which penetrates a considerable way into the rock, and may probably have
been the work of the bears, as we could discover visible marks that some
of those beasts had been there that Spring. This, though deemed very
curious by some of my companions, did not appear so to me, as it neither
engaged my attention, nor raised my {141} surprise, half so much as the
sight of the many hills and dry ridges on the East side of the marsh,
which are turned over like ploughed land by those animals, in searching
for ground-squirrels,[69] and perhaps mice, which constitute a favourite
part of their food. It is surprising to see the extent of their
researches in quest of those animals, and still more to view the
enormous stones rolled out of their beds by the bears on those
occasions. At first I thought these long and deep furrows had been
effected by lightning; but the natives assured me they never knew
anything of the kind happen in those parts, and that it was entirely the
work of the bears seeking for their prey.
[Sidenote: 9th.]
[Sidenote: 10th.]
[Sidenote: 1771. July.]
On the ninth, the weather was moderate and cloudy, with some flying
showers of rain. We set out early in the morning, and walked about forty
miles to the North and North by East. In our way we saw plenty of deer
and musk-oxen: several of the former the Indians killed, but a smart
shower of rain coming on just as we were going to put up, made the moss
so wet as to render it impracticable to light a fire. The next day
proving fine and clear, we set out in the morning, and walked twenty
miles to the North by West and North North West; but about noon the
weather became so hot and sultry as to render walking very disagreeable;
we therefore put up on the top of a high hill, and as the moss was then
dry, lighted a fire, and should have made a comfortable meal, and been
otherwise tolerably happy, had it not been {142} for the muskettoes,
which were uncommonly numerous, and their stings almost insufferable.
The same day Matonabbee sent several Indians a-head, with orders to
proceed to the Copper-mine River as fast as possible, and acquaint any
Indians they might meet, of our approach. By those Indians I also sent
some small presents, as the surest means to induce any strangers they
found, to come to our assistance.
[Sidenote: 11th.]
The eleventh was hot and sultry, like the preceding day. In the morning
we walked ten or eleven miles to the North West, and then met a Northern
Indian Leader, called Oule-eye, and his family, who were, in company
with several Copper Indians, killing deer with bows and arrows and
spears, as they crossed a little river, by the side of which we put up,
as did also the above-mentioned Indians.[AL] That afternoon I smoked my
calumet of peace with these strangers, and found them a quite different
set of people, at least in principle, from those I had seen at
Congecathawhachaga: for though they had great plenty of provisions, they
neither offered me nor my companions a mouthful, and would, if they had
been permitted, have taken the last garment from off my back, and robbed
me of every article I possessed. Even my Northern companions could not
help taking notice of such unaccountable behaviour. Nothing but their
poverty {143} protected them from being plundered by those of my crew;
and had any of their women been worth notice, they would most assuredly
have been pressed into our service.
[Sidenote: 12th.]
[Sidenote: 13th.]
[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 appetite 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
quantity of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh,
together with the heart and lungs cut, or more commonly torn into small
shivers; 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 passed 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 shore being in
latitude 63° 4' N., while on its western side the woods extend north to
latitude 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 'brushing' 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 shores. 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 shores 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 shore
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 shore 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 shore. 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 assured 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 flourishing
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 Cassandgath
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 passed
to the east of Great Slave Lake and to the west of the belt of timber on
Hanbury River, so that he must have passed in the vicinity of this lake
if he did not pass 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 shores 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 latitude 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 Tchizè-ta, which Abbé Petitot says means Gîte-du-Lynx or
Home-of-the-Wild-Cat Lake. Petitot, 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 Keelshies, 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 latitude 64°. At the town of Dawson, in
the Yukon territory, which is in about the same latitude, 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 shore 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 latitude
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 Sussex Lake and empties into the
Arctic Ocean south of King William Island, but it may be a river
mentioned by Petitot under the name _L'uétchôr des tchègè_, 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. latitude 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]-k[)a]-tcai-t[)i] 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 incumbrance, 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 circumstances 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 assistance of religion, and with no education but what she
received among the dissolute natives of her country, she would have
shone with superior lustre 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 assurances 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 perishing 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 hardships 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 passions, 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 latitude 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 altitude 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.).