees are found in some parts to extend to the distance of twenty miles from the living woods, and detached patches of them are much farther off; which is a proof that the cold has been increasing in those parts for some ages. Indeed, some of the older Northern Indians have a.s.sured me, that they have heard their fathers and grandfathers say, they remembered the greatest part of those places where the trees are now blasted and dead, in a flouris.h.i.+ng state; and that they were remarkable for abounding with deer. It is a well-known fact, that many deer are fond of frequenting those plains where the juniper trees abound near barren grounds, particularly in fine weather during the Winter; but in heavy gales of wind they either take shelter in the thick woods, or go out on the open plains. The Indians, who never want a reason for any thing, say, that the deer quit the thin straggling woods during the high winds, because the nodding of the trees, when at a considerable distance from each other, frightens them; but in the midst of a thick forest, the constant rustling of the branches lulls them into security, and renders them an easy prey to a skilful hunter.

[This appears to have been the last wood seen before reaching the Coppermine River.

The wood known as juniper on Hudson Bay is the American larch, _Larix laricina_ (Du Roi) which extends to the edge of the barren grounds.]

[AF] Probably the same with Partridge Lake in the Map.

[58] Between Clowey and Peshew or Cat Lake, the map shows that their course was across Partridge Lake. The exact position of this lake was made known by Mr. Warburton Pike and afterwards by James W. Tyrrell, who crossed from Great Slave Lake to Hudson Bay in 1900. It is a small lake on the river between Artillery and Clinton-Colden Lakes, and lies just a little north of the southern edge of the barren lands. The name given to it on the Cook map is Cossadgath and on the Mackenzie map Ca.s.sandgath Lake, which are evidently modifications of the Chipewyan word for Ptarmigan or "White Partridge." With regard to the limits of Hearne's course in an east and west direction, it is quite clear that he pa.s.sed to the east of Great Slave Lake and to the west of the belt of timber on Hanbury River, so that he must have pa.s.sed in the vicinity of this lake if he did not pa.s.s over it.

Peshew is the Cree word for Wild Cat or Lynx, and therefore Peshew Lake should be the Cat Lake of the map, and not Partridge Lake as stated in the note, which was evidently inserted by Dr. Douglas after the author's death. Peshew or Cat Lake has been identified by Sir George Back, and following him by Sir John Richardson, as Artillery Lake, but this identification is almost certainly wrong. The sh.o.r.es of the southern half of Artillery Lake are wooded, while the Cat Lake of Hearne was three days' journey at least north of the southern edge of the barren lands. I think, therefore, that the Peshew or Cat Lake of this map is the lake which was named by Sir George Back, Clinton-Colden Lake, and which is known by this name on our present maps. Besides, though this argument may have little weight, Hearne's map shows Partridge and Cat Lakes in approximately the same positions in lat.i.tude as Partridge Lake (Kasba) and Clinton-Colden Lake respectively. On the Cook and Mackenzie maps, Cat Lake is shown as Cheesadawd Lake, which is certainly the same word as Tchize-ta, which Abbe Pet.i.tot says means Gite-du-Lynx or Home-of-the-Wild-Cat Lake. Pet.i.tot, however, states that this is the name of the lake which is now known as Walmsley Lake. Rt. Rev. J.

Lofthouse, Bishop of Keewatin, also informs me that the Chipewyan name for Wild Cat or Lynx Lake is Seeza-tua. Another complication is brought in by the Pennant map, which leaves Hearne's Cat Lake unnamed, and applies the name Peshew (Cat) Lake to the Lake known on Hearne's map as No-name Lake. This is much more nearly in the position of Walmsley Lake of the present maps. It is therefore difficult to avoid the conclusion that Hearne trusted to his memory for the names of these lakes, and that his memory failed him here. It is quite possible that after crossing Partridge Lake the Indians changed their course, for some reason or other, and turned west or south of west to Walmsley Lake, and that in the excitement of meeting Keels.h.i.+es, just from Churchill with a two-quart keg of brandy, Hearne neglected to make note of the change in the course.

[59] Some of the women and children were thus left on the north side of Peshew, probably Clinton-Colden Lake, and in that case he is correct in saying that they were north of lat.i.tude 64. At the town of Dawson, in the Yukon territory, which is in about the same lat.i.tude, there is sufficient light to work and travel at midnight between the 10th of May and the 1st of August.

[60] The map shows that he changed his course a little more to the west from the north sh.o.r.e of Clinton-Colden Lake, but actually he altered his course more than is there shown, and, while his map is reasonably correct thus far, it here becomes very inaccurate, and his distances are greatly exaggerated from this point to the mouth of the Coppermine River, during the time when the party was hurrying, with the lightest equipment possible, across the barren lands. The first lake crossed is said to have been Thoy-noy-kyed Lake, which is identified by Sir John Richardson as Tha-na-koi or Sand Hill Mount or Aylmer Lake. This lake is placed by Hearne about seventy-five miles from Cat (Clinton-Colden) Lake, while actually it is only a very few miles from it, forming, with it, but one body of water with a rapid between them. On the Cook map it is shown as having its discharge in a stream flowing south-westward into the east end of Great Slave Lake. If his Cat Lake should prove to be Walmsley Lake his distances would not be quite so inaccurate, for Walmsley and Aylmer Lakes are about fifty miles apart.

