extensive scale; requiring to a complete performance forty or fifty
persons, who execute their evolutions by following each other round a
great fire kindled in the centre. Their movements, monotonous but
violent, consist in stamping furiously on the ground, and often
brandishing their arms in a manner compared by an able writer to a baker
converting flour into dough. They keep good time; but the music is so
exceedingly simple, that this implies little merit. They conclude with a
long shout or howl, which echoes frightfully through the woods. The
dances in celebration of particular events are of a more varied
character, and often form a very expressive pantomime. The war-dance is
the most favourite and frequent. In this extraordinary performance, a
complete image is given of the terrible reality; the war-whoop is
sounded with the most frightful yells, the tomahawk is wildly
brandished, and the enemy are surprised, seized, and scalped, or carried
off for torture. The calumet-dance, which celebrates peace between
nations, and the marriage-dance, which represents domestic life, are
much more pleasing. Some mention is made of a mystic-dance, carried on
by the jugglers or doctors, with strange superstitious ceremonies, and
in which a supernatural personage, termed by some the devil, rises and
performs; but it does not seem to have been witnessed by any European,
and is said to be now in a great measure disused.
There are, moreover, games to which the Indians are fondly attached,
which, though they be only ranked under the head of amusement, are yet
conducted in the same serious manner as their other transactions. Their
great parties are said to be collected by supernatural authority,
communicated by the jugglers, and they are preceded, like their wars and
hunts, by a course of fasting, dreaming, and other means of propitiating
fortune. The favourite game is that of the bone, in which small pieces
of that substance, resembling dice, and painted of different colours,
are thrown in the air, and according to the manner in which they fall
the game is decided. Only two persons can play: but a numerous party,
and sometimes whole villages, embrace one side or the other, and look on
with intense interest. At each throw, especially if it be decisive,
tremendous shouts are raised; the players and spectators equally
resemble persons possessed; the air rings with invocations to the bones,
and to the manitous. Their eagerness sometimes leads to quarreling and
even fighting, which on no other occasion ever disturb the interior of
these societies. To such a pitch are they occasionally worked up, that
they stake successively all they possess, and even their personal
liberty; but this description must apply only to the more southern
nations, as slavery was unknown among the Canadian Indians.
A temporary interval of wild licence, of emancipation from all the
restraints of dignity and decorum, seems to afford an enjoyment highly
prized in all rude societies. Corresponding with the saturnalia and
bacchanals of antiquity, the Americans have their festival of dreams,
which during fifteen days enlivens the inaction of the coldest season.
Laying aside all their usual order and gravity, they run about,
frightfully disguised, and committing every imaginable extravagance. He
who meets another, demands an explanation of his visions, and if not
satisfied, imposes some fantastic penalty. He throws upon him cold
water, hot ashes, or filth; sometimes rushing into his cabin he breaks
and destroys the furniture. Although everything appears wild and
unpremeditated, it is alleged that opportunities are often taken to give
vent to old and secret resentments. The period having elapsed, a feast
is given, order is restored, and the damages done are carefully
repaired.
[Illustration: _View across the Boundary Line, from the Sugar Loaf._]
On the first settlement of Europeans in Canada, that territory was
chiefly divided between three great nations,—the Algonquins, the
Hurons, and the Iroquois or Five Nations. The first held an extensive
domain along the northern bank of the St. Lawrence, about a hundred
leagues above Trois-Rivières. Shortly before, they had been the most
powerful of all these tribes, and considered even in some degree as
masters over this part of America. They are described also as having the
mildest aspect, and most polished manners of any. They subsisted
entirely by hunting, and looked with proud disdain on their neighbours
who consented to bestow on the soil even the smallest cultivation. The
Hurons were a numerous people, whose very extensive territory reached
from the Algonquin frontier to the borders of the great lake bearing
their name. They were also more industrious, and derived an abundant
subsistence from the fine territory of Upper Canada. But they were at
the same time more effeminate and voluptuous, and had less of the proud
independence of savage life, having chiefs hereditary in the female
line, to whom they paid considerable deference.
The Iroquois, destined to act the most conspicuous part among all the
native tribes, occupied a long range of territory on the southern border
of the St. Lawrence, from Lake Champlain to the western extremity of
Lake Ontario. They were thus beyond the limits of what is now considered
Canada; yet, as all their transactions were completely connected with
the interests of that country, we cannot at present avoid considering
them as belonging to it.
