Part 32
Notwithstanding the pacific and friendly terms which begin to dawn between those two tribes at Knapp's Bay, Navel's Bay, and Whale Cove, farther North hostilities continue, and most barbarous murders are perpetrated: and the only protection the Esquimaux have from the fury of their enemies, is their remote situation in the Winter, and their residing chiefly on islands and peninsulas in Summer, which renders them less liable to be surprised during that Season. But even this secluded life does not prevent the Northern Indians from harassing them greatly, and at times they are so closely pursued as to be obliged to leave most of their goods and utensils to be destroyed by their enemy; which must be a great loss, as these cannot be replaced but at the expence of much time and labour; and the want of them in the meantime must create much distress both to themselves and their families, as they can seldom procure any part of their livelihood without the assistance of a considerable apparatus.
In 1756, the Esquimaux at Knapp's Bay sent two of their youths to Prince of Wales's Fort in the sloop, and the Summer following they were carried back to their friends, loaded with presents, and much pleased with the treatment they received while at the Fort. In 1767, they again sent one from Knapp's Bay and one from Whale Cove; and though during their stay at the Fort they made a considerable progress both in the Southern Indian and the English languages, yet those intercourses have not been any ways advantageous to the Company, by increasing the trade from that quarter. In fact, the only satisfaction they have found for the great expence they have from time to time incurred, by introducing those strangers, is, that through the good conduct of their upper servants at Churchill River, they have at length so far humanized the hearts of those two tribes, that at present they can meet each other in a friendly manner; whereas, a few years since, whenever they met, each party premeditated the destruction of the other; and what made their war more shocking was, they never gave quarter: so that the strongest party always killed the weakest, without sparing either man, woman, or child.
It is but a few years ago that the sloop's crew who annually carried them all their wants, durst not venture on shore among the Esquimaux unarmed, for fear of being murdered; but latterly they are so civilized, that the Company's servants visit their tents with the greatest freedom and safety, are always welcome, and desired to partake of such provisions as they have: and knowing now our aversion from train-oil, they take every means in their power to convince our people that the victuals prepared for them is entirely free from it. But the smell of their tents, cooking-utensils, and other furniture, is scarcely less offensive than Greenland Dock. However, I have eaten both fish and venison cooked by them in so cleanly a manner, that I have relished them very much, and partaken of them with a good appetite.
[BS] Their ideas in this respect are founded on a principle one would not imagine. Experience has shewn them, that when a hairy deer-skin is briskly stroked with the hand in a dark night, it will emit many sparks of electrical fire, as the back of a cat will. The idea which the Southern Indians have of this meteor is equally romantic, though more pleasing, as they believe it to be the spirits of their departed friends dancing in the clouds; and when the _Aurora Borealis_ is remarkably bright, at which time they vary most in colour, form, and situation, they say, their deceased friends are very merry.
[BT] Afterwards Governor.
[BU] Master of the Churchill sloop.
[BV] I must here observe, that when we went to war with the Esquimaux at the Copper River in July 1771, it was by no means his proposal: on the contrary, he was forced into it by his countrymen. For I have heard him say, that when he first visited that river, in company with I-dot-le-aza, they met with several Esquimaux; and so far from killing them, were very friendly to them, and made them small presents of such articles as they could best spare, and that would be of most use to them. It is more than probable that the two bits of iron found among the plunder while I was there, were part of those presents. There were also a few long beads found among those people, but quite different from any that the Hudson's Bay Company had ever sent to the Bay; so that the only probable way they could have come by them, must have been by an intercourse with some of their tribe, who had dealings with the Danes in Davis's Straits. It is very probable, however, they might have passed through many hands before they reached this remote place. Had they had an immediate intercourse with the Esquimaux in Davis's Straits, it is natural to suppose that iron would not have been so scarce among them as it seemed to be; indeed the distance is too great to admit of it.
