sufficient to preserve life; but on that day we perceived plenty of
deer, five of which the Indians killed, which put us all into good
spirits, and the {297} number of deer we then saw afforded great hopes
of more plentiful times during the remainder of our journey. It is
almost needless to add, that people in our distressed situation expended
a little time in eating, and slicing some of the flesh ready for drying;
but the drying it occasioned no delay, as we fastened it on the tops of
the women's bundles, and dried it by the sun and wind while we were
walking; and, strange as it may appear, meat thus prepared is not only
very substantial food, but pleasant to the taste, and generally much
esteemed by the natives. For my own part I must acknowledge, that it was
not only agreeable to my palate, but after eating a meal of it, I have
always found that I could travel longer without victuals, than after any
other kind of food. All the dried meat prepared by the Southern Indians
is performed by exposing it to the heat of a large fire, which soon
exhausts all the fine juices from it, and when sufficiently dry to
prevent putrefaction, is no more to be compared with that cured by the
Northern Indians in the Sun, or by the heat of a very slow fire, than
meat that has been boiled down for the sake of the soup, is to that
which is only sufficiently boiled for eating: the latter has all the
juices remaining, which, being easily dissolved by the heat and
moisture of the stomach, proves a strong and nourishing food; whereas
the former being entirely deprived of those qualities, can by no means
have an equal claim to that character. Most of the Europeans, however,
are fonder of it than they are of that cured by the {298} Northern
Indians. The same may be said to the lean parts of the beast, which are
first dried, and then reduced into a kind of powder. That done by the
Northern Indians is entirely free from smoke, and quite soft and mellow
in the mouth: whereas that which is prepared by the Southern tribes is
generally as bitter as soot with smoke, and is as hard as the scraps of
horn, &c. which are burnt to make hardening for the cutlers. I never
knew, that any European was so fond of this as they are of that made by
the Northern Indians.
[Sidenote: 9th.]
On the ninth, as we were continuing our course to the Factory, which
then lay in the South East quarter, we saw several smokes to the North
East, and the same day spoke with many Northern Indians, who were going
to Knapp's Bay to meet the Churchill sloop. Several of those Indians had
furrs with them, but having some time before taken up goods on trust at
Prince of Wales's Fort, were taking that method to delay the payment of
them. Defrauds of this kind have been practised by many of those people
with great success, ever since the furr-trade has been established with
the Northern Indians at Knapp's Bay; by which means debts to a
considerable amount are annually lost to the Company, as well as their
Governor in the Bay.
Being desirous of improving every opportunity that the fine weather
afforded, we did not lose much time in conversation with those Indians,
but proceeded on our course {299} to the South East, while they
continued theirs to the North East.
[Sidenote: 1772. June.]
For many days after leaving those people, we had the good fortune to
meet with plenty of provisions; and as the weather was for a long time
remarkably fine and pleasant, our circumstances were altered so much for
the better, that every thing seemed to contribute to our happiness, as
if desirous to make some amends for the severe hunger, cold, and
excessive hardships that we had suffered long before, and which had
reduced us to the greatest misery and want.
Deer was so plentiful a great part of the way, that the Indians killed
as many as were wanted, without going out of their road; and every lake
and river to which we came seemed willing to give us a change of diet,
by affording us plenty of the finest fish, which we caught either with
hooks or nets. Geese, partridges, gulls, and many other fowls, which are
excellent eating, were also in such plenty, that it only required
ammunition, in skilful hands, to have procured as many of them as we
could desire.
The only inconvenience we now felt was from frequent showers of heavy
rain; but the intervals between these showers being very warm, and the
Sun shining bright, that difficulty was easily overcome, especially as
the belly was plentifully supplied with excellent victuals. Indeed the
{300} very thoughts of being once more arrived so near home, made me
capable of encountering every difficulty, even if it had been hunger
itself in the most formidable shape.
[Sidenote: 18th.]
On the eighteenth, we arrived at Egg River, from which place, at the
solicitation of my guide Matonabbee, I sent a letter post-haste to the
Chief at Prince of Wales's Fort, advising him of my being so far
advanced on my return. The weather at this time was very bad and rainy,
which caused us to lose near a whole day; but upon the fine weather
returning, we again proceeded at our usual rate of eighteen or twenty
miles a day, sometimes more or less, according as the road, the weather,
and other circumstances, would admit.[119]
[Sidenote: 1772. June.]
