A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean Part 22

[Sidenote: 19th-25th.]

From the nineteenth to the twenty-fifth, we walked by the side of Thaye-chuck-gyed Whoie,[86] or Large Whitestone Lake, which is about forty miles long from the North {195} East to the South West, but of very unequal breadth. A river from the North West side of this lake is said to run in a serpentine manner a long way to the Westward; and then tending to the Northward, composes the main branch of the Copper-mine River, as has been already mentioned; which may or may not be true. It is certain, however, that there are many rivulets which empty themselves into this lake from the South East; but as they are all small streams, they may probably be no more than what is sufficient to supply the constant decrease occasioned by the exhalations, which, during the short Summer, so high a Northern lat.i.tude always affords.

Deer were very plentiful the whole way; the Indians killed great numbers of them daily, merely for the sake of their skins; and at this time of the year their pelts are in good season, and the hair of a proper length for clothing.

[Sidenote: 1771. August.]

The great destruction which is made of the deer in those parts at this season of the year only, is almost incredible; and as they are never known to have more than one young one at a time, it is wonderful they do not become scarce; but so far from being the case, that the oldest Northern Indian in all their tribe will affirm that the deer are as plentiful now as they ever have been; and though they are remarkably scarce some years near Churchill River, yet it is said, and with great probability of truth, that they are {196} more plentiful in other parts of the country than they were formerly. The scarcity or abundance of these animals in different places at the same season is caused, in a great measure, by the winds which prevail for some time before; for the deer are supposed by the natives to walk always in the direction from which the wind blows, except when they migrate from East to West, or from West to East, in search of the opposite s.e.x, for the purpose of propagating their species.

It requires the prime part of the skins of from eight to ten deer to make a complete suit of warm clothing for a grown person during the Winter; all of which should, if possible, be killed in the month of August, or early in September; for after that time the hair is too long, and at the same time so loose in the pelt, that it will drop off with the slightest injury.

Beside these skins, which must be in the hair, each person requires several others to be dressed into leather, for stockings and shoes, and light Summer clothing; several more are also wanted in a parchment state, to make _clewla_ as they call it, or thongs to make netting for their snow-shoes, snares for deer, sewing for their sledges, and, in fact, for every other use where strings or lines of any kind are required: so that each person, on an average, expends, in the course of a year, upwards of twenty deer skins in {197} clothing and other domestic uses, exclusive of tent cloths, bags, and many other things which it is impossible to remember, and unnecessary to enumerate.

[Sidenote: 1771. August.]

All skins for the above-mentioned purposes are, if possible, procured between the beginning of August and the middle of October; for when the rutting season is over, and the Winter sets in, the deer-skins are not only very thin, but in general full of worms and warbles[87]; which render them of little use, unless it be to cut into fine thongs, of which they make fis.h.i.+ng-nets, and nets for the heels and toes of their snow-shoes. Indeed the chief use that is made of them in Winter is for the purpose of food; and really when the hair is properly taken off, and all the warbles are squeezed out, if they are well-boiled, they are far from being disagreeable. The Indians, however, never could persuade me to eat the warbles, of which some of them are remarkably fond, particularly the children. They are always eaten raw and alive, out of the skin; and are said, by those who like them, to be as fine as gooseberries. But the very idea of eating such things, exclusive of their appearance, (many of them being as large as the first joint of the little finger,) was quite sufficient to give me an unalterable disgust to such a repast; and when I acknowledge that the warbles out of the deers backs, and the domestic lice, were the only two things I ever saw my {198} companions eat, of which I could not, or did not, partake, I trust I shall not be reckoned over-delicate in my appet.i.te.

[Sidenote: 1771. August.]

The month of October is the rutting season with the deer in those parts, and after the time of their courts.h.i.+p is over, the bucks separate from the does; the former proceed to the Westward, to take shelter in the woods during the Winter, and the latter keep out in the barren ground the whole year. This, though a general rule, is not without some exceptions; for I have frequently seen many does in the woods, though they bore no proportion to the number of bucks. This rule, therefore, only stands good respecting the deer to the North of Churchill River; for the deer to the Southward live promiscuously among the woods, as well as in the plains, and along the banks of rivers, lakes, &c. the whole year.

