NORTH AMERICAS INDIANS--THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS--COSTUME, DWELLINGS,
IMPLEMENTS, ETCETERA.--A TALE OF MURDER AND CANNIBALISM--A NIGHT
EXCURSION WITH AN INDIAN--A DEER HUNT.
The aborigines of North America are divided into a great number of
nations or tribes, differing not only in outward appearance but also in
customs and modes of life, and in some instances entertaining for each
other a bitter and implacable hatred.
To describe the leading peculiarities of some of these tribes,
particularly those called Crees, will be my object in the present
chapter.
Some of the tribes are known by the following names:--Crees, Seauteaux,
Stone Indians, Sioux, Blackfeet, Chipewyans, Slave Indians, Crows,
Flatheads, etcetera. Of these, the Crees are the quietest and most
inoffensive; they inhabit the woody country surrounding Hudson Bay;
dwell in tents; never go to war; and spend their time in trapping,
shooting, and fishing. The Seauteaux are similar to the Crees in many
respects, and inhabit the country further in the interior. The Stone
Indians, Sioux, Blackfeet, Slave Indians, Crows, and Flatheads inhabit
the vast plains and forests in the interior of America, on the east and
west of the Rocky Mountains, and live chiefly by the produce of the
chase. Their country swarms with bisons, and varieties of deer, bears,
etcetera, which they hunt, shoot, snare, and kill in various ways. Some
of these tribes are well supplied with horses, with which they hunt the
buffalo. This is a wild, inspiriting chase, and the natives are very
fond of it. They use the gun a good deal, but prefer the bow and arrow
(in the use of which they are very expert) for the chase, and reserve
the gun for warfare,--many of them being constantly engaged in
skirmishing with their enemies. As the Crees were the Indians with whom
I had the most intercourse, I shall endeavour to describe my old friends
more at length.
The personal appearance of the men of this tribe is not bad. Although
they have not the bold, daring carriage of the wilder tribes, yet they
have active-looking figures, intelligent countenances, and a peculiar
brightness in their dark eyes, which, from a constant habit of looking
around them while travelling through the woods, are seldom for a moment
at rest. Their jet-black hair generally hangs in straight matted locks
over their shoulders, sometimes ornamented with beads and pieces of
metal, and occasionally with a few partridge feathers; but they seldom
wear a hat or cap of any kind, except in winter, when they make clumsy
imitations of foraging-caps with furs--preferring, if the weather be
warm, to go about without any head-dress at all; or, if it be cold,
using the large hood of their capotes as a covering. They are thin,
wiry men, not generally very muscular in their proportions, but yet
capable of enduring great fatigue. Their average height is about five
feet five inches; and one rarely meets with individuals varying much
from this average, nor with deformed people, among them. The step of a
Cree Indian is much longer than that of a European; owing, probably, to
his being so much accustomed to walking through swamps and forests,
where it is necessary to take long strides. This peculiarity becomes
apparent when an Indian arrives at a fort, and walks along the hard
ground inside the walls with the trader, whose short, bustling, active
step contrasts oddly with the long, solemn, ostrich-like stride of the
savage; which, however appropriate in the woods, is certainly strange
and ungraceful on a good road.
The summer dress of the Indian is almost entirely provided for him by
the Hudson Bay Company. It consists chiefly of a blue or grey cloth, or
else a blanket capote reaching below the knee, made much too loose for
the figure, and strapped round the waist with a scarlet or crimson
worsted belt. A very coarse blue striped cotton shirt is all the
underclothing they wear, holding trousers to be quite superfluous; in
lieu of which they make leggins of various kinds of cloth, which reach
from a few inches above the knee down to the ankle. These leggins are
sometimes very tastefully decorated with bead-work, particularly those
of the women, and are provided with flaps or wings on either side.
The costume, however, is slightly varied in winter. The blanket or
cloth capote is then laid aside for one of smoked red-deer skin, which
has very much the appearance of chamois leather. This is lined with
flannel, or some other thick, warm substance, and edged with fur (more
for ornament, however, than warmth) of different kinds. Fingerless
mittens, with a place for the thumb, are also adopted; and shoes or
moccasins of the same soft material. The moccasins are very beautiful,
fitting the feet as tightly as a glove, and are tastefully ornamented
with dyed porcupine quills and silk thread of various colours, at which
work the women are particularly _au fait_. As the leather of the
moccasin is very thin [see note 1], blanket and flannel socks are worn
underneath--one, two, or even four pairs, according to the degree of
cold; and in proportion as these socks are increased in number, the
moccasin, of course, loses its elegant appearance.