[BW] I have seen two Northern Indians who measured six feet three inches; and one, six feet four inches.
[BX] The same person was at Prince of Wales's Fort when the French arrived on the 8th of August 1782, and saw them demolish the Fort.
{358} CHAP. X.[124]
_An Account of the principal Quadrupeds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay.--The Buffalo, Moose, Musk-ox, Deer, and Beaver--A capital Mistake cleared up respecting the We-was-kish._
_Animals with Canine Teeth.--The Wolf--Foxes of various colours--Lynx, or Wild Cat--Polar, or White Bear--Black Bear--Brown Bear--Wolverene--Otter--Jackash--Wejack--Skunk--Pine Martin--Ermine, or Stote._
_Animals with cutting Teeth.--The Musk Beaver--Porcupine--Varying Hare--American Hare--Common Squirrel--Ground Squirrel--Mice of various Kinds,--and the Castor Beaver._
_The Pinnated Quadrupeds with finlike Feet, found in Hudson's Bay, are but three in number,_ viz. _the Walrus, or Sea-Horse,--Seal,--and Sea-Unicorn._
* * * * *
_The Species of Fish found in the Salt Water of Hudson's Bay are also few in number; being the Black Whale--White Whale--Salmon--and Kepling._
_Shell-fish, and empty Shells of several kinds, found on the Sea Coast near Churchill River._
* * * * *
_Frogs of various sizes and colours; also a great variety of Grubbs, and other Insects, always found in a frozen state during Winter, but when exposed to the heat of a slow fire, are soon re-animated._
_An Account of some of the principal Birds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay; as well those that only migrate there in Summer, as those that are known to brave the coldest Winters:--Eagles of various_ {359} _kinds--Hawks of various sizes and plumage--White or Snowy Owl--Grey or mottled Owl--Cob-a-dee-cooch--Raven--Cinerious Crow--Wood Pecker--Ruffed Grouse--Pheasant--Wood Partridge--Willow Partridge--Rock Partridge--Pigeon--Red-breasted Thrush--Grosbeak--Snow Bunting--White-crowned Bunting--Lapland Finch, two sorts--Lark--Titmouse--Swallow--Martin--Hopping Crane--Brown Crane--Bitron--Carlow, two sorts--Jack Snipe--Red Godwart--Plover--Black Gullemet--Northern Diver--Black-throated Diver--Red-throated Diver--White Gull--Grey Gull--Black-head--Pellican--Goosander--Swans of two species--Common Grey Goose--Canada Goose--White or Snow Goose--Blue Goose--Horned Wavy--Laughing Goose--Barren Goose--Brent Goose--Dunter Goose--Bean Goose._
_The Species of Water-Fowl usually called Duck, that resort to those Parts annually, are in great variety; but those that are most esteemed are, the Mallard Duck,--Long-tailed Duck,--Wigeon, and Teal._
* * * * *
_Of the Vegetable Productions as far North as Churchill River, particularly the most useful; such as the Berry-bearing Bushes, &c.--Gooseberry--Cranberry--Heathberry--Dewater-berry--Black Currans--Juniper-berry--Partridge-berry--Strawberry--Eye-berry-- Blue-Berry--and a small species of Hips._
_Burridge--Coltsfoot--Sorrel--Dandelion._
_Wish-a-capucca--Jackashey-puck--Moss of various sorts--Grass of several kinds--and Vetches._
_The Trees found so far North near the Sea, consist only of Pines--Juniper--Small Poplar--Bush-willows--and Creeping Birch._
Before I conclude this work, it may not be improper to give a short account of the principal Animals that frequent the high Northern latitudes, though most of them are found also far to the Southward, and consequently {360} in much milder climates. The buffalo, musk-ox, deer, and the moose,[125] have been already described in this Journal. I shall therefore only make a few remarks on the latter, in order to rectify a mistake, which, from wrong information, has crept into Mr. Pennant's Arctic Zoology. In page 21 of that elegant work, he classes the Moose with the We-was-kish, though it certainly has not any affinity to it.