The old buck's horns are very large, with many branches, and always drop off in the month of November, which is about the time they begin to approach the woods. This is undoubtedly wisely ordered by Providence, the better to enable them to escape from their enemies through the woods; otherwise they would become an easy prey to wolves and other beasts, and be liable to get entangled among the trees, even in ranging about in search of food. The same opinion may probably be admitted of the Southern deer, which always reside among {199} the woods; but the Northern deer, though by far the smallest in this country, have much the largest horns, and the branches are so long, and at the same time spread so wide, as to make them more liable to be entangled among the under-woods, than any other species of deer that I have noticed. The young bucks in those parts do not shed their horns so soon as the old ones: I have frequently seen them killed at or near Christmas, and could discover no appearance of their horns being loose. The does do not shed their horns till the Summer; so that when the buck's horns are ready to drop off, the horns of the does are all hairy, and scarcely come to their full growth.

[Sidenote: 1771. August.]

The deer in those parts are generally in motion from East to West, or from West to East, according to the season, or the prevailing winds; and that is the princ.i.p.al reason why the Northern Indians are always s.h.i.+fting their station. From November till May, the bucks continue to the Westward, among the woods, when their horns begin to sprout; after which they proceed on to the Eastward, to the barren grounds; and the does that have been on the barren ground all the Winter, are taught by instinct to advance to the Westward to meet them, in order to propagate their species. Immediately after the rutting season is over, they separate, as hath been mentioned above. The old vulgar saying, so generally received among the lower cla.s.s of people in England, concerning the bucks shedding their yards, or more properly the glands of the {200} _p.e.n.i.s_, yearly, whether it be true in England or not, is certainly not true in any of the countries bordering on Hudson's Bay. A long residence among the Indians has enabled me to confirm this a.s.sertion with great confidence, as I have seen deer killed every day throughout the year; and when I have mentioned this circ.u.mstance to the Indians, either Northern or Southern, they always a.s.sured me that they never observed any such symptoms. With equal truth I can a.s.sert, and that from ocular demonstration, that the animal which is called the Alpine Hare in Hudson's Bay, actually undergoes something similar to that which is vulgarly ascribed to the English deer. I have seen and handled several of them, who had been killed just after they had coupled in the Spring, with the _p.e.n.i.ses_ hanging out, dried up, and shrivelled, like the navel-string of young animals; and on examination I always found a pa.s.sage through them for the urine to pa.s.s. I have thought proper to give this remark a place in my Journal, because, in all probability, it is not generally known, even to those gentlemen who have made natural history their chief study; and if their researches are of any real utility to mankind, it is surely to be regretted that Providence should have placed the greatest part of them too remote from want to be obliged to travel for ocular proofs of what they a.s.sert in their publications; they are therefore wisely content to stay at home, and enjoy the blessings with which they are endowed, resting satisfied to collect such information for their own amus.e.m.e.nt, and the gratification of the public, as those {201} who are necessitated to be travellers are able or willing to give them. It is true, and I am sorry it is so, that I come under the latter description; but hope I have not, or shall not, in the course of this Journal, advance any thing that will not stand the test of experiment, and the skill of the most competent judges.

[Sidenote: 1771. September.]

After leaving White Stone Lake, we continued our course in the South West quarter, seldom walking more than twelve miles a day, and frequently not half that distance.

[Sidenote: 3d.]

On the third of September, we arrived at a small river belonging to Point Lake, but the weather at this time proved so boisterous, and there was so much rain, snow, and frost, alternately, that we were obliged to wait several days before we could cross it in our canoes; and the water was too deep, and the current too rapid, to attempt fording it. During this interruption, however, our time was not entirely lost, as deer were so plentiful that the Indians killed numbers of them, as well for the sake of their skins, as for their flesh, which was at present in excellent order, and the skins in proper season for the sundry uses for which they are destined.

[Sidenote: 7th.]

[Sidenote: 8th.]

In the afternoon of the seventh, the weather became fine and moderate, when we all were ferried across the river; and the next morning shaped our course to the {202} South West, by the side of Point Lake. After three days journey, which only consisted of about eighteen miles, we came to a few small scrubby woods,[88] which were the first that we had seen from the twenty-fifth of May, except those we had perceived at the Copper-mine River.

[Sidenote: 1771. September.]

One of the Indian's wives, who for some time had been in a consumption, had for a few days past become so weak as to be incapable of travelling, which, among those people, is the most deplorable state to which a human being can possibly be brought. Whether she had been given over by the doctors, or that it was for want of friends among them, I cannot tell, but certain it is, that no expedients were taken for her recovery; so that, without much ceremony, she was left una.s.sisted, to perish above-ground.

