not walked above seven or eight miles before we saw three musk-oxen
grazing by the side of a small lake. The Indians immediately went in
pursuit of them; and as some of them were expert hunters, they soon
killed the whole of them. This was no doubt very fortunate; but, to our
great mortification, before we could get one of them skinned, such a
fall of rain came on, as to put it quite out of our power to make a
fire; which, even in the finest weather, could only be made of moss, as
we were near an hundred miles from any woods. This was poor comfort for
people who had not broke their fast for four or five days. Necessity,
however, has no law; and having been before initiated into the method of
eating raw meat, we were the better prepared for this repast: but this
was by no means so well relished, either by me or the Southern Indians,
as either raw venison or raw fish had been: for the flesh of the musk-ox
is not only coarse and tough, but smells and tastes so strong of musk as
to make it very disagreeable when raw, though it is tolerable eating
when properly cooked. The weather continued so {32} remarkably bad,
accompanied with constant heavy rain, snow, and sleet, and our
necessities were so great by the time the weather permitted us to make a
fire, that we had nearly eat to the amount of one buffalo quite raw.
Notwithstanding I mustered up all my philosophy on this occasion, yet I
must confess that my spirits began to fail me. Indeed our other
misfortunes were greatly aggravated by the inclemency of the weather,
which was not only cold, but so very wet that for near three days and
nights, I had not one dry thread about me. When the fine weather
returned, we made a fire, though it was only of moss, as I have already
observed; and having got my cloaths dry, all things seemed likely to go
on in the old channel, though that was indifferent enough; but I
endeavoured, like a sailor after a storm, to forget past misfortunes.
[Sidenote: 1770. June.]
None of our natural wants, if we except thirst, are so distressing, or
hard to endure, as hunger; and in wandering situations, like that which
I now experienced, the hardship is greatly aggravated by the uncertainty
with respect to its duration, and the means most proper to be used to
remove it, as well as by the labour and fatigue we must necessarily
undergo for that purpose, and the disappointments which too frequently
frustrate our best concerted plans and most strenuous exertions: it not
only enfeebles the body, but depresses the spirits, in spite of {33}
every effort to prevent it. Besides, for want of action, the stomach so
far loses its digestive powers, that after long fasting it resumes its
office with pain and reluctance. During this journey I have too
frequently experienced the dreadful effects of this calamity, and more
than once been reduced to so low a state by hunger and fatigue, that
when Providence threw any thing in my way, my stomach has scarcely been
able to retain more than two or three ounces, without producing the most
oppressive pain. Another disagreeable circumstance of long fasting is,
the extreme difficulty and pain attending the natural evacuations for
the first time; and which is so dreadful, that of it none but those who
have experienced can have an adequate idea.
To record in detail each day's fare since the commencement of this
journey, would be little more than a dull repetition of the same
occurrences. A sufficient idea of it may be given in a few words, by
observing that it may justly be said to have been either all feasting,
or all famine; sometimes we had too much, seldom just enough, frequently
too little, and often none at all. It will be only necessary to say that
we have fasted many times two whole days and nights; twice upwards of
three days; and once, while at She-than-nee, near seven days, during
which we tasted not a mouthful of anything, except a few cranberries,
water, scraps of old leather, and burnt bones. On those pressing
occasions I have frequently seen the Indians examine their wardrobe,
{34} which consisted chiefly of skin-clothing, and consider what part
could best be spared; sometimes a piece of an old, half-rotten deer
skin, and at others a pair of old shoes, were sacrificed to alleviate
extreme hunger. The relation of such uncommon hardships may perhaps gain
little credit in Europe; while those who are conversant with the history
of Hudson's Bay, and who are thoroughly acquainted with the distress
which the natives of the country about it frequently endure, may
consider them as no more than the common occurrences of an Indian life,
in which they are frequently driven to the necessity of eating one
another.[T]
[Sidenote: 1770. June.]
[Sidenote: 26th.]
[Sidenote: 30th.]
[Sidenote: 1770. July.]
