appear to have been a tributary of the Dubawnt River from the west.
Unfortunately when I descended the Dubawnt River there were no Chipewyan
Indians in the party, so that I was not able to learn the local names of
the various lakes and natural features encountered, nor anything of the
geography of the country beyond the range of vision, so that doubtless
many streams joined the main river without being noticed by me. This is
probably one of them.
[117] The north end of Wholdiah Lake of the present maps is in latitude
60° 49' north, whereas the part crossed by Hearne, which he calls A
Naw-nee-tha'd Whoie, is placed by him in latitude 61° 50' north. It
remains for some future explorer to account for this discrepancy, and
give the exact situation of this place. That Hearne's position is much
too far north is clear, for they were then in the woods, and the
northern limit of the woods crosses the Dubawnt River about latitude 61°
30' N., twenty-three miles south of Hearne's course as indicated on his
map.
[BM] All the furrs thus left were properly secured in caves and crevices
of the rocks, so as to withstand any attempt that might be made on them
by beasts of prey, and were well shielded from the weather; so that, in
all probability, few of them were lost.
[118] As they were then on the barren lands, they probably crossed the
Kazan River, somewhere about the north end of Ennadai Lake. There is a
lake marked on the Mackenzie map as Nipach Lake which may possibly be
intended to represent this latter lake. Although there are a few groves
of spruce along the banks of this stream, north of the limit of the
forest, no attempts seem to have been made by Hearne or his party to
camp at them. The date here given is interesting as naming a time when
one, at least, of the streams through the barren lands breaks up in
spring.
[119] In the text no indication is given of the course which he followed
after crossing Kazan River, but his map shows that he followed the route
of his journey outwards, crossing Fat, Island, Whiskey Jack, and
Baralzoa Lakes. The Cook map, however, shows that he went round to the
north of Island Lake, and doubtless he also went round the largest of
the other lakes, for he would hardly dare to cross them in the little
canoes which he and the Indians were using for crossing the streams.
[BN] Mr. Jérémie is very incorrect in his account of the situation of
this River, and its course. It is not easy to guess, whether the Copper
or Dog-ribbed Indians be the nation he calls _Platscotez de Chiens_: if
it be the former, he is much mistaken; for they have abundance of
beaver, and other animals of the furr kind, in their country: and if the
latter, he is equally wrong to assert that they have copper-mines in
their country; for neither copper nor any other kind of metal is in use
among them.
Mr. Jérémie was not too modest when he said, (see Dobb's Account of
Hudson's Bay, p. 19,) "he could not say any thing positively in going
farther North;" for in my opinion he never was so far North or West as
he pretends, otherwise he would have been more correct in his
description of those parts.
The Strait he mentions is undoubtedly no other than what is now called
Chesterfield's Inlet, which, in some late and cold seasons, is not clear
of ice the whole Summer: for I will affirm, that no Indian, either
Northern or Southern, ever saw either Wager Water or Repulse Bay, except
the two men who accompanied Captain Middleton; and though those men were
selected from some hundreds for their universal knowledge of those
parts, yet they knew nothing of the coast so far North as Marble Island.
As a farther proof, that no Indians, except the Esquimaux, ever frequent
such high latitudes, unless at a great distance from the sea, I must
here mention, that so late as the year 1763, when Captain Christopher
went to survey Chesterfield's Inlet, though he was furnished with the
most intelligent and experienced Northern Indians that could be found,
they did not know an inch of the land to the North of Whale Cove.
Mr. Jérémie is also as much mistaken in what he says concerning
Churchill River, as he was in the direction of Seal River; for he says
that no woods were found but in some islands which lie about ten or
twelve miles up the river. At the time he wrote, which was long before a
settlement was made there, wood was in great plenty on both sides the
river; and that within five miles of where Prince of Wales's Fort now
stands. But as to the islands of which he speaks, if they ever existed,
they have of late years most assuredly disappeared; for since the
Company have had a settlement on that river, no one ever saw an island
in it that produced timber, or wood of any description, within forty
miles of the Fort. But the great number of stumps now remaining, from
which, in all probability, the trees have been cut for firing, are
sufficient to prove that when Churchill River was first settled, wood
was then in great plenty; but in the course of seventy-six years
residence in one place, it is natural to suppose it was much thinned
near the Settlement. Indeed for some years past common fewel is so
scarce near that Factory, that it is the chief employment of most of the
servants for upward of seven months in the year, to procure as much wood
as will supply the fires for a Winter, and a little timber for necessary
repairs.[120]
[120] Mr. Jérémie was in charge of York Factory for six years, from 1708
to 1714, while it was in the hands of the French. His reference to the
presence of native copper among the _Plascôtez de Chiens_, or Dog Rib
Indians, who inhabit the country between the mouth of the Mackenzie and
the Coppermine River, is particularly interesting:--
"Ils ont dans leur Pays une _Mine de Cuivre rouge_, si abondante & si
pure, que, sans le passer par la forge, tel qu'ils le ramassent à la
Mine, ils ne font que le frapper entre deux pièrres, & en font tout ce
qu'ils veulent. J'en ai vû fort souvent, parce que nos Sauvages en
apportoient toutes les fois qu'ils alloient en guerre de ces côtez là."