The We-was-kish,[126] or as some (though improperly) call it, the Waskesse, is quite a different animal from the moose, being by no means so large in size. The horns of the We-was-kish are something similar to those of the common deer, but are not palmated in any part. They stand more upright, have fewer branches, and want the brow-antler. The head of this animal is so far from being like that of the Moose, that the nose is sharp, like the nose of a sheep: indeed, the whole external appearance of the head is not very unlike that of an ass. The hair is usually of a sandy red; and they are frequently called by the English who visit the interior parts of the country, red deer. Their flesh is tolerable eating; but the fat is as hard as tallow, and if eaten as hot as possible, will yet chill in so short a time, that it clogs the teeth, and sticks to the roof of the mouth, in such a manner as to render it very disagreeable. In the Spring of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, I had thirteen sledge-loads of this meat brought to Cumberland House in one day, and also two of the heads of this animal unskinned, but the horns {361} were chopped off; a proof of their wearing them the whole Winter. They are the most stupid of all the deer kind, and frequently make a shrill whistling, and quivering noise, not very unlike the braying of an ass, which directs the hunter to the very spot where they are. They generally keep in large herds, and when they find plenty of pasture, remain a long time in one place. Those deer are seldom an object of chace with the Indians bordering on Basquiau, except when moose and other game fail. Their skins, when dressed, very much resemble that of the moose, though they are much thinner, and have this peculiar quality, that they will wash as well as shamoy leather; whereas all the other leathers and pelts dressed by the Indians, if they get wet, turn quite hard, unless great care be taken to keep constantly rubbing them while drying.
The person who informed Mr. Pennant that the we-was-kish and the moose are the same animal, never saw one of them; and the only reason he had to suppose it, was the great resemblance of their skins: yet it is rather strange, that so indefatigable a collector of Natural History as the late Mr. Andrew Graham, should have omitted making particular enquiry about them: for any foreign Indian, particularly those that reside near Basquiau, could easily have convinced him to the contrary.
{362} _Animals with Canine Teeth._
[Sidenote: Wolves.]
WOLVES[127] are frequently met with in the countries West of Hudson's Bay, both on the barren grounds and among the woods, but they are not numerous; it is very uncommon to see more than three or four of them in a herd. Those that keep to the Westward, among the woods, are generally of the usual colour, but the greatest part of those that are killed by the Esquimaux are perfectly white. All the wolves in Hudson's Bay are very shy of the human race, yet when sharp set, they frequently follow the Indians for several days, but always keep at a distance. They are great enemies to the Indian dogs, and frequently kill and eat those that are heavy loaded, and cannot keep up with the main body. The Northern Indians have formed strange ideas of this animal, as they think it does not eat its victuals raw; but by a singular and wonderful sagacity, peculiar to itself, has a method of cooking them without fire. The females are much swifter than the males; for which reason the Indians, both Northern and Southern, are of opinion that they kill the greatest part of the game.
This cannot, however, always be the case; for to the North of Churchill they, in general, live a forlorn life all the Winter, and are seldom seen in pairs till the Spring, when they begin to couple; and generally keep in pairs all the Summer. They always burrow under-ground to bring forth their young; and though it is natural {363} to suppose them very fierce at those times, yet I have frequently seen the Indians go to their dens, and take out the young ones and play with them. I never knew a Northern Indian hurt one of them: on the contrary, they always put them carefully into the den again; and I have sometimes seen them paint the faces of the young Wolves with vermillion, or red ochre.
[Sidenote: Foxes of various colours.]
