Part 6

From about mid-September to nearly mid-October the flesh is counted upon as being in especially fine condition. In August, 1947, the animals had scarcely any fat, but by the middle of September the roasts were delicious. On October 8 the fresh strips of back fat from several bucks weighed about 5 to 10 lbs. each. A good many of these strips were put in a storehouse at Windy River for winter use. Charles Schweder remarked on having seen such a piece of fat 3 inches thick. At the rutting season, which commences about mid-October, the bucks become very poor and thin. They neglect their feeding and do not have full stomachs, as earlier in the season. Their fat becomes tinted with red, and the flesh becomes so musky that even the dogs and the Wolves disdain it. (See also the section on _Fat_.)

In some cases, when a local Caribou is being dressed, a part of the stomach is utilized as a receptacle into which the blood is dipped from the body cavity with the hands, in Eskimo style. The blood goes into the making of soup. The tripe also is relished. Once I found the children of our camp boiling up a section of the aorta as a delicacy. The ribs are commonly impaled on a stick thrust into the ground and roasted in front of an open fire. Leg bones may be cracked to render the raw marrow accessible; if they are cooked, the marrow may be blown out of the open ends with the mouth. The Padleimiut consume much of the meat in the raw state, and frequently wash it down with hot tea.

Much needless wounding and suffering of the Caribou, as well as waste of valuable resources, result from extensive use of such a small-calibred rifle as the .22. It may seem remarkable that such a large animal should succumb at all to such a slight weapon; but it does happen, usually after a number of shots. For example, an Eskimo boy secured 13 Caribou in a single day with a .22. On the other hand, many of the animals must get away from the hunter, only to die, after much suffering, at a considerable distance, where they are not likely to be recovered and utilized. The absolute outlawing of the use of the .22 on such large game would seem to be in order.

Once Charles Schweder shot a doe whose jaw had been broken by a bullet. A piece of the bone had "grown into the tongue" but the jaw was healed.

At the Windy River post, in the latter part of summer, portions of the caribou bodies are placed in the river not merely for refrigeration, but for protection from blowflies. Such meat is used mainly for the dogs. The Eskimos are said not to engage in this practice. Consequently, some of the caribou bodies lying about their camps become masses of maggots.

On the last day of September I observed how Charles Schweder prepared a fresh caribou body in the field and endeavored to protect it from beasts and birds. First he cut off the head with his hunting-knife; then the hind legs, which were severed very readily at the hip joint. Next he opened the body cavity and pulled out the viscera, setting aside a mass of fat (apparently the omentum). The hind legs were placed beneath the body, and the head was thrust into the opening of the abdominal cavity, as an obstacle to such scavengers as Herring Gulls, Rough-legged Hawks, Canada Jays, Ravens, and Foxes (_cf._ Downes, 1943: 227, 228). The skin was left on the body, and the whole was covered with small spruce tops.

An interesting device in the hunting of Caribou consists of "stone men" (Harper, 1949: 231, fig.). They are made of rocks, piled one upon another in such a manner as to faintly suggest a human figure. "Moss" (either moss or lichens) is added to some of them to enhance the human appearance. A considerable number may be seen in the Windy River area, where they are generally placed along the summits of the ridges. Construction was probably begun many years ago by natives, and has been continued by the present residents. When Caribou, in fleeing from a hunter, catch sight of these "stone men," they are likely to pause in suspicion of the figures, and to be deflected from their chosen course. This may give the hunter a chance to come within range of the animals. The Kazan River Eskimos are said to use converging lines of such rock piles to direct migrating Caribou to certain river-crossings, where the hunters lie in wait for them. Occasionally a single pile is erected merely to mark the spot where a caribou body is left until the hunter can return with a dogteam to fetch the meat.

[Transcriber's Note: "... stone men": Inuksuit (sing. inuksuk).]

On first securing one of the animals, the hunter makes a practice of cutting out the tongue and carrying it to camp in a pocket or a game-bag. On a subsequent trip, if there is sufficient snow on the ground, the meat is generally transported by dog sleigh or toboggan (_cf._ Harper, 1949: 231, fig.). Occasionally a hunter will carry it on his shoulder (fig. 4) or in a pack.