The Indian women are not so good-looking as the men. They have an
awkward, slouching gait, and a downcast look--arising, probably, from
the rude treatment they experience from their husbands; for the North
American Indians, like all other savages, make complete drudges of their
women, obliging them to do all the laborious and dirty work, while they
reserve the pleasures of the chase for themselves. Their features are
sometimes good; but I never saw a really pretty woman among the Crees.
Their colour, as well as that of the men, is a dingy brown, which,
together with their extreme filthiness, renders them anything but
attractive. They are, however, quiet, sweet-tempered, and inoffensive
creatures, destitute as well of artificial manners as of _stays_. Their
dress is a gown, made without sleeves, and very scanty in the skirt, of
coarse blue or green cloth; it reaches down to a little under the knee,
below which their limbs are cased in leggins beautifully ornamented.
Their whole costume, however, like that of the men, is almost always hid
from sight by a thick blanket, without which the Indian seldom ventures
abroad. The women usually make the top of the blanket answer the
purpose of a head-dress; but when they wish to appear very much to
advantage, they put on a cap. It is a square piece of blue cloth,
profusely decorated with different-coloured beads, and merely sewed up
at the top. They wear their hair in long straggling locks, which have
not the slightest tendency to curl, and occasionally in queues or
pigtails behind; but in this respect, as in every other, they are very
careless of their personal appearance.
These primitive children of the forest live in tents of deerskin or
bark; and sometimes, where skins are scarce, of branches of trees. They
are conically shaped, and are constructed thus:--The Indian with his
family (probably two wives and three or four children) arrives in his
bark canoe at a pretty level spot, sheltered from the north wind, and
conveniently situated on the banks of a small stream, where the fish are
plentiful, and pine branches (or brush), for the floor of the tent,
abundant. Here he runs his canoe ashore, and carries his goods and
chattels up the bank. His first business is to cut a number of long
poles, and tie three of them at the top, spreading them out in the form
of a tripod. He then piles all the other poles round these, at half a
foot distance from each other, and thus encloses a circle of between
fifteen and twenty feet in diameter. Over the poles (if he is a good
hunter, and has plenty of deer-skins) he spreads the skin tent, leaving
an opening at the top for the egress of the smoke. If the tent be a
birch-bark one, he has it in separate rolls, which are spread over the
poles till the whole is covered. A small opening is left facing the
river or lake, which serves for a doorway; and this is covered with an
old blanket, a piece of deer-skin, or, in some instances, by bison-skin
or buffalo robe. The floor is covered with a layer of small pine
branches, which serve for carpet and mattress; and in the centre is
placed the wood fire, which, when blazing brightly, gives a warmth and
comfort to the slight habitation that could scarcely be believed. Here
the Indian spends a few days or weeks, according to the amount of game
in the vicinity, and then removes to some other place, carrying with him
the covering of the tent, but leaving the poles standing, as they would
be cumbrous to carry in his small canoe, and thousands may be had at
every place where he may wish to land.
The Indian canoe is an exceedingly light and graceful little craft, and
well adapted for travelling in through a wild country, where the rivers
are obstructed by long rapids, waterfalls, and shallows. It is so light
that one man can easily carry it on his shoulders over the land, when a
waterfall obstructs his progress; and as it only sinks about four or six
inches in the water, few places are too shallow to float it. The birch
bark of which it is made is about a quarter of an inch thick; and the
inside is lined with extremely thin flakes of wood, over which a number
of light timbers are driven, to give strength and tightness to the
machine. In this frail bark, which measures from twelve, fifteen,
thirty, to forty feet long, and from two to four feet broad in the
middle, a whole Indian family of eight or ten souls will travel hundreds
of miles, over rivers and lakes innumerable; now floating swiftly down a
foaming rapid, and anon gliding over the surface of a quiet lake, or
_making a portage_ overland when a rapid is too dangerous to descend;
and, while the elders of the family assist in carrying the canoe, the
youngsters run about plucking berries, and the shaggy little curs (one
or two of which are possessed by every Indian family) search for food,
or bask in the sun at the foot of the baby's cradle, which stands bolt
upright against a tree, while the child gazes upon all these operations
with serene indifference.
Not less elegant and useful than the canoe is the snowshoe, without
which the Indian would be badly off indeed. It is not, as many suppose,
used as a kind of _skate_, with which to _slide_ over the snow, but as a
machine to prevent, by its size and breadth, the wearer from sinking
into the snow; which is so deep that, without the assistance of the
snowshoe, no one could walk a quarter of a mile through the woods in
winter without being utterly exhausted.
It is formed of two thin pieces of light wood, tied at both ends, and
spread out near the middle, thus making a kind of long oval, the
interior of which is filled up with network of deer-skin threads.