Deer now began to be not quite so plentiful as they had been, though we
met with enough for present use, which was all we wanted, each person
having as much dried meat as he could conveniently carry, besides his
furrs and other necessary baggage.
[Sidenote: 26th.]
[Sidenote: 1772. June.]
[Sidenote: 29th.]
Early in the morning of the twenty-sixth we arrived at Seal River;[BN]
but the wind blowing right up it, made {301} so great a sea, that we
were obliged to wait near ten hours before we could venture to cross it
in our little canoes. {302} In the afternoon the weather grew more
moderate, so that we were enabled to ferry over the river; after which
we resumed our journey, and at night pitched our tents in some tufts of
willows in sight of the woods of Po-co-thee-kis-co River, at which we
arrived early in the morning of the twenty-eighth; but the wind again
blowing very hard in the North East quarter, it was the afternoon of the
twenty-ninth before we could attempt to cross it.
[Sidenote: 1772. June.]
Just at the time we were crossing the South branch of Po-co-thee-kis-co
River, the Indians that were sent from Egg River with a letter to the
Chief at Churchill, joined us on their return, and brought a little
tobacco and some other articles which I had desired. Though it was late
in the afternoon before we had all crossed the river, yet we walked that
evening till after ten o'clock, and then put up on one of the
Goose-hunting Islands, as they are generally called, about ten miles
from the Factory. The next morning I arrived in good health at Prince of
Wales's Fort, after having been absent eighteen months and twenty-three
{303} days on this last expedition; but from my first setting out with
Captain Chawchinaha, it was two years seven months and twenty-four days.
Though my discoveries are not likely to prove of any material advantage
to the Nation at large, or indeed to the Hudson's Bay Company, yet I
have the pleasure to think that I have fully complied with the orders of
my Masters, and that it has put a final end to all disputes concerning a
North West Passage through Hudson's Bay. It will also wipe off, in some
measure, the ill-grounded and unjust aspersions of Dobbs, Ellis, Robson,
and the American Traveller; who have all taken much pains to condemn the
conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company, as being averse from discoveries,
and from enlarging their trade.[121]
[Illustration: _Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, August 10, 1894._
TWO CHIPEWYAN INDIANS FROM KAZAN RIVER]
[Illustration: _Photo: J. B. Tyrrell, August 1, 1894._
VALLEY OF THLEWIAZA RIVER]
FOOTNOTES:
[101] Great Slave Lake is 288 miles long from east to west, very
irregular in width, and its area is about 10,400 square miles, being the
fifth in size among the great lakes of America. However, no reasonably
complete survey has yet been made of it. The place where he crossed it
from north to south is on the regular Indian route through the Simpson
Islands. A fish peculiar to this lake is the inconnu (see p. 254, note
103), which does not ascend the McKenzie River above the rapids at Fort
Smith, and is not found in Athabasca Lake, so that if any confirmation
were needed of the identity of his lake with Great Slave Lake, Hearne's
reference to this fish would in itself be quite convincing. Hearne was
the first white man to visit this lake, for it was not till 1785,
between thirteen and fourteen years after his visit, that the traders of
the North-West Company from Montreal reached and built a trading-post on
it, east of the mouth of the Slave River. On Peter Pond's map of 1785,
republished by L. J. Burpee, in his "Search for the Western Sea," 1908,
page 182, the following interesting note is written across the space
N.E. of Great Slave Lake: "Orchipoins Country et Road to Churchill,"
showing clearly that Pond knew of the trade carried on by the northern
Indians with the Hudson's Bay Company at Churchill.
[102] Pike=_Esox lucius_ Linn.; trout=_Cristivomer namaycush_ Walbaum;
perch=_Stizostedion vitreum_ Mitchill; barble=_Catastomus_;
tittameg=whitefish (_Coregonus_); methy=_Lota macuiosa_ (Le Sueur).--E.
A. P.
[103] Shees. This is probably the earliest notice of the inconnu,
_Stenodus Mackenzii_ (Richardson). This anadromous species inhabits in
summer the principal rivers of Northern Alaska and Mackenzie, east to
and including the Anderson. It is present in Great Slave Lake throughout
the year, this being, as far as I know, the only inland lake thus
distinguished.--E. A. P.