[61] Thoy-coy-lyned Lake has not been definitely located, and as there are very many lakes still unknown in that country, there is little use in making a guess at its position. Between it and Cogead Lake, the women of the party were all left behind at a point which he places in lat.i.tude 67 30', but which must have been much farther south, as we shall see.

[62] One of these streams, just north of Thoy-coy-lyned Lake, is called on the map Thlewey-chuck, which means Great-fish River. This can hardly be the Great Fish River which rises in Suss.e.x Lake and empties into the Arctic Ocean south of King William Island, but it may be a river mentioned by Pet.i.tot under the name _L'uetchor des tchege_, which is said by him to flow southward into Great Slave Lake. Or it may be some other stream known by the same name to the Chipewyan Indians.

[63] COGEAD LAKE.--This lake has been identified by Sir J. Richardson with Contwoy-to or Rum Lake of Franklin, the name which it bore in his day among the Copper Indians. Sir J. Franklin says of it: "The lake is called by them Contwoy-to or Rum Lake, in consequence of Mr. Hearne having here given the Indians who accompanied him some of that liquor."

It lies in N. lat.i.tude 65 50', a long way south of the Arctic circle, and therefore Hearne is in error in the next paragraph when he says that the sun "did not set all that night." Mr. Frank Russell visited this district in 1894, and he speaks of a large lake called by the Indians Ko-a-ka-tcai-ti which he thinks must be the Rum Lake of Franklin, and consequently the Cogead Lake of Hearne ("Explorations in the Far North," by Frank Russell, 1898, p. 113).

[64] This place has also been identified by Sir John Franklin, who says: "We subsequently learned from the Copper Indians that the part at which we had crossed the (Anatessy) river was the Congecathawhachaga of Hearne, of which I had little idea at the time" ("First Journey," p.

405). Sir John Richardson ("Polar Regions," p. 126) makes the following statement with regard to the identification of this place:

"Travelling without inc.u.mbrance, the war-party, with Hearne in company, reached a river of some size called Congecawthawhachaga, on the 21st of June, and there they met a large body of the Copper Indians or Red Knives, one of whom, then a boy named Cascathry, was well known in 1820-21 to Sir John Franklin. This boy joined the war-party, and in his old age remembered the circ.u.mstances well. Hearne says that he ascertained with his Elton's quadrant the position of the ferry over the river to be 68 46' north, and 118 15' west of London. According to Sir John Franklin's observations it lies in 66 14' N., long. 112 W."

[AG] See Postlethwayt on the article of Labour.

[AH] Notwithstanding this is the general character of the Southern Indian women, as they are called on the coasts of Hudson's Bay, and who are the same tribe with the Canadian Indians, I am happy to have it in my power to insert a few lines to the memory of one of them, whom I knew from her infancy, and who, I can truly affirm, was directly the reverse of the picture I have drawn.

MARY, the daughter of MOSES NORTON, many years Chief at Prince of Wales's Fort, in Hudson's Bay, though born and brought up in a country of all others the least favourable to virtue and virtuous principles, possessed them, and every other good and amiable quality, in a most eminent degree.

Without the a.s.sistance of religion, and with no education but what she received among the dissolute natives of her country, she would have shone with superior l.u.s.tre in any other country: for, if an engaging person, gentle manners, an easy freedom, arising from a consciousness of innocence, an amiable modesty, and an unrivalled delicacy of sentiment, are graces and virtues which render a woman lovely, none ever had greater pretensions to general esteem and regard: while her benevolence, humanity, and scrupulous adherence to truth and honesty, would have done honour to the most enlightened and devout Christian.

Dutiful, obedient, and affectionate to her parents; steady and faithful to her friends; grateful and humble to her benefactors; easily forgiving and forgetting injuries; careful not to offend any, and courteous and kind to all; she was, nevertheless, suffered to perish by the rigours of cold and hunger, amidst her own relations, at a time when the griping hand of famine was by no means severely felt by any other member of their company; and it may truly be said that she fell a martyr to the principles of virtue. This happened in the Winter of the year 1782, after the French had destroyed Prince of Wales's Fort; at which time she was in the twenty-second year of her age.

Human nature shudders at the bare recital of such brutality, and reason shrinks from the task of accounting for the decrees of Providence on such occasions as this: but they are the strongest a.s.surances of a future state, so infinitely superior to the present, that the enjoyment of every pleasure in this world by the most worthless and abandoned wretch, or the most innocent and virtuous woman peris.h.i.+ng by the most excruciating of all deaths, are matters equally indifferent. But,

"Peace to the ashes, and the virtuous mind, Of her who lived in peace with all mankind; Learn'd from the heart, unknowing of disguise, Truth in her thoughts, and candour in her eyes; Stranger alike to envy and to pride, Good sense her light, and Nature all her guide; But now removed from all the ills of life, Here rests the pleasing friend and faithful wife."--WALLER.