Strength is given to the frame by placing wooden bars across; and it is
fastened _loosely_ to the foot by a slight line going over the toe. In
case, however, it may be supposed that by a shoe I mean an article
something the size of a man's foot, it may be as well to state that
snow-shoes measure from _four_ to _six feet_ long, and from thirteen to
twenty inches wide. Notwithstanding their great size, the extreme
lightness of their materials prevents them being cumbrous; and, after a
little practice, a traveller forgets that he has them on, if the weather
be good for such walking. Frosty weather is the best for snow-shoe
travelling, as the snow is fine and dust-like, and falls through the
net-work. If the weather be warm, the wet snow renders the shoe heavy,
and the lines soon begin to gall the feet. On these shoes an Indian
will travel between twenty and thirty miles a day; and they often
accomplish from thirty to forty when hard pressed.
The food of the Indian varies according to circumstances. Sometimes he
luxuriates on deer, partridges, and fat beaver; whilst at others he is
obliged to live almost entirely on fish, and not unfrequently on
_tripe-de-roche_. This substance, however, does no more than retard his
ultimate destruction by starvation; and unless he meets with something
more nourishing, it cannot prevent it. When starving, the Indian will
not hesitate to appease the cravings of hunger by resorting to
cannibalism; and there were some old dames with whom I was myself
acquainted, who had at different periods eaten several of their
children. Indeed, some of them, it was said, had also eaten their
husbands!
The following anecdote, related to me by my friend Carles, who spent
many years of his life among the North American Indians, depicts one of
the worst of these cases of cannibalism.
It was in the spring of 18 hundred and something that Mr Carles stood
in the Indian Hall of one of the far-distant posts in Athabasca,
conversing with a party of Chipewyan Indians, who had just arrived with
furs from their winter hunting-grounds. The large fires of wood,
sparkling and blazing cheerfully up the wide chimney, cast a bright
light round the room, and shone upon the dusky countenances of the
Chipewyans, as they sat gravely on the floor, smoking their spwagans in
silence. A dark shade lowered upon every face, as if thoughts of an
unpleasant nature disturbed their minds; and so it was. A deed of the
most revolting description had been perpetrated by an Indian of the Cree
tribe, and they were about to relate the story to Mr Carles.
After a short silence, an old Indian removed his pipe, and, looking
round upon the others, as if to ask their consent to his becoming
spokesman, related the particulars of the story, the substance of which
I now give.
Towards the middle of winter, Wisagun, a Cree Indian, removed his
encampment to another part of the country, as game was scarce in the
place where he had been residing. His family consisted of a wife, a son
of eight or nine years of age, and two or three children, besides
several of his relations; in all, ten souls, including himself. In a
few days they arrived at their new encamping ground, after having
suffered a great deal of misery by the way from starvation. They were
all much exhausted and worn out, but hoped, having heard of buffaloes in
the vicinity, that their sufferings would soon be relieved.
Here they remained several days without finding any game, and were
reduced to the necessity of devouring their moccasins and leathern
coats, rendered eatable by being singed over the fire. Soon this
wretched resource was also gone, and they were reduced to the greatest
extremity, when a herd of buffaloes was descried far away in the
prairie, on the edge of which they were encamped. All were instantly on
the _qui vive_. Guns were loaded, snow-shoes put on, and in ten minutes
the males of the hungry party set off after the herd, leaving Wisagun's
wife and children with another girl in the tent. It was not long,
however, before the famished party began to grow tired. Some of the
weakest dropped behind; while Wisagun, with his son Natappe, gave up the
chase, and returned to the encampment. They soon arrived at it, and
Wisagun, peeping in between the chinks of the tent to see what the women
were doing, saw his wife engaged in cutting up one of her own children,
preparatory to cooking it. In a transport of passion, the Indian rushed
forward and stabbed her, and also the other woman; and then, fearing the
wrath of the other Indians, he fled to the woods. It may be conceived
what were the feelings of the remainder of the party when they returned
and found their relatives murdered. They were so much exhausted,
however, by previous suffering, that they could only sit down and gaze
on the mutilated bodies in despair. During the night, Wisagun and
Natappe returned stealthily to the tent, and, under cover of the
darkness, murdered the whole party as they lay asleep. Soon after this
the two Indians were met by another party of savages, in _good
condition_, although, from the scarcity of game, the others were
starving. The former accounted for this, however, by saying that they
had fallen in with a deer not long ago; but that, before this had
happened, all the rest of the family had died of starvation.
It was the party who had met the two Indians wandering in the plains
that now sat round the fire relating the story to Mr Carles.
