The Eskimo acquire an extended knowledge of the country by early
accompanying their parents on hunting trips, and as they have to rely
upon memory alone, they must be observant and carefully mark the
surroundings from all the views afforded. The faculty of memory is thus
cultivated to an astonishing degree, and seldom fails, even in the most
severe weather, to insure safety for the individual. I knew a native
stick his ramrod in the ground among scattered stalks of grass which
attained the height of the rod, yet after several hours he found the
spot again without the least hesitation. Every rise of land, every curve
of a stream, every cove in the seashore, has a name descriptive of
something connected with it, and these names are known to all who have
occasion to visit the place. Though the aspect of the land is entirely
changed by the mantle of snow which covers all the smaller objects,
a hunter will go straight to the place where the carcass of a single
deer was cached many months before on the open beach. The Eskimo are
faithful guides, and when confidence is shown to be reposed in them they
take a pride in leading the party by the best route. In traveling by
night they use the north star for the guide. Experience teaches them to
foretell the weather, and some reliance may be placed on their
predictions.
Their knowledge of the seasons is also wonderful. The year begins when
the sun has reached its lowest point, that is, at the winter solstice,
and summer begins with the summer solstice. They recognize the arrival
of the solstices by the bearing of the sun with reference to certain
fixed landmarks.
The seasons have distinctive names, and these are again subdivided into
a great number, of which there are more during the warmer weather than
during the winter. The reason for this is obvious: so many changes are
going on during the summer and so few during the winter. The principal
events are the return of the sun, always a signal of joy to the people;
the lengthening of the day; the warm weather in March when the sun has
attained sufficient height to make his rays less slanting and thus be
more fervent; the melting of the snow; the breaking up of the ice; the
open water; the time of birth of various seals; the advent of exotic
birds; the nesting of gulls, eiders, and other native birds; the arrival
of white whales and the whaling season; salmon fishing; the ripening of
salmonberries and other species of edibles; the time of reindeer
crossing the river; the trapping of fur-bearing animals and hunting on
land and water for food. Each of these periods has a special name
applied to it, although several may overlap each other. The appearance
of mosquitoes, sand-flies, and horseflies are marked by dates
anticipated with considerable apprehension of annoyance.
In order to sketch the annual routine of life, I will begin with the
breaking up of the ice in spring. The Koksoak river breaks its ice about
the last of May. This period, however, may vary as much as ten days
earlier and twenty days later than the date specified. The ice in Ungava
bay, into which that river flows, must be free from the greater portion
of the shore ice before the river ice can push its way out to sea. The
winds alone influence the bay ice, and the character of the weather
toward the head waters of the river determines its time of breaking.
The Eskimo has naturally a keen perception of the signs in the sky and
is often able to predict with certainty the effects of the preceding
weather. When the season has sufficiently advanced all the belongings of
each family are put together and transported down the river on sleds to
where the ice has not yet gone from the mouth of the river. It is very
seldom that the river ice extends down so far. To the edge of the ice
the tent and dogs, with the umiak, kaiak, and other personal property,
are taken and then stored on shore until the outside ice is free.
The men wander along the beach or inland hunting for reindeer,
ptarmigan, hares, and other land game. The edge of the water is searched
for waterfowl of various kinds which appear earliest. Some venturesome
seals appear. In the course of a few days the ice in the river breaks up
and the shore ice of the bay is free; and if there is a favorable wind
it soon permits the umiak to be put into the water, where, by easy
stages, depending on the weather, the quantity of floating ice, and the
food supply, the hunters creep alongshore to the objective point, be it
either east or west of the Koksoak. Sometimes the party divide, some
going in one direction and others in another.
The men seek for seals, hunting in the kaiak, the women and children
searching the islets and coves for anything edible. As soon as the
season arrives for the various gulls, eiders, and other sea birds to
nest the women and children are in high glee. Every spot is carefully
examined, and every accessible nest of a bird is robbed of its contents.
By the 25th of June the people have exhausted the supply of eggs from
the last situations visited and now think of returning, as the birds
have again deposited eggs and the seals are becoming scarcer.
The Eskimo arrange to assist the company to drive white whales when the
season arrives. This is as soon as they appear in the river at a
sufficient distance up to warrant that the measures pursued will not
drive them out of the fresh water, for if they left they would not soon
return. The date usually fixed upon is about the 12th of July. The
natives are summoned, and a large sailboat or the small steam launch is
sent along the coast to the place where the people were expected to
arrive the 5th of the month. The natives are brought to the whaling
station, where they encamp, to await the setting of the nets forming the
sides of the inclosure into which the whales are to be driven.
