INCIDENTS AT BATTLEFORD
I remained at Battleford six weeks, while my husband went to Frog Creek,
(where he had thirteen men working on the house and mills,) and
while there I became initiated into the manners and customs of the
inhabitants. A few incidents which happened during my stay might be
interesting to the reader, therefore, I will jot them down as they come
to mind.
After our arrival the Indians and squaws came to see me and would go
and tell some of the others to come and see the monias, (squaw) and when
they saw my husband they asked him why he did not live with her, and if
she was well; and one day I walked with him over to where he was keeping
store before he went west and the Indians came in and shook hands, and
laughed, and the squaws thought my costume was rather odd and not in
keeping with that of the fashionable north-western belle. The squaws
cut off about three yards of print and make the skirt; while others take
flour sacks and cut holes through for the waist and have leggings and
moccasins; they would disdain to wear such an article as hose.
They are quite adepts in the art of tanning. I saw them tanning leather;
they took the skin and put something on it, I do not know what it was,
and put it in the sun for a few days, then with a small sharp iron
fastened on a long handle, they scraped the skin with this until very
smooth, and greased it over and put it in the sun again for some time,
afterwards two squaws pulled it until nice and soft, and then it was
ready for use.
One afternoon I was out shopping and on my way home I saw some little
Indian children coasting down hill on an earthen plate, but before
getting to the end of the hill, to their evident surprise the plate
broke and they commenced crying because it was broken and went back and
got another one, and so on until they thought they would try tin plates,
and the little friend that was with me, Effie Laurie, took the tin plate
from them and sat down on it herself and went down the hill, and they
looked so astonished to think that a white woman would do such a thing.
Another time on going out while two men were crossing the bridge over
Battle river; a horse broke through and was killed and the squaws
gathered around it taking the skin off, while others carried some of
the carcass away, and I asked what they were going to do with it, and
my husband said "they will take it home and have a big feast and if the
meat has been poisoned they will boil it for a long time, changing the
water, and in this way anything that was poisonous would not affect
them."
The way the Indians get their wood, they send their squaws to the bush
to cut the wood and they take a rope and tie around as much as they can
carry, and hang it on their backs. Those who have dogs to carry the wood
for them tie two long sticks together, fastening them on the dog's back,
then tying a large bundle of wood on the back part of the cross sticks
by that means the squaw is relieved from the task. The squaws perform
all manual labor, while the big, lazy, good-for-nothing Indian lolls
about in idleness.