A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean Part 3

Transactions from the time the Quadrant was broken, till I arrived at the Factory.

Several strange Indians join us from the Northward--They plunder me of all I had; but did not plunder the Southern Indians--My guide plundered--We begin our return to the Factory--Meet with other Indians, who join our company--Collect deer-skins for clothing, but could not get them {xiii} dressed--Suffer much hards.h.i.+p from the want of tents and warm clothing--Most of the Indians leave us--Meet with Matonabbee--Some account of him, and his behaviour to me and the Southern Indians--We remain in his company some time--His observations on my two unsuccessful attempts--We leave him, and proceed to a place to which he directed us, in order to make snow-shoes and sledges--Join Matonabbee again, and proceed towards the Factory in his company--Ammunition runs short--Myself and four Indians set off post for the Factory--Much bewildered in a snow storm; my dog is frozen to death; we lie in a bush of willows--Proceed on our journey--Great difficulty in crossing a jumble of rocks--Arrive at the Fort 96

CHAP. IV.

Transactions during our Stay at Prince of Wales's Fort, and the former Part of our third Expedition, till our Arrival at Clowey, where we built Canoes, in May 1771.

Preparations for our departure--Refuse to take any of the home-guard Indians with me--By so doing, I offend the Governor--Leave the Fort a third time--My instructions on this expedition--Provisions of all kinds very scarce--Arrive at the woods, where we kill some deer--Arrive at Island Lake--Matonabbee taken ill--Some remarks thereon--Join the remainder of the Indians' families--Leave Island Lake--Description thereof--Deer plentiful--Meet a strange Indian--Alter our course from West North West to West by South--Cross Cathawhachaga River, Cossed Lake, Snow-Bird Lake, and Pike Lake--Arrive at a tent of strangers, who are employed in snaring deer in a pound--Description of a pound--Method of proceeding--Remarks thereon--Proceed on our journey--Meet with several parties of Indians; by one of whom I sent a letter to the Governor at Prince of Wales's Fort--Arrive at Thleweyazayeth--Employment there--Proceed to the North North West and North--Arrive at Clowey--One of the Indian's wives taken in labour--Remarks thereon--Customs observed by the Northern Indians on those occasions 106

{xiv} CHAP. V.

Transactions at Clowey, and on our Journey, till our Arrival at the Copper-mine River.

Several strange Indians join us--Indians employed in building canoes; description and use of them--More Indians join us, to the amount of some hundreds--Leave Clowey--Receive intelligence that Keels.h.i.+es was near us--Two young men dispatched for my letters and goods--Arrive at Peshew Lake; cross part of it, and make a large smoke--One of Matonabbee's wives elopes--Some remarks on the natives--Keels.h.i.+es joins us, and delivers my letters, but the goods were all expended--A Northern Indian wishes to take one of Matonabbee's wives from him; matters compromised, but had like to have proved fatal to my progress--Cross Peshew Lake, when I make proper arrangements for the remainder of my journey--Many Indians join our party, in order to make war on the Esquimaux at the Copper River--Preparations made for that purpose while at Clowey--Proceed on our journey to the North--Some remarks on the way--Cross Cogead Lake on the ice--The sun did not set--Arrive at Congecathawhachaga--Find several Copper Indians there--Remarks and transactions during our stay at Congecathawhachaga--Proceed on our journey--Weather very bad--Arrive at the Stoney Mountains--Some account of them--Cross part of Buffalo Lake on the ice--Saw many musk-oxen--Description of them--Went with some Indians to view Grizzlebear Hill--Join a strange Northern Indian Leader, called O'lye, in company with some Copper Indians--Their behaviour to me--Arrive at the Copper-mine River 133

CHAP. VI.

Transactions at the Copper-mine River, and till we joined all the Women to the South of Cogead Lake.