[104] Buffalo. This is the earliest notice of the northern race of the
bison, the so-called Wood Bison, _Bison bison Athabasca_ Rhoads. It was
formerly very numerous and inhabited an extensive region (see Preble's
"North Am. Fauna," No. 27, p. 144, 1908), but is now reduced to a few
small herds, aggregating a few hundred individuals, which roam over a
limited area south of Great Slave Lake.--E. A. P.
[BC] It is remarked by Mr. Catesby, in his description of this animal,
that no man can lift one of their heads. Those I saw in the Athapuscow
country are such as I have described; and I am assured by the Company's
servants, as well as the Indians who live near Hudson's House, that the
buffalos there are much smaller; so that the species Mr. Catesby saw, or
wrote of, must have been much larger, or have had very large heads; for
it is well known that a man of any tolerable strength can lift two and a
half, or three hundred pounds weight. I think that the heads of his
buffalos are too heavy for the bodies, as the bodies of those I saw in
the Athapuscow country appear to have been of equal weight with his.
[105] _Alces Americanus_ (Clinton), still common throughout the
region.--E. A. P.
[BD] The moose formerly sent to his Majesty was from that place. A young
male was also put on board the ship, but it died on the passage,
otherwise it is probable they might have propagated in this country.
[BE] Since the above was written, the same Indian that brought all the
above-mentioned young moose to the Factory had, in the year 1777, two
others, so tame, that when on his passage to Prince of Wales's Fort in a
canoe, the moose always followed him along the bank of the river; and at
night, or on any other occasion when the Indians landed, the young moose
generally came and fondled on them, in the same manner as the most
domestic animal would have done, and never offered to stray from the
tents. Unfortunately, in crossing a deep bay in one of the lakes (on a
fine day), all the Indians that were not interested in the safe-landing
of those engaging creatures, paddled from point to point; and the man
that owned them, not caring to go so far about by himself, accompanied
the others, in hopes they would follow him round as usual; but at night
the young moose did not arrive; and as the howling of some wolves was
heard in that quarter, it was supposed they had been devoured by them,
as they were never afterward seen.
[BF] Mr. Du Pratz, in his description of this animal, says, it is never
found farther North than Cape Breton and Nova Scotia; but I have seen
them in great numbers in the Athapuscow Country, which cannot be much
short of 60° North latitude.
[106] The deer here meant is the Wapati or Canadian Elk, the Cree name
of which is Waskas[=u], or Wewaskas[=u].
[BG] The Northern Indians make their fishing-nets with small thongs cut
from raw deer-skins; which when dry appear very good, but after being
soaked in water some time, grow so soft and slippery, that when large
fish strike the net, the hitches are very apt to slip and let them
escape. Beside this inconvenience, they are very liable to rot, unless
they be frequently taken out of the water and dried.
[BH] It is too common a case with most of the tribes of Southern Indians
for the women to desire their husbands or friends, when going to war, to
bring them a slave, that they may have the pleasure of killing it; and
some of these inhuman women will accompany their husbands, and murder
the women and children as fast as their husbands do the men.
When I was at Cumberland House, (an inland settlement that I established
for the Hudson's Bay Company in the year 1774,) I was particularly
acquainted with a very young lady of this extraordinary turn; who, when
I desired some Indians that were going to war to bring me a young slave,
which I intended to have brought up as a domestic, Miss was equally
desirous that one might be brought to her, for the cruel purpose of
murdering it. It is scarcely possible to express my astonishment, on
hearing such an extraordinary request made by a young creature scarcely
sixteen years old; however, as soon as I recovered from my surprise, I
ordered her to leave the settlement, which she did, with those who were
going to war; and it is therefore probable she might not be disappointed
in her request. The next year I was ordered to the command of Prince of
Wales's Fort, and therefore never saw her afterward.
[107] The map is very indefinite in this part of his course, and little
dependence can be placed on his positions. The place where he came to
the Slave (Athapuscow) River must have been some distance south of Great
Slave Lake, and as he followed it upwards for forty miles to where it
turned to the south, he probably reached some place not far from the
rapids at Fort Smith, in latitude 60° north, which is 15' south of the
point indicated on his map as the place where he left the river and
struck into the country to the east.
[108] When the geography of the country between Athabasca and Great
Slave Lakes becomes known, it may be possible to follow him here, but
his map gives no indication of any stream in this vicinity flowing into
Lake Clowey. He appears to have thought so little of the small river
that he did not take the trouble to map it.
