Part 24
[87] These are larvæ of a fly (_Hypoderma liniata?_), the eggs of which are laid in the skins of the deer in the early part of the summer. Here they develop to the size of buckshot or larger, and those portions of the skin covering them become very thin, so that when the hide is taken off and tanned it is so full of holes, a quarter of an inch or more in diameter, as to be almost entirely useless.
[88] Sir John Franklin crossed Point Lake in 1821, and the "small scrubby woods" on its banks were noted by him, when he descended and surveyed the Coppermine River from it to the sea. Hearne places the south side of this lake on his map in North latitude 65° 45', only about thirty-five miles north of its true position. Caspar Whitney crossed Point Lake in the spring of 1895, and calls it Ecka tua (Fat-Water Lake). ("On Snowshoes to the Barren Grounds." By Caspar Whitney, p. 209.) Russell, in speaking of the Coppermine River which he crossed in April 1894, says, "It takes its rise in a large lake, called Ek-a Tooh, which is two days' journey in length." ("Explorations in the Far North." By Frank Russell, p. 112.)
[89] There is no evidence that any observations for latitude had been taken since he left Congecathawhachaga. Possibly the quadrant had been left behind with the women at that place, to be picked up again when he returned. But now, with the destruction of the quadrant, all uncertainty as to the character of the remainder of his survey is set at rest. His distances were estimated, and the general directions were doubtless taken with a magnetic compass, while observations for latitude were impossible.
[AV] The piece of iron above mentioned was the coulter of a new-fashioned plough, invented by Captain John Fowler, late Governor of Churchill River, with which he had a large piece of ground ploughed, and afterwards sowed with oats: but the part being nothing but a hot burning sand, like the Spanish lines at Gibraltar, the success may easily be guessed; which was, that it did not produce a single grain.
[90] This lake is identified by Sir John Richardson as the Providence Lake of Franklin and of the present maps, but it is more likely to be Mackay Lake, which is much more nearly the size of lake here described, and the description of the woods on the south shore agrees closely with the description of Lake Mackay given by Mr. Warburton Pike, who visited that region in 1890. This determination agrees also with the statement of Hearne, that No Name Lake lies but a short distance north of the edge of the "main woods," for the northern edge of the forest crosses the country from east to west, a few miles south of this lake. On Caspar Whitney's map of his trip through the barren grounds this lake is called King or Grizzly Bear Lake. Mr. C. Harding, the officer in charge of Fort Resolution, the Hudson Bay Company's post on Great Slave Lake, has sent me the following Chipewyan Indian names of lakes, &c., in this region:--
ENGLISH. CHIPEWYAN. MEANING. Mackay Lake. Clayki thua. White Sand Lake. Le Gras Lake. A ka thua. Fat Lake. (doubtless the same as Point Lake). Aylmer Lake. Chlueata thua. Caribou swimming among the ice Lake. Artillery Lake. Atacho thua. Caribou crossing in the middle of the lake Lake. Coppermine River. Sanka taza. Copper River. Musk Ox Mountain. Edegadaniyatha.
[91] Mr. Harding informs me this is a lake lying a short distance south of Mackay Lake, and now known as "Lake of the Enemy." Anaw'd is doubtless the same word as Enna, which is the Chipewyan name for a Cree Indian.
Away to the west of this another large lake is indicated on the map, doubtless from the reports of the Indians, but no name is attached to it. On the Cook map this western lake is called Edlande Lake.
[92] L'abbé Petitot states (_op. cit._, p. 143) that there are five rivers flowing into the north side of McLeod Bay of Great Slave Lake, and the little stream which flows from Methy Lake is doubtless one of these, and possibly Hoarfrost River. In that case Methy Lake is almost certainly Cook Lake, which agrees with Hearne's description inasmuch as it lies just within the edge of the woods.
[93] Great Slave Lake.
[AW] The course of this river is nearly South West.
[94] _Lepus americanus_ (Erxl.).--E. A. P.
