DR. RICHARDSON’S RESIDENCE AT CUMBERLAND HOUSE. HIS ACCOUNT OF THE CREE
INDIANS.
DR. RICHARDSON’S RESIDENCE AT CUMBERLAND HOUSE.
January 19, 1820.
From the departure of Messrs. Franklin and Back on the 19th of January
for Chipewyan until the opening of the navigation in the spring the
occurrences connected with the Expedition were so much in the ordinary
routine of a winter’s residence at Fort Cumberland that they may be
perhaps appropriately blended with the following general but brief
account of that district and its inhabitants.
Cumberland House was originally built by Hearne, a year or two after
his return from the Copper-Mine River, and has ever since been
considered by the Hudson’s Bay Company as a post of considerable
importance. Previous to that time the natives carried their furs down
to the shores of Hudson’s Bay or disposed of them nearer home to the
French Canadian traders who visited this part of the country as early
as the year 1697.
The Cumberland House district, extending about one hundred and fifty
miles from east to west along the banks of the Saskatchewan, and about
as far from north to south, comprehends, on a rough calculation,
upwards of twenty thousand square miles, and is frequented at present
by about one hundred and twenty Indian hunters. Of these a few have
several wives but the majority only one; and as some are unmarried we
shall not err greatly in considering the number of married women as
only slightly exceeding that of the hunters. The women marry very
young, have a custom of suckling their children for several years, and
are besides exposed constantly to fatigue and often to famine; hence
they are not prolific, bearing upon an average not more than four
children, of whom two may attain the age of puberty. Upon these data
the amount of each family may be stated at five, and the whole Indian
population in the district at five hundred.
This is but a small population for such an extent of country, yet their
mode of life occasionally subjects them to great privations. The winter
of our residence at Cumberland House proved extremely severe to the
Indians. The whooping-cough made its appearance amongst them in the
autumn, and was followed by the measles which, in the course of the
winter, spread through the tribe. Many died and most of the survivors
were so enfeebled as to be unable to pursue the necessary avocations of
hunting and fishing. Even those who experienced only a slight attack,
or escaped the sickness altogether, dispirited by the scenes of misery
which environed them, were rendered incapable of affording relief to
their distressed relations and spent their time in conjuring and
drumming to avert the pestilence. Those who were able came to the fort
and received relief, but many who had retired with their families to
distant corners to pursue their winter hunts experienced all the
horrors of famine. One evening early in the month of January a poor
Indian entered the North-West Company’s House, carrying his only child
in his arms and followed by his starving wife. They had been hunting
apart from the other bands, had been unsuccessful and, whilst in want,
were seized with the epidemical disease. An Indian is accustomed to
starve and it is not easy to elicit from him an account of his
sufferings. This poor man’s story was very brief; as soon as the fever
abated he set out with his wife for Cumberland House, having been
previously reduced to feed on the bits of skin and offal which remained
about their encampment. Even this miserable fare was exhausted and they
walked several days without eating, yet exerting themselves far beyond
their strength that they might save the life of the infant. It died
almost within sight of the house. Mr. Connolly, who was then in charge
of the post, received them with the utmost humanity and instantly
placed food before them; but no language can describe the manner in
which the miserable father dashed the morsel from his lips and deplored
the loss of his child. Misery may harden a disposition naturally bad
but it never fails to soften the heart of a good man.
HIS ACCOUNT OF THE CREE INDIANS.
The _origin_ of the Crees, to which nation the Cumberland House Indians
belong, is, like that of the other aborigines of America, involved in
obscurity; but the researches now making into the nature and affinities
of the languages spoken by the different Indian tribes may eventually
throw some light on the subject. Indeed the American philologists seem
to have succeeded already in classing the known dialects into three
languages:
1. The Floridean, spoken by the Creeks, Chickesaws, Choctaws,
Cherokees, Pascagoulas, and some other tribes who inhabit the southern
parts of the United States.
2. The Iroquois, spoken by the Mengwe, or Six Nations, the Wyandots,
the Nadowessies, and Asseeneepoytuck.
3. The Lenni-lenape, spoken by a great family more widely spread than
the other two and from which, together with a vast number of other
tribes, are sprung our Crees. Mr. Heckewelder, a missionary who resided
long amongst these people and from whose paper (published in the
_Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_,) the above
classification is taken, states that the Lenape have a tradition
amongst them of their ancestors having come from the westward and taken
possession of the whole country from the Missouri to the Atlantic,
after driving away or destroying the original inhabitants of the land
whom they termed Alligewi. In this migration and contest, which endured
for a series of years, the Mengwe, or Iroquois, kept pace with them,
moving in a parallel but more northerly line, and finally settling on
the banks of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes from whence it flows.
The Lenape, being more numerous, peopled not only the greater part of
the country at present occupied by the United States, but also sent
detachments to the northward as far as the banks of the River
Mississippi and the shores of Hudson’s Bay. The principal of their
northern tribes are now known under the names of Saulteurs or
Chippeways, and Crees; the former inhabiting the country betwixt Lakes
Winnipeg and Superior, the latter frequenting the shores of Hudson’s
Bay from Moose to Churchill, and the country from thence as far to the
westward as the plains which lie betwixt the forks of the Saskatchewan.
The Crees, formerly known by the French Canadian traders under the
appellation of Knisteneaux, generally designate themselves as
Eithinyoowuc (_men_) or, when they wish to discriminate themselves from
the other Indian nations, as Nathehwywithinyoowuc (_Southern-men_).[5]
[5] Much confusion has arisen from the great variety of names applied
without discrimination to the various tribes of Saulteurs and Crees.
Heckewelder considers the Crees of Moose Factory to be a branch of
that tribe of the Lenape which is named Minsi, or Wolf Tribe. He has
been led to form this opinion from the similarity of the name given to
these people by Monsieur Jeremie, namely, Monsonies; but the truth is
that their real name is Mongsoaeythinyoowuc, or Moose-deer Indians;
hence the name of the factory and river on which it is built. The name
Knisteneaux, Kristeneaux, or Killisteneaux, was anciently applied to a
tribe of Crees, now termed Maskegons, who inhabit the river Winnipeg.
This small tribe still retains the peculiarities of customs and dress
for which it was remarkable many years ago, as mentioned by Mr. Henry
in the interesting account of his journeys in these countries. They
are said to be great rascals. The great body of the Crees were at that
time named Opimmitish Ininiwuc, or Men of the Woods. It would however
be an endless task to attempt to determine the precise people
designated by the early French writers. Every small band naming itself
from its hunting grounds was described as a different nation. The
Chippeways who frequented the Lake of the Woods were named from a
particular act of pillage Pilliers, or Robbers: and the name
Saulteurs, applied to a principal band that frequented the Sault St.
Marie, has been by degrees extended to the whole tribe. It is
frequently pronounced and written _Sotoos_.