This people were divided into five cantons, each of which was considered
as an independant nation. They were united, however, by the closest
alliance; are never found waging war with each other, nor did they often
fail to combine their forces when attacked by neighbouring tribes. The
following are the names given to them by English and French authors.
ENGLISH. FRENCH.
Mohawks. Aguiers.
Oneidas. Onneyouths.
Onondagoes. Onontagues.
Cayugas. Anniegué.
Senekas. Tsonnouthouans.
We add to these general remarks on the habits and character of the
natives of North America, a few anecdotes which were collected by a
distinguished soldier in Canada, and which we copy literally from his
MS. The first is a legend of the Falls of Shawenagam, river St. Maurice.
Shortly after the Hurons established themselves in the part of the Lower
Province to the N. E. of the St. Maurice, that rapid river was fixed as
the boundary between this nation and the Algonquins. In one of the many
fierce rencontres that took place between these two warlike tribes, the
following circumstance occurred, too descriptive of the Indian character
to pass unnoticed. A party of Hurons had been hunting on the shores of
the St. Maurice, and were returning in loaded canoes down the stream,
when, on approaching the head of these falls, they suddenly heard a
signal, and on looking up descried a large party of Algonquins half
hidden among the thick foliage in the tops of trees. The Hurons had
advanced too far to recede; to pull back against the stream was totally
impossible, and to land at the head of the falls was only throwing
themselves into the hands of the host of enemies waiting to bear their
scalps in triumph to their nation. The mind, like the eye, of an Indian
is quick and determined. The chieftain in the leading canoe cast one
hurried glance on his enemies, and setting up a yell of defiance,
steered his frail bark to the edge of the foaming precipice: in this
resolute action he was followed by his people, and the whole party were
hurried down the dreadful abyss mingled in one mass of wreck and
destruction. Scarcely a vestige of these brave men was washed ashore to
gratify the vengeance of the disappointed Algonquins.
_Tête-de-Bules._—The Indians frequenting the Fur Post of Wemontashingur
in the St. Maurice, latitude 47° 55' 58" N. are not numerous, and
generally speaking are a very inoffensive people, although some actions
of a horrid nature, committed by individuals of the tribe, have come to
our knowledge. They are ignorant and superstitious, influenced in all
their actions by dreams, which they imagine are sent to them for a good
purpose by the Great Spirit: under this cloak they oftentimes commit
great barbarities. They are likewise much addicted to ardent spirits.
That cannibalism is occasionally practised to a great extent among the
aborigines inhabiting these dreary regions, the many accounts which have
reached our ears would lead us to believe; but as these things are
generally exaggerated, we know not what degree of credence they deserve.
Among the anecdotes of this nature related to us, are the following,
which, if true, show to what a degraded state of mind these miserable
people are reduced. An Indian _Montagnier_, whose name is Mocontagan, or
Crooked Knife, in a drunken fit confessed having in the course of his
life killed and eaten several Indians and Metifs, or half-breeds. When
sober, he attempted to deny it; but upon being closely pressed he
acknowledged the fact, but said starvation drove him to kill and eat the
first man, and that he slew and ate the others from a decided preference
of that to any other kind of flesh; and finished his statement by
declaring that he would kill any Metif, and eat him, that he should meet
alone. He is much feared by the other Indians, who are inclined to
believe him to be an evil spirit. He is described as a powerful man, six
feet high, and strong built, and possessing what is termed “a bad
countenance.” Upon one occasion, about six years since, at
Wemontashingur, the Algonquins took courage and rose upon him: he fled
for protection to Mr. Hyslop, the resident clerk of the Post, who with
Mr. Le Blanc, now at Rat River, advised him to leave the place, as they
could not be answerable for his life. This man is still living, much
dreaded by the Indians frequenting the St. Maurice.
Another instance was related to us by Mr. Vassal, belonging to the
King’s Post company. One day, during the winter, as he was travelling
among the mountains, he saw an Indian stretched on the snow. Vassal
approached him, and demanded what was the matter. The Indian replied he
was sick, doubtless imagining Vassal would be alarmed by the thoughts of
fever, and quit the place without entering the cabin: but Vassal,
anxious to collect furs, attempted to go in, the Indian pulled him back
by the leg; Vassal made another attempt, and succeeded in entering. A
fire was burning, and a large kettle was on it, which, to his horror, he
found contained a portion of a very young child. The savage acknowledged
that it was his grandson, and that hunger had driven him to eat it.