[95] _Canachites canadensis_ (Linn.).--E. A. P.
[AX] His name was Cos-abyagh, the Northern Indian name for the Rock Partridge.
[AY] As a proof of this, Matonabbee, (who always thought me possessed of this art,) on his arrival at Prince of Wales's Fort in the Winter of 1778, informed me, that a man whom I had never seen but once, had treated him in such a manner that he was afraid of his life; in consequence of which he pressed me very much to kill him, though I was then several hundreds of miles distant: On which, to please this great man to whom I owed so much, and not expecting that any harm could possibly arise from it, I drew a rough sketch of two human figures on a piece of paper, in the attitude of wrestling: in the hand of one of them, I drew the figure of a bayonet pointing to the breast of the other. This is me, said I to Matonabbee, pointing to the figure which was holding the bayonet; and the other, is your enemy. Opposite to those figures I drew a pine-tree, over which I placed a large human eye, and out of the tree projected a human hand. This paper I gave to Matonabbee, with instructions to make it as publicly known as possible. Sure enough, the following year, when he came in to trade, he informed me that the man was dead, though at that time he was not less than three hundred miles from Prince of Wales's Fort. He assured me that the man was in perfect health when he heard of my design against him; but almost immediately afterwards became quite gloomy, and refusing all kind of sustenance, in a very few days died. After this I was frequently applied to on the same account, both by Matonabbee and other leading Indians, but never thought proper to comply with their requests; by which means I not only preserved the credit I gained on the first attempt, but always kept them in awe, and in some degree of respect and obedience to me. In fact, strange as it may appear, it is almost absolutely necessary that the chiefs at this place should profess something a little supernatural, to be able to deal with those people. The circumstance here recorded is a fact well known to Mr. William Jefferson, who succeeded me at Churchill Factory, as well as to all the officers and many of the common men who were at Prince of Wales's Fort at the time.
[96] The lake which he has now reached and which he calls Athapuscow Lake, Arathapescow Lake of the Cook and Pennant maps, is Great Slave Lake of the present maps, or the Slave Lake of Alexander Mackenzie, and not the lake now known as Athabasca Lake; and the point at which he reached it was somewhere east of the entrance to the North Arm. According to l'Abbé Petitot, the name Athabasca is a Cree word, referring to a reedy, grassy mouth of a river, and means "The Herbaceous Network." It does not appear to have been the original name of any particular place or lake, but was doubtless applied to this lake by Hearne on account of the great marsh which covers much of the delta of Slave River, and later it was applied to the lake now known as Athabasca Lake on account of the character of the delta at the mouth of Athabasca River, near which Peter Pond, a trader from Montreal, established in 1778 the first trading-post on the Mackenzie waters. His map of 1785 designates the lake Arabasca Lake. Petitot states (Royal Geographical Society, vol. v. N.S. 1883, p. 728) that Great Slave Lake is called "'Thu-tué,' or 'Lake of the Breasts,' by the Chipewyans, because its eastern part is terminated by two extensive bays, in outline fancifully resembling the female bosom."
[97] Indian Deer = Wood Caribou (_Rangifer caribou_ (Gmel.)).--E. A. P.
[98] _Castor canadensis_ Kuhl.
[AZ] The difficulty here alluded to, was the numberless vaults the beaver had in the sides of the pond, and the immense thickness of the house in some parts.
[99] The eight different kinds of beavers referred to by Mr. Dobbs are rather eight different grades of beaver-skins classified on a strictly commercial basis. His statement is:
"There are eight kinds of Beavers received at the Farmer's Office.
"The first is the fat Winter Beaver, kill'd in Winter, which is worth 5s. 6d. per Pound.
"The Second is the fat Summer Beaver, killed in Summer, and is worth 2s. 9d.
"The third the dry Winter Beaver, and fourth the Bordeau, is much the same, and are worth 3s. 6d.
"The fifth the dry Summer Beaver is worth very little, about 1s. 9d. per Pound.
"The sixth is the Coat Beaver, which is worn till it is half greased, and is worth 4s. 6d. per Pound.