The original character of the Crees must have been much modified by
their long intercourse with Europeans; hence it is to be understood
that we confine ourselves in the following sketch to their present
condition, and more particularly to the Crees of Cumberland House. The
moral character of a hunter is acted upon by the nature of the land he
inhabits, the abundance or scarcity of food, and we may add, in the
present case, his means of access to spiritous liquors. In a country so
various in these respects as that inhabited by the Crees the causes
alluded to must operate strongly in producing a considerable difference
of character amongst the various hordes. It may be proper to bear in
mind also that we are about to draw the character of a people whose
only rule of conduct is public opinion and to try them by a morality
founded on divine revelation, the only standard that can be referred to
by those who have been educated in a land to which the blessings of the
Gospel have extended.
Bearing these considerations in mind then we may state the Crees to be
a vain, fickle, improvident, and indolent race, and not very strict in
their adherence to truth, being great boasters; but on the other hand
they strictly regard the rights of property,[6] are susceptible of the
kinder affections, capable of friendship, very hospitable, tolerably
kind to their women, and withal inclined to peace.
[6] This is perhaps true of the Cumberland House Crees alone: many of
the other tribes of Crees are stated by the traders to be thieves.
Much of the faulty part of their character no doubt originates in their
mode of life; accustomed as a hunter to depend greatly on chance for
his subsistence the Cree takes little thought of tomorrow; and the most
offensive part of his behaviour—the habit of boasting—has been probably
assumed as a necessary part of his armour which operates upon the fears
of his enemies. They are countenanced however in this failing by the
practice of the ancient Greeks, and perhaps by that of every other
nation in its ruder state. Every Cree fears the medical or conjuring
powers of his neighbour, but at the same time exalts his own
attainments to the skies. “I am God-like,” is a common expression
amongst them, and they prove their divinity-ship by eating live coals
and by various tricks of a similar nature. A medicine bag is an
indispensable part of a hunter’s equipment. It is generally furnished
with a little bit of indigo, blue vitriol, vermilion, or some other
showy article, and is, when in the hands of a noted conjurer, such an
object of terror to the rest of the tribe that its possessor is enabled
to fatten at his ease upon the labours of his deluded countrymen.
A fellow of this description came to Cumberland House in the winter of
1819. Notwithstanding the then miserable state of the Indians the
rapacity of this wretch had been preying upon their necessities, and a
poor hunter was actually at the moment pining away under the influence
of his threats. The mighty conjurer, immediately on his arrival at the
House, began to trumpet forth his powers, boasting among other things
that, although his hands and feet were tied as securely as possible
yet, when placed in a conjuring house, he would speedily disengage
himself by the aid of two or three familiar spirits who were attendant
on his call. He was instantly taken at his word and, that his exertions
might not be without an aim, a _capot_ or great coat was promised as
the reward of his success. A conjuring-house having been erected in the
usual form, that is by sticking four willows in the ground and tying
their tops to a hoop at the height of six or eight feet, he was
fettered completely by winding several fathoms of rope round his body
and extremities and placed in its narrow apartment, not exceeding two
feet in diameter. A moose-skin being then thrown over the frame
secluded him from our view. He forthwith began to chant a kind of hymn
in a very monotonous tone. The rest of the Indians, who seemed in some
doubt respecting the powers of a devil when put in competition with
those of a white man, ranged themselves around and watched the result
with anxiety. Nothing remarkable occurred for a long time. The conjurer
continued his song at intervals and it was occasionally taken up by
those without. In this manner an hour and a half elapsed; but at length
our attention, which had begun to flag, was roused by the violent
shaking of the conjuring-house. It was instantly whispered round the
circle that at least one devil had crept under the moose-skin. But it
proved to be only the “God-like man” trembling with cold. He had
entered the lists stripped to the skin and the thermometer stood very
low that evening. His attempts were continued however with considerable
resolution for half an hour longer, when he reluctantly gave in. He had
found no difficulty in slipping through the noose when it was formed by
his countrymen; but in the present instance the knot was tied by
Governor Williams who is an expert sailor. After this unsuccessful
exhibition his credit sunk amazingly, and he took the earliest
opportunity of sneaking away from the fort.
About two years ago a conjurer paid more dearly for his temerity. In a
quarrel with an Indian he threw out some obscure threats of vengeance
which passed unnoticed at the time but were afterwards remembered. They
met in the spring at Carlton House after passing the winter in
different parts of the country, during which the Indian’s child died.
The conjurer had the folly to boast that he had caused its death and
the enraged father shot him dead on the spot. It may be remarked
however that both these Indians were inhabitants of the plains and had
been taught, by their intercourse with the turbulent Stone Indians, to
set but comparatively little value on the life of a man.
It might be thought that the Crees have benefited by their long
intercourse with civilised nations. That this is not so much the case
as it ought to be is not entirely their own fault. They are capable of
being and, I believe, willing to be, taught; but no pains have hitherto
been taken to inform their minds,[7] and their white acquaintances seem
in general to find it easier to descend to the Indian customs and modes
of thinking, particularly with respect to women, than to attempt to
raise the Indians to theirs. Indeed such a lamentable want of morality
has been displayed by the white traders in their contests for the
interests of their respective companies that it would require a long
series of good conduct to efface from the minds of the native
population the ideas they have formed of the white character.
Notwithstanding the frequent violations of the rights of property they
have witnessed and but too often experienced in their own persons,
these savages, as they are termed, remain strictly honest. During their
visits to a post they are suffered to enter every apartment in the
house without the least restraint and, although articles of value to
them are scattered about, nothing is ever missed. They scrupulously
avoid moving anything from its place although they are often prompted
by curiosity to examine it. In some cases indeed they carry this
principle to a degree of self-denial which would hardly be expected. It
often happens that meat which has been paid for (if the poisonous
draught it procures them can be considered as payment) is left at their
lodges until a convenient opportunity occurs of carrying it away. They
will rather pass several days without eating than touch the meat thus
entrusted to their charge, even when there exists a prospect of
replacing it.
[7] Since these remarks were written the union of the rival Companies
has enabled the gentlemen who have now the management of the fur trade
to take some decided steps for the religious instruction and
improvement of the natives and half-breed Indians, which have been
more particularly referred to in the introduction.
The hospitality of the Crees is unbounded. They afford a certain asylum
to the half-breed children when deserted by their unnatural white
fathers; and the infirm, and indeed every individual in an encampment,
share the provisions of a successful hunter as long as they last. Fond
too as a Cree is of spiritous liquors he is not happy unless all his
neighbours partake with him. It is not easy however to say what share
ostentation may have in the apparent munificence in the latter article;
for when an Indian, by a good hunt, is enabled to treat the others with
a keg of rum he becomes the chief of the night, assumes no little
stateliness of manner, and is treated with deference by those who
regale at his expense. Prompted also by the desire of gaining a _name_
they lavish away the articles they purchase at the trading posts and
are well satisfied if repaid in praise.
Gaming is not uncommon amongst the Crees of all the different
districts, but it is pursued to greater lengths by those bands who
frequent the plains and who, from the ease with which they obtain food,
have abundant leisure. The game most in use amongst them, termed
_puckesann_, is played with the stones of a species of _prunus_ which,
from this circumstance, they term _puckesann-meena_. The difficulty
lies in guessing the number of stones which are tossed out of a small
wooden dish and the hunters will spend whole nights at the destructive
sport, staking their most valuable articles, powder and shot.