This, Vassal says, could not be possible, as there were remains of
musk-rats about the place.
With respect to “bad dreams,” there is a Tête-de-Bule belonging to
Wemontashingur at present labouring under the delusion. He imagines he
shall fail in every undertaking until he has slain some person; and once
he actually fired at his brother, but fortunately missed him. He is much
feared by the tribe, as they imagine him possessed of an evil spirit,
which will not depart until he has spilt blood.
The Indians navigating the St. Maurice have a notion that in a large
cavern at the back of the Upper Caribonif Mountain, are a species of
wood demons, and that when encamped near the place, they can distinctly
hear the screams of children, but where the children come from in these
desolate and unpeopled regions, our informant could not tell. The place
is certainly very gloomy, but it being our encamping time, we made
ourselves comfortable for the night in spite of the wood demons. Before
morning, we ascertained the screams of the children to be the hooting
and screeching of the owls and night hawks, so numerous in this part of
the country.
In one of the deep bays of Lake Kempt, we saw three Indian graves, built
in the usual long narrow shape adopted by the Indians, and well defended
from wild beasts by an outer covering of split wood, bound together with
branches. Within this outer mausoleum was one made of birch bark, and
under this rested the body, covered over with the fine white sand
forming the shores of the Lake. Opposite one of the graves was a cross.
From the information we received, it appears that one of these graves
belonged to Menesino’s mother, the second contained the body of his
wife, and the third that of his infant child.
We were assured that the mother met with her death from the hands of her
daughter, in a quarrel which took place a few years since in one of the
sandy bays of Lake Malawin. The wife was slain by Menesino in a fit of
jealousy, by striking his axe between her shoulders while she was in the
act of stooping. How the infant came to its end, we did not hear. This
man Menesino also slew another wife, and shot a Canadian who went to
take him. For these murders, and others of which he was accused,
Menesino was once taken and conveyed handcuffed to within a short
distance of Three-Rivers. His guards being excessively fatigued, fell
asleep, which Menesino took advantage of, and plunged into the river. In
spite of his handcuffs he succeeded in gaining the opposite shore,
whence crossing many large lakes,—God knows how,—and travelling a vast
extent of forest covered with thick underwood, he regained his own
country, and has never since been taken. Indeed, he is such a powerful
man, and in the prime of life, that few would like to make the attempt,
although we have since heard that a party are in pursuit of him. He is
said to possess unbounded influence, occasioned by fear, over the male
part of his tribe; but the female part, as may easily be supposed, have
a great repugnance to living with him.
M. Le Blanc, when at Wemontashingur, was compelled to stand all night
over an Indian woman whom Menesino wanted to carry off with him into the
woods. He is described as a good looking man, and, what is unusual among
the Indians, not at all addicted to ardent spirits. From all we heard,
it would appear that he is constantly on his guard, fearful of some
stratagem; living entirely alone, the sole inhabitant of these dreary
waters.
On arriving at the point of the graves in Lake Nemeashingur, we landed
to examine them. They were three in number, and similar in construction
to those we had seen on Lake Kempt, except that they were more
ornamented according to the pagan rites of Indians. Near the principal
grave was a pile of wood, a paddle, snow shoes, and a snow shovel, for
the use of the departed during his journey to the hunting grounds in the
next world. In addition to these articles, on one of the mausoleums was
a sword, the emblem of a chieftain. At the foot of this grave was a rude
wooden cross. We had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
history of the parties who were buried here, of which the following is a
slight sketch:—
Near the graves are the remains of a log-hut, which had been erected as
a temporary receiving place for furs, until a sufficient quantity had
been collected to send into the Post at Wemontashingur. This hut was in
charge of a man named Tefu, a Bois-Brulé, who was married to a woman
belonging to the tribe inhabiting the lake of the two mountains. One day
in the year 1816, while Tefu was absent, a brother of Menesino named
Kenecabannishcum, accompanied by his wife and mother, went to the hut
and demanded of Tefu’s wife some provisions, which she refused. He
insisted upon having some, a scuffle ensued, and the villain shot the
woman dead upon the spot. They then departed, taking with them a young
boy who was living with Tefu. The mother observed, that if the boy met
any of the half-breeds who were in the habit of going round to collect
furs, he would certainly tell them, in French, of the murder.