(_Jérémie._ "Relation du Detroit et de la Baie de Hudson," in "Recueil
de Voyages au Nord." Par J. F. Bernard. 10 vols. 12mo. Amsterdam. 1724.
Tom. v. p. 404.)
[121] Of the life at Fort Prince of Wales under Moses Norton in 1771,
during the year of Hearne's absence on the Coppermine River, we have the
following interesting account by Andrew Graham, one of the factors of
the Hudson's Bay Company:--
"Prince of Wales Fort. On a peninsula at the entrance of the Churchill
River. Most northern settlement of the Company. A stone fort, mounting
forty-two cannon [an error, as there are embrasures for only forty
cannon in the parapet of the fort], from six to twenty-four pounders.
Opposite, on the south side of the river, Cape Merry Battery, mounting
six twenty-four pounders, with lodge-house and powder magazine. The
river 1006 yards wide. A ship can anchor six miles above the fort. Tides
carry salt water twelve miles up the river. No springs near; drink snow
water nine months of the year. In summer keep three draught horses to
haul water and draw stones to finish building the forts.
"Staff:--A chief factor and officers, with sixty servants and tradesmen.
The council, with discretionary power, consists of chief factor, second
factor, surgeon, sloop and brig masters, and captain of Company's ship
when in port. These answer and sign the general letter, sent yearly to
directors. The others are accountant, trader, steward, armourer,
ship-wright, carpenter, cooper, blacksmith, mason, tailor, and
labourers. These must not trade with natives, under penalties for so
doing. Council mess together, also servants. Called by bell to duty,
work from six to six in summer, eight to four in winter. Two watch in
winter, three in summer. In emergencies, tradesmen must work at
anything. Killing of partridges the most pleasant duty.
"Company signs contract with servants for three or five years, with the
remarkable clause: 'Company may recall them home at any time without
satisfaction for the remaining time. Contract may be renewed, if
servants or labourers wish, at expiry of term. Salary advanced forty
shillings, if men have behaved well in first term. The land and sea
officers' and tradesmen's salaries do not vary, but seamen's are raised
in time of war.'
"A ship of 200 tons burden, bearing provisions, arrives yearly in August
or early September. Sails again in ten days, wind permitting, with cargo
and those returning. Sailors alone get pay when at home.
"The annual trade sent home from this fort is from ten to four thousand
made beaver, in furs, pelts, castorum, goose feathers, and quills, and a
small quantity of train oil and whale bone, part of which they receive
from the Eskimos, and the rest from the white whale fishery. A black
whale fishery is in hand, but it shows no progress." ("The Remarkable
History of the Hudson's Bay Company." By George Bryce, 1900, pp. 108-9.)
{304} CHAP. IX.
A short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther
Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, &c.
_An account of the persons and tempers of the Northern
Indians--They possess a great deal of art and cunning--Are very
guilty of fraud when in their power, and generally exact more
for their furrs than any other tribe of Indians,--Always
dissatisfied, yet have their good qualities--The men in general
jealous of their wives--Their marriages--Girls always betrothed
when children, and their reasons for it--Great care and
confinement of young girls from the age of eight or nine years
old--Divorces common among those people--The women are less
prolific than in warmer countries--Remarkable piece of
superstition observed by the women at particular periods--Their
art in making it an excuse for a temporary separation from their
husbands on any little quarrel--Reckoned very unclean on those
occasions--The Northern Indians frequently, for the want of
firing, are obliged to eat their meat raw--Some through
necessity obliged to boil it in vessels made of the rind of the
birch-tree--A remarkable dish among those people--The young
animals always cut out of their dams eaten, and accounted a
great delicacy--The parts of generation of all animals eat by
the men and boys--Manner of passing their time, and method of
killing deer in Summer with bows and arrows--Their tents, dogs,
sledges, &c.--Snow-shoes--Their partiality to domestic
vermin--Utmost extent of the Northern Indian country--Face of
the country--Species of fish--A peculiar kind of moss useful for
the support of man--Northern Indian method of catching fish,
either with hooks or nets--Ceremony observed when two parties of
those people meet--Diversions in common use--A singular disorder
which attacks some of those people--Their {305} superstition
with respect to the death of their friends--Ceremony observed on
those occasions--Their ideas of the first inhabitants of the
world--No form of religion among them--Remarks on that
circumstance--The extreme misery to which old age is
exposed--Their opinion of the Aurora Borealis, &c.--Some Account
of Matonabbee, and his services to his country, as well as to
the Hudson's Bay Company._
As to the persons of the Northern Indians, they are in general above the
middle size; well-proportioned, strong, and robust, but not corpulent.