It has been remarked by some writers that the aboriginal inhabitants of
America are deficient in passion for the fair sex. This is by no means
the case with the Crees; on the contrary their practice of seducing
each other’s wives proves the most fertile source of their quarrels.
When the guilty pair are detected the woman generally receives a severe
beating, but the husband is for the most part afraid to reproach the
male culprit until they get drunk together at the fort; then the
remembrance of the offence is revived, a struggle ensues and the affair
is terminated by the loss of a few handfuls of hair. Some husbands
however feel more deeply the injury done to their honour and seek
revenge even in their sober moments. In such cases it is not uncommon
for the offended party to walk with great gravity up to the other and,
deliberately seizing his gun or some other article of value, to break
it before his face. The adulterer looks on in silence, afraid to make
any attempt to save his property. In this respect indeed the Indian
character seems to differ from the European that an Indian, instead of
letting his anger increase with that of his antagonist, assumes the
utmost coolness lest he should push him to extremities.
Although adultery is sometimes punished amongst the Crees in the manner
above described yet it is no crime provided the husband receives a
valuable consideration for his wife’s prostitution. Neither is chastity
considered as a virtue in a female before marriage, that is before she
becomes the exclusive property of one hunter.
The Cree women are not in general treated harshly by their husbands and
possess considerable influence over them. They often eat and even get
drunk in consort with the men; a considerable portion of the labour
however falls to the lot of the wife. She makes the hut, cooks, dresses
the skins, and for the most part carries the heaviest load: but when
she is unable to perform her task the husband does not consider it
beneath his dignity to assist her. In illustration of this remark I may
quote the case of an Indian who visited the fort in winter. This poor
man’s wife had lost her feet by the frost and he was compelled not only
to hunt and do all the menial offices himself but in winter to drag his
wife with their stock of furniture from one encampment to another. In
the performance of this duty as he could not keep pace with the rest of
the tribe in their movements he more than once nearly perished of
hunger.
These Indians however, capable as they are of behaving thus kindly,
affect in their discourse to despise the softer sex and on solemn
occasions will not suffer them to eat before them or even come into
their presence. In this they are countenanced by the white residents,
most of whom have Indian or half-breed wives but seem afraid of
treating them with the tenderness or attention due to every female lest
they should themselves be despised by the Indians. At least this is the
only reason they assign for their neglect of those whom they make
partners of their beds and mothers of their children.
Both sexes are fond of and excessively indulgent to their children. The
father never punishes them and if the mother, more hasty in her temper,
sometimes bestows a blow or two on a troublesome child her heart is
instantly softened by the roar which follows and she mingles her tears
with those that streak the smoky face of her darling. It may be fairly
said then that restraint or punishment forms no part of the education
of an Indian child, nor are they early trained to that command over
their temper which they exhibit in after years.
The discourse of the parents is never restrained by the presence of
their children, every transaction between the sexes being openly talked
of before them.
The Crees, having early obtained arms from the European traders, were
enabled to make harassing inroads on the lands of their neighbours and
are known to have made war excursions as far to the westward as the
Rocky Mountains, and to the northward as far as Mackenzie’s River; but
their enemies being now as well armed as themselves the case is much
altered.
They show great fortitude in the endurance of hunger and the other
evils incident to a hunter’s life; but any unusual accident dispirits
them at once, and they seldom venture to meet their enemies in open
warfare or to attack them even by surprise unless with the advantage of
superiority of numbers. Perhaps they are much deteriorated in this
respect by their intercourse with Europeans. Their existence at present
hangs upon the supplies of ammunition and clothing they receive from
the traders and they deeply feel their dependent situation. But their
character has been still more debased by the passion for spiritous
liquors so assiduously fostered among them. To obtain the noxious
beverage they descend to the most humiliating entreaties and assume an
abjectness of behaviour which does not seem natural to them and of
which not a vestige is to be seen in their intercourse with each other.
Their character has sunk among the neighbouring nations. They are no
longer the warriors who drove before them the inhabitants of the
Saskatchewan and Missinippi. The Cumberland House Crees in particular
have been long disused to war. Betwixt them and their ancient enemies,
the Slave nations, lie the extensive plains of Saskatchewan, inhabited
by the powerful Asseeneepoytuck or Stone Indians who, having whilst yet
a small tribe entered the country under the patronage of the Crees, now
render back the protection they received.
The manners and customs of the Crees have, probably since their
acquaintance with Europeans, undergone a change at least equal to that
which has taken place in their moral character; and although we heard
of many practises peculiar to them yet they appeared to be nearly as
much honoured in the breach as the observance. We shall however briefly
notice a few of the most remarkable customs.
When a hunter marries his first wife he usually takes up his abode in
the tent of his father-in-law and of course hunts for the family; but
when he becomes a father the families are at liberty to separate or
remain together as their inclinations prompt them. His second wife is
for the most part the sister of the first but not necessarily so for an
Indian of another family often presses his daughter upon a hunter whom
he knows to be capable of maintaining her well. The first wife always
remains the mistress of the tent and assumes an authority over the
others which is not in every case quietly submitted to. It may be
remarked that whilst an Indian resides with his wife’s family it is
extremely improper for his mother-in-law to speak or even look at him;
and when she has a communication to make it is the etiquette that she
should turn her back upon him and address him only through the medium
of a third person. This singular custom is not very creditable to the
Indians if it really had its origin in the cause which they at present
assign for it namely that a woman’s speaking to her son-in-law is a
sure indication of her having conceived a criminal affection for him.
It appears also to have been an ancient practice for an Indian to avoid
eating or sitting down in the presence of the father-in-law. We
received no account of the origin of this custom and it is now almost
obsolete amongst the Cumberland House Crees, though still partially
observed by those who frequent Carlton.
Tattooing is almost universal with the Crees. The women are in general
content with having one or two lines drawn from the corners of the
mouth towards the angles of the lower jaw; but some of the men have
their bodies covered with a great variety of lines and figures. It
seems to be considered by most rather as a proof of courage than an
ornament, the operation being very painful and, if the figures are
numerous and intricate, lasting several days. The lines on the face are
formed by dextrously running an awl under the cuticle and then drawing
a cord, dipped in charcoal and water, through the canal thus formed.
The punctures on the body are formed by needles of various sizes set in
a frame. A number of hawk bells attached to this frame serve by their
noise to cover the suppressed groans of the sufferer and, probably for
the same reason, the process is accompanied with singing. An indelible
stain is produced by rubbing a little finely-powdered willow-charcoal
into the punctures. A half-breed whose arm I amputated declared that
tattooing was not only the most painful operation of the two but
rendered infinitely more difficult to bear by its tediousness having
lasted in his case three days.
A Cree woman at certain periods is laid under considerable restraint.
They are far however from carrying matters to the extremities mentioned
by Hearne in his description of the Chipewyans, or Northern Indians.
She lives apart from her husband also for two months if she has borne a
boy and for three if she has given birth to a girl.
Many of the Cree hunters are careful to prevent a woman from partaking
of the head of a moose-deer lest it should spoil their future hunts;
and for the same reason they avoid bringing it to a fort, fearing lest
the white people should give the bones to the dogs.