{35} Knowing that our constant loads would not permit us to carry much
provisions with us, we agreed to continue a day or two to refresh
ourselves, and to dry a little meat in the sun, as it thereby not only
becomes more portable, but is always ready for use. On the twenty-sixth,
all that remained of the musk-ox flesh being properly dried and fit for
carriage, we began to proceed on our journey Northward, and on the
thirtieth of June arrived at a small river, called Cathawhachaga,[35]
which empties itself into a large lake called Yath-kyed-whoie,[36] or
White Snow Lake. Here we found several tents of Northern Indians, who
had been some time employed spearing deer in their canoes, as they
crossed the above mentioned little river. Here also we met a Northern
Indian Leader, or Captain, called Keelshies, and a small party of his
crew, who were bound to Prince of Wales's Fort, with furs {36} and other
commodities for trade. When Keelshies was made acquainted with the
intent of my journey, he readily offered his service to bring me
anything from the Factory that we were likely to stand in need of; and
though we were then in latitude 63° 4' North, and longitude 7° 12' West
from Churchill, yet he promised to join us again, at a place appointed
by my guide, by the setting in of the Winter. In consequence of this
offer, I looked over our ammunition and other articles; and finding that
a little powder, shot, tobacco, and a few knives were likely to be of
service before the journey could be completed, I determined to send a
letter to the governor of Prince of Wales's Fort, to advise him of my
situation, and to desire him to send by the bearer a certain quantity of
the above articles; on which Keelshies and his crew proceeded on their
journey for the Factory the same day.
[Illustration: MAP OF YATH-KYED LAKE AND PART OF KAZAN RIVER
By J. B. Tyrrell, 1894]
[Sidenote: 1770. July.]
Cathawhachaga was the only river we had seen since the breaking up of
the ice that we could not ford; and as we had not any canoes with us, we
were obliged to get ferried across by the strange Indians. When we
arrived on the North side of this river, where the Indians resided, my
guide proposed to stop some time, to dry and pound some meat to take
with us; to which I readily consented. We also set our fishing-nets, and
caught a considerable quantity of very fine fish; such as tittemeg,
barble,[37] &c.
[Sidenote: 6th.]
{37} The number of deer which crossed Cathawhachaga, during our stay
there, was by no means equal to our expectations, and no more than just
sufficient to supply our present wants; so that after waiting several
days in fruitless expectation, we began to prepare for moving; and
accordingly, on the sixth of July, we set out, though we had not at that
time as much victuals belonging to our company as would furnish us a
supper. During our stay here, we had each day got as much fish or flesh
as was sufficient for present expenditure; but, being in hopes of better
times, saved none.
Before we left Cathawhachaga, I made several observations for the
latitude, and found it to be 63° 4' North.[38] I also brought up my
journal, and filled up my chart to that time. Everything being now ready
for our departure, my guide informed me that in a few days a canoe would
be absolutely necessary, to enable us to cross some unfordable rivers
which we should meet, and could not avoid. This induced me to purchase
one at the easy rate of a single knife, the full value of which did not
exceed one penny. It must be observed, that the man who sold the canoe
had no farther occasion for it, and was glad to take what he could get;
but had he been thoroughly acquainted with our necessities, he most
assuredly would have had the conscience to have asked goods to the
amount of ten beaver skins at least.
[Sidenote: 1770. July.]
[Sidenote: 9th.]
{38} This additional piece of luggage obliged me to engage another
Indian; and we were lucky enough at that time to meet with a poor
forlorn fellow, who was fond of the office, having never been in a much
better state than that of a beast of burthen. Thus, provided with a
canoe, and a man to carry it, we left Cathawhachaga, as has been
observed, on the sixth of July, and continued our course to the North by
West, and North North West; and that night put up by the side of a small
bay of White Snow Lake,[39] where we angled, and caught several fine
trout, some of which weighed not less than fourteen or sixteen pounds.
In the night heavy rain came on, which continued three days; but the
ninth proving fine weather, and the sun displaying his beams very
powerfully, we dried our clothes, and proceeded to the Northward. Toward
the evening, however, it began again to rain so excessively, that it was
with much difficulty we kept our powder and books dry.