Her father was, undoubtedly, very blamable for bringing her up in the tender manner which he did, rendering her by that means not only incapable of bearing the fatigues and hards.h.i.+ps which the rest of her countrywomen think little of, but of providing for herself. This is, indeed, too frequent a practice among Europeans in that country, who bring up their children in so indulgent a manner, that when they retire, and leave their offspring behind, they find themselves so helpless, as to be unable to provide for the few wants to which they are subject. The late Mr. Ferdinand Jacobs, many years Chief at York Fort, was the only person whom I ever knew that acted in a different manner; though no man could possibly be fonder of his children in other respects, yet as there were some that he could not bring to England, he had them brought up entirely among the natives; so that when he left the country, they scarcely ever felt the loss, though they regretted the absence of a fond and indulgent parent.

[AI] Most of the Southern Indians, as well as the Athapuscow and Neheaway tribes, are entirely without scruple in this respect. It is notoriously known, that many of them cohabit occasionally with their own mothers, and frequently espouse their sisters and daughters. I have known several of them who, after having lived in that state for some time with their daughters, have given them to their sons, and all parties been perfectly reconciled to it.

In fact, notwithstanding the severity of the climate, the licentiousness of the inhabitants cannot be exceeded by any of the Eastern nations, whose luxurious manner of life, and genial clime, seem more adapted to excite extraordinary pa.s.sions, than the severe cold of the frigid Zone.

It is true, that few of those who live under the immediate protection of the English ever take either their sisters or daughters for wives, which is probably owing to the fear of incurring their displeasure; but it is well known that acts of incest too often take place among them, though perhaps not so frequently as among the foreign Indians.

[65] As seen on page 153, the lat.i.tude given for this place is 2 32'

too far north. Almost any quadrant, however bad, would permit of taking an observation closer than this; but as the error is approximately two and a half degrees, his mistake in observing the double alt.i.tude would be five degrees, and if he took an observation at all it is possible that this error was in making the calculations or in transcribing, rather than in taking, the observation.

[66] The position of this lake has not since been determined, and as the name Musk-Ox Lake seems to be one given by Hearne himself, and as the Indian name is not given, it will be difficult at any time to identify it.

[67] _Ovibos moschatus_ (Zimm.).

[AJ] Mr. Dragge says, in his Voyage ["An Account of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Pa.s.sage," by the Clerk of the _California_, London, 1748], vol. ii. p. 260, that the musk-ox is lower than a deer, but larger as to belly and quarters; which is very far from the truth; they are of the size I have here described them, and the Indians always estimate the flesh of a full-grown cow to be equal in quant.i.ty to three deer. I am sorry also to be obliged to contradict my friend Mr. Graham, who says that the flesh of this animal is carried on sledges to Prince of Wales's Fort, to the amount of three or four thousand pounds annually. To the amount of near one thousand pounds may have been purchased from the natives in some particular years, but it more frequently happens that not an ounce is brought one year out of five. In fact, it is by no means esteemed by the Company's servants, and of course no great encouragement is given to introduce it; but if it had been otherwise, their general situation is so remote from the settlement, that it would not be worth the Indians while to haul it to the Fort. So that, in fact, all that has ever been carried to Prince of Wales's Fort, has most a.s.suredly been killed out of a herd that has been accidentally found within a moderate distance of the settlement; perhaps an hundred miles, which is only thought a step by an Indian.

[AK] Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 232.

[68] _Gulo luscus_ Linn. See p. 346.

[69] _Citellus parryi_ Richardson.--E. A. P.

[AL] This river runs nearly North East, and in all probability empties itself into the Northern Ocean, not far from the Copper River.

[70] He reached the Coppermine River at Sandstone Rapids, having travelled one hundred and forty-five miles north-westward from Congecathawhachaga in thirteen days, making an average of eleven miles a day, or, omitting the two days on which the party did not travel, an average of thirteen miles a day. The distance stated in the text is one hundred and eighty-eight miles. Considering the very rough nature of the country over which he was travelling, this is not a very extravagant estimate nor a very unreasonable error. While his estimate of distance is not very bad, his direction should have been N. 58 W. instead of N.

23 W., as shown on his map. Mr. Frank Russell, who crossed the Coppermine River in the spring of 1894 while on a hunt for musk oxen, says that its present Chipewyan name is Tson Te ("Explorations in the Far North," p. 112).

In 1821 Sir John Franklin explored and surveyed this river from Point Lake to the Arctic Ocean, a distance of about two hundred and seventy-five miles. Its length above Point Lake is not known, but it is probably about two hundred miles. A short distance below Point Lake Franklin says that it "is about two hundred yards wide and ten feet deep, and flows very rapidly over a rocky bottom" ("First Journey," p.

327).