The games or sports of the Crees are various. One termed the game of
the mitten is played with four balls, three of which are plain and one
marked. These being hid under as many mittens the opposite party is
required to fix on that which is marked. He gives or receives a feather
according as he guesses right or wrong. When the feathers, which are
ten in number, have all passed into one hand a new division is made,
but when one of the parties obtains possession of them thrice he seizes
on the stakes.
The game of Platter is more intricate and is played with the claws of a
bear or some other animal marked with various lines and characters.
These dice which are eight in number and cut flat at their large end
are shook together in a wooden dish, tossed into the air and caught
again. The lines traced on such claws as happen to alight on the
platter in an erect position indicate what number of counters the
caster is to receive from his opponent.
They have, however, a much more manly amusement termed the _Cross_
although they do not engage even in it without depositing considerable
stakes. An extensive meadow is chosen for this sport and the articles
staked are tied to a post or deposited in the custody of two old men.
The combatants, being stripped and painted and each provided with a
kind of battledore or racket, in shape resembling the letter P with a
handle about two feet long and a head loosely wrought with network so
as to form a shallow bag, range themselves on different sides. A ball
being now tossed up in the middle each party endeavours to drive it to
their respective goals and much dexterity and agility is displayed in
the contest. When a nimble runner gets the ball in his _cross_, he sets
off towards the goal with the utmost speed and is followed by the rest
who endeavour to jostle him and shake it out; but, if hard pressed, he
discharges it with a jerk, to be forwarded by his own party or bandied
back by their opponents until the victory is decided by its passing the
goal.
Of the religious opinions of the Crees it is difficult to give a
correct account, not only because they show a disinclination to enter
upon the subject but because their ancient traditions are mingled with
the information they have more recently obtained by their intercourse
with Europeans.
None of them ventured to describe the original formation of the world
but they all spoke of a universal deluge caused by an attempt of the
fish to drown Woesackootchacht, a kind of demigod with whom they had
quarrelled. Having constructed a raft he embarked with his family and
all kinds of birds and beasts. After the flood had continued for some
time he ordered several waterfowl to dive to the bottom; they were all
drowned but a muskrat, having been despatched on the same errand, was
more successful and returned with a mouthful of mud out of which
Woesackootchacht, imitating the mode in which the rats construct their
houses, formed a new earth. First a small conical hill of mud appeared
above the water; by and by, its base gradually spreading out, it became
an extensive bank which the rays of the sun at length hardened into
firm land. Notwithstanding the power that Woesackootchacht here
displayed his person is held in very little reverence by the Indians;
and in return he seizes every opportunity of tormenting them. His
conduct is far from being moral and his amours and the disguises he
assumes in the prosecution of them are more various and extraordinary
than those of the Grecian Jupiter himself; but as his adventures are
more remarkable for their eccentricity than their delicacy it is better
to pass them over in silence. Before we quit him however we may remark
that he converses with all kinds of birds and beasts in their own
languages, constantly addressing them by the title of brother but,
through an inherent suspicion of his intentions, they are seldom
willing to admit of his claims of relationship. The Indians make no
sacrifices to him, not even to avert his wrath. They pay a kind of
worship however and make offerings to a being whom they term
_Kepoochikawn_.
This deity is represented sometimes by rude images of the human figure
but more commonly merely by tying the tops of a few willow bushes
together; and the offerings to him consist of everything that is
valuable to an Indian; yet they treat him with considerable
familiarity, interlarding their most solemn speeches with
expostulations and threats of neglect if he fails in complying with
their requests. As most of their petitions are for plenty of food they
do not trust entirely to the favour of Kepoochikawn but endeavour at
the same time to propitiate the _animal_, an imaginary representative
of the whole race of larger quadrupeds that are objects of the chase.
In the month of May whilst I was at Carlton House the Cree hunter
engaged to attend that post resolved upon dedicating several articles
to Kepoochikawn and, as I had made some inquiries of him respecting
their modes of worship, he gave me an invitation to be present. The
ceremony took place in a sweating-house or, as it may be designated
from its more important use, a _temple_, which was erected for the
occasion by the worshipper’s two wives. It was framed of arched
willows, interlaced so as to form a vault capable of containing ten or
twelve men ranged closely side by side, and high enough to admit of
their sitting erect. It was very similar in shape to an oven or the
kraal of a Hottentot and was closely covered with moose-skins except at
the east end which was left open for a door. Near the centre of the
building there was a hole in the ground which contained ten or twelve
red-hot stones having a few leaves of the _taccohaymenan_, a species of
_prunus_, strewed around them. When the women had completed the
preparations the hunter made his appearance, perfectly naked, carrying
in his hand an image of Kepoochikawn, rudely carved and about two feet
long. He placed his god at the upper end of the sweating-house with his
face towards the door and proceeded to tie round its neck his
offerings, consisting of a cotton handkerchief, a looking-glass, a tin
pan, a piece of riband, and a bit of tobacco which he had procured the
same day at the expense of fifteen or twenty skins. Whilst he was thus
occupied several other Crees who were encamped in the neighbourhood,
having been informed of what was going on arrived and, stripping at the
door of the temple, entered and ranged themselves on each side; the
hunter himself squatted down at the right hand of Kepoochikawn. The
atmosphere of the temple having become so hot that none but zealous
worshippers would venture in the interpreter and myself sat down on the
threshold and the two women remained on the outside as attendants.
The hunter who throughout officiated as high priest commenced by making
a speech to Kepoochikawn in which he requested him to be propitious,
told him of the value of the things now presented, and cautioned him
against ingratitude. This oration was delivered in a monotonous tone
and with great rapidity of utterance, and the speaker retained his
squatting posture but turned his face to his god. At its conclusion the
priest began a hymn of which the burden was, “I will walk with God, I
will go with the animal”; and at the end of each stanza the rest joined
in an insignificant chorus. He next took up a calumet filled with a
mixture of tobacco and bear-berry leaves and, holding its stem by the
middle in a horizontal position over the hot stones, turned it slowly
in a circular manner, following the course of the sun. Its mouth-piece
being then with much formality held for a few seconds to the face of
Kepoochikawn it was next presented to the earth, having been previously
turned a second time over the hot stones; and afterwards with equal
ceremony pointed in succession to the four quarters of the sky then,
drawing a few whiffs from the calumet himself, he handed it to his
left-hand neighbour by whom it was gravely passed round the circle; the
interpreter and myself, who were seated at the door, were asked to
partake in our turn but requested to keep the head of the calumet
within the threshold of the sweating-house. When the tobacco was
exhausted by passing several times round the hunter made another
speech, similar to the former but was if possible still more urgent in
his requests. A second hymn followed and, a quantity of water being
sprinkled on the hot stones, the attendants were ordered to close the
temple, which they did by very carefully covering it up with
moose-skins. We had no means of ascertaining the temperature of the
sweating-house; but before it was closed not only those within but also
the spectators without were perspiring freely. They continued in the
vapour bath for thirty-five minutes, during which time a third speech
was made and a hymn was sung and water occasionally sprinkled on the
stones which still retained much heat, as was evident from the hissing
noise they made. The coverings were then thrown off and the poor
half-stewed worshippers exposed freely to the air; but they kept their
squatting postures until a fourth speech was made in which the deity
was strongly reminded of the value of the gifts and exhorted to take an
early opportunity of showing his gratitude. The ceremony concluded by
the sweaters scampering down to the river and plunging into the stream.