[Sidenote: 17th.]
On the seventeenth, we saw many musk-oxen, several of which the Indians
killed; when we agreed to stay here a day or two, to dry and pound[U]
some of the carcases to take with us. The flesh of any animal, when it
is thus prepared, is not only hearty food, but is always ready for {39}
use, and at the same time very portable. In most parts of Hudson's Bay
it is known by the name of Thew-hagon,[40] but amongst the Northern
Indians it is called Achees.
[Sidenote: 1770. July. 22d.]
Having prepared as much dried flesh as we could transport, we proceeded
to the Northward; and at our departure left a great quantity of meat
behind us, which we could neither eat nor carry away. This was not the
first time we had so done; and however wasteful it may appear, it is a
practice so common among all the Indian tribes, as to be thought nothing
of. On the twenty-second, we met several strangers, whom we joined in
pursuit of the deer, &c. which were at this time so plentiful, that we
got every day a sufficient number for our support, and indeed too
frequently killed several merely for the tongues, marrow, and fat.
[Sidenote: 30th.]
[Sidenote: 1770. August.]
After we had been some time in company with those Indians, I found that
my guide seemed to hesitate about proceeding any farther; and that he
kept pitching his tent backward and forward, from place to place, after
the deer, and the rest of the Indians. On my asking him his reason for
so doing; he answered, that as the year was too far advanced to admit of
our arrival at the Coppermine River that Summer, he thought it more
advisable to pass the Winter with some of the Indians then in company,
and alleged that there could be no fear of our arriving at that river
early in the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one. As I
could not {40} pretend to contradict him, I was entirely reconciled to
his proposal; and accordingly we kept moving to the Westward with the
other Indians. In a few days, many others joined us from different
quarters; so that by the thirtieth of July we had in all above seventy
tents, which did not contain less than six hundred persons. Indeed our
encampment at night had the appearance of a small town; and in the
morning, when we began to move, the whole ground (at least for a large
space all round) seemed to be alive, with men, women, children, and
dogs. Though the land was entirely barren, and destitute of every kind
of herbage, except wish-a-capucca[V] and moss, yet the deer were so
numerous that the Indians not only killed as many as were sufficient for
our large number, but often several merely for the skins, marrow, &c.
and left the carcases to rot, or to be devoured by the wolves, foxes,
and other beasts of prey.
[Illustration: MAP OF DUBAWNT LAKE AND PART OF DUBAWNT RIVER
By J. B. and J. W. Tyrrell, 1893]
In our way to the Westward we came to several rivers, which, though
small and of no note, were so deep as not to be fordable, particularly
Doobaunt River.[W] On those occasions only, we had recourse to our
canoe, which, though of the common size, was too small to carry more
{41} than two persons; one of whom always lies down at full length for
fear of making the canoe top-heavy, and the other sits on his heels and
paddles. This method of ferrying over rivers, though tedious, is the
most expeditious way these poor people can contrive; for they are
sometimes obliged to carry their canoes one hundred and fifty, or two
hundred miles, without having occasion to make use of them; yet at times
they cannot do without them; and were they not very small and portable,
it would be impossible for one man to carry them, which they are often
obliged to do, not only the distance above mentioned, but even the whole
Summer.
[Sidenote: 1770. August. 6th.]
[Sidenote: 8th.]
[Sidenote: 1770. August.]