Kenecabannishcum replied, he would soon settle that, and steered his
canoe to the rocky point of an island directly opposite. On his arrival
at the point, the ruffian seized the child by his legs, and dashed his
brains out against the rock. The murderer’s mother returned to the hut
and buried the body of the unfortunate infant. This is the woman who
afterwards met her death on Lake Malawin from the hands of her
daughter-in-law, and lies buried on Lake Kempt. Some time after the
murders had been committed, a quarrel ensued between Kenecabannishcum
and his wife and mother; in consequence of this, the two women repaired
to the cabin of the wife’s father, a chieftain named Meshenawash, and
acquainted him with the crimes of her husband: when this reached the
murderer’s ears he vowed vengeance against the old chieftain, who
consequently was compelled to secrete himself until the day of his
death, which took place a short time after, for he was no match for such
a powerful man as his son-in-law. The grave with the sword upon it was
this chieftain’s.
[Illustration: _The Squaw’s Grave_
(Ottawa River.)]
In the year 1824, this man came to his end in the following manner. An
Algonquin, named Michel, was married to a very handsome woman, whom
Kenecabannishcum endeavoured more than once to carry off by force. In
the scuffles which ensued, Michel, who was not possessed with the
strength of his opponent, was glad to make his escape, and in one
instance, he was obliged to swim across a rapid stream, and dive
repeatedly to avoid being shot. In the last encounter, which took place
in the year above mentioned, each man was armed with an axe, when a
fierce conflict ensued. Michel by a lucky blow struck off the nose of
his adversary, and the next stroke took off his ear. These wounds so
bewildered Kenecabannishcum, that he lost all presence of mind, and
before he could recover, Michel struck his axe so deep into his enemy’s
skull, that he was under the necessity of placing his foot on the neck
of the fallen man to withdraw it. Thus fell this noted character: his
body was buried by his brother Menesino on the point near the log-hut,
close by his father-in-law and the infant whom he had murdered eight
years before in cold blood. The body of Tefu’s wife was never found.
Michel was obliged to fly that part of the country, fearful of the
vengeance of Menesino, and is now resident at the post on Lac des
Sables.
-----
[1] We have to acknowledge our obligations for most valuable information
in the following pages, first, to our distinguished friend Col.
Cockburn, of the Royal Artillery, long resident in Canada; next, to Hugh
Murray, Esq., F.R.S.E. for extracts from his most admirable work on that
country; to the Author of “Backwoods of America,” and to many writers,
both old and modern, including Charlevoix, Adair, Colden, La Potherie,
Rogers, Champlain, Heriot, M^{c}Gregor, Raynal, Talbot, Hall, and
others. From the inconvenience of making these acknowledgments in every
instance, we return our thanks simply in this note, and embody the
information simply as it comes, without further mark or comment.
CHAP. II.
THE DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF CANADA.
* * * * *
Having given, from the best authority, the condition and characteristics
of the aboriginal tribes of America, we go on briefly to enumerate the
prominent events in the first stage of discovery and civilization. Those
who read the curious picture we have been enabled to present, in the
foregoing pages, of a nation almost, we may say, recently sprung to
light, and who now look into the singular events of the first civilized
history of the land they possessed, will have materials for a comparison
between these and the lovely pictures on the other pages of the work,
such as, for force of contrast and interest, is not often presented.
The Italian adventurers, John, and his sons Sebastian, Louis, and
Sanchez Cabot, who received a commission on the 5th of March, 1495, from
Henry VII. of England, to discover what Columbus was in search of, a
north-west passage to the East Indies or China, (or, as the latter named
country was then called, _Cathay_,) claim the honour of having been the
first discoverers of Canada. The adventurers sailed in 1497 with six
ships, and early in June of the same year, discovered Newfoundland;
whence continuing a westerly course, they reached the continent of North
America, which the Cabots coasted (after exploring the gulf of St.
Lawrence) as far north as 67° 50' N. lat. They returned to England in
August, 1497, but although Sebastian subsequently performed three
voyages to the New World, no settlement was effected on its shores.