It may be remarked that the door of the temple and of course the face
of the god was turned to the rising sun; and the spectators were
desired not to block up entirely the front of the building but to leave
a lane for the entrance or exit of some influence of which they could
not give me a correct description. Several Indians, who lay on the
outside of the sweating-house as spectators, seemed to regard the
proceedings with very little awe and were extremely free in the remarks
and jokes they passed upon the condition of the sweaters and even of
Kepoochikawn himself. One of them made a remark that the shawl would
have been much better bestowed upon himself than upon Kepoochikawn, but
the same fellow afterwards stripped and joined in the ceremony.
I did not learn that the Indians worship any other god by a specific
name. They often refer however to the Keetchee-Maneeto, or Great Master
of Life, and to an evil spirit, or Maatche-Maneeto. They also speak of
Weettako, a kind of vampire or devil into which those who have fed on
human flesh are transformed.
Whilst at Carlton I took an opportunity of asking a communicative old
Indian of the Blackfoot nation his opinion of a future state; he
replied that they had heard from their fathers that the souls of the
departed have to scramble with great labour up the sides of a steep
mountain, upon attaining the summit of which they are rewarded with the
prospect of an extensive plain, abounding in all sorts of game and
interspersed here and there with new tents pitched in agreeable
situations. Whilst they are absorbed in the contemplation of this
delightful scene they are descried by the inhabitants of the happy land
who, clothed in new skin-dresses, approach and welcome with every
demonstration of kindness those Indians who have led good lives, but
the bad Indians, who have imbrued their hands in the blood of their
countrymen, are told to return from whence they came and, without more
ceremony, precipitated down the steep sides of the mountain.
Women who have been guilty of infanticide never reach the mountain at
all but are compelled to hover round the seats of their crimes with
branches of trees tied to their legs. The melancholy sounds which are
heard in the still summer evenings and which the ignorance of the white
people considers as the screams of the goat-sucker are really,
according to my informant, the moanings of these unhappy beings.
The Crees have somewhat similar notions but, as they inhabit a country
widely different from the mountainous lands of the Blackfoot Indians,
the difficulty of their journey lies in walking along a slender and
slippery tree laid as a bridge across a rapid stream of stinking and
muddy water. The night owl is regarded by the Crees with the same dread
that it has been viewed by other nations. One small species, which is
known to them by its melancholy nocturnal hootings (for as it never
appears in the day few even of the hunters have ever seen it) is
particularly ominous. They call it the _cheepai-peethees_, or death
bird, and never fail to whistle when they hear its note. If it does not
reply to the whistle by its hootings the speedy death of the inquirer
is augured.
When a Cree dies that part of his property which he has not given away
before his death is burned with him, and his relations take care to
place near the grave little heaps of firewood, food, pieces of tobacco,
and such things as he is likely to need in his journey. Similar
offerings are made when they revisit the grave, and as kettles and
other articles of value are sometimes offered they are frequently
carried off by passengers, yet the relations are not displeased
provided sufficient respect has been shown to the dead by putting some
other article, although of inferior value, in the place of that which
has been taken away.
The Crees are wont to celebrate the returns of the seasons by religious
festivals but we are unable to describe the ceremonial in use on these
joyous occasions from personal observation. The following brief notice
of a feast which was given by an old Cree chief according to his annual
custom on the first croaking of the frogs is drawn up from the
information of one of the guests. A large oblong tent or lodge was
prepared for the important occasion by the men of the party, none of
the women being suffered to interfere. It faced the setting sun and
great care was taken that everything about it should be as neat and
clean as possible. Three fireplaces were raised within it at equal
distances and little holes were dug in the corners to contain the ashes
of their pipes. In a recess at its upper end one large image of
Kepoochikawn and many smaller ones were ranged with their faces towards
the door. The food was prepared by the chief’s wife and consisted of
_marrow_ pemmican, berries boiled with fat, and various other
delicacies that had been preserved for the occasion.
The preparations being completed and, a slave whom the chief had taken
in war having warned the guests to the feast by the mysterious word
_peenasheway_, they came, dressed out in their best garments, and
ranged themselves according to their seniority, the elders seating
themselves next the chief at the upper end and the young men near the
door.
The chief commenced by addressing his deities in an appropriate speech
in which he told them that he had hastened as soon as summer was
indicated by the croaking of the frogs to solicit their favour for
himself and his young men, and hoped that they would send him a
pleasant and plentiful season. His oration was concluded by an
invocation to all the animals in the land and, a signal being given to
the slave at the door, he invited them severally by their names to come
and partake of the feast.
The Cree chief having by this very general invitation displayed his
unbounded hospitality next ordered one of the young men to distribute a
mess to each of the guests. This was done in new dishes of birch bark,
and the utmost diligence was displayed in emptying them, it being
considered extremely improper in a man to leave any part of that which
is placed before him on such occasions. It is not inconsistent with
good manners however but rather considered as a piece of politeness
that a guest who has been too liberally supplied should hand the
surplus to his neighbour. When the viands had disappeared each filled
his calumet and began to smoke with great assiduity, and in the course
of the evening several songs were sung to the responsive sounds of the
drum and seeseequay, their usual accompaniments.
The Cree drum is double-headed but, possessing very little depth, it
strongly resembles a tambourine in shape. Its want of depth is
compensated however by its diameter which frequently exceeds three
feet. It is covered with moose-skin parchment, painted with rude
figures of men and beasts having various fantastic additions, and is
beat with a stick. The seeseequay is merely a rattle formed by
enclosing a few grains of shot in a piece of dried hide. These two
instruments are used in all their religious ceremonies except those
which take place in a sweating-house.
A Cree places great reliance on his drum and I cannot adduce a stronger
instance than that of the poor man who is mentioned in a preceding page
as having lost his only child by famine, almost within sight of the
fort. Notwithstanding his exhausted state he travelled with an enormous
drum tied to his back.
Many of the Crees make vows to abstain from particular kinds of food
either for a specific time or for the remainder of their life,
esteeming such abstinence to be a certain means of acquiring some
supernatural powers, or at least of entailing upon themselves a
succession of good fortune.
One of the wives of the Carlton hunter, of whom we have already spoken
as the worshipper of Kepoochikawn, made a determination not to eat of
the flesh of the Wawaskeesh or American stag; but during our abode at
that place she was induced to feed heartily upon it, through the
intentional deceit of her husband who told her that it was buffalo
meat. When she had finished her meal her husband told her of the trick
and seemed to enjoy the terror with which she contemplated the
consequences of the involuntary breach of her vow. Vows of this nature
are often made by a Cree before he joins a war party, and they
sometimes, like the eastern bonzes, walk for a certain number of days
on all fours or impose upon themselves some other penance equally
ridiculous. By such means the Cree warrior becomes _god-like;_ but
unless he kills an enemy before his return his newly-acquired powers
are estimated to be productive in future of some direful consequence to
himself.