The tale was still telling when the hall door slowly opened, and
Wisagun, gaunt and cadaverous, the very impersonation of famine, slunk
into the room, along with Natappe, and seated himself in a corner near
the fire. Mr Carles soon obtained from his own lips confirmation of
the horrible deed, which he excused by saying that _most_ of his
relations had died before he ate them.
In a few days after this, the party of Indians took their departure from
the house, to proceed to their village in the forest; and shortly after
Wisagun and Natappe also left, to rejoin their tribe. The news of their
deeds, however, had preceded them, so they were received very coldly;
and soon after Wisagun pitched his tent, the other Indians removed, with
one accord, to another place, as though it were impossible to live
happily under the shadow of the same trees. This exasperated Wisagun so
much that he packed up his tent and goods, launched his canoe, and then,
before starting, went up to the village, and told them it was true he
had killed all his relatives; and that he was a conjurer, and had both
power and inclination to conjure them to death too. He then strode down
to the banks of the river, and, embarking with his son, shot out into
the stream. The unhappy man had acted rashly in his wrath. There is
nothing more dangerous than to threaten to kill a savage, as he will
certainly endeavour to kill the person who threatens him, in order to
render the execution of his purpose impossible. Wisagun and his son had
no sooner departed than two men coolly took up their guns, entered a
canoe, and followed them. Upon arriving at a secluded spot, one of them
raised his gun and fired at Wisagun, who fell over the side of the
canoe, and sank to rise no more. With the rapidity of thought, Natappe
seized his father's gun, sprang ashore, and bounded up the bank; a shot
was fired which went through the fleshy part of his arm, and the next
moment he was behind a tree. Here he called out to the Indians, who
were reloading their guns, not to kill him, and he would tell them all.
After a little consideration, they agreed to spare him; he embarked with
them, and was taken afterwards to the fort, where he remained many years
in the Company's service.
Although instances of cannibalism are not unusual among the Indian
tribes, they do not resort to it from choice, but only when urged by the
irrepressible cravings of hunger.
All the Indian tribes are fond of spirits; and in former times, when the
distribution of rum to the natives was found necessary to compete with
other companies, the use of the "fire-water" was carried to a fearful
extent. Since Sir George Simpson became governor, however, the
distribution of spirits has been almost entirely given up; and this has
proved a most beneficial measure for the poor Indians.
Tobacco also is consumed by them in great quantities; indeed, the pipe
is seldom out of the Indian's mouth. If he is not hunting, sleeping, or
eating, he is sure to be smoking. A peculiar kind of shrub is much used
by them, mixed with tobacco--partly for the purpose of making it go far,
and partly because they can smoke more of it at a time with impunity.
The Indian is generally very lazy, but can endure, when requisite, great
fatigue and much privation. He can go longer without eating than a
European, and, from the frequent fasts he has to sustain, he becomes
accustomed, without injury, to eat more at a meal than would kill a
white man. The Indian children exhibit this power in a very
extraordinary degree, looking sometimes wretchedly thin and miserable,
and an hour or two afterwards waddling about with their little stomachs
swollen almost to bursting!
When an Indian wants a wife, he goes to the _fair_ one's father, and
asks his consent. This being obtained, he informs the young lady of the
circumstance, and then returns to his wigwam, whither the bride follows
him, and installs herself as mistress of the house without further
ceremony. Generally speaking, Indians content themselves with one wife,
but it is looked upon as neither unusual nor improper to take two, or
even three wives. The great point to settle is the husband's ability to
support them. Thus, a bad hunter can only afford one wife, whilst a
good one may have three or four.
If an old man or woman of the tribe becomes infirm, and unable to
proceed with the rest when travelling, he or she, as the case may be, is
left behind in a small tent made of willows, in which are placed a
little firewood, some provisions, and a vessel of water. Here the
unhappy wretch remains in solitude till the fuel and provisions are
exhausted, and then dies. Should the tribe be in their encampment when
an Indian dies, the deceased is buried, sometimes in the ground, and
sometimes in a rough wooden coffin raised a few feet above it. They do
not now bury guns, knives, etcetera, with their dead, as they once did,
probably owing to their intercourse with white men.
The Supreme Being among the Indians is called Manitou; but He can
scarcely be said to be worshipped by them, and the few ideas they have
of His attributes are imperfect and erroneous. Indeed, no religious
rites exist among them, unless the unmeaning mummery of the medicine
tent can be looked upon as such. Of late years, however, missionaries,
both of the Church of England and the Wesleyans, have exerted themselves
to spread the Christian religion among these tribes, than whom few
savages can be more unenlightened or morally degraded; and there is
reason to believe that the light of the gospel is now beginning to shine
upon them with beneficial influence.