In all the Canadian North, as far as I am aware, the Windy River post is virtually the only place where summer transportation is accomplished by dog-drawn travois (fig. 5). This device, consisting of two trailing poles, with a small platform midway, is recognizable immediately by readers of Parkman's _Oregon Trail_ (1849), where its use by Indians of our Western Plains is mentioned again and again. The travois was introduced into this region by the late Charles Planchek?, a Czech? trapper of somewhat sinister repute, whose headquarters were at Putahow Lake. He was the "Eskimo Charlie" of Downes (1943: 160-161, pl.). In years gone by he took a travois with him on a visit to the Windy River area, and it was thereupon copied and subsequently used regularly by the Schweder family. Their Eskimo friends of the upper Kazan will occasionally borrow one, but I am not aware that they have made any travois of their own. During the summer the two younger boys of the Windy River post made a practice of hauling in caribou meat from the surrounding Barrens by means of travois.

In the latter part of summer some small pieces of caribou meat were occasionally laid on a stone for drying, in front of the door at the post. Other pieces were said to have been hung up in the air for the same purpose, without fire or smoke, out in the field where the animals were killed. Apparently blowflies did not pay much attention to this meat. No considerable quantity seemed to be preserved locally in this way. Three Caribou-eater Chipewyans from the south end of Nueltin Lake, who visited our camp in late October, were carrying dried meat with them as travel rations and eating it without cooking.

The larvae of the warble fly (_Oedemagena tarandi_), found beneath the skin of the Caribou, are relished by the Eskimos, being eaten apparently while alive and raw. The Eskimo boy of our camp continued this practice after his little sister had given it up. Hearne (1795: 197) reported the Indians as eating the warbles in his day.

Only a small proportion of the hides of the locally killed Caribou are preserved. A hide that would fetch only a dollar at Reindeer Lake would not be worth transporting more than 250 miles from Nueltin Lake. Hearne long ago (1795: 84) remarked on the remoteness of the hunting grounds from the trading posts as a barrier to trade in the skins; and this condition prevails to a large extent to the present day. Thus only such hides as are required for domestic use are kept. Tanning, while done by the Eskimos of the upper Kazan, is not undertaken by the residents on Windy River. Here the task of drying the hides is left mainly to the children of the camp. Most of them are pegged out on the summit of a gravelly ridge, wooden pegs being driven with a rock through slits in the edges of the skin (fig. 6). Now and then one is nailed to the outer wall of a log cabin (fig. 18).

One of the main uses of the hides is for winter clothing. The Windy River residents have their garments made by Eskimo women of the upper Kazan, whose tanning process leaves the fur intact. Early autumn hides, with new, comparatively short fur, are the ones in demand. The season for securing such hides is said to extend to mid-September. At that season the larvae of the warble fly have not developed far enough to have injured the hide appreciably. The long winter fur is much less suitable for clothing. In moderately cold weather a single coat (_attigi_), with the fur inside (fig. 16), is worn by the Eskimos. This coat, when made for a man, extends very little farther downward at the rear than at the front; but a woman's coat is considerably longer at the rear. The bottom is generally provided with a fringe consisting of small strips of caribou skin, perhaps 4 inches long and 1/16 inch wide. In mid-winter another coat, with the fur outside (fig. 15), is slipped on over the other. Both are provided with hoods. Trousers, with the fur outside, are cut rather short at the bottom; some such material as rope is passed around the waist, without belt loops, to hold the trousers up. Boots (_komik_) of tanned caribou skin (fig. 16), reaching nearly to the knees, with the fur inside, make exceptionally warm footgear in winter. An extra piece is sewed on the sole, with the fur outside, but the hairs soon wear off. The seams are sewed with sinew. Another sort of boot, for summer use, is made of untanned skin, without the fur, and is more or less waterproof. Mittens (_pahloot_) have the fur outside; the thumb piece, of a length suitable for a short Eskimo thumb, does not properly fit a white man.

In the autumn of 1947 the migrating Caribou did not reach the territory of the Chipewyans about the south end of Nueltin Lake till about November 1--by which time the fur had grown so long that it was not suitable for clothing. When I inquired of Charles Schweder how these natives managed under such circumstances, he replied that nowadays they use very little skin clothing--just manufactured clothing. Certainly the latter type was being worn by three men of this tribe that visited the Windy River post in late October. In this connection it is interesting to note that in November Charles brought to Windy River a bundle of fawn skins that he had secured from an Eskimo on the upper Kazan. Presently he traded them to a Cree halfbreed from the Putahow River, who was to have them made into a coat for himself. In years gone by the above-mentioned Chipewyans must have found some means of securing caribou skins for themselves in August or September; they could have accomplished this by moving to the northern part of Nueltin Lake, provided the animals had not reached the southern part at the proper season.

