A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean Part 9

[Sidenote: 1770. August.]

After we had been some time in company with those Indians, I found that my guide seemed to hesitate about proceeding any farther; and that he kept pitching his tent backward and forward, from place to place, after the deer, and the rest of the Indians. On my asking him his reason for so doing; he answered, that as the year was too far advanced to admit of our arrival at the Coppermine River that Summer, he thought it more advisable to pa.s.s the Winter with some of the Indians then in company, and alleged that there could be no fear of our arriving at that river early in the Summer of one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one. As I could not {40} pretend to contradict him, I was entirely reconciled to his proposal; and accordingly we kept moving to the Westward with the other Indians. In a few days, many others joined us from different quarters; so that by the thirtieth of July we had in all above seventy tents, which did not contain less than six hundred persons. Indeed our encampment at night had the appearance of a small town; and in the morning, when we began to move, the whole ground (at least for a large s.p.a.ce all round) seemed to be alive, with men, women, children, and dogs. Though the land was entirely barren, and dest.i.tute of every kind of herbage, except wish-a-capucca[V] and moss, yet the deer were so numerous that the Indians not only killed as many as were sufficient for our large number, but often several merely for the skins, marrow, &c.

and left the carcases to rot, or to be devoured by the wolves, foxes, and other beasts of prey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF DUBAWNT LAKE AND PART OF DUBAWNT RIVER By J. B. and J. W. Tyrrell, 1893]

In our way to the Westward we came to several rivers, which, though small and of no note, were so deep as not to be fordable, particularly Doobaunt River.[W] On those occasions only, we had recourse to our canoe, which, though of the common size, was too small to carry more {41} than two persons; one of whom always lies down at full length for fear of making the canoe top-heavy, and the other sits on his heels and paddles. This method of ferrying over rivers, though tedious, is the most expeditious way these poor people can contrive; for they are sometimes obliged to carry their canoes one hundred and fifty, or two hundred miles, without having occasion to make use of them; yet at times they cannot do without them; and were they not very small and portable, it would be impossible for one man to carry them, which they are often obliged to do, not only the distance above mentioned, but even the whole Summer.

[Sidenote: 1770. August. 6th.]

[Sidenote: 8th.]

[Sidenote: 1770. August.]

The person I engaged at Cathawhachaga to carry my canoe proving too weak for the task, another of my crew was obliged to exchange loads with him, which seemed perfectly agreeable to all parties; and as we walked but short days' journies, and deer were very plentiful, all things went on very smoothly. Nothing material happened till the eighth, when we were near losing the quadrant and all our powder from the following circ.u.mstance: the fellow who had been released from carrying the canoe proving too weak, as hath been already observed, had, after the exchange, nothing to carry but my powder and his own trifles; the latter were indeed very inconsiderable, not equal in size and weight to a soldier's knapsack. As I intended to have a little sport with the deer, and knowing his load to be much lighter than mine, I gave him the quadrant {42} and stand to carry, which he took without the least hesitation, or seeming ill-will. Having thus eased myself for the present of a heavy and c.u.mbersome part of my load, I set out early in the morning with some of the Indian men; and after walking about eight or nine miles, saw, from the top of a high hill, a great number of deer feeding in a neighbouring valley; on which we laid down our loads and erected a flag, as a signal for the others to pitch their tents there for the night. We then pursued our hunting, which proved very successful. At night, however, when we came to the hill where we had left our baggage, I found that only part of the Indians had arrived, and that the man who had been entrusted with my powder and quadrant, had set off another way, with a small party of Indians that had been in our company that morning. The evening being far advanced, we were obliged to defer going in search of him till the morning, and as his track could not be easily discovered in the Summer, the Southern Indians, as well as myself, were very uneasy, fearing we had lost the powder, which was to provide us with food and raiment the remainder of our journey. The very uncourteous behaviour of the Northern Indians then in company, gave me little hopes of receiving a.s.sistance from them, any longer than I had wherewithal to reward them for their trouble and expense; for during the whole time I had been with them, not one of them had offered to give me the least morsel of victuals, without asking something in exchange, which, in general, was three times the value of {43} what they could have got for the same articles, had they carried them to the Factory, though several hundred miles distant.