"The 7th the Muscovite dry Beaver, of a fine Skin, covered over with a silky Hair; they wear it in Russia, and comb away all the short Down, which they make into Stuffs and other Works, leaving nothing but the silky Hair; this is worth 4s. 6d. per Pound.
"The eighth is the Mittain Beaver, cut out for that Purpose to make Mittains, to preserve them from the Cold, and are greased by being used, and are worth 1s. 9d. per Pound." ("An Account of the Countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay." By Arthur Dobbs, London, 1744, pp. 25-26.)
On a later page, quoting Joseph Lefranc: "The Beavers, he says, are of three Colours; the brown reddish Colour, the black, and the white; the first is the cheapest; the black is most valued by the Company, and in England; the white, tho' most valued in Canada, giving 18 Shillings, when others gave 5 or 6 Shillings, is blown upon by the Company's Factors at the Bay, they not allowing so much for these as for the others; and therefore the Indians use them at home, or burn off the Hair, when they roast the Beavers like Pigs, at an Entertainment when they feast together; he says these Skins are extremely white, and have a fine Lustre, no Snow being whiter, and have a fine long Fur or Hair; he has seen 15 taken of that Colour out of one Lodge or Pond." (Ibid., pp. 39-40.)
White Beavers are not often caught. One skin which I obtained from the vicinity of the Winnipeg River, in Eastern Manitoba, had a decidedly pinkish tint.
[100] As dried Beaver skins weigh on an average from one and a half to two pounds, 300 skins would weigh on an average from 450 to 600 lbs., which is a heavier load than most of the birch-bark canoes made by the Chipewyans will carry in addition to the Indians and their necessary baggage and provisions. Dobbs's statement that 100 Beaver skins is a load for an Indian canoe is more nearly correct.
[BA] The Northern Indians think that the sagacity of the beaver directs them to make that part of their house which fronts the North much thicker than any other part, with a view of defending themselves from the cold winds which generally blow from that quarter during the Winter; and for this reason the Northern Indians generally break open that side of the beaver-houses which exactly front the South.
[BB] This being the largest of the Orkney Islands, is called by the inhabitants the Main Land.
{247} CHAP. VIII.
Transactions and Remarks from our Arrival on the South Side of the Athapuscow Lake, till our Arrival at Prince of Wales's Fort on Churchill River.
_Cross the Athapuscow Lake--Description of it and its productions, as far as could be discovered in Winter, when the snow was on the ground--Fish found in the lake--Description of the buffalo;--of the moose or elk, and the method of dressing their skins--Find a woman alone that had not seen a human face for more than seven months--Her account how she came to be in that situation; and her curious method of procuring a livelihood--Many of my Indians wrestled for her--Arrive at the Great Athapuscow River--Walk along the side of the River for several days, and then strike off to the Eastward--Difficulty in getting through the woods in many places--Meet with some strange Northern Indians on their return from the Fort--Meet more strangers, whom my companions plundered, and from whom they took one of their young women--Curious manner of life which those strangers lead, and the reason they gave for roving so far from their usual residence--Leave the fine level country of the Athapuscows, and arrive at the Stony Hills of the Northern Indian Country--Meet some strange Northern Indians, one of whom carried a letter for me to Prince of Wales's Fort, in March one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one, and now gave me an answer to it, dated twentieth of June following--Indians begin preparing wood-work and birch-rind for canoes--The equinoctial gale very severe--Indian method of running the moose deer down by speed of foot--Arrival at Theeleyaza River--See some strangers--The brutality of my companions--A tremendous gale and snow-drift--Meet with more strangers;--Remarks on it--Leave all the elderly people and children, {248} and proceed directly to the Fort--Stop to build canoes, and then advance--Several of the Indians die through hunger, and many others are obliged to decline the journey for want of ammunition--A violent storm and inundation, that forced us to the top of a high hill, where we suffered great distress for more than two days--Kill several deer--The Indians method of preserving the flesh without the assistance of salt--See several Indians that were going to Knapp's Bay--Game of all kinds remarkably plentiful--Arrive at the Factory._
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
[Sidenote: 9th.]