There is no music in the soul of a Cree, and the only time they attempt
it is when gambling--of which they are passionately fond--when they sing
a kind of monotonous chant, accompanied with a noisy rattling on a tin
kettle. The celebrated war-dance is now no longer in existence among
this tribe. They have wisely renounced both war and its horrors long
ago. Among the wilder inhabitants of the prairies, however, it is still
in vogue, with all the dismal accompaniments of killing, scalping,
roasting, and torturing that distinguished American warfare a hundred
years ago.
The different methods by which the Indian succeeds in snaring and
trapping animals are numerous. A good idea of these may be had by
following an Indian in his rounds.
Suppose yourself, gentle reader, standing at the gate of one of the
forts in Hudson Bay, watching a savage arranging his snow-shoes,
preparatory to entering the gloomy forest. Let us walk with this Indian
on a visit to his traps.
The night is very dark, as the moon is hid by thick clouds, yet it
occasionally breaks out sufficiently to illumine our path to Stemaw's
wigwam, and to throw the shadows of the neighbouring trees upon the pale
snow, which _crunches_ under our feet as we advance, owing to the
intense cold. No wind breaks the stillness of the night, or shakes the
lumps of snow off the branches of the neighbouring pines or willows; and
nothing is heard save the occasional crackling of the trees as the
severe frost acts upon their branches. The tent, at which we soon
arrive, is pitched at the foot of an immense tree, which stands in a
little hollow where the willows and pines are luxuriant enough to afford
a shelter from the north wind. Just in front, a small path leads to the
river, of which an extensive view is had through the opening, showing
the long fantastic shadows of huge blocks and mounds of ice cast upon
the white snow by the flickering moonlight. A huge chasm, filled with
fallen trees and mounds of snow, yawns on the left of the tent; and the
ruddy sparks of fire which issue from a hole in its top throw this and
the surrounding forest into deeper gloom. The effect of this wintry
scene upon the mind is melancholy in the extreme--causing it to speed
across the bleak and frozen plains, and visit again the warm fireside
and happy faces in a far-distant home; and yet there is a strange
romantic attraction in the wild woods that gradually brings it back
again, and makes us impatient to begin our walk with the Indian.
Suddenly the deer-skin robe that covers the aperture of the wigwam is
raised, and a bright stream of warm light gushes out, tipping the
dark-green points of the opposite trees, and mingling strangely with the
paler light of the moon--and Stemaw stands erect in front of his
solitary home, to gaze a few moments on the sky and judge of the
weather, as he intends to take a long walk before laying his head upon
his capote for the night. He is in the usual costume of the Cree
Indians: a large leathern coat, very much overlapped in front, and
fastened round his waist with a scarlet belt, protects his body from the
cold. A small rat-skin cap covers his head, and his legs are cased in
the ordinary blue cloth leggins. Large moccasins, with two or three
pair of blanket socks, clothe his feet; and fingerless mittens, made of
deer-skin, complete his costume. After a few minutes passed in
contemplation of the heavens, the Indian prepares himself for the walk.
First he sticks a small axe in his belt, serving as a counterpoise to a
large hunting-knife and fire-bag which depend from the other side. He
then slips his feet through the lines of his snow-shoes, and throws the
line of a small hand-sledge over his shoulder. The hand-sledge is a
thin, flat slip or plank of wood, from five to six feet long by one foot
broad, and is turned up at one end. It is extremely light, and Indians
invariably use it when visiting their traps, for the purpose of dragging
home the animals or game they may have caught. Having attached this
sledge to his back, he stoops to receive his gun from his faithful
_squaw_ [see note 2], who has been watching his operations through a
hole in the tent; and throwing it on his shoulder, strides off, without
uttering a word, across the moonlit space in front of the tent, turns
into a narrow track that leads down the dark ravine, and disappears in
the shades of the forest. Soon he reaches the termination of the track
(made for the purpose of reaching some good dry trees for firewood), and
stepping into the deep snow with the long, regular, firm tread of one
accustomed to snow-shoe walking, he winds his way rapidly through the
thick stems of the surrounding trees, and turns aside the smaller
branches of the bushes.
