flavour and substance, yet the Northern Indians of my crew did not
reckon either it or the flesh of the buffalo substantial food. This I
should think entirely proceeded from prejudice, especially with respect
to the moose; but the flesh of the buffalo, though so fine to the eye,
and pleasing to the taste, is so light and easy of digestion, as not to
be deemed substantial food by any Indian in this country, either
Northern or Southern. The moose have from one to three young at a time,
and generally bring them forth in the latter end of April, or beginning
of May.
[Sidenote: 1772. January. 11th.]
Soon after our arrival on the South-side of Athapuscow Lake, Matonabbee
proposed continuing our course in the {261} South West quarter, in hopes
of meeting some of the Athapuscow Indians; because I wished, if
possible, to purchase a tent, and other ready-dressed skins from them;
as a supply of those articles would at this time have been of material
service to us, being in great want both of tents and shoe-leather: and
though my companions were daily killing either moose or buffalo, the
weather was so excessively cold, as to render dressing their skins not
only very troublesome, but almost impracticable, especially to the
generality of the Northern Indians, who are not well acquainted with the
manufacture of that kind of leather.
To dress those skins according to the Indian method, a lather is made of
the brains and some of the softest fat or marrow of the animal, in which
the skin is well soaked, when it is taken out, and not only dried by the
heat of a fire, but hung up in the smoke for several days; it is then
taken down, and well soaked and washed in warm water, till the grain of
the skin is perfectly open, and has imbibed a sufficient quantity of
water, after which it is taken out and wrung as dry as possible, and
then dried by the heat of a slow fire; care being taken to rub and
stretch it as long as any moisture remains in the skin. By this simple
method, and by scraping them afterwards, some of the moose skins are
made very delicate both to the eye and the touch.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
{262} On the eleventh of January, as some of my companions were hunting,
they saw the track of a strange snow-shoe, which they followed; and at a
considerable distance came to a little hut, where they discovered a
young woman sitting alone. As they found that she understood their
language, they brought her with them to the tents. On examination, she
proved to be one of the Western Dog-ribbed Indians, who had been taken
prisoner by the Athapuscow Indians in the Summer of one thousand seven
hundred and seventy; and in the following Summer, when the Indians that
took her prisoner were near this part, she had eloped from them, with an
intent to return to her own country; but the distance being so great,
and having, after she was taken prisoner, been carried in a canoe the
whole way, the turnings and windings of the rivers and lakes were so
numerous, that she forgot the track; so she built the hut in which we
found her, to protect her from the weather during the Winter, and here
she had resided from the first setting in of the fall.
From her account of the moons passed since her elopement, it appeared
that she had been near seven months without seeing a human face; during
all which time she had supported herself very well by snaring
partridges, rabbits, and squirrels; she had also killed two or three
beaver, and some porcupines. That she did not seem to have been in want
is evident, as she had a small stock of {263} provisions by her when she
was discovered; and was in good health and condition, and I think one of
the finest women, of a real Indian, that I have seen in any part of
North America.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
The methods practised by this poor creature to procure a livelihood were
truly admirable, and are great proofs that necessity is the real mother
of invention. When the few deer-sinews that she had an opportunity of
taking with her were all expended in making snares, and sewing her
clothing, she had nothing to supply their place but the sinews of the
rabbits legs and feet; these she twisted together for that purpose with
great dexterity and success. The rabbits, &c. which she caught in those
snares, not only furnished her with a comfortable subsistence, but of
the skins she made a suit of neat and warm clothing for the Winter. It
is scarcely possible to conceive that a person in her forlorn situation
could be so composed as to be capable of contriving or executing any
thing that was not absolutely necessary to her existence; but there were
sufficient proofs that she had extended her care much farther, as all
her clothing, beside being calculated for real service, shewed great
taste, and exhibited no little variety of ornament. The materials,
though rude, were very curiously wrought, and so judiciously placed, as
to make the whole of her garb have a very pleasing, though rather
romantic appearance.
{264} Her leisure hours from hunting had been employed in twisting the
inner rind or bark of willows into small lines, like net-twine, of which
she had some hundred fathoms by her; with this she intended to make a
fishing-net as soon as the Spring advanced. It is of the inner bark of
willows, twisted in this manner, that the Dog-ribbed Indians make their
fishing-nets; and they are much preferable to those made by the Northern
Indians.[BG]
Five or six inches of an iron hoop, made into a knife, and the shank of
an arrow-head of iron, which served her as an awl, were all the metals
this poor woman had with her when she eloped; and with these implements
she had made herself complete snow-shoes, and several other useful
articles.
Her method of making a fire was equally singular and curious, having no
other materials for that purpose than two hard sulphurous stones. These,
by long friction and hard knocking, produced a few sparks, which at
length communicated to some touchwood; but as this method was attended
with great trouble, and not always with success, she did {265} not
suffer her fire to go out all the Winter. Hence we may conclude that she
had no idea of producing fire by friction, in the manner practised by
the Esquimaux, and many other uncivilized nations; because if she had,
the above-mentioned precaution would have been unnecessary.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
The singularity of the circumstance, the comeliness of her person, and
her approved accomplishments, occasioned a strong contest between
several of the Indians of my party, who should have her for a wife; and
the poor girl was actually won and lost at wrestling by near half a
score different men the same evening. My guide, Matonabbee, who at that
time had no less than seven wives, all women grown, besides a young girl
of eleven or twelve years old, would have put in for the prize also, had
not one of his wives made him ashamed of it, by telling him that he had
already more wives than he could properly attend. This piece of satire,
however true, proved fatal to the poor girl who dared to make so open a
declaration; for the great man, Matonabbee, who would willingly have
been thought equal to eight or ten men in every respect, took it as such
an affront, that he fell on her with both hands and feet, and bruised
her to such a degree, that after lingering some time she died.
When the Athapuscow Indians took the above Dog-ribbed Indian woman
prisoner, they, according to the universal custom of those savages,
surprised her and her party in {266} the night, and killed every soul in
the tent, except herself and three other young women. Among those whom
they killed, were her father, mother, and husband. Her young child, four
or five months old, she concealed in a bundle of clothing, and took with
her undiscovered in the night; but when she arrived at the place where
the Athapuscow Indians had left their wives (which was not far distant),
they began to examine her bundle, and finding the child, one of the
women took it from her, and killed it on the spot.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
This last piece of barbarity gave her such a disgust to those Indians,
that notwithstanding the man who took care of her treated her in every
respect as his wife, and was, she said, remarkably kind to, and even
fond of her; so far was she from being able to reconcile herself to any
of the tribe, that she rather chose to expose herself to misery and
want, than live in ease and affluence among persons who had so cruelly
murdered her infant.[BH] The {267} poor woman's relation of this
shocking story, which she delivered in a very affecting manner, only
excited laughter among the savages of my party.
In a conversation with this woman soon afterward, she told us, that her
country lies so far to the Westward, that she had never seen iron, or
any other kind of metal, till she was taken prisoner. All of her tribe,
she observed, made their hatchets and ice-chisels of deer's horns, and
their knives of stones and bones; that their arrows were shod with a
kind of slate, bones, and deer's horns; and the instruments which they
employed to make their wood-work were nothing but beavers' teeth. Though
they had frequently heard of the useful materials which the nations or
tribes to the East of them were supplied with from the English, so far
were they from drawing nearer, to be in the way of trading for
iron-work, &c. that they were obliged to retreat farther back, to avoid
the Athapuscow Indians, who made surprising slaughter among them, both
in Winter and Summer.
[Sidenote: 16th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
On the sixteenth, as we were continuing our course in the South West
quarter, we arrived at the grand {268} Athapuscow River,[107] which at
that part is about two miles wide, and empties itself into the great
lake of the same name we had so lately crossed, and which has been
already described.
The woods about this river, particularly the pines and poplars, are the
tallest and stoutest I have seen in any part of North America. The birch
also grows to a considerable size, and some species of the willow are
likewise tall: but none of them have any trunk, like those in England.
The bank of the river in most parts is very high, and in some places not
less than a hundred feet above the ordinary surface of the water. As the
soil is of a loamy quality, it is very subject to moulder or wash away
by heavy rains, even during the short Summer allotted to this part of
the globe. The breaking up of the ice in the Spring is annually attended
with a great deluge, when, I am told, it is not uncommon to see whole
points of land washed away by the inundations; and as the wood grows
close to the edge of the banks, vast quantities of it are hurried down
the stream by the irresistible force of the water and ice, and conveyed
into the great lake already mentioned; on the shores and islands of
which, there lies the greatest quantity of drift wood I ever saw. Some
of this wood is large enough to make masts for the largest ships that
are built. The banks of the river in general are so steep as to be
inaccessible to either man or beast, except in some slacks, or gulleys,
that have been wore down by heavy rains, {269} backwaters, or deluges;
and even those slacks are, for the most part, very difficult to ascend,
on account of the number of large trees which lie in the way.
There are several low islands in this river, which are much frequented
by the moose, for the sake of the fine willows they produce, which
furnish them with a plentiful supply of their favourite food during the
Winter. Some of those islands are also frequented by a number of
rabbits; but as larger game could be procured in great plenty, those
small animals were not deemed worthy our notice at present.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
Beside the grand river already mentioned, there are several others of
less note, which empty themselves into the great Athapuscow Lake: There
are also several small rivers and creeks on the North East side of the
Lake that carry off the superfluous waters, some of which, after a
variety of windings through the barren grounds to the North of Churchill
River, are lost in the marshes and low grounds, while others, by means
of many small channels and rivulets, are discharged into other rivers
and lakes, and at last, doubtless, find their way into Hudson's Bay.
These rivers, though numberless, are all so full of shoals and stones,
as not to be navigable for an Indian canoe to any considerable distance;
and if they were, it would be of little or no use to the natives, as
none of them lead within several hundred miles of Churchill River.
{270} Agreeably to Matonabbee's proposal, we continued our course up the
Athapuscow River for many days, and though we passed several parts which
we well knew to have been the former Winter-haunts of the Athapuscow
Indians, yet we could not see the least trace of any of them having been
there that season. In the preceding Summer, when they were in those
parts, they had set fire to the woods; and though many months had
elapsed from that time till our arrival there, and notwithstanding the
snow was then very deep, the moss was still burning in many places,
which at first deceived us very much, as we took it for the smoke of
strange tents; but after going much out of our way, and searching very
diligently, we could not discover the least track of a stranger.
[Sidenote: 27th.]
Thus disappointed in our expectations of meeting the Southern Indians,
it was resolved (in Council, as it may be called) to expend as much time
in hunting buffalo, moose, and beaver as we could, so that we might be
able to reach Prince of Wales's Fort a little before the usual time of
the ships arrival from England. Accordingly, after having walked upwards
of forty miles by the side of Athapuscow River, on the twenty-seventh of
January we struck off to the Eastward, and left the River at that part
where it begins to tend due South.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
In consequence of this determination of the Indians, we continued our
course to the Eastward; but as game of all kinds was very plentiful, we
made but short days {271} journies, and often remained two or three days
in one place, to eat up the spoils or produce of the chace. The woods
through which we were to pass were in many places so thick, that it was
necessary to cut a path before the women could pass with their sledges;
and in other places so much of the woods had formerly been set on fire
and burnt, that we were frequently obliged to walk farther than we
otherwise should have done, before we could find green brush enough to
floor our tents.
[Sidenote: February. 15th-24th.]
From the fifteenth to the twenty-fourth of February, we walked along a
small river that empties itself into the Lake Clowey,[108] near the part
where we built canoes in May one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one.
This little river is that which we mentioned in the former part of this
Journal, as having communication with the Athapuscow Lake: but, from
appearances, it is of no consequence whence it takes its rise, or where
it empties itself, as one half of it is nearly dry three-fourths of the
year. The intervening ponds, however, having sufficient depth of water,
are, we may suppose, favourable situations for beaver, as many of their
houses are to be found in those parts.
[Sidenote: 24th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. February.]
On the twenty-fourth, a strange Northern Indian leader, called
Thlew-sa-nell-ie, and several of his followers, joined us from the
Eastward. This leader presented Matonabbee and myself with a foot of
tobacco each, and a two-quart {272} keg of brandy, which he intended as
a present for the Southern Indians; but being informed by my companions,
that there was not the least probability of meeting any, he did not
think it worth any farther carriage. The tobacco was indeed very
acceptable, as our stock of that article had been expended some time.
Having been so long without tasting spirituous liquors, I would not
partake of the brandy, but left it entirely to the Indians, to whom, as
they were numerous, it was scarcely a taste for each. Few of the
Northern Indians are fond of spirits, especially those who keep at a
distance from the Fort: some who are near, and who usually shoot geese
for us in the Spring, will drink it at free cost as fast as the Southern
Indians, but few of them are ever so imprudent as to buy it.
The little river lately mentioned, as well as the adjacent lakes and
ponds, being well-stocked with beaver, and the land abounding with moose
and buffalo, we were induced to make but slow progress in our journey.
Many days were spent in hunting, feasting, and drying a large quantity
of flesh to take with us, particularly that of the buffalo; for my
companions knew by experience, that a few days walk to the Eastward of
our present situation would bring us to a part where we should not see
any of those animals.
The strangers who had joined us on the twenty-fourth informed us, that
all were well at Prince of Wales's Fort {273} when they left it last;
which, according to their account of the Moons past since, must have
been about the fifth of November one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-one. These strangers only remained in our company one night
before the Leader and part of his crew left us, and proceeded on their
journey to the North Westward; but a few of them having procured some
furrs in the early part of the Winter, joined our party, with an intent
to accompany us to the Factory.
[Sidenote: 28th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. February.]
Having a good stock of dried meat, fat, &c. prepared in the best manner
for carriage, on the twenty-eighth we shaped our course in the South
East quarter, and proceeded at a much greater rate than we had lately
done, as little or no time was now lost in hunting. The next day we saw
the tracks of some strangers; and though I did not perceive any of them
myself, some of my companions were at the trouble of searching for them,
and finding them to be poor inoffensive people, plundered them not only
of the few furrs which they had, but took also one of their young women
from them.
Every additional act of violence committed by my companions on the poor
and distressed, served to increase my indignation and dislike; this last
act, however, displeased me more than all their former actions, because
it was committed on a set of harmless creatures, whose general manner of
life renders them the most secluded from society of any of the human
race.
[Sidenote: 1772. February.]
{274} Matonabbee assured me, that for more than a generation past one
family only, as it may be called, (and to which the young men belonged
who were plundered by my companions,) have taken up their Winter abode
in those woods,[109] which are situated so far on the barren ground as
to be quite out of the track of any other Indians. From the best
accounts that I could collect, the latitude of this place must be about
63½° or 63° at least; the longitude is very uncertain. From my own
experience I can affirm, that it is some hundreds of miles both from the
sea-side and the main woods to the Westward. Few of the trading Northern
Indians have visited this place; but those who have, give a pleasing
description of it, all agreeing that it is situated on the banks of a
river which has communication with several fine lakes. As the current
sets to the North Eastward, it empties itself, in all probability, into
some part of Hudson's Bay; and, from the latitude, no part seems more
likely for this communication, than Baker's Lake, at the head of
Chesterfield's inlet. This, however, is mere conjecture; nor is it of
any consequence, as navigation on any of the rivers in those parts is
not only impracticable, but would be also unprofitable, as they do not
lead into a country that produces any thing for trade, or that contains
any inhabitants worth visiting.
The accounts given of this place, and the manner of life of its
inhabitants, would, if related at full length, fill a volume: let it
suffice to observe, that the situation {275} is said to be remarkably
favourable for every kind of game that the barren ground produces at the
different seasons of the year; but the continuance of the game with them
is in general uncertain, except that of fish and partridges. That being
the case, the few who compose this little commonwealth, are, by long
custom and the constant example of their forefathers, possessed of a
provident turn of mind, with a degree of frugality unknown to every
other tribe of Indians in this country except the Esquimaux.
[Sidenote: 1772. February.]
Deer is said to visit this part of the country in astonishing numbers,
both in Spring and Autumn, of which circumstances the inhabitants avail
themselves, by killing and drying as much of their flesh as possible,
particularly in the fall of the year; so that they seldom are in want
of a good Winter's stock.
Geese, ducks, and swans visit here in great plenty during their
migrations both in the Spring and Fall, and by much art, joined to an
insurmountable patience, are caught in considerable numbers in
snares,[BI] and, {276} without doubt, make a very pleasing change in the
food. It is also reported, (though I confess I doubt the truth of it,)
{277} that a remarkable species of partridges as large as English fowls,
are found in that part of the country only. Those, as well as the common
partridges, it is said, are killed in considerable numbers, with snares,
as well as with bows and arrows.
[Sidenote: 1772. February.]
The river and lakes near the little forest where the family above
mentioned had fixed their abode, abound with fine fish, particularly
trout and barble, which are easily caught; the former with hooks, and
the latter in nets. In fact, I have not seen or heard of any part of
this country which seems to possess half the advantages requisite for a
constant residence, that are ascribed to this little spot. The
descendents, however, of the present inhabitants must in time evacuate
it for want of wood, which is of so slow a growth in those regions, that
what is used in one year, exclusive of what is cut down and carried away
by the Esquimaux, must cost many years to replace.
[Sidenote: 1772. March.]
It may probably be thought strange that any part of a community,
apparently so commodiously situated, and happy within themselves, should
be found at so great a distance from the rest of their tribe, and indeed
nothing but necessity could possibly have urged them to undertake a
journey of so many hundred miles as they have done; but no situation is
without its inconveniences, and as their woods contain no birch-trees of
sufficient size, or perhaps none of any size, this party had come so far
to the {278} Westward to procure birch-rind for making two canoes, and
some of the fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree, which is
used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder. There are two sorts
of these funguses which grow on the birch-trees; one is hard, the useful
part of which much resembles rhubarb; the other is soft and smooth like
velvet on the outside, and when laid on hot ashes for some time, and
well beaten between two stones, is something like spunk. The former is
called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the
country bordering on Hudson's Bay by the name of Pesogan,[BJ] it being
so called by the Southern {279} Indians. The latter is only used by the
Northern tribes, and is called by them Clalte-ad-dee.
[Sidenote: 1st.]
By the first of March we began to leave the fine level country of the
Athapuscows, and again to approach the stony mountains or hills which
bound the Northern Indian country. Moose and beaver still continued to
be plentiful; but no buffaloes could be seen after the twenty-ninth of
February.
[Sidenote: 14th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. March.]