The Esquimaux Indians of Labrador.
Tadousac. July.
The vast region of country lying on the north shore of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, and extending to the eastward of the Saguenay as far as
Newfoundland, is generally known under the name of Labrador. It is an
exceedingly wild and desolate region, and, excepting an occasional
fishing hamlet or a missionary station belonging to the worthy
Moravians, its only inhabitants are Indians. Of these the more famous
tribes are the Red Indians, (now almost extinct,) the Hunting Indians,
the Mik-maks, and the Esquimaux. The latter nation is by far the most
numerous, and it is said that their sway extends even to the coasts of
Hudson’s Bay. They are, at the same time, the wildest and most rude
inhabitants of this wilderness, and in appearance, as well as manners
and customs, closely resemble the inhabitants of Greenland.
During one of my nautical expeditions down the St. Lawrence, I chanced
to be wind-bound for a couple of days at the mouth of a river on the
north shore, where I found a small encampment of Esquimaux Indians. The
principal man of the party was exceedingly aged, and the only one who
could convey his thoughts in any other language than his own. He had
mingled much with the French fur-traders of the north, and the French
fishermen of the east, and possessed a smattering of their tongue.
Seated by the side of this good old man in his lodge, with a moose-skin
for my seat, a pack of miscellaneous furs to lean against, and a rude
seal-oil torch suspended over my head, I spent many hours of one
long-to-be-remembered night in questioning him about his people. The
substance of the information I then collected it is now my purpose to
record;—but it should be remembered that I speak of the nation at large,
and not of any particular tribe.
According to my informant, the extent of the Esquimaux nation is
unknown, for they consider themselves as numerous as the waves of the
sea. Much has been done to give them an education, and, though
missionaries of the Cross have dwelt among them for about a century, yet
the majority of this people are at the present time in heathen darkness.
The men are chiefly employed in hunting and fishing, and the domestic
labour is all performed by the women. Their clothes are made in the
rudest manner imaginable, and generally of the coarser skins which they
secure in hunting. They believe in a Supreme Being, who has a
dwelling-place in the earth, the air, and the ocean, and who is both
good and evil; and they also believe in the immortality of the soul,
which they describe as similar to air, which they cannot feel. Their
principal men are magicians and conjurors, distinguished, as I infer
with good reason, for their profligacy. Whenever a man is sick, they
attribute the cause to the alleged fact that his soul has departed from
his body, and he is looked upon with contempt and pity. The first man
who came into the world sprang from the bosom of a beautiful valley; in
this valley he spent his infancy and childhood, feeding upon berries;
and having on a certain occasion picked up a flower which drooped over
one of his accustomed paths, it immediately became changed into a girl
with flowing hair, who became his playmate, and afterwards his wife, and
was the mother of all living. They believe in a heaven and a hell, and
consider that the road to the former is rugged and rocky, and that to
the latter level and covered with grass. Their ideas of astronomy are
peculiar, for they consider the sun, moon, and stars as so many of their
ancestors, who have, for a great variety of reasons, been lifted to the
sky and become celestial bodies. In accounting for the two former, they
relate that there was once a superb festival given by the Esquimaux in a
glorious snow-palace of the north, where were assembled all the young
men and maidens of the land. Among them was a remarkably brave youth,
who was in love with an exceedingly beautiful girl. She, however, did
not reciprocate this attachment, and endeavoured by all the means in her
power to escape from his caresses. To accomplish this end, she called
upon the Great Spirit to give her a pair of wings; and, having received
them, she flew into the air and became the moon. The youth also
endeavoured to obtain a pair of wings, and, after many months, finally
succeeded; and, on ascending to the sky, he became the sun. The moon,
they say, has a dwelling-place in the west, and the sun another in the
far east. They account for thunder and lightning by giving the story of
two women who lived together in a wigwam, and on one occasion had a most
furious battle. During the affray the cabin tumbled in upon them,
causing a tremendous noise, while the women were so angry that their
eyes flashed fire. Rain, they say, comes from a river in the sky, which,
from the great number of people who sometimes bathe in it, overflows its
banks, and thus comes to the earth in showers.
When one of their friends has departed this life, they take all his
property and scatter it upon the ground, outside of his cabin, to be
purified by the air; but then in the evening they collect it together,
and bury it by the side of his grave. They think it wrong for the men to
mourn for their friends, and consider themselves defiled if they happen
to touch the body of the deceased; and the individual who usually
performs the office of undertaker is considered unclean for many days
after fulfilling his duty. The women do all the wailing and weeping; and
during their mourning season, which corresponds with the fame of the
deceased, they abstain from food, wear their hair in great disorder, and
refrain from every ablution. When a friendless man dies, his body is
left upon the hills to decay, as if he had been a beast. When their
children die, they bury the body of a dead dog in the same grave, that
the child may have a guide in his pathway to an unknown land, to which
they suppose all children go.
Polygamy, as such, among the Esquimaux is practised only to a limited
extent; but married men and women are not over-scrupulous in their love
affairs. Unmarried women, however, observe the rules of modesty with
peculiar care; and the maiden who suffers herself to be betrayed is
looked upon with infamy. When a young man wishes to marry, he first
settles the matter with his intended, and then, having asked and
obtained her father’s permission, he sends two old women to bring the
lady to his lodge, and they are considered one. The Esquimaux mother is
fond of her children, and never chastises them for any offence. Children
are taught to be dutiful to their parents, and until they marry they
always continue under the paternal roof.
The amusements of the Esquimaux do not differ materially from those of
the Indian tribes generally. They are fond of dancing, playing ball, and
a species of dice game; while the women know of no recreation but that
of dancing and singing.
And thus ends my mite of information respecting one of the most
extensive aboriginal nations of the far north.