[109] The reference here and on the following pages is certainly to the
belt of forest which occurs on the banks of Thelon River and its
tributary above its junction with the Dubawnt River. J. W. Tyrrell, who
explored and surveyed this river in 1900, refers to it as follows:--
"The investigations of the present expedition have, however, established
both the existence and location of such an oasis; but, as predicted by
Hearne, the primitive settlers have long since departed, although for
some other reasons than lack of fuel.
"In support of Hearne's story, and my belief that his reference was to
the valley of the Thelon, it may be noted that some very old choppings
were observed, as well as the decayed, moss-grown remains of some very
old camps, whilst scarcely any recent signs of habitation exist.
"The wooded, or partially-wooded, banks of the Thelon extend for a
distance of about one hundred and seventy miles below the forks of the
Hanbury. This distance is not to be understood as a continuous stretch
of timber, but over that distance many fine spruce groves, as well as
more or less continuous thinly-scattered trees are found. The largest
trees measured from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter, but the
average diameter would be about six inches." (Append. 26, Pt. III.
Annual Report, Department of the Interior, Canada, 1901, pp. 7, 27.)
[BI] To snare swans, geese, or ducks, in the water, it requires no other
process than to make a number of hedges, or fences, project into the
water, at right angles, from the banks of a river, lake, or pond; for it
is observed that those birds generally swim near the margin, for the
benefit of feeding on the grass, &c. Those fences are continued for some
distance from the shore, and separated two or three yards from each
other, so that openings are left sufficiently large to let the birds
swim through. In each of those openings a snare is hung and fastened to
a stake, which the bird, when intangled, cannot drag from the bottom;
and to prevent the snare from being wafted out of its proper place by
the wind, it is secured to the stakes which form the opening, with
tender grass, which is easily broken.
This method, though it has the appearance of being very simple, is
nevertheless attended with much trouble, particularly when we consider
the smallness of their canoes, and the great inconveniency they labour
under in performing works of this kind in the water. Many of the stakes
used on those occasions are of a considerable length and size, and the
small branches which form the principal part of the hedges, are not
arranged without much caution, for fear of oversetting the canoes,
particularly where the water is deep, as it is in some of the lakes; and
in many of the rivers the current is very swift, which renders this
business equally troublesome. When the lakes and rivers are shallow, the
natives are frequently at the pains to make fences from shore to shore.
To snare those birds in their nests requires a considerable degree of
art, and, as the natives say, a great deal of cleanliness; for they have
observed, that when snares have been set by those whose hands were not
clean, the birds would not go into the nest.
Even the goose, though so simple a bird, is notoriously known to forsake
her eggs, if they are breathed on by the Indians.
The smaller species of birds which make their nest in the ground, are by
no means so delicate, of course less care is necessary to snare them. It
has been observed that all birds which build in the ground go into their
nest at one particular side, and out of it on the opposite. The Indians,
thoroughly convinced of this, always set the snares on the side on which
the bird enters the nest; and if care be taken in setting them, seldom
fail of seizing their object. For small birds, such as larks, and many
others of equal size, the Indians only use two or three hairs out of
their head; but for larger birds, particularly swans, geese, and ducks,
they make snares of deer-sinews, twisted like packthread, and
occasionally of a small thong cut from a parchment deer-skin.
[BJ] The Indians, both Northern and Southern, have found by experience,
that by boiling the pesogan in water for a considerable time, the
texture is so much improved, that when thoroughly dried, some parts of
it will be nearly as soft as spunge.
Some of those funguses are as large as a man's head; the outside, which
is very hard and black, and much indented with deep cracks, being of no
use, is always chopped off with a hatchet. Besides the two sorts of
touchwood already mentioned, there is another kind of it in those parts,
that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old
decayed poplars, and lies in flakes of various sizes and thickness; some
is not thicker than shammoy leather, others are as thick as a shoe-sole.
This, like the fungus of the birch-tree, is always moist when taken from
the tree, but when dry, it is very soft and flexible, and takes fire
readily from the spark of a steel; but it is much improved by being kept
dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder. It is rather surprising that
the Indians, whose mode of life I have just been describing, have never
acquired the method of making fire by friction, like the Esquimaux. It
is also equally surprising that they do not make use of the skin-canoes.