[Illustration: _Port Hope._]
In 1500, Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese gentleman, visited the coast,
and pursued the track of Sir John Cabot (who was knighted by our
sovereign); but Cortereal and his brothers accomplished nothing further
than the kidnapping of several of the natives, whom they employed and
sold as slaves. In 1502 Hugh Elliot and Thomas Ashurst, merchants of
Bristol, with two other gentlemen, obtained a patent from Henry VIII. to
establish colonies in the countries lately discovered by Cabot: but the
result of the permission granted is not known. In 1527 an expedition was
fitted out by Henry VIII. by the advice of Robert Thorne, a merchant of
Bristol, for the purpose of discovering a north-west passage to the East
Indies; one of the ships attempting which was lost.
Francis I. of France, piqued at the discoveries of Spain and Portugal,
and having his ambition roused by the monopolizing pretensions of these
two powers to the possessions in the New World, authorized the fitting
out of an expedition, the command of which he gave to Verrazzano, a
Florentine, who on his second voyage discovered Florida, and thence
sailing back along the American coast to the 50° of lat. took formal
possession of it for his royal master, and called it _La Nouvelle
France_. On Verrazzano’s return to Europe in 1525, without gold or
silver or valuable merchandize, he was at first coldly received, but, it
is said, subsequently sent out with more particular instructions and
directions to open a communication with the natives; in endeavouring to
fulfil which, he lost his life in a fray with the Indians. This,
however, is denied; and it is asserted that the capture of Francis I. at
the battle of Pavia in 1525, prevented him from further exploring the
coast, and that he returned to his native country and died in obscurity.
When the government ceased to follow up the result of Verrazzano’s
formal acquisition of Canada, the Frenchmen of St. Maloes commenced a
successful fishery at Newfoundland, which so early as 1517 had fifty
ships, belonging to the English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese,
employed in the cod-fishery on its banks. _Jacques Cartier_, a native of
St. Maloes, engaged in the Newfoundland fishery, took the lead in
exploring at his own risk the northern coasts of the new hemisphere.
This bold and experienced navigator at last received a commission from
his sovereign, Francis I., and left St. Maloes on the 20th of April,
1534, with two vessels of sixty tons each; arrived at Newfoundland on
the 10th of May, remained there ten days, and then sailed to the
northward, passing through the straits of Bellisle; changed his course
somewhat to the southward, traversed the great gulf of St. Lawrence,
(already known to Europeans,) and, in the month of July, arrived in the
_Bay of Chaleurs_, which he so named on account of its heat. On the 24th
of July, Cartier was at Gaspé, where he erected a cross, surmounted by a
_fleur-de-lis_, and on the 25th of July sailed for France with two
native Indians.
The enterprising character of his royal master induced him to despatch
Cartier in the following year with three larger vessels, and a number of
young gentlemen as volunteers. The ships rendezvoused at Newfoundland,
and in August sailed up the St. Lawrence, so called from its being
discovered on the 10th day of that month, being the festival of the
saint of that name.
Cartier anchored off Quebec, then called Stadaconna, and the abode of an
Indian chief called Donnaconna. After leaving his ships secure, he
pursued his route in the pinnace and two boats, until, on the third of
October, he reached an island in the river, with a lofty mountain, which
he named _Mont Royal_, now called Montreal. After losing many of his
followers by scurvy, during his wintering at Stadaconna, which he named
St. Croix, Cartier returned to France in 1536, carrying off by force
Donnaconna, two other chiefs, and eight natives. The French court,
finding there was no gold and silver to be had, paid no further
attention to _La Nouvelle France_, or Canada, until the year 1540, when
Cartier, after much exertion, succeeded in getting a royal expedition
fitted out under the command of François de la Roque, Seigneur de
Roberval, who was commissioned by Francis I. as viceroy and
lieutenant-general in Canada, Hochelaga, or Montreal.
Roberval despatched Cartier to form a settlement, which he did at St.
Croix harbour on the 23d of August, 1541, but suddenly left it early in
the ensuing year. The viceroy himself arrived in Canada in July, 1542,
where he built a fort, and wintered about four leagues above the Isle of
Orleans (first called the Isle of Bacchus); but for want of any settled
plans, in consequence of the scurvy, and the insurrections and deadly
hostility of the Indians, owing to Cartier’s having carried off
Donnaconna and his attendants (who had all perished in France), little
was accomplished.[2]