The natives spear the whales in the pound, drag them ashore, skin them,
and help take the oil and skins to the post, some eight miles farther up
the river.
The same natives who engaged in the whaling are employed to attend the
nets for salmon, which arrive at variable dates from the 25th of July to
the 1st of September. Two or more adult male Eskimo, with their
relatives, occupy a certain locality, generally known by the name of the
person in charge of that season's work. The place is occupied until the
runs of the fish are over, when it is time for the natives to be up the
river to spear reindeer which cross the river.
This hunting lasts until the deer have begun to rut and the males have
lost the fat from the small of the back. The season is now so far
advanced that the ice is already forming along the shore, and unless the
hunter intends to remain in that locality he would better begin to
descend the river to a place nearer the sea. The river may freeze in a
single night and the umiak be unable to withstand the constant strain of
the sharp-edged cakes of floating ice.
The head of the family decides where the winter is to be passed and
moves thither with his party at once. Here he has a few weeks of rest
from the season's labors, or spends the time constructing a sled for the
winter journeys he may have in view. The snow has now fallen so that a
snow house may be constructed and winter quarters taken up. A number of
steel traps are procured to be set for foxes and other fur-bearing
animals. The ptarmigans arrive in large flocks and are eagerly hunted
for their flesh and feathers. The birds are either consumed for food or
sold to the company, which pays 6¼ cents for four, and purchases the
body feathers of the birds at the rate of 4 pounds of the feathers for
25 cents.
The Eskimo soon consume the amount of deer meat they brought with them
on their return and subsist on the flesh of the ptarmigan until the ice
is firm enough to allow the sleds to be used to transport to the present
camp meat of animals slain in the fall.
The traps are visited and the furs are sold to the company in exchange
for flour, tea, sugar, molasses, biscuit, clothing, and ammunition.
Hunting excursions are made to various localities for stray bands of
deer that have become separated from the larger herds.
The white men employés of the company have been engaged in cutting wood
for the next year's fuel, and the Eskimo with their dog teams are hired
to haul it to the bank, where it may be floated down in rafts when the
river opens.
Thus passes the year in the life of the Eskimo of the immediate vicinity
of Fort Chimo. Some of the Koksoagmyut do not engage in these
occupations. Some go to another locality to live by themselves; others
do not work or hunt, because it is not their nature to do so.
In all undertakings for themselves they deliberate long, with much
hesitation and apparent reluctance, before they decide upon the line of
action. They consult each other and weigh the advantages of this over
that locality for game, and speculate on whether they will be afflicted
with illness of themselves or family. When the resolution is finally
made to journey to a certain place, only the most serious obstacles can
thwart their purpose.
At all seasons of the year the women have their allotted duties, which
they perform without hesitation. They bring the wood and the water, and
the food from the field, if it is not too distant, in which case the men
go after it with the dog teams. The women also fashion the skins into
clothing and other articles, and do the cooking. After a hunt of several
days' duration the husband's appearance is anxiously awaited, as is
indicated by the family scanning the direction whence he is expected.
The load is taken from the sled or boat and the incidents of the chase
recited to the ever ready listeners.
In the early spring the women are busily engaged in making boots for
summer wear. The skins of the seals have been prepared the fall before
and stored away until wanted. The method of tanning the skins is the
same for each species, differing only in its size and weight.
Certain large vessels made of wood or metal, chiefly the latter, as they
are easily procured from the traders, are used to hold a liquid, which
is from time to time added to. When a sufficient amount is collected it
is allowed to ferment. During the interval the skin of the seal is
cleansed from fat and flesh. The hair has been removed by shaving it off
or by pulling it out. The skin is then dressed with an instrument
designed for that purpose, made of ivory, deerhorn, stone, or even a
piece of tin set in the end of a stout stick several inches long. The
skin is held in the hand and the chisel-shaped implement is repeatedly
pushed from the person and against a portion of the skin until that part
becomes pliable and soft enough to work. It is further softened by
rubbing between the hands with a motion similar to that of the
washerwoman rubbing clothing of the wash. Any portion of the skin which
will not readily yield to this manipulation is chewed with the front
teeth until it is reduced to the required pliability. After this
operation has been completed the skin is soaked in the liquid, which has
now ripened to a sufficient degree to be effective. In this it is laid
for a period lasting from several hours to two or three days. The skin
is now taken out and dried. The subsequent operation of softening is
similar to that just described, and is final. It is now ready to be cut
into the required shape for the various articles for which it is
intended. If it is designed for boots for a man, the measure of the
height of the leg is taken. The length and width of the sole is measured
by the hand, stretching so far and then bending down the long or middle
finger until the length is measured. The width of one, two, or more
fingers is sometimes used in addition to the span. The length is thus
marked and the skin folded over so as to have it doubled. The knife used
in cutting is shaped like the round knife used by the harness-maker or
shoemaker.