The person I engaged at Cathawhachaga to carry my canoe proving too weak
for the task, another of my crew was obliged to exchange loads with him,
which seemed perfectly agreeable to all parties; and as we walked but
short days' journies, and deer were very plentiful, all things went on
very smoothly. Nothing material happened till the eighth, when we were
near losing the quadrant and all our powder from the following
circumstance: the fellow who had been released from carrying the canoe
proving too weak, as hath been already observed, had, after the
exchange, nothing to carry but my powder and his own trifles; the latter
were indeed very inconsiderable, not equal in size and weight to a
soldier's knapsack. As I intended to have a little sport with the deer,
and knowing his load to be much lighter than mine, I gave him the
quadrant {42} and stand to carry, which he took without the least
hesitation, or seeming ill-will. Having thus eased myself for the
present of a heavy and cumbersome part of my load, I set out early in
the morning with some of the Indian men; and after walking about eight
or nine miles, saw, from the top of a high hill, a great number of deer
feeding in a neighbouring valley; on which we laid down our loads and
erected a flag, as a signal for the others to pitch their tents there
for the night. We then pursued our hunting, which proved very
successful. At night, however, when we came to the hill where we had
left our baggage, I found that only part of the Indians had arrived, and
that the man who had been entrusted with my powder and quadrant, had set
off another way, with a small party of Indians that had been in our
company that morning. The evening being far advanced, we were obliged to
defer going in search of him till the morning, and as his track could
not be easily discovered in the Summer, the Southern Indians, as well as
myself, were very uneasy, fearing we had lost the powder, which was to
provide us with food and raiment the remainder of our journey. The very
uncourteous behaviour of the Northern Indians then in company, gave me
little hopes of receiving assistance from them, any longer than I had
wherewithal to reward them for their trouble and expense; for during the
whole time I had been with them, not one of them had offered to give me
the least morsel of victuals, without asking something in exchange,
which, in general, was three times the value of {43} what they could
have got for the same articles, had they carried them to the Factory,
though several hundred miles distant.
So inconsiderate were those people, that wherever they met me, they
always expected that I had a great assortment of goods to relieve their
necessities; as if I had brought the Company's warehouse with me. Some
of them wanted guns; all wanted ammunition, iron-work, and tobacco; many
were solicitous for medicine; and others pressed me for different
articles of clothing; but when they found I had nothing to spare, except
a few nick-nacks and gewgaws, they made no scruple of pronouncing me a
"poor servant, noways like the Governor at the Factory, who, they said,
they never saw, but he gave them something useful." It is scarcely
possible to conceive any people so void of common understanding, as to
think that the sole intent of my undertaking this fatiguing journey, was
to carry a large assortment of useful and heavy implements, to give to
all that stood in need of them; but many of them would ask me for what
they wanted with the same freedom, and apparently with the same hopes of
success, as if they had been at one of the Company's Factories. Others,
with an air of more generosity, offered me furs to trade with at the
same standard as at the Factory; without considering how unlikely it was
that I should increase the enormous weight of my load with articles
which could be of no more use to me in my present situation than they
were to themselves.
[Sidenote: 1770. August.]
{44} This unaccountable behaviour of the Indians occasioned much serious
reflection on my part; as it showed plainly how little I had to expect
if I should, by any accident, be reduced to the necessity of depending
upon them for support; so that, though I laid me down to rest, sleep was
a stranger to me that night. The following beautiful lines of Dr. Young
I repeated above an hundred times:
"Tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep;
He, like the world, his ready visit pays
Where fortune smiles; the wretched he forsakes:
Swift on his downy pinions flies from woe,
And lights on lids unsully'd with a tear."
--NIGHT THOUGHTS.
[Sidenote: 9th.]
[Sidenote: 1770. August.]
After passing the night in this melancholy manner, I got up at daybreak,
and, with the two Southern Indians, set out in quest of our deserter.
Many hours elapsed in fruitless search after him, as we could not
discover a single track in the direction which we were informed he had
taken. The day being almost spent without the least appearance of
success, I proposed repairing to the place where I had delivered the
quadrant to him, in hopes of seeing some track in the moss that might
lead to the way the Indians were gone whom our deserter had accompanied.
On our arrival at that place, we found they had struck down toward a
little river which they had crossed the morning before; and there, to
our great joy, we found the quadrant and the bag of powder lying on the
top of a high stone, but not a human being was to be seen. On {45}
examining the powder, we found that the bag had been opened, and part of
it taken out; but, notwithstanding our loss was very considerable, we
returned with light hearts to the place at which we had been the night
before, where we found our baggage safe, but all the Indians gone; they
had, however, been so considerate as to set up marks to direct us what
course to steer. By the time we had adjusted our bundles, the day was
quite spent; seeing, however, a smoke, or rather a fire, in the
direction we were ordered to steer, we bent our way towards it; and a
little after ten o'clock at night came up with the main body of the
Indians; when, after refreshing ourselves with a plentiful supper, the
first morsel we had tasted that day, we retired to rest, which I at
least enjoyed with better success than the preceding night.