From Charles Schweder I learned that the Hudson's Bay Company acquires caribou skins (apparently tanned) from the Duck Lake Chipewyans at about a dollar apiece, puts them up in bales of perhaps 10 to 20 skins, and ships them by steamer from Churchill to Baffin Island or thereabouts, for use by the Eskimos. He had seen about 25 or 30 such bales being loaded on a steamer in September, 1947. This trade evidently results from the present scarcity of Caribou on Baffin Island (_cf._ Manning, 1943a: 47-50; Soper, 1944: 247-250; Banfield, 1949: 481). Moccasins of caribou skin, made by the Duck Lake Chipewyans, were on sale at Churchill.

The three Caribou-eater Chipewyans from the south end of Nueltin Lake brought mittens, gloves, and moccasins of caribou skin to trade at Windy River. Similar gloves were brought by a Cree halfbreed from the Putahow River.

At the Windy River post furred caribou skins served in upholstering the seat, back, and arms of a couple of home-made chairs. They were used also as mattresses or blankets, in the making of sleeping bags, and even as insulating material on the outside of the cabin (Harper, 1949: 226, 228, figs.). The Schweder boys also maintain tents of caribou skin at various points on their long trap-lines; they are much warmer than canvas tents, and require no outlay of cash. The skins are nailed on poles arranged in tepee form; the height of such a tent is about 10 feet, and the diameter 9 or 10 feet. There is a home-made stove inside, with the smoke-pipe projecting outside about halfway to the top of the tent.

The Eskimos of the Kazan River have large summer tents of caribou skin, and smaller ones of canvas. The former are the ones in which the drum dances are held. These Eskimos never make their winter houses wholly of snow, according to Charles Schweder, but use caribou skins for the roof.

In illustration of the primary importance of the Caribou to both primitive and civilized man in the Arctic and the sub-Arctic, the numerous cases of partial or complete starvation in the absence of Caribou may be cited. The chronicles of northern explorers are replete with them. A notable case is that of John Hornby and his two companions on the Thelon River in the winter of 1926-27 (Hoare, 1930: 25; Christian, 1937). In the autumn of 1946 only a small fraction of the normal caribou migration passed by the Eskimo camps on the upper Kazan River. These happy-go-lucky, utterly improvident people did not take steps to secure an alternative winter's supply of fish, and by the following spring eight out of the band of 27 persons had succumbed directly or indirectly to starvation. (It is suspected that several were accounted for by anthropophagy.) Women, children, and dogs were the victims; no adult male succumbed. The casualties would doubtless have been more numerous if Charles Schweder had not reported the plight of the band when he made a trip to Reindeer Lake in March. Thereupon the government shipped emergency rations by plane as far as Nueltin Lake, and Charles transported them from that point by sleigh to the Kazan. Meanwhile he rescued two of the orphan children, took them to the Windy River post, and in a few more months formally adopted them.

_Ethnological material from caribou products_

In addition to the utilization of caribou products for the primary purposes of food, clothing, and shelter, as discussed in preceding pages, certain other uses of an ethnological nature may be mentioned here.

Charles Schweder spoke of the former Eskimo use of splint bones from the legs of Caribou as needles, after a hole had been drilled or burned through the larger end. They are about the same length as a large darning needle. These people commonly use the back sinew as thread or as wrapping on tools, drums, and the like. I saw a piece of back sinew being dried for future use at the Windy River post.

Either lard or caribou fat serves as fuel for an "Eskimo candle"; the wick is a bit of rag or moss. The heat of the flame melts the fat where it is spread out in some small receptacle like a can cover. When our other means of illumination gave out at the Windy River post, I worked or wrote notes for many hours by the light of one of these candles. It gives approximately as much illumination as an ordinary tallow candle. One disadvantage of using caribou fat for this purpose is the considerable amount of smoke that it produces.