As we did not witness any of the Cree dances ourselves we shall merely
mention that, like the other North American nations, they are
accustomed to practice that amusement on meeting with strange tribes
before going to war and on other solemn occasions.
The habitual intoxication of the Cumberland House Crees has induced
such a disregard of personal appearance that they are squalid and dirty
in the extreme; hence a minute description of their clothing would be
by no means interesting. We shall therefore only remark in a general
manner that the dress of the male consists of a blanket thrown over the
shoulders, a leathern shirt or jacket, and a piece of cloth tied round
the middle. The women have in addition a long petticoat; and both sexes
wear a kind of wide hose which, reaching from the ankle to the middle
of the thigh, are suspended by strings to the girdle. These hose or, as
they are termed, _Indian stockings_, are commonly ornamented with beads
or ribands, and from their convenience have been universally adopted by
the white residents as an essential part of their winter clothing.
Their shoes, or rather short boots for they tie round the ankle, are
made of soft dressed moose-skins, and during the winter they wrap
several pieces of blanket round their feet.
They are fond of European articles of dress, considering it as mean to
be dressed entirely in leather, and the hunters are generally furnished
annually with a _capot_ or great coat, and the women with shawls,
printed calicoes, and other things very unsuitable to their mode of
life but which they wear in imitation of the wives of the traders; all
these articles, however showy they may be at first, are soon reduced to
a very filthy condition by the Indian custom of greasing the face and
hair with soft fat or marrow instead of washing them with water. This
practice they say preserves the skin soft and protects it from cold in
the winter and the mosquitoes in summer, but it renders their presence
disagreeable to the olfactory organs of an European, particularly when
they are seated in a close tent and near a hot fire.
The only peculiarity which we observed in their mode of rearing
children consists in the use of a sort of cradle extremely well adapted
to their mode of life. The infant is placed in the bag having its lower
extremities wrapped up in soft sphagnum or bog-moss, and may be hung up
in the tent or to the branch of a tree without the least danger of
tumbling out; or in a journey suspended on the mother’s back by a band
which crosses the forehead so as to leave her hands perfectly free. It
is one of the neatest articles of furniture they possess, being
generally ornamented with beads and bits of scarlet cloth, but it bears
a very strong resemblance in its form to a mummy case.
The sphagnum in which the child is laid forms a soft elastic bed which
absorbs moisture very readily and affords such a protection from the
cold of a rigorous winter that its place would be ill supplied by
cloth.
The mothers are careful to collect a sufficient quantity in autumn for
winter use; but when through accident their stock fails they have
recourse to the soft down of the typha, or reed mace, the dust of
rotten wood, or even feathers, although none of these articles are so
cleanly or so easily changed as the sphagnum.
The above is a brief sketch of such parts of the manners, character and
customs of the Crees as we could collect from personal observation or
from the information of the most intelligent half-breeds we met with;
and we shall merely add a few remarks on the manner in which the trade
is conducted at the different inland posts of the Fur Companies.
The standard of Exchange in all mercantile transactions with the
natives is a beaver skin, the relative value of which as originally
established by the traders differs considerably from the present worth
of the articles it represents; but the Indians are averse to change.
Three marten, eight muskrat, or a single lynx or wolverine skin, are
equivalent to one beaver; a silver fox, white fox, or otter, are
reckoned two beavers, and a black fox or large black bear are equal to
four; a mode of reckoning which has very little connection with the
real value of these different furs in the European market. Neither has
any attention been paid to the original cost of European articles in
fixing the tariff by which they are sold to the Indians. A coarse
butcher’s knife is one skin, a woollen blanket or a fathom of coarse
cloth eight, and a fowling-piece fifteen. The Indians receive their
principal outfit of clothing and ammunition on credit in the autumn to
be repaid by their winter hunts; the amount entrusted to each of the
hunters varying with their reputations for industry and skill from
twenty to one hundred and fifty skins. The Indians are generally
anxious to pay off the debt thus incurred but their good intentions are
often frustrated by the arts of the rival traders. Each of the
Companies keeps men constantly employed travelling over the country
during the winter to collect the furs from the different bands of
hunters as fast as they are procured. The poor Indian endeavours to
behave honestly and, when he has gathered a few skins, sends notice to
the post from whence he procured his supplies but, if discovered in the
meantime by the opposite party, he is seldom proof against the
temptation to which he is exposed. However firm he may be in his
denials at first his resolutions are enfeebled by the sight of a little
rum and, when he has tasted the intoxicating beverage, they vanish like
smoke and he brings forth his store of furs which he has carefully
concealed from the scrutinising eyes of his visitors. This mode of
carrying on the trade not only causes the amount of furs collected by
either of the two Companies to depend more upon the activity of their
agents, the knowledge they possess of the motions of the Indians, and
the quantity of rum they carry, than upon the liberality of the credits
they give, but is also productive of an increasing deterioration of the
character of the Indians and will probably ultimately prove destructive
to the fur trade itself. Indeed the evil has already in part recoiled
upon the traders; for the Indians, long deceived, have become deceivers
in their turn, and not unfrequently, after having incurred a heavy debt
at one post, move off to another to play the same game. In some cases
the rival posts have entered into a mutual agreement to trade only with
the Indians they have respectively fitted out, but such treaties, being
seldom rigidly adhered to, prove a fertile subject for disputes and the
differences have been more than once decided by force of arms. To carry
on the contest the two Companies are obliged to employ a great many
servants whom they maintain often with much difficulty and always at a
considerable expense.[8]
[8] As the contending parties have united the evils mentioned in this
and the two preceding pages are now in all probability at an end.
There are thirty men belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Fort at Cumberland
and nearly as many women and children.
The inhabitants of the North-West Company’s House are still more
numerous. These large families are fed during the greatest part of the
year on fish which are principally procured at Beaver Lake, about fifty
miles distant. The fishery, commencing with the first frosts in autumn,
continues abundant till January, and the produce is dragged over the
snow on sledges, each drawn by three dogs and carrying about two
hundred and fifty pounds. The journey to and from the lake occupies
five days and every sledge requires a driver. About three thousand fish
averaging three pounds apiece were caught by the Hudson’s Bay fishermen
last season; in addition to which a few sturgeon were occasionally
caught in Pine Island Lake; and towards the spring a considerable
quantity of moose meat was procured from the Basquiau Hill, sixty or
seventy miles distant. The rest of our winter’s provision consisted of
geese, salted in the autumn, and of dried meats and pemmican obtained
from the provision posts on the plains of the Saskatchewan. A good many
potatoes are also raised at this post and a small supply of tea and
sugar is brought from the depôt at York Factory. The provisions
obtained from these various sources were amply sufficient in the winter
of 1819-20; but through improvidence this post has in former seasons
been reduced to great straits.
Many of the labourers and a great majority of the agents and clerks
employed by the two Companies have Indian or half-breed wives, and the
mixed offspring thus produced has become extremely numerous.