The forest is now almost dark, the foliage overhead having become so
dense that the moon only penetrates through it in a few places, causing
the spots on which it falls to shine with a strange phosphoric light,
and rendering the surrounding masses darker by contrast. The faint
outline, of an old snowshoe track, at first discernible, is now quite
invisible; but still Stemaw moves forward with rapid, noiseless step, as
sure of his way as if a broad beaten track lay before him. In this
manner he moves on for nearly two miles, sometimes stooping to examine
closely the newly-made track of some wild animal, and occasionally
giving a glance at the sky through the openings in the leafy canopy
above him, when a faint sound in the bushes ahead brings him to a full
stop. He listens attentively, and a noise, like the rattling of a
chain, is heard proceeding from the recesses of a dark, wild-looking
hollow a few paces in front. Another moment, and the rattle is again
distinctly heard; a slight smile of satisfaction crosses Stemaw's dark
visage, for one of his traps is set in that place, and he knows that
something is caught. Quickly descending the slope, he enters the bushes
whence the sound proceeds, and pauses when within a yard or two of his
trap, to peer through the gloom. A cloud passes off the moon, and a
faint ray reveals, it may be, a beautiful black fox caught in the snare.
A slight blow on the snout from Stemaw's axe-handle kills the
unfortunate animal; in ten minutes more it is tied to his sledge, the
trap is reset and again covered over with snow, so that it is almost
impossible to tell that anything is there; and the Indian pursues his
way.
The steel-trap used by the Indians is almost similar to the ordinary
rat-trap of England, with this difference, that it is a little larger,
is destitute of teeth, and has two springs in place of one. A chain is
attached to one spring for the purpose of fixing a weight to the trap,
so that the animal caught may not be able to drag it far from the place
where it was set. The track in the snow enables the hunter to find his
trap again. It is generally set so that the jaws, when spread out flat,
are exactly on a level with the snow. The chain and weight are both
hid, and a thin layer of snow spread on top of the trap. The bait
(which generally consists of chips of a frozen partridge, rabbit, or
fish) is then scattered around in every direction; and, with the
exception of this, nothing distinguishes the spot. Foxes, beavers,
wolves, lynx, and other animals are caught in this way, sometimes by a
fore leg, sometimes by a hind leg, and sometimes by two legs at once,
and occasionally by the nose. Of all these ways the Indians prefer
catching by two legs, as there is then not the slightest possibility of
the animal escaping. When foxes are caught by one leg, they often _eat
it off_ close to the trap, and escape on the other three. I have
frequently seen this happen; and I once saw a fox caught which had
evidently escaped in this way, as one of its legs was gone, and the
stump healed up and covered again with hair. When they are caught by
the nose they are almost sure to escape, unless taken out of the trap
very soon after being caught, as their snouts are so sharp or wedge-like
that they can pull them from between the jaws of the trap without much
difficulty.
Having now described the way of using this machine, we will rejoin
Stemaw, whom we left on his way to the next trap. There he goes, moving
swiftly over the snow mile after mile, as if he could not feel fatigue,
turning aside now and then to visit a trap, and giving a short grunt
when nothing is in it, or killing the animal when caught, and tying it
on the sledge. Towards midnight, however, he begins to walk more
cautiously, examines the priming of his gun, and moves the axe in his
belt, as if he expected to meet some enemy suddenly. The fact is, that
close to where he now stands are two traps which he set in the morning
close to each other for the purpose of catching one of the formidable
coast wolves. These animals are so sagacious that they will scrape all
round a trap, let it be ever so well set, and after eating all the bait,
walk away unhurt. Indians consequently endeavour in every possible way
to catch them--and, among others, by setting _two_ traps close together;
so that, while the wolf scrapes at one, he may perhaps put his foot in
the other. It is in this way that Stemaw's traps are set, and he now
proceeds cautiously towards them, his gun in the hollow of his left arm.
Slowly he advances, peering through the bushes, but nothing is visible;
suddenly a branch crashes under his snow-shoe, and with a savage growl a
large wolf bounds towards him, landing almost at his feet. A single
glance, however, shows the Indian that both traps are on his legs, and
that the chains prevent his further advance. He places his gun against
a tree, draws his axe from the belt, and advances to kill the animal.
It is an undertaking, however, of some difficulty. The fierce brute,
which is larger than a Newfoundland dog, strains every nerve and sinew
to break its chains; while its eyes glisten in the uncertain light, and
foam curls from its blood-red mouth. Now it retreats as the Indian
advances, grinning horribly as it goes; and anon, as the chains check
its further retreat, it springs with fearful growl towards Stemaw, who
slightly wounds it with his axe, as he jumps backward just in time to
save himself from the infuriated animal, which catches in its fangs the
flap of his leggin, and tears it from his limb. Again Stemaw advances,
and the wolf retreats and again springs on him, but without success. At
last, as the wolf glances for a moment to one side--apparently to see if
there is no way of escape--quick as lightning the axe descends with
stunning violence on its head; another blow follows; and in five minutes
more Stemaw heaves the huge brute across his shoulders, and carries it
to his sledge.