The ARCTIC FOXES[128] are in some years remarkably plentiful, but generally most so on the barren ground, near the sea-coast. Notwithstanding what has been said of this animal only visiting the settlements once in five or seven years,[129] I can affirm there is not one year in twenty that they are not caught in greater or less numbers at Churchill; and I have known that for three years running, not less than from two hundred to four hundred have been caught each year within thirty miles of the Fort. They always come from the North along the coast, and generally make their appearance at Churchill about the middle of October, but their skins are seldom in season till November; during that time they are never molested, but permitted to feed round the Fort, till by degrees they become almost domestic. The great numbers of those animals that visit Churchill River in some years do not all come in a body, as it would be impossible for the fourth part of them to find subsistence by the way; but when they come near the Fort, the carcasses of dead whales lying along the shores, and the skin and other offal, after boiling the oil, {364} afford them a plentiful repast, and prove the means of keeping them about the Fort till, by frequent reinforcements from the Northward, their numbers are so far increased as almost to exceed credibility.
When their skins are in season, a number of traps and guns are set, and the greatest part of them are caught in one month, though some few are found during the whole Winter. I have frequently known near forty killed in one night within half a mile of Prince of Wales's Fort; but this seldom happens after the first or second night. When Churchill River is frozen over near the mouth, the greatest part of the surviving white Foxes cross the river, and direct their course to the Southward, and in some years assemble in considerable numbers at York Fort and Severn River. Whether they are all killed, or what becomes of those which escape, is very uncertain; but it is well known that none of them ever migrate again to the Northward. Besides taking a trap so freely, they are otherwise so simple, that I have seen them shot off-hand while feeding, the same as sparrows in a heap of chaff, sometimes two or three at a shot. This sport is always most successful in moon-light nights; for in the daytime they generally keep in their holes among the rocks, and under the hollow ice at high-water-mark.
These animals will prey on each other as readily as on any other animals they find dead in a trap, or wounded by gun; which renders them so destructive, that I have known upwards of one hundred and twenty Foxes of different {365} colours eaten, and destroyed in their traps by their comrades in the course of one Winter, within half a mile of the Fort.
The Naturalists seem still at a loss to know their breeding-places, which are doubtless in every part of the coast they frequent. Several of them breed near Churchill, and I have seen them in considerable numbers all along the West coast of Hudson's Bay, particularly at Cape Esquimaux, Navel's Bay, and Whale Cove, also on Marble Island; so that with some degree of confidence we may affirm, that they breed on every part of the coast they inhabit during the Summer season. They generally have from three to five young at a litter; more I never saw with one old one. When young they are all over almost of a sooty black, but as the fall advances, the belly, sides, and tail turn to a light ash-colour; the back, legs, some part of the face, and the tip of the tail, changes to a lead colour; but when the Winter sets in they become perfectly white: the ridge of the back and the tip of the tail are the last places that change to that colour; and there are few of them which have not a few dark hairs at the tip of the tail all the Winter. If taken young, they are easily domesticated in some degree, but I never saw one that was fond of being caressed; and they are always impatient of confinement.
[Sidenote: The White Fox.]
WHITE FOXES, when killed at any considerable distance from the sea coast, (where they cannot possibly get any {366} thing to prey upon, except rabbits, mice, and partridges,) are far from being disagreeable eating. And on Marble Island I have shot them when they were equal in flavour to a rabbit; probably owing to their feeding entirely on eggs and young birds; but near Churchill River they are as rank as train-oil.
[Sidenote: The Lynx, or Wild Cat.]
The LYNX, or WILD CAT,[130] is very scarce to the North of Churchill; but is exactly the same as those which are found in great plenty to the South West. I have observed the tracks of this animal at Churchill, and seen them killed, and have eaten of their flesh in the neighbourhood of York Fort. The flesh is white, and nearly as good as that of a rabbit. They are, I think, much larger than that which is described in the Arctic Zoology; they never approach near the settlements in Hudson's Bay, and are very destructive to rabbits; they seldom leave a place which is frequented by rabbits till they have nearly killed them all.
[Sidenote: The Polar or White Bear.]