Some Copper Indians join us--Indians send three spies down the river--Begin my survey--Spies return, and give an account of five tents of Esquimaux--Indians consult the best method to steal on them in the night, and {xv} kill them while asleep--Cross the river--Proceedings of the Indians as they advance towards the Esquimaux tents--The Indians begin the ma.s.sacre while the poor Esquimaux are asleep, and slay them all--Much affected at the sight of one young woman killed close to my feet--The behaviour of the Indians on this occasion--Their brutish treatment of the dead bodies--Seven more tents seen on the opposite side of the river--The Indians hara.s.s them, till they fly to a shoal in the river for safety--Behaviour of the Indians after killing those Esquimaux--Cross the river, and proceed to the tents on that side--Plunder their tents, and destroy their utensils--Continue my survey to the river's mouth--Remarks there--Set out on my return--Arrive at one of the Copper-mines--Remarks on it--Many attempts made to induce the Copper Indians to carry their own goods to market--Obstacles to it--Villany and cruelty of Keels.h.i.+es to some of those poor Indians--Leave the Copper-mine, and walk at an amazing rate till we join the women, by the side of Cogead Whoie--Much foot-foundered--The appearance very alarming, but soon changes for the better--Proceed to the southward, and join the remainder of the women and children--Many other Indians arrive with them 173

CHAP. VII.

Remarks from the Time the Women joined us till our Arrival at the Athapuscow Lake.

Several of the Indians sick--Methods used by the conjurors to relieve one man, who recovers--Matonabbee and his crew proceed to the South West--Most of the other Indians separate, and go their respective ways--Pa.s.s by White Stone Lake--Many deer killed merely for their skins--Remarks thereon, and on the deer, respecting seasons and places--Arrive at Point Lake--One of the Indian's wives being sick, is left behind to perish above-ground--Weather very bad, but deer plenty--Stay some time at Point Lake to dry meat, &c.--Winter set in--Superst.i.tious customs observed by my companions, after they had killed the Esquimaux at Copper River--A violent gale of wind oversets my tent and breaks my quadrant--Some Copper and Dog-ribbed Indians join us--Indians propose to go to the Athapuscow Country to kill moose--Leave Point Lake, and arrive at the wood's edge--Arrive at Anawd Lake--Transactions there--Remarkable instance of a man being cured of the palsey by the conjurors--Leave Anawd Lake--Arrive at the great Athapuscow Lake 209

{xvi} CHAP. VIII.

Transactions and Remarks from our Arrival on the South Side of the Athapuscow Lake, till our Arrival at Prince of Wales's Fort on Churchill River.

Cross the Athapuscow Lake--Description of it and its productions, as far as could be discovered in Winter, when the snow was on the ground--Fish found in the lake--Description of the buffalo; of the moose or elk, and the method of dressing their skins--Find a woman alone that had not seen a human face for more than seven months--Her account how she came to be in that situation; and her curious method of procuring a livelihood--Many of my Indians wrestled for her--Arrive at the Great Athapuscow River--Walk along the side of the River for several days, and then strike off to the Eastward--Difficulty in getting through the woods in many places--Meet with some strange Northern Indians on their return from the Fort--Meet more strangers, whom my companions plundered, and from whom they took one of their young women--Curious manner of life which those strangers lead, and the reason they gave for roving so far from their usual residence--Leave the fine level country of the Athapuscows, and arrive at the Stony Hills of the Northern Indian Country--Meet some strange Northern Indians, one of whom carried a letter for me to Prince of Wales's Fort, in March one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one, and now gave me an answer to it, dated twentieth of June following--Indians begin preparing wood-work and birch-rind for canoes--The equinoctial gale very severe--Indian method of running the moose deer down by speed of foot--Arrival at Theeleyaza River--See some strangers--The brutality of my companions--A tremendous gale and snow-drift--Meet with more strangers; remarks on it--Leave all the elderly people and children, and proceed directly to the Fort--Stop to build canoes, and then advance--Several of the Indians die through hunger, and many others are obliged to decline the journey for want of ammunition--A violent storm and inundation, that forced us to the top of a high hill, where we suffered great distress for more than two days--Kill several deer--The Indians' method of preserving the flesh without the a.s.sistance of salt--See several Indians that were going to Knapp's Bay--Game of all kinds remarkably plentiful--Arrive at the Factory 252

{xvii} CHAP. IX.

A short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, &c.