So inconsiderate were those people, that wherever they met me, they always expected that I had a great a.s.sortment of goods to relieve their necessities; as if I had brought the Company's warehouse with me. Some of them wanted guns; all wanted ammunition, iron-work, and tobacco; many were solicitous for medicine; and others pressed me for different articles of clothing; but when they found I had nothing to spare, except a few nick-nacks and gewgaws, they made no scruple of p.r.o.nouncing me a "poor servant, noways like the Governor at the Factory, who, they said, they never saw, but he gave them something useful." It is scarcely possible to conceive any people so void of common understanding, as to think that the sole intent of my undertaking this fatiguing journey, was to carry a large a.s.sortment of useful and heavy implements, to give to all that stood in need of them; but many of them would ask me for what they wanted with the same freedom, and apparently with the same hopes of success, as if they had been at one of the Company's Factories. Others, with an air of more generosity, offered me furs to trade with at the same standard as at the Factory; without considering how unlikely it was that I should increase the enormous weight of my load with articles which could be of no more use to me in my present situation than they were to themselves.

[Sidenote: 1770. August.]

{44} This unaccountable behaviour of the Indians occasioned much serious reflection on my part; as it showed plainly how little I had to expect if I should, by any accident, be reduced to the necessity of depending upon them for support; so that, though I laid me down to rest, sleep was a stranger to me that night. The following beautiful lines of Dr. Young I repeated above an hundred times:

"Tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep; He, like the world, his ready visit pays Where fortune smiles; the wretched he forsakes: Swift on his downy pinions flies from woe, And lights on lids unsully'd with a tear."

--NIGHT THOUGHTS.

[Sidenote: 9th.]

[Sidenote: 1770. August.]

After pa.s.sing the night in this melancholy manner, I got up at daybreak, and, with the two Southern Indians, set out in quest of our deserter.

Many hours elapsed in fruitless search after him, as we could not discover a single track in the direction which we were informed he had taken. The day being almost spent without the least appearance of success, I proposed repairing to the place where I had delivered the quadrant to him, in hopes of seeing some track in the moss that might lead to the way the Indians were gone whom our deserter had accompanied.

On our arrival at that place, we found they had struck down toward a little river which they had crossed the morning before; and there, to our great joy, we found the quadrant and the bag of powder lying on the top of a high stone, but not a human being was to be seen. On {45} examining the powder, we found that the bag had been opened, and part of it taken out; but, notwithstanding our loss was very considerable, we returned with light hearts to the place at which we had been the night before, where we found our baggage safe, but all the Indians gone; they had, however, been so considerate as to set up marks to direct us what course to steer. By the time we had adjusted our bundles, the day was quite spent; seeing, however, a smoke, or rather a fire, in the direction we were ordered to steer, we bent our way towards it; and a little after ten o'clock at night came up with the main body of the Indians; when, after refres.h.i.+ng ourselves with a plentiful supper, the first morsel we had tasted that day, we retired to rest, which I at least enjoyed with better success than the preceding night.

[Sidenote: 11th.]

In the morning of the eleventh we proceeded on to the West, and West by South; but on the twelfth did not move. This gave us an opportunity of endeavouring to ascertain the lat.i.tude by a meridian alt.i.tude, when we found the place to be in 63 10' North nearly. It proving rather cloudy about noon, though exceeding fine weather, I let the quadrant stand, in order to obtain the lat.i.tude more exactly by two alt.i.tudes; but, to my great mortification, while I was eating my dinner, a sudden gust of wind blew it down; and as the ground where it stood was {46} very stoney, the bubble, the sight-vane, and vernier, were entirely broke to pieces, which rendered the instrument useless. In consequence of this misfortune I resolved to return again to the Fort, though we were then in the lat.i.tude of 63 10' North, and about 10 40' West longitude from Churchill River.[43]

FOOTNOTES:

[R] This was a proposal of the Governor's, though he well knew we could not do without their a.s.sistance, both for hauling our baggage, as well as dressing skins for clothing, pitching our tent, getting firing, &c.