There is in our collection a wooden model of this form of knife
(No. 3022), which nowadays always has a blade of metal. Formerly slate,
flint, or ivory was used for these blades.
The instrument is always pushed by the person using it. The eye alone
guides the knife, except on work for a white man, and then greater care
is exercised and marks employed indicating the required size. This round
knife is called úlo.
Another important duty of the women is taking care of the family boots.
When a pair of boots has been worn for some time, during a few hours in
warm weather they absorb moisture and become nearly half an inch thick
on the soles. When taken off they must be turned inside out and dried,
then chewed and scraped by some old woman, who is only too glad to have
the work for the two or three biscuit she may receive as pay. Any leak
or hole is stitched, and when the sole has holes worn through it, it is
patched by sewing a piece on the under side. The thread used in sewing
the boots is selected from the best strips of sinew from the reindeer or
seal.
Some women excel in boot-making, and at some seasons do nothing but make
boots, while the others in return prepare the other garments. When the
time comes in spring for making sealskin clothes, the women must not sew
on any piece of deerskin which has not yet been sewed, lest the seals
take offense and desert the locality which has been selected for the
spring seal hunt, to which all the people look forward with longing,
that they may obtain a supply of food different from that which they
have had during the long winter months. As there can be no harm in
killing a deer at this season, the flesh may be used, but the skin must
be cast away.
As before stated, the entire family accompany the expeditions; and as
the females are often the more numerous portion of the population, they
row the umiak at their leisure, now and then stopping to have a few
hours' run on shore and again embarking. While thus journeying they are
at times a sleepy crowd, until something ahead attracts attention; then
all become animated, pursuing the object, if it be a half-fledged bird,
until it is captured. Great amusement is thus afforded for the time,
after which they relapse until some excitement again arouses them from
their apparent lethargy. At the camp the men go in quest of larger game,
leaving the women and children, who search the shore for any living
creature they may find, destroying all that comes in their way. Smoking,
eating, and sleeping occupy them until they arrive at a locality where
food is abundant. There they earnestly strive to slay all that comes
within reach, and thus often obtain much more than they require, and the
remainder is left to putrefy on the rocks. The women do the skinning of
the seals and birds obtained on this trip. The skins of birds are
removed in a peculiar manner. The wings are cut off at the body, and
through the incision all the flesh and bones are taken out. The skin is
then turned inside out. The grease is removed by scraping and chewing.
The skin is dried and preserved for wear on the feet or for the purpose
of cleansing the hands, which have become soiled with blood or other
offal in skinning large game.
When the season arrives for hunting the reindeer for their skins, with
which to make clothing for winter, the women help to prepare the flesh
and bring the wood and water for the camp, while the men are ever on the
alert for the herds of deer on the land or crossing the water. The women
hang the skins over poles until the greater portion of the animal matter
is dry, when they roll them up and store them away until the party is
ready to return to the permanent camp for the winter. Here the skins
collected are carefully examined and suitable ones selected for winter
garments.
The skins are moistened with water and the adherent fleshy particles are
removed with a knife. They are then roughly scraped and again wetted,
this time with urine, which is supposed to render them more pliable. The
operation is practically the same as that of tanning sealskins. The hair
is, of course, left on the skin. When the skins are finally dry and
worked to the required pliability, they are cut into shape for the
various articles of apparel. The thread used in sewing is simply a strip
of sinew of the proper size. The fibers are separated by splitting off a
sufficient amount, and with the finger nail the strip is freed from all
knots or smaller strands which would prevent drawing through the needle
holes. The thread for this purpose is never twisted or plaited. The
needle is one procured from the trader. Small bone needles, imitations
of these, are sometimes used. In former years the bone needle was the
only means of carrying the thread, but this has now, except in the
rarest instances, been entirely superseded by one of metal.
The thimble is simply a piece of stiff sealskin sewed into a ring half
an inch wide to slip on the first finger, and has the same name as that
member. In sewing of all kinds the needle is pointed toward the
operator. The knife used in cutting skins is the same as that previously
described. Scissors are not adapted to cutting a skin which retains the
fur. So far as my observations goes, scissors are used only for cutting
textile fabrics procured from the store.
In the use of a knife women acquire a wondrous dexterity, guiding it to
the desired curve with much skill, or using the heel of the blade to
remove strips which may need trimming off.