They do not possess that activity of body, and liveliness of
disposition, which are so commonly met with among the other tribes of
Indians who inhabit the West coast of Hudson's Bay.
Their complexion is somewhat of the copper cast, inclining rather toward
a dingy brown; and their hair, like all the other tribes in India, is
black, strong, and straight.[BO] Few of the men have any beard; this
seldom makes its appearance till they are arrived at middle-age, and
then is by no means equal in quantity to what is observed on the faces
of the generality of Europeans; the little they have, however, is
exceedingly strong and bristly. Some of them take but little pains to
eradicate their beards, though it is considered as very unbecoming; and
those {306} who do, have no other method than that of pulling it out by
the roots between their fingers and the edge of a blunt knife. Neither
sex have any hair under their armpits, and very little on any other part
of the body, particularly the women; but on the place where Nature
plants the hair, I never knew them attempt to eradicate it.
Their features are peculiar, and different from any other tribe in those
parts; for they have very low foreheads, small eyes, high cheek-bones,
Roman noses, full cheeks, and in general long broad chins. Though few of
either sex are exempt from this national set of features, yet Nature
seems to be more strict in her observance of it among the females, as
they seldom vary so much as the men. Their skins are soft, smooth, and
polished; and when they are dressed in clean clothing, they are as free
from an offensive smell as any of the human race.
Every tribe of Northern Indians, as well as the Copper and Dog-ribbed
Indians, have three or four parallel black strokes marked on each cheek;
which is performed by entering an awl or needle under the skin, and, on
drawing it out again, immediately rubbing powdered charcoal into the
wound.
Their dispositions are in general morose and covetous, and they seem to
be entirely unacquainted even with the name of gratitude. They are for
ever pleading poverty, {307} even among themselves; and when they visit
the Factory, there is not one of them who has not a thousand wants.
When any real distressed objects present themselves at the Company's
Factory, they are always relieved with victuals, clothes, medicines, and
every other necessary, _gratis_; and in return, they instruct every one
of their countrymen how to behave, in order to obtain the same charity.
Thus it is very common to see both men and women come to the Fort
half-naked, when either the severe cold in Winter, or the extreme
troublesomeness of the flies in Summer, make it necessary for every part
to be covered. On those occasions they are seldom at a loss for a
plausible story, which they relate as the occasion of their distress
(whether real or pretended), and never fail to interlard their history
with plenty of sighs, groans, and tears, sometimes affecting to be lame,
and even blind, in order to excite pity. Indeed, I know of no people
that have more command of their passions on such occasions; and in this
respect the women exceed the men, as I can affirm with truth I have seen
some of them with one side of the face bathed in tears, while the other
has exhibited a significant smile. False pretences for obtaining charity
are so common among those people, and so often detected, that the
Governor is frequently obliged to turn a deaf ear to many who apply for
relief; for if he did not, he might give away the whole of the
Company's goods, and by degrees all the Northern {308} tribe would make
a trade of begging, instead of bringing furrs, to purchase what they
want. It may truly be said, that they possess a considerable degree of
deceit, and are very complete adepts in the art of flattery, which they
never spare as long as they find that it conduces to their interest, but
not a moment longer. They take care always to seem attached to a new
Governor, and flatter his pride, by telling him that they look up to him
as the father of their tribe, on whom they can safely place their
dependance; and they never fail to depreciate the generosity of his
predecessor, however extensive that might have been, however humane or
disinterested his conduct; and if aspersing the old, and flattering the
new Governor, has not the desired effect in a reasonable time, they
represent him as the worst of characters, and tell him to his face that
he is one of the most cruel of men; that he has no feeling for the
distresses of their tribe, and that many have perished for want of
proper assistance, (which, if it be true, is only owing to want of
humanity among themselves,) and then they boast of having received ten
times the favours and presents from his predecessor. It is remarkable
that those are most lavish in their praises, who have never either
deserved or received any favours from him. In time, however, this
language also ceases, and they are perfectly reconciled to the man whom
they would willingly have made a fool, and say, "he is no child, and not
to be deceived by them."