These métifs, or, as the Canadians term them, _bois brulés_, are upon
the whole a good-looking people and, where the experiment has been
made, have shown much aptness in learning and willingness to be taught;
they have however been sadly neglected. The example of their fathers
has released them from the restraint imposed by the Indian opinions of
good and bad behaviour; and generally speaking no pains have been taken
to fill the void with better principles. Hence it is not surprising
that the males, trained up in a high opinion of the authority and
rights of the Company to which their fathers belonged and, unacquainted
with the laws of the civilised world, should be ready to engage in any
measure whatever that they are prompted to believe will forward the
interests of the cause they espouse. Nor that the girls, taught a
certain degree of refinement by the acquisition of an European
language, should be inflamed by the unrestrained discourse of their
Indian relations, and very early give up all pretensions to chastity.
It is however but justice to remark that there is a very decided
difference in the conduct of the children of the Orkney men employed by
the Hudson’s Bay Company and those of the Canadian voyagers. Some
trouble is occasionally bestowed in teaching the former and it is not
thrown away, but all the good that can be said of the latter is that
they are not quite so licentious as their fathers are.
Many of the half-breeds both male and female are brought up amongst and
intermarry with the Indians; and there are few tents wherein the paler
children of such marriages are not to be seen. It has been remarked, I
do not know with what truth, that half-breeds show more personal
courage than the pure Crees.[9]
[9] A singular change takes place in the physical constitution of the
Indian females who become inmates of a fort, namely they bear children
more frequently and longer but at the same time are rendered liable to
indurations of the mammae and prolapsus of the uterus, evils from
which they are in a great measure exempt whilst they lead a wandering
and laborious life.
The girls at the forts, particularly the daughters of Canadians, are
given in marriage very young; they are very frequently wives at twelve
years of age and mothers at fourteen. Nay, more than once instance came
under our observation of the master of a post having permitted a
voyager to take to wife a poor child that had scarcely attained the age
of ten years. The masters of posts and wintering partners of the
Companies deemed this criminal indulgence to the vices of their
servants necessary to stimulate them to exertion for the interest of
their respective concerns. Another practice may also be noticed as
showing the state of moral feeling on these subjects amongst the white
residents of the fur countries. It was not very uncommon amongst the
Canadian voyagers for one woman to be common to and maintained at the
joint expense of two men; nor for a voyager to sell his wife, either
for a season or altogether, for a sum of money proportioned to her
beauty and good qualities but always inferior to the price of a team of
dogs.
The country around Cumberland House is flat and swampy and is much
intersected by small lakes. Limestone is found everywhere under a thin
stratum of soil and it not unfrequently shows itself above the surface.
It lies in strata generally horizontal but in one spot near the fort
dipping to the northward at an angle of 40°. Some portions of this rock
contain very perfect shells. With respect to the vegetable productions
of the district the _populus trepida_, or aspen, which thrives in moist
situations, is perhaps the most abundant tree on the banks of the
Saskatchewan and is much prized as firewood, burning well when cut
green. The _populus balsamifera_ or taccamahac, called by the Crees
_matheh meteos_, or ugly poplar, in allusion to its rough bark and
naked stem, crowned in an aged state with a few distorted branches, is
scarcely less plentiful. It is an inferior firewood and does not been
well unless when cut in the spring and dried during the summer; but it
affords a great quantity of potash. A decoction of its resinous buds
has been sometimes used by the Indians with success in cases of
_snow-blindness_, but its application to the inflamed eye produces much
pain. Of pines the white spruce is the most common here: the red and
black spruce, the balsam of Gilead fir, and Banksian pine also occur
frequently. The larch is found only in swampy spots and is stunted and
unhealthy. The canoe birch attains a considerable size in this latitude
but from the great demand for its wood to make sledges it has become
rare. The alder abounds on the margin of the little grassy lakes so
common in the neighbourhood. A decoction of its inner bark is used as
an emetic by the Indians who also extract from it a yellow dye. A great
variety of willows occur on the banks of the streams and the hazel is
met with sparingly in the woods. The sugar maple, elm, ash, and the
_arbor vitæ_,[10] termed by the Canadian voyagers _cedar_, grow on
various parts of the Saskatchewan but that river seems to form their
northern boundary. Two kinds of prunus also grow here, one of
which,[11] a handsome small tree, produces a black fruit having a very
astringent taste whence the term _choke-cherry_ applied to it. The
Crees call it _tawquoy-meena_, and esteemed it to be when dried and
bruised a good addition to pemmican. The other species[12] is a less
elegant shrub but is said to bear a bright red cherry of a pleasant
sweet taste. Its Cree name is _passee-awey-meenan_, and it is known to
occur as far north as Great Slave Lake.
[10] Thuya occidentalis.
[11] Prunus virginiana.
[12] Prunus pensylvanica.
The most esteemed fruit of the country however is the produce of the
_aronia ovalis_. Under the name of _meesass-cootoomena_ it is a
favourite dish at most of the Indian feasts and, mixed with pemmican,
it renders that greasy food actually palatable. A great variety of
currants and gooseberries are also mentioned by the natives under the
name of _sappoom-meena_ but we only found three species in the
neighbourhood of Cumberland House. The strawberry, called by the Crees
_otei-meena_, or heart-berry, is found in abundance and rasps are
common on the sandy banks of the rivers. The fruits hitherto mentioned
fall in the autumn but the following berries remained hanging on the
bushes in the spring and are considered as much mellowed by exposure to
the colds in winter. The red whortleberry (_vaccinium vitis idea_) is
found everywhere but is most abundant in rocky places. It is aptly
termed by the Crees _weesawgum-meena_, sour-berry. The common cranberry
(_oxycoccos palustris_) is distinguished from the preceding by its
growing on moist sphagnous spots and is hence called _maskœgo-meena_,
swamp-berry. The American guelder rose whose fruit so strongly
resembles the cranberry is also common. There are two kinds of it
(_viburnum oxycoccoos_ and _edule_) one termed by the natives
_peepoon-meena_, winter-berry, and the other _mongsoa-meena_,
moose-berry. There is also a berry of a bluish white colour, the
produce of the white cornel tree, which is named _musqua-meena_,
bear-berry, because these animals are said to fatten on it. The dwarf
Canadian cornel bears a corymb of red berries which are highly
ornamental to the woods throughout the country but are not otherwise
worthy of notice for they have an insipid farinaceous taste and are
seldom gathered.
The Crees extract some beautiful colours from several of their native
vegetables. They dye their porcupine quills a beautiful scarlet with
the roots of two species of bed-straw (Galium tinctorium and boreale)
which they indiscriminately term _sawoyan_. The roots, after being
carefully washed, are boiled gently in a clean copper kettle, and a
quantity of the juice of the moose-berry, strawberry, cranberry, or
arctic raspberry, is added together with a few red tufts of pistils of
the larch. The porcupine quills are plunged into the liquor before it
becomes quite cold and are soon tinged of a beautiful scarlet. The
process sometimes fails and produces only a dirty brown, a circumstance
which ought probably to be ascribed to the use of an undue quantity of
acid. They dye black with an ink made of elder bark and a little
bog-iron-ore, dried and pounded, and they have various modes of
producing yellow. The deepest colour is obtained from the dried root of
a plant which from their description appears to be cowbane (_cicuta
virosa_). An inferior colour is obtained from the bruised buds of the
Dutch myrtle and they have discovered methods of dyeing with various
lichens.