The Eskimos make odd use of an antler as a brake for a sleigh, to prevent the harnessed dogs from running after any Caribou they may sight; on other occasions it retards the sleigh in descending a hill. Such an antler, that I found at the Windy River post, is notched near the base; a rope or thong, 2 or 3 feet in length, is fastened at one end to this notch, and at the other to the side of the sleigh. To apply the brake, the driver simply presses down the points of the antler into the snow or ice.

The drums used in the ceremonial dances of the Kazan River Eskimos are made of a piece of caribou skin stretched tightly over a circular frame of spruce and fastened in place with caribou sinew. They are about 3 feet in diameter.

In an Eskimo fish spear from the upper Kazan River an iron barb on one of the prongs is supported by a small piece of caribou antler and fastened with back sinew. The two large lateral prongs, of metal, are tied to the wooden shaft of the spear with braided sinew.

Two snow-knives have handles of antler, about 10 and 11 inches in length. One of the handles has been planed down, and is wrapped with sinew.

The handle of another implement, used in cleaning out grains of wood from a hole being drilled in wood, is also a piece of antler.

A woman's knife, or _ooloo_, has a section of antler for a handle.

Strands of beads, used either for an ear pendant or for ornaments at the peak of a hood, have a caribou incisor fastened at the tip. The opposite end of the pendant is provided with a thin strip of caribou hide for fastening to a perforated ear lobe.

The willow stems of pipes are wrapped with back sinew.

Antler and sinew went into the making (by Anoteelik) of a "ring and pin" game.