Probably deer-skins cannot be manufactured to withstand the water;[110]
for it is well known that the Esquimaux use always seal-skins for that
purpose, though they are in the habit of killing great numbers of deer.
[110] The Eskimos met with on the banks of the Kasan River in 1894 make
their canoes entirely of deer-skin parchment.
[111] The positions of these two lakes are not exactly known, but they
doubtless lie near the regular Indian canoe route from the north Bay of
Lake Athabasca to Great Slave Lake. The latter lake lies fourteen miles
W. or S.W. of Noo-shetht Lake.
[112] On Hearne's map the position of Noo-shetht Whoie or Newstheth tooy
Lake in relation to the streams in the country is very indefinite, but
on the Pennant map it is shown on a stream which flows northward into
Great Slave Lake. In King's "Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean,"
vol. ii. p. 289, a copy of an Indian map of a canoe route northward from
Lake Athabasca is published. Most of this route is down the Copper
Indian (Yellow Knife or Rock) River, which flows into Great Slave Lake a
short distance east of the mouth of Slave River, and one of the lakes
there shown is Tazennatooy or Muddy Water Lake, while another is
Newstheth tooy, the lake here referred to.
[BK] Though I was a swift runner in those days, I never accompanied the
Indians in one of those chaces, but have heard many of them say, that
after a long one, the moose, when killed, did not produce more than a
quart of blood, the remainder being all settled in the flesh; which, in
that state, must be ten times worse tasted, than the spleen or milt of a
bacon hog.
[113] Thee-lee-aza River is called Theetinah River (Blue Fish River?) on
the Pennant map, and Petitot speaks of it as a tributary of T'ezus or
Snowdrift River, which also empties into the south side of Great Slave
Lake.
[114] The latitude of this lake had been determined by Hearne as 61° 30'
north, as previously stated on p. 127, and he had placed it on his map
in latitude 61° 15' north. In making the journey to the Coppermine River
and back to the lake, he had occupied a little more than a year, having
left it on April 18th, 1771, and returned to it on April 29th, 1772.
[115] On the 8th of March 1771 they "lay a little to the E.N.E. of Black
Bear Hill" (see p. 125), while now they are three quarters of a mile
south of it. As this hill is but a short distance (two days' journey)
west of Wholdiah Lake, the two routes laid down on the map are evidently
incorrect, for the map shows his route home at this place at least
thirty-five miles north of the route out, instead of south of it as
indicated by the text.
[BL] As a proof of this assertion I take the liberty, though a little
foreign to the narrative of my journey, to insert one instance, out of
many hundreds of the kind that happen at the different Factories in
Hudson's Bay, but perhaps no where so frequently as at Churchill. In
October 1776, my old guide, Matonabbee, came at the head of a large gang
of Northern Indians, to trade at Prince of Wales's Fort; at which time I
had the honour to command it. When the usual ceremonies had passed, I
dressed him out as a Captain of the first rank, and also clothed his six
wives from top to toe: after which, that is to say, during his stay at
the Factory, which was ten days, he begged seven lieutenants' coats,
fifteen common coats, eighteen hats, eighteen shirts, eight guns, one
hundred and forty pounds weight of gunpowder, with shot, ball, and
flints in proportion; together with many hatchets, ice chissels, files,
bayonets, knives, and a great quantity of tobacco, cloth, blankets,
combs, looking-glasses, stockings, handkerchiefs, &c. besides numberless
small articles, such as awls, needles, paint, steels, &c. in all to the
amount of upwards of seven hundred beaver in the way of trade, to give
away among his followers. This was exclusive of his own present, which
consisted of a variety of goods to the value of four hundred beaver
more. But the most extraordinary of his demands was twelve pounds of
powder, twenty-eight pounds of shot and ball, four pounds of tobacco,
some articles of clothing, and several pieces of iron-work, &c. to give
to two men who had hauled his tent and other lumber the preceding
Winter. This demand was so very unreasonable, that I made some scruple,
or at least hesitated to comply with it, hinting that he was the person
who ought to satisfy those men for their services; but I was soon
answered, that he did not expect to have been _denied such a trifle as
that was_; and for the future he would carry his goods where he could
get his own price for them. On my asking him where that was? he replied,
in a very insolent tone, "To the Canadian Traders." I was glad to comply
with his demands; and I here insert the anecdote, as a specimen of an
Indian's conscience.