The POLAR or WHITE BEAR,[131] though common on the sea-coast, is seldom found in its Winter retreats by any of our Northern Indians, except near Churchill River; nor do I suppose that the Esquimaux see or kill any of them more frequently during that season; for in the course of many years residence at Churchill River, I scarcely ever saw a Winter skin brought from the Northward by the sloop. Probably the Esquimaux, if they kill any, may {367} reserve the skins for their own use; for at that season their hair is very long, with a thick bed of wool at the bottom, and they are remarkably clean and white. The Winter is the only season that so oily a skin as the Bear's can possibly be cleaned and dressed by those people, without greasing the hair, which is very unpleasant to them; for though they eat train-oil, _&c._ yet they are as careful as possible to keep their clothes from being greased with it. To dress one of those greasy skins in Winter, as soon as taken from the beast, it is stretched out on a smooth patch of snow, and there staked down, where it soon freezes as hard as a board: while in that state, the women scrape off all the fat, till they come to the very roots of the hair. It is sometimes permitted to remain in that position for a considerable time; and when taken from the snow, is hung up in the open air. The more intense the frost, the greater is its drying quality; and by being wafted about by the wind, with a little scraping, it in time becomes perfectly supple, and both pelt and hair beautifully white. Drying deer, beaver, and otter skins, in this manner render their pelts very white, but not supple; probably owing to the close texture and thickness of their skins; whereas the skin of the bear, though so large an animal, is remarkably thin and spungy.[BY]
[Sidenote: The Black Bear.]
{368} BLACK BEARS[132] are not very numerous to the North West of Churchill. Their manner of life is the same as the rest of the species, though the face of the country they {369} inhabit, differs widely from the more mild climates. In Summer they proul about in search of berries, _&c._ and as the Winter approaches, retire to their dens, which are always under-ground; and generally, if not always, on the side of a small hillock. The Bears that inhabit the Southern parts of America are said to take up their Winter abode in hollow trees; but I never saw any trees in my Northern travels, that could afford any such shelter.
The places of retreat of those Bears that burrow under-ground are easily discovered in Winter, by the rime that hangs about the mouth of the den; for let the snow be ever so deep, the heat and breath of the animal prevents the mouth of the den from being entirely closed up. They generally retire to their Winter quarters before the snow is of any considerable depth, and never come abroad again (unless disturbed) till the thaws are considerable, which in those high latitudes is seldom till the latter end of March, or the beginning of April; so that the few Black Bears that inhabit those cold regions may be said to subsist for four months at least without food. I have been present at the killing [of] two of them in Winter; and the Northern Indian method is similar to that said to be in use among the Kamtschatkans; for they always blocked up the mouth of the den with logs of wood, then broke open the top of it, and killed the animal either with a spear or a gun; but the latter method is reckoned both cowardly and wasteful, as it is not possible for the Bear either to make its escape, or to do the Indians the least injury. {370} Sometimes they put a snare about the Bear's neck, and draw up his head close to the hole, and kill him with a hatchet. Though those animals are but scarce to the North of Churchill, yet they are so numerous between York Fort and Cumberland House, that in one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four I saw eleven killed in the course of one day's journey, but their flesh was abominable. This was in the month of June, long before any fruit was ripe, for the want of which they then fed entirely on water insects, which in some of the lakes we crossed that day were in astonishing multitudes.[BZ][133]
The method by which the Bears catch those insects is by swimming with their mouths open, in the same manner as the whales do, when feeding on the sea-spider. There was not one of the Bears killed that day, which had not its stomach as full of those insects (only) as ever a hog's was with grains, and when cut open, the stench from them was intolerable. I have, however, eaten of some killed at that early season which were very good; {371} but they were found among the woods, far from the places where those insects haunt, and had fed on grass and other herbage. After the middle of July, when the berries begin to ripen, they are excellent eating, and so continue till January or February following; but late in the Spring they are, by long fasting, very poor and dry eating.