After expending some days in hunting beaver, we proceeded to cross the Athapuscow Lake; but as we had lost much time in hunting deer and beaver, which were very plentiful on some of the islands, it was the ninth of January before we arrived on the South side.
This lake, from the best information which I could get from the natives, is about one hundred and twenty leagues long from East to West, and twenty wide from North to South. The point where we crossed it is said to be the narrowest. It is full of islands; most of which are clothed with fine tall poplars, birch, and pines, and are well stocked with Indian deer. On some of the large islands we also found several beaver; but this must be understood only of such islands as had large ponds in them; for not one beaver-house was to be seen on the margin of any of them.[101]
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
The lake is stored with great quantities of very fine fish; particularly between the islands, which in some {249} parts are so close to each other as to form very narrow channels, like little rivers, in which I found (when angling for fish) a considerable current setting to the Eastward.
The fish that are common in this lake, as well as in most of the other lakes in this country, are pike, trout, perch, barble, tittameg, and methy[102]; the two last are names given by the natives to two species of fish which are found only in this country. Besides these, we also caught another kind of fish, which is said by the Northern Indians to be peculiar to this lake; at least none of the same kind have been met with in any other. The body of this fish much resembles a pike in shape; but the scales, which are very large and stiff, are of a beautifully bright silver colour; the mouth is large, and situated like that of a pike; but when open, much resembles that of a sturgeon; and though not provided with any teeth, takes a bait as ravenously as a pike or a trout. The sizes we caught were from two feet long to four feet. Their flesh, though delicately white, is very soft, and has so rank a taste, that many of the Indians, except they are in absolute want, will not eat it. The Northern Indians call this fish Shees.[103] The trout in this lake are of the largest size I ever saw; some that were caught by my companions could not, I think, be less than thirty-five or forty pounds weight. Pike are also of an incredible size in this extensive water; here they are seldom {250} molested, and have multitudes of smaller fish to prey upon. If I say that I have seen some of these fish that were upwards of forty pounds weight, I am sure I do not exceed the truth.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
Immediately on our arrival on the South side of the Athapuscow Lake, the scene was agreeably altered, from an entire jumble of rocks and hills, for such is all the land on the North side, to a fine level country, in which there was not a hill to be seen, or a stone to be found: so that such of my companions as had not brass kettles, loaded their sledges with stones from some of the last islands, to boil their victuals with in their birch-rind kettles, which will not admit of being exposed to the fire. They therefore heat stones and drop them into the water in the kettle to make it boil.
Buffalo,[104] moose, and beaver were very plentiful; and we could discover, in many parts through which we passed, the tracks of martins, foxes, quiquehatches, and other animals of the furr kind: so that they were by no means scarce: but my companions never gave themselves the least trouble to catch any of the three last mentioned animals; for the buffalo, moose, and beaver engaged all their attention; perhaps principally so on account of the excellency of their flesh; whereas the flesh of the fox and quiquehatch are never eaten by those people, except when they are in the greatest distress, and then merely to save {251} life. Their reasons for this shall be given in a subsequent part of my Journal.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
The buffalo in those parts, I think, are in general much larger than the English black cattle; particularly the bulls, which, though they may not in reality be taller than the largest size of the English oxen, yet to me always appeared to be much larger. In fact, they are so heavy, that when six or eight Indians are in company at the skinning of a large bull, they never attempt to turn it over while entire, but when the upper side is skinned, they cut off the leg and shoulder, rip up the belly, take out all the intestines, cut off the head, and make it as light as possible, before they turn it to skin the under side. The skin is in some places of an incredible thickness, particularly about the neck, where it often exceeds an inch. The horns are short, black, and almost straight, but very thick at the roots or base.