This, however, has turned out a more exhausting business than Stemaw
expected; so he determines to encamp and rest for a few hours.
Selecting a large pine, whose spreading branches cover a patch of ground
free from underwood, he scrapes away the snow with his snow-shoe.
Silently but busily he labours for a quarter of an hour; and then,
having cleared a space seven or eight feet in diameter, and nearly four
feet deep, he cuts down a number of small branches, which he strews at
the bottom of the hollow, till all the snow is covered. This done, he
fells two or three of the nearest trees, cuts them up into lengths of
about five feet long, and piles them at the root of the tree. A light
is soon applied to the pile, and up glances the ruddy flame, crackling
among the branches overhead, and sending thousands of bright sparks into
the air. No one who has not seen it can have the least idea of the
change that takes place in the appearance of the woods at night when a
large fire is suddenly lighted. Before, all was cold, silent, chilling,
gloomy, and desolate, and the pale snow looked unearthly in the dark.
Now, a bright ruddy glow falls upon the thick stems of the trees, and
penetrates through the branches overhead, tipping those nearest the fire
with a ruby tinge, the mere sight of which warms one. The white snow
changes to a beautiful pink, whilst the stems of the trees, bright and
clearly visible near at hand, become more and more indistinct in the
distance, till they are lost in the black background. The darkness,
however, need not be seen from the encampment; for, when the Indian lies
down, he will be surrounded by the snow walls, which sparkle in the
firelight as if set with diamonds. These do not melt, as might be
expected. The frost is much too intense for that, and nothing melts
except the snow quite close to the fire. Stemaw has now concluded his
arrangements: a small piece of dried deer's meat warms before the blaze;
and, meanwhile, he spreads his green blanket on the ground, and fills a
stone calumet (or pipe with a wooden stem) with tobacco, mixed with a
kind of weed prepared by himself. The white smoke from this soon
mingles with the thicker volumes from the fire, which curl up through
the branches into the sky, now shrouding him in their wreaths, and then,
as the bright flame obtains the mastery, leaving his dark face and
coal-black eyes shining in the warm light. No one enjoys a pipe more
than an Indian; and Stemaw's tranquil visage, wreathed in tobacco smoke,
as he reclines at full length under the spreading branches of the pine,
and allows the white vapour to pass slowly out of his mouth _and nose_,
certainly gives one an excellent idea of savage enjoyment.
Leaving him here, then, to solace himself with a pipe preparatory to
resting his wearied limbs for the night, we will change the hour, and
conduct the reader to a different scene.
It is now day. The upper edge of the sun has just risen, red and
frosty-looking, in the east, and countless myriads of icy particles
glitter on every tree and bush in its red rays; while the white tops of
the snow-drifts, which dot the surface of the small lake at which we
have just arrived, are tipped with the same rosy hue. The lake is of
considerable breadth, and the woods on its opposite shore are barely
visible. An unbroken coat of pure white snow covers its entire surface,
whilst here and there a small islet, covered with luxuriant evergreens,
attracts the eye, and breaks the sameness of the scene. At the extreme
left of the lake, where the points of a few bulrushes and sedgy plants
appear above the snow, are seen a number of small earthy mounds, in the
immediate vicinity of which the trees and bushes are cut and barked in
many places, while some of them are nearly cut down. This is a colony
of beavers. In the warm months of summer and autumn, this spot is a
lively, stirring place, as the beavers are then employed _nibbling_ down
trees and bushes, for the purpose of repairing their dams, and supplying
their storehouses with food. The bark of willows is their chief food,
and all the bushes in the vicinity are more or less cut through by these
persevering little animals. Their dams, however (which are made for the
purpose of securing to themselves a constant sufficiency of water), are
made with large trees; and stumps will be found, if you choose to look
for them, as thick as a man's leg, which the beavers have entirely
nibbled through, and dragged by their united efforts many yards from
where they grew.
Now, however, no sign of animal life is to be seen, as the beavers keep
within doors all winter; yet I venture to state that there are many now
asleep under the snow before us. It is not, reader, merely for the
purpose of showing you the outside of a beaver-lodge that I have brought
you such a distance from human habitations. Be patient, and you shall
soon see more. Do you observe that small black speck moving over the
white surface of the lake, far away on the horizon? It looks like a
crow, but the forward motion is much too steady and constant for that.
As it approaches, it assumes the form of a man; and at last the figure
of Stemaw, dragging his empty sleigh behind him (for he has left his
wolf and foxes in the last night's encampment, to be taken up when
returning home), becomes clearly distinguishable through the dreamy haze
of the cold wintry morning. He arrives at the beaver-lodges, and, I
warrant, will soon play havoc among the inmates.