An account of the persons and tempers of the Northern Indians--They possess a great deal of art and cunning--Are very guilty of fraud when in their power, and generally exact more for their furs than any other tribe of Indians--Always dissatisfied, yet have their good qualities--The men in general jealous of their wives--Their marriages--Girls always betrothed when children, and their reasons for it--Great care and confinement of young girls from the age of eight or nine years--Divorces common among those people--The women are less prolific than in warmer countries--Remarkable piece of superst.i.tion observed by the women at particular periods--Their art in making it an excuse for a temporary separation from their husbands on any little quarrel--Reckoned very unclean on those occasions--The Northern Indians frequently, for the want of firing, are obliged to eat their meat raw--Some through necessity obliged to boil it in vessels made of the rind of the birch-tree--A remarkable dish among those people--The young animals always cut out of their dams, eaten, and accounted a great delicacy--The parts of generation of all animals eat by the men and boys--Manner of pa.s.sing their time, and method of killing deer in Summer with bows and arrows--Their tents, dogs, sledges, &c.--Snow-shoes--Their partiality to domestic vermin--Utmost extent of the Northern Indian country--Face of the country--Species of fish--A peculiar kind of moss useful for the support of man--Northern Indian method of catching fish, either with hooks or nets--Ceremony observed when two parties of those people meet--Diversions in common use--A singular disorder which attacks some of those people--Their superst.i.tion with respect to the death of their friends--Ceremony observed on those occasions--Their ideas of the first inhabitants of the world--No form of religion among them--Remarks on that circ.u.mstance--The extreme misery to which old age is exposed--Their opinion of the _Aurora Borealis_, &c.--Some account of Matonabbee, and his services to his country, as well as to the Hudson's Bay Company 297

{xviii} CHAP. X.

An Account of the princ.i.p.al Quadrupeds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay: The Buffalo, Moose, Musk-ox, Deer, and Beaver--A capital Mistake cleared up respecting the We-was-kish.

Animals with Canine Teeth: The Wolf--Foxes of various colours--Lynx, or Wild Cat--Polar, or White Bear--Black Bear--Brown Bear--Wolverene--Otter--Jackash--Wejack--Skunk--Pine Martin--Ermine, or Stote.

Animals with cutting Teeth: The Musk Beaver--Porcupine--Varying Hare--American Hare--Common Squirrel--Ground Squirrel--Mice of various kinds--and the Castor Beaver.

The Pinnated Quadrupeds with finlike Feet, found in Hudson's Bay, are but three in number, viz.: The Walrus, or Sea-Horse--Seal--and Sea-Unicorn.

The Species of Fish found in the Salt Water of Hudson's Bay are also few in number: being the Black Whale--White Whale--Salmon--and Kepling.

Sh.e.l.l-fish, and empty Sh.e.l.ls of several kinds, found on the Sea Coast near Churchill River.

Frogs of various sizes and colours; also a great variety of Grubbs, and other Insects, always found in a frozen state during Winter, but when exposed to the heat of a slow fire, are soon re-animated.

An account of some of the princ.i.p.al Birds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay; as well those that only migrate there in Summer, as those that are known to brave the coldest Winters: Eagles of various kinds--Hawks of various sizes and plumage--White or Snowy Owl--Grey or mottled Owl--Cob-a-dee-cooch--Raven--Cinerious Crow--Wood p.e.c.k.e.r--Ruffed Grouse--Pheasant--Wood Partridge--Willow Partridge--Rock Partridge--Pigeon--Red-breasted Thrush--Grosbeak--Snow Bunting--White-crowned Bunting--Lapland Finch, two sorts--Lark--t.i.tmouse--Swallow--Martin--Hopping Crane--Brown Crane--Bitron--Carlow, two sorts--Jack Snipe--Red G.o.dwart--Plover--Black Gullemet--Northern Diver--Black-throated Diver--Red-throated Diver--White Gull--Grey Gull--Black-head--Pelican--Goosander--Swans of two species--Common {xix} Grey Goose--Canada Goose--White or Snow Goose--Blue Goose--Horned Wavy--Laughing Goose--Barren Goose--Brent Goose--Dunter Goose--Bean Goose.

The species of Water-Fowl usually called Duck, that resort to those Parts annually, are in great variety; but those that are most esteemed are, the Mallard Duck--Long-tailed Duck--Wigeon, and Teal.

Of the Vegetable Productions as far North as Churchill River, particularly the most useful; such as the Berry-bearing Bushes, &c.: Gooseberry--Cranberry--Heathberry--Dewater-berry--Black Currans--Juniper-berry--Partridge-berry--Strawberry--Eye-berry-- Blue-berry--and a small species of Hips.

Burridge--Coltsfoot--Sorrel--Dandelion.

Wish-a-capucca--Jackashey-puck--Moss of various sorts--Gra.s.s of several kinds--and Vetches.