The head of an old bull is of a great size and weight indeed: some which I have seen were so large, that I could not without difficulty lift them from the ground;[BC] {252} but the heads of the cows are much smaller. Their tails are, in general, about a foot long, though some appear to be, exclusive of the long brush of hair at the end, longer. The hair on the tails of the bulls is generally of a fine glossy black; but the brush at the end of the cows' tails is always of a rusty brown, probably owing to being stained with their urine.
The hair of the body is soft and curled, somewhat approaching to wool; it is generally of a sandy brown, and of an equal length and thickness all over the body: but on the head and neck it is much longer than it is on any other part.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
The Indians, after reducing all the parts of the skin to an equal thickness by scraping, dress them in the hair for clothing; when they are light, soft, warm, and durable. They also dress some of those skins into leather without the hair, of which they make tents and shoes; but the grain is remarkably open and spungy, by no means equal in goodness to that of the skin of the moose: nor am I certain that the curriers or tanners in Europe could manufacture these skins in such a manner as to render them of any considerable value; for, to appearance, they are of the same quality with the skins of the musk-ox, which are held in so little estimation in England, that when a number of them was sent home from Churchill Factory, the Company issued out orders the year following, that unless they could be purchased from the Indians at the rate of four {253} skins for one beaver, they would not answer the expence of sending home; a great proof of their being of very little value.
[Sidenote: 1772. January.]
The buffalos chiefly delight in wide open plains, which in those parts produce very long coarse grass, or rather a kind of small flags and rushes, upon which they feed; but when pursued they always take to the woods. They are of such an amazing strength, that when they fly through the woods from a pursuer, they frequently brush down trees as thick as a man's arm; and be the snow ever so deep, such is their strength and agility that they are enabled to plunge through it faster than the swiftest Indian can run in snow-shoes. To this I have been an eye-witness many times, and once had the vanity to think that I could have kept pace with them; but though I was at that time celebrated for being particularly fleet of foot in snow-shoes, I soon found that I was no match for the buffalos, notwithstanding they were then plunging through such deep snow, that their bellies made a trench in it as large as if many heavy sacks had been hauled through it. Of all the large beasts in those parts the buffalo is easiest to kill, and the moose are the most difficult; neither are the deer very easy to come at, except in windy weather: indeed it requires much practice, and a great deal of patience, to slay any of them, as they will by no means suffer a direct approach, unless the hunter be entirely sheltered by woods or willows. The flesh of the buffalo {254} is exceedingly good eating; and so entirely free from any disagreeable smell or taste, that it resembles beef as nearly as possible: the flesh of the cows, when some time gone with calf, is esteemed the finest; and the young calves, cut out of their bellies, are reckoned a great delicacy indeed. The hunch on their backs, or more properly on their shoulders, is not a large fleshy lump, as some suppose, but is occasioned by the bones that form the withers being continued to a greater length than in most other animals. The flesh which surrounds this part being so equally intermixed with fat and lean, is reckoned among the nicest bits. The weight, however, is by no means equal to what has been commonly reported. The tongue is also very delicate; and what is most extraordinary, when the beasts are in the poorest state, which happens regularly at certain seasons, their tongues are then very fat and fine; some say, fatter than when they are in the best order; the truth of which, I will not confirm. They are so esteemed here, however, that many of them are brought down to the Company's Factory at York as presents, and are esteemed a great luxury, probably for no other reason but that they are far-fetched; for they are by no means so large, and I think them not so fine, as a neat's tongue in England.
The moose[105] deer is also a large beast, often exceeding the largest horse both in height and bulk; but the length of the legs, the bulk of the body, the shortness of the neck, {255} and the uncommon length of the head and ears, without any appearance of a tail, make them have a very awkward appearance. The males far exceed the females in size, and differ from them in colour. The hair of the male, which is long, hollow, and soft, like that of a deer, is at the points nearly black, but a little way under the surface it is of an ash colour, and at the roots perfectly white. The hair of the female is of a sandy brown, and in some parts, particularly under the throat, the belly, and the flank, is nearly white at the surface, and most delicately so at the root.