Though this was the first instance of the kind I had seen, it is the common, and indeed the constant practice of those Indians; for when a grown person is so ill, especially in the Summer, as not to be able to walk, and too heavy to be carried, they say it is better to leave one who is past recovery, than for the whole family to sit down by them and starve to death; well knowing that they cannot be of any service to the afflicted. On those occasions, therefore, the friends or relations of the sick generally leave them some victuals and water; and, if the situation of the place will afford it, a little firing. When {203} those articles are provided, the person to be left is acquainted with the road which the others intend to go; and then, after covering them well up with deer skins, &c. they take their leave, and walk away crying.

Sometimes persons thus left, recover; and come up with their friends, or wander about till they meet with other Indians, whom they accompany till they again join their relations. Instances of this kind are seldom known. The poor woman above mentioned, however, came up with us three several times, after having been left in the manner described. At length, poor creature! she dropt behind, and no one attempted to go back in search of her.

A custom apparently so unnatural is perhaps not to be found among any other of the human race: if properly considered, however, it may with justice be ascribed to necessity and self-preservation, rather than to the want of humanity and social feeling, which ought to be the characteristic of men, as the n.o.blest part of the creation. Necessity, added to national custom, contributes princ.i.p.ally to make scenes of this kind less shocking to those people, than they must appear to the more civilized part of mankind.

[Sidenote: 1771. September.]

During the early part of September, the weather was in general cold with much sleet and snow; which seemed to {204} promise that the Winter would set in early. Deer at this time being very plentiful, and the few woods we met with affording tent-poles and firing, the Indians proposed to remain where we were some time, in order to dress skins, and provide our Winter clothing; also to make snow-shoes and temporary sledges, as well as to prepare a large quant.i.ty of dried meat and fat to carry with us; for by the accounts of the Indians, they have always experienced a great scarcity of deer, and every other kind of game, in the direction they proposed we should go when we left Point Lake.

[Sidenote: 28th.]

[Sidenote: 30th.]

Toward the middle of the month, the weather became quite mild and open, and continued so till the end of it; but there was so much constant and incessant rain, that it rotted most of our tents. On the twenty-eighth, however, the wind settled in the North West quarter, when the weather grew so cold, that by the thirtieth all the ponds, lakes, and other standing waters, were frozen over so hard that we were enabled to cross them on the ice without danger.

Among the various superst.i.tious customs of those people, it is worth remarking, and ought to have been mentioned in its proper place, that immediately after my companions had killed the Esquimaux at the Copper River, they considered themselves in a state of uncleanness, which induced them to practise some very curious and unusual ceremonies. {205} In the first place, all who were absolutely concerned in the murder were prohibited from cooking any kind of victuals, either for themselves or others. As luckily there were two in company who had not shed blood, they were employed always as cooks till we joined the women. This circ.u.mstance was exceedingly favourable on my side; for had there been no persons of the above description in company, that task, I was told, would have fallen on me; which would have been no less fatiguing and troublesome, than humiliating and vexatious.

[Sidenote: 1771. September.]

When the victuals were cooked, all the murderers took a kind of red earth, or oker, and painted all the s.p.a.ce between the nose and chin, as well as the greater part of their cheeks, almost to the ears, before they would taste a bit, and would not drink out of any other dish, or smoke out of any other pipe, but their own; and none of the others seemed willing to drink or smoke out of theirs.

We had no sooner joined the women, at our return from the expedition, than there seemed to be an universal spirit of emulation among them, vying who should first make a suit of ornaments for their husbands, which consisted of bracelets for the wrists, and a band for the forehead, composed of porcupine quills and moose-hair, curiously wrought on leather.

The custom of painting the mouth and part of the cheeks before each meal, and drinking and smoking out {206} of their own utensils, was strictly and invariably observed, till the Winter began to set in; and during the whole of that time they would never kiss any of their wives or children. They refrained also from eating many parts of the deer and other animals, particularly the head, entrails, and blood; and during their uncleanness, their victuals were never sodden in water, but dried in the sun, eaten quite raw, or broiled, when a fire fit for the purpose could be procured.