The Trees found so far North near the Sea, consist only of Pines--Juniper--Small Poplar--Bush-willows--and Creeping Birch 335

INTRODUCTION.

For many years it was the opinion of all ranks of people, that the Hudson's Bay Company were averse to making discoveries of every kind; and being content with the profits of their small capital, as it was then called, did not want to increase their trade. What might have been the ideas of former members of the Company respecting the first part of these charges I cannot say, but I am well a.s.sured that they, as well as the present members, have always been ready to embrace every plausible plan for extending the trade. As a proof of this a.s.sertion, I need only mention the vast sums of money which they have expended at different times in endeavouring to establish fisheries, though without success: and the following Journey, together with the various attempts made by Bean, Christopher, Johnston, and Duncan,[13] to find a North West pa.s.sage, are recent proofs that the present members are as desirous of making discoveries, as they are of extending their trade.

That air of mystery, and affectation of secrecy, perhaps, which formerly attended some of the Company's proceedings in the Bay, might give rise to those conjectures; and the unfounded a.s.sertions and unjust aspersions of Dobbs, {xxii} Ellis, Robson, Dragge, and the American Traveller,[14]

the only Authors that have written on Hudson's Bay, and who have all, from motives of interest or revenge, taken a particular pleasure in arraigning the conduct of the Company, without having any real knowledge of their proceedings, or any experience in their service, on which to found their charges, must have contributed to confirm the public in that opinion. Most of those Writers, however, advance such notorious absurdities, that none except those who are already prejudiced against the Company can give them credit.[B]

Robson, from his six years' residence in Hudson's Bay and in the Company's service, might naturally have been supposed to know something of the climate and soil immediately round the Factories at which he resided; but the whole of his book is evidently written with prejudice, and dictated by a spirit of revenge, because his romantic and inconsistent schemes were rejected by the Company. Besides, it is well known that Robson was no more than a tool in the hand of Mr. Dobbs.

The American Traveller, though a more elegant writer, has still less claim to our indulgence, as his a.s.sertions are {xxiii} a greater tax on our credulity. His saying that he discovered several large lumps of the finest virgin copper[C] is such a palpable falsehood that it needs no refutation. No man, either English or Indian, ever found a bit of copper in that country to the South of the seventy-first degree of lat.i.tude,[16] unless it had been accidentally dropped by some of the far Northern Indians in their way to the Company's Factory.

The natives who range over, rather than inhabit, the large tract of land which lies to the North of Churchill River, having repeatedly brought samples of copper to the Company's Factory, many of our people conjectured that it was found not far from our settlements; and as the Indians informed them that the mines were not very distant from a large river, it was generally supposed that this river must empty itself into Hudson's Bay; as they could by no means think that any set of people, however wandering their manner of life might be, could ever traverse so large a tract of country as to pa.s.s the Northern boundary of that Bay, and particularly without the a.s.sistance of water-carriage. The following Journal, however, will show how much those people have been mistaken, and prove also the improbability of putting their favourite scheme of mining into practice.

{xxiv} The accounts of this grand River, which some have turned into a Strait, together with the samples of copper, were brought to the Company's Factory at Churchill River immediately after its first establishment, in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifteen; and it does not appear that any attempts were made to discover either the river or mines till the year one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, when the Company fitted out a s.h.i.+p, called the _Albany Frigate_, Captain George Barlow,[D] and a sloop {xxv} called the _Discovery_, Captain David Vaughan. The sole command of this expedition, however, was given to Mr. James Knight, a man of great experience in the Company's service, who had been many years Governor at the different Factories in the Bay, and who had made the first settlement at Churchill River.

Notwithstanding the experience Mr. Knight might have had of the Company's business, and his knowledge of those parts of the Bay where he had resided, it cannot be supposed he was well acquainted with the nature of the business in which he then engaged, having nothing to direct him but the slender and imperfect accounts which he had received from the Indians, who at that time were little known, and less understood.

{xxvi} Those disadvantages, added to his advanced age, he being then near eighty, by no means discouraged this bold adventurer; who was so prepossessed of his success, and of the great advantage that would arise from his discoveries, that he procured, and took with him, some large iron-bound chests, to hold gold dust and other valuables, which he fondly flattered himself were to be found in those parts.

The first paragraph of the Company's Orders to Mr. Knight on this occasion appears to be as follows: