fourteenth we discovered the tracks of more strangers, and the next day
came up with them. Among those Indians was the man who had carried a
letter for me in March one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one, to
the Chief at Prince of Wales's Fort, and to which he had brought an
answer, dated the twenty-first of June. When this Indian received the
letter from me, it was very uncertain what route we should take in our
return from the Copper River, and, in all probability, he himself had
not then determined on what spot he would pass the present Winter;
consequently our meeting each other was merely accidental.
These Indians having obtained a few furrs in the course of the Winter,
joined our party, which now consisted of twenty tents, containing in the
whole about two {280} hundred persons; and indeed our company had not
been much less during the whole Winter.
From the strangers who last joined us we received some ready-dressed
moose-skins for tenting and shoe-leather; also some other skins for
clothing, for all of which the Chief at the Factory was to pay on our
arrival.
I cannot sufficiently lament the loss of my quadrant, as the want of it
must render the course of my journey from Point Lake, where it was
broken, very uncertain; and my watch stopping while I was at the
Athapuscow Lake, has contributed greatly to the misfortune, as I am now
deprived of every means of estimating the distances which we walked with
any degree of accuracy, particularly in thick weather, when the Sun
could not be seen.
[Sidenote: 16th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. March.]
The Indians were employed at all convenient times in procuring
birch-rind and making wood-work ready for building canoes; also in
preparing small staffs of birch-wood, to take with them on the barren
ground, to serve as tent-poles all the Summer; and which, as hath been
already observed, they convert into snow-shoe frames when the Winter
sets in. Here it may be proper to observe, that none of those incidental
avocations interfere with, or retard the Indians in their journey; for
they always take the advantage of every {281} opportunity which offers,
as they pass along, and when they see a tree fit for their purpose, cut
it down, and either strip off the bark, if that be what they want, or
split the trunk in pieces; and after hewing it roughly with their
hatchet, carry it to the tent, where in the evenings, or in the morning
before they set out, they reduce it with their knives to the shape and
size which is required.
[Sidenote: 19th.]
Provisions being plentiful, and the weather fine, we advanced a little
each day; and on the nineteenth took up our lodgings by the side of
Wholdyeah-chuck'd Whoie, or Large Pike Lake. In our way we crossed
another small lake, where we caught some trout by angling, and killed a
few deer and one moose.
[Sidenote: 20th.]
On the twentieth we crossed Large Pike Lake, which at that part was not
more than seven miles wide; but from North North West to the South South
East is much longer. The next day we arrived at Bedodid Lake,[111] which
in general is not more than three miles wide, and in several places much
less; but it is upward of forty miles long, which gives it the
appearance of a river. It is said by the Indians to be shut up on all
sides, and entirely surrounded with high land, which produces vast
quantity of fir trees, but none of them grow to a great height in those
parts: their branches, however, spread wider than those of firs of three
times their height and thickness do in Europe; so that they resemble an
apple-tree in shape, {282} more than any species of the pine. They seem
rich in tar, as the wood of them will burn like a candle, and emit as
strong a smell, and as much black smoke, as the staves of an old
tar-barrel; for which reason no Indians chuse to burn it in their tents,
or even out of doors, for the purpose of cooking their victuals.
[Sidenote: 1772. March.]
The thaws began now to be very considerable, and the under-woods were so
thick in these parts as to render travelling through them very
difficult; we therefore took the advantage of walking on the ice of the
above-mentioned Lake, which lay nearly in the direction of our course;
but after proceeding about twenty-two miles on it, the Lake turned more
toward the North, on which account we were obliged to leave it, striking
off to the Eastward; and after walking fourteen miles farther, we
arrived at Noo-shetht Whoie,[112] or the Hill-Island Lake, so called
from a very high island which stands in it.
[Sidenote: 31st.]
From the twenty-eighth to the thirty-first of March, we had so hard a
gale of wind from the South, as to render walking on lakes or open
plains quite impossible, and the violence with which the trees were
blown down made walking in the woods somewhat dangerous; but though
several had narrow escapes, no accident happened.
[Sidenote: April. 1st.]
[Sidenote: 1772. April.]
From the middle to the latter end of March, and in the beginning of
April, though the thaw was not general, {283} yet in the middle of the
day it was very considerable: it commonly froze hard in the nights; and
the young men took the advantage of the mornings, when the snow was hard
crusted over, and ran down many moose; for in those situations a man
with a good pair of snow-shoes will scarcely make any impression on the
snow, while the moose, and even the deer, will break through it at every
step up to the belly. Notwithstanding this, however, it is very seldom
that the Indians attempt to run deer down. The moose are so
tender-footed, and so short-winded, that a good runner will generally
tire them in less than a day, and very frequently in six or eight hours;
though I have known some of the Indians continue the chace for two days,
before they could come up with, and kill the game. On those occasions
the Indians, in general, only take with them a knife or bayonet, and a
little bag containing a set of fire-tackle, and are as lightly clothed
as possible; some of them will carry a bow and two or three arrows, but
I never knew any of them take a gun unless such as had been blown or
bursted, and the barrels cut quite short, which, when reduced to the
least possible size to be capable of doing any service, must be too
great a weight for a man to run with in his hand for so many hours
together.
When the poor moose are incapable of making farther speed, they stand
and keep their pursuers at bay with {284} their head and fore-feet; in
the use of which they are very dexterous, especially the latter; so that
the Indians who have neither a bow nor arrows, nor a short gun, with
them, are generally obliged to lash their knives or bayonets to the end
of a long stick, and stab the moose at a distance. For want of this
necessary precaution, some of the boys and fool-hardy young men, who
have attempted to rush in upon them, have frequently received such
unlucky blows from their fore-feet, as to render their recovery very
doubtful.
The flesh of the moose, thus killed, is far from being well-tasted, and
I should think must be very unwholesome, from being over-heated; as by
running so many hours together, the animal must have been in a violent
fever; the flesh being soft and clammy, must have a very disagreeable
taste, neither resembling fish, flesh, nor fowl.[BK]
The Southern Indians use dogs for this kind of hunting, which makes it
easier and more expeditious; but the Northern tribes having no dogs
trained to that exercise, are under the necessity of doing it
themselves.
[Sidenote: 1772. April. 7th.]
{285} On the seventh we crossed a part of Thee-lee-aza River: at which
time the small Northern deer were remarkably plentiful, but the moose
began to be very scarce, as none were killed after the third.
[Sidenote: 12th.]
On the twelfth, we saw several swans flying to the Northward; they were
the first birds of passage we had seen that Spring, except a few
snow-birds, which always precede the migrating birds, and consequently
are with much propriety called the harbingers of Spring. The swans also
precede all the other species of water-fowl, and migrate so early in the
season, that they find no open water but at the falls of rivers, where
they are readily met, and sometimes shot, in considerable numbers.
[Sidenote: 14th.]
On the fourteenth, we arrived at another part of Thee-lee-aza
River,[113] and pitched our tents not far from some families of strange
Northern Indians, who had been there some time snaring deer, and who
were all so poor as not to have one gun among them.
[Sidenote: 1772. April.]
The villains belonging to my crew were so far from administering to
their relief, that they robbed them of almost every useful article in
their possession; and to complete their cruelty, the men joined
themselves in parties of six, eight, or ten in a gang, and dragged
several of their young women to a little distance from their tents,
{286} where they not only ravished them, but otherwise ill-treated them,
and that in so barbarous a manner, as to endanger the lives of one or
two of them. Humanity on this, as well as on several other similar
occasions during my residence among those wretches, prompted me to
upbraid them with their barbarity; but so far were my remonstrances from
having the desired effect, that they afterwards made no scruple of
telling me in the plainest terms, that if any female relation of mine
had been there, she should have been served in the same manner.
Deer being plentiful, we remained at this place ten days, in order to
dry and prepare a quantity of the flesh and fat to carry with us; as
this was the last time the Indians expected to see such plenty until
they met them again on the barren ground. During our stay here, the
Indians completed the wood-work for their canoes, and procured all their
Summer tent-poles, &c.; and while we were employed in this necessary
business, the thaw was so great that the bare ground began to appear in
many places, and the ice in the rivers, where the water was shallow and
the current rapid, began to break up; so that we were in daily
expectation of seeing geese, ducks, and other birds of passage.
[Sidenote: 25th.]
On the twenty-fifth, the weather being cool and favourable for
travelling, we once more set out, and that {287} day walked twenty miles
to the Eastward; as some of the women had not joined us, we did not move
on the two following days.
[Sidenote: 28th.]
On the twenty-eighth, having once more mustered all our forces, early in
the morning we set out, and the next day passed by Thleweyaza Yeth,[114]
the place at which we had prepared wood-work for canoes in the Spring
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one.
[Sidenote: May. 1st.]
[Sidenote: 1772. May.]
As the morning of the first of May was exceedingly fine and pleasant,
with a light air from the South, and a great thaw, we walked eight or
nine miles to the East by North, when a heavy fall of snow came on,
which was followed, or indeed more properly accompanied, by a hard gale
of wind from the North West. At the time the bad weather began, we were
on the top of a high barren hill, a considerable distance from any
woods; judging it to be no more than a squall, we sat down, in
expectation of its soon passing by. As the night, however, advanced, the
gale increased to such a degree, that it was impossible for a man to
stand upright; so that we were obliged to lie down, without any other
defence against the weather, than putting our sledges and other lumber
to windward of us, which in reality was of no real service, as it only
harboured a great drift of snow, with which in some places we were
covered to the depth of two or three feet; and as the night was not very
cold, I found myself, {288} and many others who were with me, long
before morning in a puddle of water, occasioned by the heat of our
bodies melting the snow.
[Sidenote: 2d.]
[Sidenote: 3d.]
The second proved fine pleasant weather, with warm sunshine. In the
morning, having dried all our clothing, we proceeded on our journey. In
the afternoon we arrived at the part at which my guide intended we
should build our canoes; but having had some difference with his
countrymen, he altered his mind, and determined to proceed to the
Eastward, as long as the season would permit, before he attempted to
perform that duty. Accordingly, on the third, we pursued our way, and as
that and the following day were very cold, which made us walk briskly,
we were enabled to make good days' journies; but the fifth was so hot
and sultry, that we only walked about thirteen miles in our old course
to the East by North, and then halted about three-quarters of a mile to
the South of Black Bear Hill;[115] a place which I had seen in the
Spring of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one.
[Sidenote: 6th.]
On the sixth, the weather was equally hot with the preceding day; in the
morning, however, we moved on eleven miles to the East, and then met
several strange Indians, who informed us that a few others, who had a
tolerable cargo of furrs, and were going to the Factory that Summer,
were not far distant.
[Sidenote: 1772. May.]
{289} On receiving this intelligence, my guide, Matonabbee, sent a
messenger to desire their company. This was soon complied with, as it is
an universal practice with the Indian Leaders, both Northern and
Southern, when going to the Company's Factory, to use their influence
and interest in canvassing for companions; as they find by experience
that a large gang gains them much respect. Indeed, the generality of
Europeans who reside in those parts, being utterly unacquainted with the
manners and customs of the Indians, have conceived so high an opinion of
those Leaders, and their authority, as to imagine that all who accompany
them on those occasions are entirely devoted to their service and
command all the year; but this is so far from being the case, that the
authority of those great men, when absent from the Company's Factory,
never extends beyond their own family; and the trifling respect which is
shown them by their countrymen during their residence at the Factory,
proceeds only from motives of interest.
[Sidenote: 1772. May.]
The Leaders have a very disagreeable task to perform on those occasions;
for they are not only obliged to be the mouthpiece, but the beggars for
all their friends and relations for whom they have a regard, as well as
for those whom at other times they have reason to fear. Those unwelcome
commissions, which are imposed on them by their followers, joined to
their own desire of being thought men of great consequence and interest
with the English, {290} make them very troublesome. And if a Governor
deny them any thing which they ask, though it be only to give away to
the most worthless of their gang, they immediately turn sulky and
impertinent to the highest degree; and however rational they may be at
other times, are immediately divested of every degree of reason, and
raise their demands to so exorbitant a pitch, that after they have
received to the amount of five times the value of all the furrs they
themselves have brought, they never cease begging during their stay at
the Factory; and, after all, few of them go away thoroughly
satisfied.[BL]
[Sidenote: 1772. May. 11th.]
{291} After stopping four days at this place, Matonabbee, and all the
Indians who were to accompany me to the Fort, agreed to leave the
elderly people and young children here, in the care of some Indians who
were capable of providing for them, and who had orders to proceed to a
place called Cathawhachaga, on the barren grounds, and there wait the
return of their relations from the Factory. Matters of this kind being
settled, apparently to the entire satisfaction of all parties, we
resumed our journey on the eleventh of May, and that at a much brisker
pace than we could probably have done when all the old people and young
children were with us. In the afternoon of the same day we met some
other Northern Indians, who were also going to the Fort with furrs;
those joined our party, and at night we all pitched our tents by the
side of a river that empties itself into Doo-baunt Lake. This day all of
us threw away our snow-shoes, as the ground was so bare in most places
as not to require any such assistance; but sledges were occasionally
serviceable for some time, particularly when we walked on the ice of
rivers or lakes.
[Sidenote: 12th.]
[Sidenote: 18th.]
{292} The weather on the twelfth was so exceedingly hot and sultry, and
the water so deep on the top of the ice of the above-mentioned river, as
to render walking on it not only very troublesome, but dangerous; so
after advancing about five miles we pitched our tents, and the warm
weather being likely to continue, the Indians immediately began to build
their canoes, which were completed with such expedition, that in the
afternoon of the eighteenth we again set forward on our journey, but the
day being pretty far spent, we only walked about four miles, and put up
for the night.
[Sidenote: 19th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. May.]
The morning of the nineteenth was fine pleasant weather; and as all the
water was drained off from the top of the ice, it rendered walking on it
both safe and easy; accordingly we set out pretty early, and that day
walked upwards of twenty miles to the East North East on the
above-mentioned river.[116] The next day proved so cold, that after
walking about fifteen miles, we were obliged to put up; for having left
Doo-baunt River, we were frequently obliged to wade above the knees
through swamps of mud, water, and wet snow; which froze to our stockings
and shoes in such a thick crust, as not only rendered walking very
laborious, but at the same time subjected us to the danger of having our
legs and feet frozen.
[Sidenote: 21st.]
The weather on the twenty-first was more severe than on the preceding
day; but the swamps and ponds being {293} by that time frozen over, it
was tolerable walking: we proceeded therefore on our journey, but the
wind blew so fresh, that we had not walked sixteen miles, before we
found that those who carried the canoes could not possibly keep up with
us, so that we put up for the night. In the course of this day's journey
we crossed the North West Bay of Wholdyah'd Lake; which, at that part,
is called by the Northern Indians A Naw-nee-tha'd Whoie.[117] This day
several of the Indians turned back, not being able to proceed for want
of provisions. Game of all kinds indeed were so scarce, that, except a
few geese, nothing had been killed by any of our party, from our leaving
the women and children on the eleventh instant, nor had we seen one deer
the whole way.
[Sidenote: 22d.]
The twenty-second proved more moderate, when all our party having
joined, we again advanced to the North East, and after walking about
thirteen miles, the Indians killed four deer. Our number, however, had
now so increased, that four small Northern deer would scarcely afford us
all a single meal.
[Sidenote: 23d.]
[Sidenote: 25th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. May.]
The next day we continued our journey, generally walking in the North
East quarter; and on the twenty-fifth, crossed the North bay of
They-hole-kye'd Whoie, or Snow-bird Lake; and at night got clear of all
woods, and lay on the barren ground. The same day several of the Indians
struck off another way, not being able to {294} proceed to the Fort for
want of ammunition. As we had for some days past made good journies, and
at the same time were all heavy-laden, and in great distress for
provisions, some of my companions were so weak as to be obliged to leave
their bundles of furrs;[BM] and many others were so reduced as to be no
longer capable of proceeding with us, having neither guns nor
ammunition; so that their whole dependence for support was on the fish
they might be able to catch; and though fish was pretty plentiful in
most of the rivers and lakes hereabout, yet they were not always to be
depended on for such an immediate supply of food as those poor people
required.
Though I had at this time a sufficient stock of ammunition to serve me
and all my proper companions to the Fort, yet self-preservation being
the first law of Nature, it was thought advisable to reserve the
greatest part of it for our own use; especially as geese and other
smaller birds were the only game now to be met with, and which, in times
of scarcity, bears hard on the articles of powder and shot. Indeed most
of the Indians who actually accompanied me the whole way to the Factory
had some little ammunition remaining, which enabled them to travel in
times of real scarcity better than those whom we left behind; and though
{295} we assisted many of them, yet several of their women died for
want. It is a melancholy truth, and a disgrace to the little humanity of
which those people are possessed, to think, that in times of want the
poor women always come off short; and when real distress approaches,
many of them are permitted to starve, when the males are amply provided
for.
[Illustration: _Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, December 5, 1894._
WOODS OF SPRUCE AND LARCH, SOUTH-WEST OF CHURCHILL]
[Illustration: _Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, August 2, 1893._
STONY SURFACE OF BARREN LANDS BESIDE DUBAWNT RIVER]
[Sidenote: 1772. May. 26th.]
The twenty-sixth was fine and pleasant. In the morning we set out as
usual, and after walking about five miles, the Indians killed three
deer; as our numbers were greatly lessened, these served us for two or
three meals, at a small expence of ammunition.
[Sidenote: 30th.]
[Sidenote: June. 3d.]
In continuing our course to the Eastward, we crossed Cathawhachaga
River, on the thirtieth of May,[118] on the ice, which broke up soon
after the last person had crossed it. We had not been long on the East
side of the river before we perceived bad weather near at hand, and
began to make every preparation for it which our situation would admit,
and that was but very indifferent, being on entire barren ground. It is
true, we had complete sets of Summer tent-poles, and such tent-cloths as
are generally used by the Northern Indians in that season; these were
arranged in the best manner, and in such places as were most likely to
afford us shelter from the threatening storm. The rain soon began to
descend in such torrents as to make the river overflow to such a degree
as soon to convert our first {296} place of retreat into an open sea,
and oblige us in the middle of the night to assemble at the top of an
adjacent hill, where the violence of the wind would not permit us to
pitch a tent; so that the only shelter we could obtain was to take the
tent-cloth about our shoulders, and sit with our backs to the wind; and
in this situation we were obliged to remain without the least
refreshment, till the morning of the third of June: in the course of
which time the wind shifted all round the compass, but the bad weather
still continued, so that we were constantly obliged to shift our
position as the wind changed.
[Sidenote: 1772. June.]
The weather now became more moderate, though there was still a fresh
gale from the North West, with hard frost and frequent showers of snow.
Early in the morning, however, we proceeded on our journey, but the wet
and cold I had experienced the two preceding days so benumbed my lower
extremities, as to render walking for some time very troublesome. In the
course of this day's journey we saw great numbers of geese flying to the
Southward, a few of which we killed; but these were very
disproportionate to the number of mouths we had to feed, and to make up
for our long fasting.
[Sidenote: 8th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. June.]