When the time arrived that was to put an end to these ceremonies, the men, without a female being present, made a fire at some distance from the tents, into which they threw all their ornaments, pipe-stems, and dishes, which were soon consumed to ashes; after which a feast was prepared, consisting of such articles as they had long been prohibited from eating; and when all was over, each man was at liberty to eat, drink, and smoke as he pleased; and also to kiss his wives and children at discretion, which they seemed to do with more raptures than I had ever known them do it either before or since.

[Sidenote: October. 6th.]

[Sidenote: 1771. October.]

October came in very roughly, attended with heavy falls of snow, and much drift. On the sixth at night, a heavy gale of wind from the North West put us in great disorder; for though the few woods we pa.s.sed had furnished us with tent-poles and fewel, yet they did not afford us the least shelter whatever. The wind blew with such {207} violence, that in spite of all our endeavours, it overset several of the tents, and mine, among the rest, shared the disaster, which I cannot sufficiently lament, as the but-ends of the weather tent-poles fell on the quadrant,[89] and though it was in a strong wainscot case, two of the bubbles, the index, and several other parts were broken, which rendered it entirely useless.

This being the case, I did not think it worth carriage, but broke it to pieces, and gave the bra.s.s-work to the Indians, who cut it into small lumps, and made use of it instead of ball.

[Sidenote: 23d.]

On the twenty-third of October, several Copper and a few Dog-ribbed Indians came to our tents laden with furrs, which they sold to some of my crew for such iron-work as they had to give in exchange. This visit, I afterwards found, was by appointment of the Copper Indians whom we had seen at Congecathawhachaga, and who, in their way to us, had met the Dog-ribbed Indians, who were also glad of so favourable an opportunity of purchasing some of those valuable articles, though at a very extravagant price: for one of the Indians in my company, though not properly of my party, got no less than forty beaver skins, and sixty martins, for one piece of iron which he had stole when he was last at the Fort.[AV]

[Sidenote: 1771. October.]

{208} One of those strangers had about forty beaver skins, with which he intended to pay Matonabbee an old debt; but one of the other Indians seized the whole, notwithstanding he knew it to be in fact Matonabbee's property. This treatment, together with many other insults, which he had received during my abode with him, made him renew his old resolution of leaving his own country, and going to reside with the Athapuscow Indians.

[Sidenote: 1771. October.]

As the most interesting part of my journey was now over, I did not think it necessary to interfere in his private affairs; and therefore did not endeavour to influence him either one way or the other: out of complaisance, therefore, rather than any thing else, I told him, that I thought such behaviour very uncourteous, especially in a man of his rank and dignity. As to the reason of his determination, I did not think it worth while to enquire into it; but, by his discourse with the other Indians, I soon understood that they all intended to make an excursion into the country of the Athapuscow Indians, in order to kill moose and beaver. The former of those animals are never found in the Northern Indian territories; and the latter are so scarce in those Northern parts, that during the whole Winter of one thousand seven hundred and seventy, {209} I did not see more than two beaver houses. Martins are also scarce in those parts; for during the above period, I do not think that more than six or eight were killed by all the Indians in my company. This exceedingly small number, among so many people, may with great truth be attributed to the indolence of the Indians, and the wandering life which they lead, rather than to the great scarcity of the martins. It is true, that our moving so frequently from place to place, did at times make it not an object worth while to build traps; but had they taken the advantage of all favourable opportunities, and been possessed of half the industry of the Company's servants in the Bay, they might with great ease have caught as many hundreds, if not some thousands; and when we consider the extent of ground which we walked over in that time, such a number would not have been any proof of the martins being very plentiful.

Except a few martins; wolves, quiquehatches, foxes, and otters, are the chief furrs to be met with in those parts, and few of the Northern Indians chuse to kill either the wolf or the quiquehatch, under a notion that they are something more than common animals. Indeed, I have known some of them so bigotted to this opinion, that having by chance killed a quiquehatch by a gun which had been set for a fox, they have left it where it was killed, and would not take off its skin. Notwithstanding this {210} silly notion, which is too frequently to be observed among those people, it generally happens that there are some in every gang who are less scrupulous, so that none of those furrs are ever left to rot; and even those who make a point of not killing the animals themselves, are ready to receive their skins from other Indians, and carry them to the Fort for trade.

[Sidenote: 30th.]

[Sidenote: November. 1st.]

By the thirtieth of October, all our clothing, snowshoes, and temporary sledges, being completed, we once more began to prepare for moving, and on the following day set out, and walked five or six miles to the Southward.