The quadrupeds that are hunted for food in this part of the country are
the moose and the reindeer, the former termed by the Crees _mongsoa_,
or _moosoa_, the latter _attekh_. The buffalo or bison (_moostoosh_)
the red-deer or American stag (_wawaskeeshoo_) the _apeesee-mongsoos_,
or jumping deer, the _kinwaithoos_, or long-tailed deer, and the
_apistat-chækoos_, a species of antelope; animals that frequent the
plains above the forks of the Saskatchewan are not found in the
neighbourhood of Cumberland House.
Of fur-bearing animals various kinds of foxes (_makkee-shewuc_) are
found in the district, distinguished by the traders under the names of
_black, silver, cross, red_, and _blue_ foxes. The two former are
considered by the Indians to be the same kind, varying accidentally in
the colour of the pelt. The black foxes are very rare and fetch a high
price. The cross and red foxes differ from each other only in colour
being of the same shape and size. Their shades of colour are not
disposed in any determinate manner, some individuals approaching in
that respect very nearly to the silver fox, others exhibiting every
link of the chain down to a nearly uniform deep or orange-yellow, the
distinguishing colour of a pure red fox. It is reported both by Indians
and traders that all the varieties have been found in the same litter.
The blue fox is seldom seen here and is supposed to come from the
southward. The gray wolf (_mahaygan_) is common here. In the month of
March the females frequently entice the domestic dog from the forts
although at other seasons a strong antipathy seemed to subsist between
them. Some black wolves are occasionally seen. The black and red
varieties of the American bear (_musquah_) are also found near
Cumberland House though not frequently; a black bear often has red
cubs, and _vice versâ_. The grizzly bear, so much dreaded by the
Indians for its strength and ferocity, inhabits a track of country
nearer the Rocky Mountains. It is extraordinary that although I made
inquiries extensively amongst the Indians I met with but one who said
that he had killed a she-bear with young in the womb.
The wolverine, in Cree _okeekoohawgees_, or _ommeethatsees_, is an
animal of great strength and cunning and is much hated by the hunters
on account of the mischief it does to their marten-traps. The Canadian
lynx (_peeshew_) is a timid but well-armed animal which preys upon the
American hare. Its fur is esteemed. The marten (_wapeestan_) is one of
the most common furred animals in the country. The fisher,
notwithstanding its name, is an inhabitant of the land, living like the
common marten principally on mice. It is the _otchœk_ of the Crees, and
the _pekan_ of the Canadians. The mink (_atjackash_) has been often
confounded by writers with the fisher. It is a much smaller animal,
inhabits the banks of rivers, and swims well; its prey is fish. The
otter (_neekeek_) is larger than the English species and produces a
much more valuable fur.
The muskrat (_watsuss_, or _musquash_) is very abundant in all the
small grassy lakes. They build small conical houses with a mixture of
hay and earth, those which build early raising their houses on the mud
of the marshes, and those which build later in the season founding
their habitations upon the surface of the ice itself. The house covers
a hole in the ice which permits them to go into the water in search of
the roots on which they feed. In severe winters when the small lakes
are frozen to the bottom and these animals cannot procure their usual
food they prey upon each other. In this way great numbers are
destroyed.
The beaver (_ammisk_) furnish the staple fur of the country. Many
surprising stories have been told of the sagacity with which this
animal suits the form of its habitation, retreats, and dam, to local
circumstances; and I compared the account of its manners given by
Cuvier in his _Régne Animal_ with the reports of the Indians and found
them to agree exactly. They have been often seen in the act of
constructing their houses in the moonlight nights, and the observers
agree that the stones, wood, or other materials are carried in their
teeth and generally leaning against the shoulder. When they have placed
it to their mind they turn round and give it a smart blow with their
flat tail. In the act of diving they give a similar stroke to the
surface of the water. They keep their provision of wood under water in
front of the house. Their favourite food is the bark of the aspen,
birch and willow; they also eat the alder, but seldom touch any of the
pine tribe unless from necessity; they are fond of the large roots of
the _nuphar lutea_, and grow fat upon it but it gives their flesh a
strong rancid taste. In the season of love their call resembles a
groan, that of the male being the hoarsest, but the voice of the young
is exactly like the cry of a child. They are very playful as the
following anecdote will show: One day a gentleman, long resident in
this country, espied five young beavers sporting in the water, leaping
upon the trunk of a tree, pushing one another off and playing a
thousand interesting tricks. He approached softly under cover of the
bushes and prepared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures, but a nearer
approach discovered to him such a similitude betwixt their gestures and
the infantile caresses of his own children that he threw aside his gun.
This gentleman’s feelings are to be envied but few traders in fur would
have acted so feelingly. The muskrat frequently inhabits the same lodge
with the beaver and the otter also thrusts himself in occasionally; the
latter however is not always a civil guest as he sometimes devours his
host.
These are the animals most interesting in an economical point of view.
The American hare and several kinds of grouse and ptarmigan also
contribute towards the support of the natives; and the geese, in their
periodical flights in the spring and autumn, likewise prove a valuable
resource both to the Indians and white residents; but the principal
article of food after the moose-deer is fish; indeed it forms almost
the sole support of the traders at some of the posts. The most esteemed
fish is the Coregonus albus, the _attihhawmeg_ of the Crees and the
_white-fish_ of the Americans. Its usual weight is between three and
four pounds, but it has been known to reach sixteen or eighteen pounds.
Three fish of the ordinary size is the daily allowance to each man at
the fort and is considered as equivalent to two geese or eight pounds
of solid moose-meat. The fishery for the attihhawmeg lasts the whole
year but is most productive in the spawning season from the middle of
September to the middle of October. The _ottonneebees_ (Coregonus
artedi) closely resembles the last. Three species of carp (Catastomus
hudsonius, C. forsterianus, and C. lesueurii) are also found abundantly
in all the lakes, their Cree names are _namaypeeth_,
_meethquawmaypeeth_, and _wapawhawkeeshew_. The occuw, or river perch,
termed also horn-fish, piccarel, or doré, is common, but is not so much
esteemed as the attihhawmeg. It attains the length of twenty inches in
these lakes. The methy is another common fish; it is the _gadus lota_,
or burbot, of Europe. Its length is about two feet, its gullet is
capacious and it preys upon fish large enough to distend its body to
nearly twice its proper size. It is never eaten, not even by the dogs,
unless through necessity but its liver and roe are considered as
delicacies.
The pike is also plentiful and, being readily caught in the wintertime
with the hook, is so much prized on that account by the natives as to
receive from them the name of _eithinyoo-cannooshœoo_, or Indian fish.
The common trout, or _nammœcous_, grows here to an enormous size, being
caught in particular lakes, weighing upwards of sixty pounds; thirty
pounds is no uncommon size at Beaver Lake, from whence Cumberland House
is supplied. The Hioden clodalis, _oweepeetcheesees_, or gold-eye, is a
beautiful small fish which resembles the trout in its habits.
One of the largest fish is the _mathemegh_, cat-fish, or _barbue_. It
belongs to the genus _silurus_. It is rare but is highly prized as
food.
The sturgeon (Accipenser ruthenus) is also taken in the Saskatchewan
and lakes communicating with it and furnishes an excellent but rather
rich article of food.