[Sidenote: 11th.]
In the morning of the eleventh we proceeded on to the West, and West by
South; but on the twelfth did not move. This gave us an opportunity of
endeavouring to ascertain the latitude by a meridian altitude, when we
found the place to be in 63° 10' North nearly. It proving rather cloudy
about noon, though exceeding fine weather, I let the quadrant stand, in
order to obtain the latitude more exactly by two altitudes; but, to my
great mortification, while I was eating my dinner, a sudden gust of wind
blew it down; and as the ground where it stood was {46} very stoney, the
bubble, the sight-vane, and vernier, were entirely broke to pieces,
which rendered the instrument useless. In consequence of this misfortune
I resolved to return again to the Fort, though we were then in the
latitude of 63° 10' North, and about 10° 40' West longitude from
Churchill River.[43]
FOOTNOTES:
[R] This was a proposal of the Governor's, though he well knew we could
not do without their assistance, both for hauling our baggage, as well
as dressing skins for clothing, pitching our tent, getting firing, &c.
[28] _Erethizon dorsatum_ (Linn.). Near the extreme northern limit in
this quarter.--E. A. P.
[29] _Esox lucius_ Linn.--E. A. P.
[30] _Cristivomer namaycush_ Walbaum.--E. A. P.
[31] _Lota maculosa_ (Le Sueur).--E. A. P.
[S] The Methy are generally caught with a hook; and the best time for
that sport is in the night; and if the night be dark, the better.
[32] He appears to have been camped at the rapid at the head or western
end of Shethnanei Lake, which, according to the best information at
present available, is about latitude 58° 37' and longitude 4° west from
Prince of Wales Fort.
[33] She-than-nee is clearly the same word as _Shethnanei_, a Chipewyan
word meaning "high hill," and applied to a point on the north shore of
Shethnanei Lake. In February 1891, the Rev. J. (Bishop) Lofthouse
visited some Indians living at this place, accomplishing the journey out
from Churchill in seven days, and the return journey in six days.
[34] _Beralzoa_ means Shoal Lake.
[T] It is the general opinion of the Southern Indians, that when any of
their tribe has been driven to the necessity of eating human flesh, they
become so fond of it, that no person is safe in their company. And
though it is well known they are never guilty of making this horrid
repast but when driven to it by necessity, yet those who have made it
are not only shunned, but so universally detested by all who know them,
that no Indians will tent with them, and they are frequently murdered
slyly. I have seen several of those poor wretches who, unfortunately for
them, have come under the above description, and though they were
persons much esteemed before hunger had driven them to this act, were
afterward so universally despised and neglected, that a smile never
graced their countenances: deep melancholy has been seated on their
brows, while the eye most expressively spoke the dictates of the heart,
and seemed to say, "Why do you despise me for my misfortunes? the period
is probably not far distant, when you may be driven to the like
necessity!"
In the Spring of the year 1775, when I was building Cumberland House, an
Indian, whose name was Wapoos, came to the settlement, at a time when
fifteen tents of Indians were on the plantations: they examined him very
minutely, and found he had come a considerable way by himself, without a
gun, or ammunition. This made many of them conjecture he had met with,
and killed, some person by the way; and this was the more easily
credited, from the care he took to conceal a bag of provisions, which he
had brought with him, in a lofty pine-tree near the house.
Being a stranger, I invited him in, though I saw he had nothing for
trade; and during that interview, some of the Indian women examined his
bag, and gave it as their opinion that the meat it contained was human
flesh: in consequence, it was not without the interference of some
principal Indians, whose liberality of sentiment was more extensive than
that in the others, the poor creature saved his life. Many of the men
cleaned and loaded their guns; others had their bows and arrows ready;
and even the women took possession of the hatchets, to kill this poor
inoffensive wretch, for no crime but that of travelling about two
hundred miles by himself, unassisted by fire-arms for support in his
journey.