His first proceeding is to cut down several stakes, which he points at
the ends. These are driven, after he has cut away a good deal of ice
from around the beaver-lodge, into the ground between it and the shore.
This is to prevent the beaver from running along the passage they always
have from their lodges to the shore, where their storehouse is kept,
which would make it necessary to excavate the whole passage. The
beaver, if there are any, being thus imprisoned in the lodge, the hunter
next stakes up the opening into the storehouse on shore, and so
imprisons those that may have fled there for shelter on hearing the
noise of his axe at the other house. Things being thus arranged to his
entire satisfaction, he takes an instrument called an ice-chisel--which
is a bit of steel about a foot long by one inch broad, fastened to the
end of a stout pole--wherewith he proceeds to dig through the lodge.
This is by no means an easy operation; and although he covers the snow
around him with great quantities of frozen mud and sticks, yet his work
is not half finished. At last, however, the interior of the hut is laid
bare; and the Indian, stooping down, gives a great pull, when out comes
a large, fat, sleepy beaver, which he flings sprawling on the snow.
Being thus unceremoniously awakened from its winter nap, the shivering
animal looks languidly around, and even goes the length of grinning at
Stemaw, by way of showing its teeth, for which it is rewarded with a
blow on the head from the pole of the ice-chisel, which puts an end to
it. In this way several more are killed, and packed on the sleigh.
Stemaw then turns his face towards his encampment, where he collects the
game left there; and away he goes at a tremendous pace, dashing the snow
in clouds from his snow-shoes, as he hurries over the trackless
wilderness to his forest home.
Near his tent, he makes a detour to visit a marten trap; where, however,
he finds nothing. This trap is of the simplest construction, being
composed of two logs, the one of which is supported over the other by
means of a small stick, in such a manner that when the marten creeps
between the two and pulls the bait, the support is removed, and the
upper log falls on and crushes it to death.
In half an hour the Indian arrives at his tent, where the dark eyes of
his wife are seen gazing through a chink in the covering, with an
expression that denotes immense joy at the prospect of gorging for many
days on fat beaver, and having wherewithal to purchase beads and a
variety of ornaments from the white men, upon the occasion of her
husband and herself visiting the posts of the fur-traders in the
following spring.
But some of the tribes have a more sociable as well as a more productive
way of conducting business, at least as regards venison; for they catch
the deer in a "pound."
"Their mode of accomplishing this is to select a well-frequented
deer-path, and enclose with a strong fence of twisted trees and
brushwood a space about a mile in circumference, and sometimes more.
The entrance of the pound is not larger than a common gate, and its
inside is crowded with innumerable small hedges, in the openings of
which are fixed snares of strong well-twisted thongs. One end is
generally fastened to a growing tree; and as all the wood and jungle
within the enclosure is left standing, its interior forms a complete
labyrinth. On each side of the door a line of small trees, stuck up in
the snow fifteen or twenty yards apart, form two sides of an acute
angle, widening gradually from the entrance, from which they sometimes
extend two or three miles. Between these rows of brushwood runs the
path frequented by the deer. When all things are prepared, the Indians
take their station on some eminence commanding a prospect of this path,
and the moment any deer are seen going that way, the whole encampment--
men, women, and children--steal under cover of the woods till they get
behind them. They then show themselves in the open ground, and, drawing
up in the form of a crescent, advance with shouts. The deer finding
themselves pursued, and at the same time imagining the rows of brushy
poles to be people stationed to prevent their passing on either side,
run straight forward till they get into the pound. The Indians
instantly close in, block up the entrance, and whilst the women and
children run round the outside to prevent them from breaking or leaping
the fence, the men enter with their spears and bows, and speedily
dispatch such as are caught in the snares or are running loose." [see
"Hearne's Journey." pages 78 to 80].
"McLean, a gentleman who spent twenty-five years in the Hudson Bay
territories, assures us that on one occasion he and a party of men
entrapped and slaughtered in this way a herd of three hundred deer in
two hours."
I must crave the reader's pardon for this long digression, and beg him
to recollect that at the end of the second chapter I left myself
awaiting orders to depart for Red River, to which settlement we will now
proceed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. Many people at home have asked me how such _thin things_ can
keep out the wet of the snow. The reader must bear in mind that the
snow, for nearly seven months, is not even _damp_ for five minutes, so
constant is the frost. When it becomes wet in spring, Europeans adopt
ordinary English shoes, and Indians do not mind the wet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 2. _Squeiaw_ is the Indian for a woman. _Squaw_ is the English
corruption of the word, and is used to signify a wife.