{309} They differ so much from the rest of mankind, that harsh
uncourteous usage seems to agree better with the generality of them,
particularly the lower class, than mild treatment; for if the least
respect be shown them, it makes them intolerably insolent; and though
some of their leaders may be exempt from this imputation, yet there are
but few even of them who have sense enough to set a proper value on the
favours and indulgences which are granted to them while they remain at
the Company's Factories, or elsewhere within their territories.
Experience has convinced me, that by keeping a Northern Indian at a
distance, he may be made serviceable both to himself and the Company;
but by giving him the least indulgence at the Factory, he will grow
indolent, inactive, and troublesome, and only contrive methods to tax
the generosity of an European.
The greatest part of these people never fail to defraud Europeans
whenever it is in their power, and take every method to over-reach them
in the way of trade. They will disguise their persons and change their
names, in order to defraud them of their lawful debts, which they are
sometimes permitted to contract at the Company's Factory; and all debts
that are outstanding at the succession of a new Governor are entirely
lost, as they always declare, and bring plenty of witnesses to prove,
that they were paid long before, but that their names had been forgotten
to be struck out of the book.
{310} Notwithstanding all those bad qualities, they are the mildest
tribe of Indians that trade at any of the Company's settlements; and as
the greatest part of them are never heated with liquor, are always in
their senses, and never proceed to riot, or any violence beyond bad
language.
The men are in general very jealous of their wives, and I make no doubt
but the same spirit reigns among the women; but they are kept so much in
awe of their husbands, that the liberty of thinking is the greatest
privilege they enjoy. The presence of a Northern Indian man strikes a
peculiar awe into his wives, as he always assumes the same authority
over them that the master of a family in Europe usually does over his
domestic servants.
Their marriages are not attended with any ceremony; all matches are made
by the parents, or next of kin. On those occasions the women seem to
have no choice, but implicitly obey the will of their parents, who
always endeavour to marry their daughters to those that seem most
likely to be capable of maintaining them, let their age, person, or
disposition be ever so despicable.
The girls are always betrothed when children, but never to those of
equal age, which is doubtless sound policy with people in their
situation, where the existence of a family {311} depends entirely on the
abilities and industry of a single man. Children, as they justly
observe, are so liable to alter in their manners and disposition, that
it is impossible to judge from the actions of early youth what abilities
they may possess when they arrive at puberty. For this reason the girls
are often so disproportionably matched for age, that it is very common
to see men of thirty-five or forty years old have young girls of no more
than ten or twelve, and sometimes much younger. From the early age of
eight or nine years, they are prohibited by custom from joining in the
most innocent amusements with children of the opposite sex; so that when
sitting in their tents, or even when travelling, they are watched and
guarded with such an unremitting attention as cannot be exceeded by the
most rigid discipline of an English boarding-school. Custom, however,
and constant example, make such uncommon restraint and confinement sit
light and easy even on children, whose tender ages seem better adapted
to innocent and cheerful amusements, than to be cooped up by the side of
old women, and constantly employed in scraping skins, mending shoes, and
learning other domestic duties necessary in the care of a family.
Notwithstanding those uncommon restraints on the young girls, the
conduct of their parents is by no means uniform or consistent with this
plan; as they set no bounds to their conversation, but talk before them,
and even to them, on the most indelicate subjects. As their ears are
accustomed {312} to such language from their earliest youth, this has by
no means the same effect on them, it would have on girls born and
educated in a civilized country, where every care is taken to prevent
their morals from being contaminated by obscene conversation. The
Southern Indians are still less delicate in conversation, in the
presence of their children.
The women among the Northern Indians are in general more backward than
the Southern Indian women; and though it is well known that neither
tribe lose any time, those early connections are seldom productive of
children for some years.
Divorces are pretty common among the Northern Indians; sometimes for
incontinency, but more frequently for want of what they deem necessary
accomplishments or for bad behaviour. This ceremony, in either case,
consists of neither more nor less than a good drubbing, and turning the
woman out of doors; telling her to go to her paramour, or relations,
according to the nature of her crime.
Providence is very kind in causing these people to be less prolific than
the inhabitants of civilized nations; it is very uncommon to see one
woman have more than five or six children; and these are always born at
such a distance from one another, that the youngest is generally two or
{313} three years old before another is brought into the world. Their
easy births, and the ceremonies which take place on those occasions,
have already been mentioned; I shall therefore only observe here, that
they make no use of cradles, like the Southern Indians, but only tie a
lump of moss between their legs, and always carry their children at
their backs, next the skin, till they are able to walk. Though their
method of treating young children is in this respect the most uncouth
and awkward I ever saw, there are few among them that can be called
deformed, and not one in fifty who is not bow-legged.