_References on relations to Eskimos and Indians._--Isham, 1949 (1743): 152-154; Dobbs, 1744: 19; Hearne, 1795: 35, 78, 80-84, 96, 119, 195-197, 297, 316-319, 321-325; Franklin, 1823: 243-244; Lyon, 1824: 119, 123, 130, 144, 198, 229, 238, 241, 282, 311-317, 324, 327, 336; Parry, 1824: 289, 380, 403, 494-497, 505, 508, 512, 537; Richardson, "1825": 330, 331; Franklin and Richardson, 1828: 200, 275; Richardson, 1829: 242-244, 245-249; John Ross, 1835a: 243-244, 252, 352, 512, 537; J. C. Ross, in John Ross, 1835b: xvii; Richardson, in Back, 1836: 499; Simpson, 1843: 76, 208, 312, 347, 355; J. McLean, 1932 (1849): 195, 359; Richardson, 1852: 290; J. Anderson, 1856: 24, and 1857: 321; Armstrong, 1857: 149, 154, 155, 166, 194; M'Clintock, 1860?: 212; Richardson, 1861: 274; B. R. Ross, 1861: 439-440; Kennicott, in Anonymous, 1869: 170; Kumlien, 1879: 19, 23-25, 36-37, 54; Caton, 1881: 366-371; Gilder, 1881: 11, 23, 25, 26, 28, 43, 50, 59, 61, 64, 67, 71, 137-146, 154, 245-255; Nourse, 1884: 220, 232; Schwatka, 1885: 59-86; Boas, 1888: 419, 429, 461-462, 501-503, 508-509, 522, 555-560; Bompas, 1888: 61, 100; Collinson, 1889: 277; MacFarlane, 1890: 32-34, 38; Pike, 1917 (1892): 51-56, 59-60, 82, 209; J. B. Tyrrell, 1892: 128-130; Dowling, 1893: 107; J. B. Tyrrell, 1894: 445, 1895: 440-444, and 1897: 122, 126-127, 131-132, 151, 166-167; Russell, 1895: 49-51, and 1898: 91, 134, 168-172, 176, 178, 187-189, 227-229; Whitney, 1896: 161, 175, 176, 213, 237, 240, 242, 262; J. W. Tyrrell, 1908 (1898): 80-81, 123-141, 241; Jones, 1899: 342, 429; Hanbury, 1900: 64, 65; J. M. Bell, 1901a: 16, and 1901b: 252, 255, 258; Boas, 1901: 52, 54, 81, 102, 107, and 1907: 465, 493, 501; W. J. McLean, 1901: 5; Elliot, 1902: 276-279; J. W. Tyrrell, 1924 (1902): 28, 37; Hanbury, 1904: 41, 43, 67, 70, 72, 75, 82, 114-115, 120, 121, 123, 137, 143; MacFarlane, 1905: 680-683; Amundsen, 1908, +1+: 120, 201, 237, 326-329, and +2+: 110; Preble, 1908: 137; Seton, 1911: 259-262; Cameron, 1912: 127, 309; Wheeler, 1912: 199-200; R. M. Anderson, 1913a: 5, 6, 8, and 1913b: 502-505; Stefánsson, 1913a: 105, and 1913b: 203, 215, 221, 281, 337-338, and 1914: 48, 56-59, 97, 137, 139-141, 147-148, 150, 296, 353; Hornaday, 1914, +2+: 97, 100; Wheeler, 1914: 52, 56, 58; Nelson, 1916: 460-461; Thompson, 1916: 19, 99; J. B. Tyrrell, in Thompson, 1916: 16; Buchanan, 1920: 113-151; R. M. Anderson, in Stefánsson, 1921: 743, 750; Hewitt, 1921: 58, 59, 64-66; Stefánsson, 1921: 401-402; Jenness, 1922: 47, 48, 61, 78-81, 97, 100-103, 124, 127-142, 148-151, 182-189, 244, 248, 249; Blanchet, 1925: 34, 1926a: 98, and 1926b: 47; Preble, 1926: 121; Craig, 1927: 22; Henderson, 1927: 40; Rasmussen, 1927: 5, 23, 59-60, 65, 67, 68, 73-76, 103-106, 145, 166-167, 245, 246; Anthony, 1928: 532; Kindle, 1928: 72-73; Birket-Smith, 1929 (1): 9, 47, 52-53, 56, 57, 86, 89, 90, 94, 96, 98, 101, 102, 104, 106-112, 133-144, 171, 186, 191, 196, 199-223, 232, 239-251, 262, 263, 268-271; Seton, 1929, +3+: 111-122, 133-134; Blanchet, 1930: 50-51, 53; Critchell-Bullock, 1930: 193, and 1931: 32-33; Kitto, 1930: 87-88, 90; Mallet, 1930: 13, 32, 85, 87, 89, 90, 92, 95, 102, 116, 131-140; Jacobi, 1931: 156, 157, 159; Harper, 1932: 30, 31; Jenness, 1932: 47, 48, 51, 58, 59, 75, 406-408, 411, 412, 414, 415; Munn, 1932: 191-192, 210, 214, 255, 271, 278; Sutton and Hamilton, 1932: 80-83, 86-87; Weyer, 1932: 38, 39; Birket-Smith, 1933: 100; Ingstad, 1933: 118, 122, 135, 139, 162-163, 167, 186-187, 247, 253-254, 257-259; R. M. Anderson, 1934a: 81, and 1937: 103; Godsell, 1934: 273-276, and 1937: 288; Hornby, 1934: 105; Birket-Smith, 1936: 90, 91, 110, 111, 115-116; Hamilton, 1939: 246, 352, 359; Clarke, 1940: 5-9, 84, 110, 112; G. M. Allen, 1942: 297; Manning, 1942: 29, 1943a: 47, 50, and 1943b: 103; Downes, 1943: 215, 227-228, 261-262; Soper, 1944: 248-250; Wright, 1944: 185, 187, 188, 193; Rand, 1948b: 149; Yule, 1948: 288; Banfield, 1949: 477, 478, 481, and 1951a: 1, 11, 14-15, 42-50; Harper, 1949: 226, 230, 231; Hoffman, 1949: 12; Polunin, 1949: 230; Scott, 1951: 127; Anonymous, 1952: 264.

_References on relations to civilized man._--Kennicott, in Anonymous, 1869: 166; Schwatka, 1885: 59-86; A. J. Stone, 1900: 57; Grant, 1903: 186; Cameron, 1912: 309; R. M. Anderson, 1913a: 5, 6; 1913b: 504, and 1938: 400; Stefánsson, 1913b: 27; Hornaday, 1914, +2+: 100; Wheeler, 1914: 56; Hewitt, 1921: 11-12, 59; Critchell-Bullock, 1931: 33; Godsell, 1937: 288; G. M. Allen, 1942: 298-299; Manning, 1942: 28; [U.S.] War Department, 1944: 77; Harper, 1949: 239; Banfield, 1951a: 1, 14-15.

_Relations to Black Bears_