[28] _Erethizon dorsatum_ (Linn.). Near the extreme northern limit in this quarter.--E. A. P.

[29] _Esox lucius_ Linn.--E. A. P.

[30] _Cristivomer namaycush_ Walbaum.--E. A. P.

[31] _Lota maculosa_ (Le Sueur).--E. A. P.

[S] The Methy are generally caught with a hook; and the best time for that sport is in the night; and if the night be dark, the better.

[32] He appears to have been camped at the rapid at the head or western end of Shethnanei Lake, which, according to the best information at present available, is about lat.i.tude 58 37' and longitude 4 west from Prince of Wales Fort.

[33] She-than-nee is clearly the same word as _Shethnanei_, a Chipewyan word meaning "high hill," and applied to a point on the north sh.o.r.e of Shethnanei Lake. In February 1891, the Rev. J. (Bishop) Lofthouse visited some Indians living at this place, accomplis.h.i.+ng the journey out from Churchill in seven days, and the return journey in six days.

[34] _Beralzoa_ means Shoal Lake.

[T] It is the general opinion of the Southern Indians, that when any of their tribe has been driven to the necessity of eating human flesh, they become so fond of it, that no person is safe in their company. And though it is well known they are never guilty of making this horrid repast but when driven to it by necessity, yet those who have made it are not only shunned, but so universally detested by all who know them, that no Indians will tent with them, and they are frequently murdered slyly. I have seen several of those poor wretches who, unfortunately for them, have come under the above description, and though they were persons much esteemed before hunger had driven them to this act, were afterward so universally despised and neglected, that a smile never graced their countenances: deep melancholy has been seated on their brows, while the eye most expressively spoke the dictates of the heart, and seemed to say, "Why do you despise me for my misfortunes? the period is probably not far distant, when you may be driven to the like necessity!"

In the Spring of the year 1775, when I was building c.u.mberland House, an Indian, whose name was Wapoos, came to the settlement, at a time when fifteen tents of Indians were on the plantations: they examined him very minutely, and found he had come a considerable way by himself, without a gun, or ammunition. This made many of them conjecture he had met with, and killed, some person by the way; and this was the more easily credited, from the care he took to conceal a bag of provisions, which he had brought with him, in a lofty pine-tree near the house.

Being a stranger, I invited him in, though I saw he had nothing for trade; and during that interview, some of the Indian women examined his bag, and gave it as their opinion that the meat it contained was human flesh: in consequence, it was not without the interference of some princ.i.p.al Indians, whose liberality of sentiment was more extensive than that in the others, the poor creature saved his life. Many of the men cleaned and loaded their guns; others had their bows and arrows ready; and even the women took possession of the hatchets, to kill this poor inoffensive wretch, for no crime but that of travelling about two hundred miles by himself, una.s.sisted by fire-arms for support in his journey.

[35] After leaving Lake Beralzoa, and before reaching Cathawhachaga River, he had crossed Thlewiaza or Little Fish River, Magnus Lake, and several other lakes and streams which are probably tributaries of the Tha-anne or Rocky-Bank River. Cathawhachaga is evidently the Kazan River which I descended in 1894, and it is interesting to note that while, in Hearne's time, it was within the hunting grounds of the Chipewyan Indians, at the time of my visit, one hundred and twenty-four years later, these Indians had left it, and its banks were inhabited entirely by Eskimos. Hearne doubtless crossed the river four miles above its discharge into Yath-kyed Lake, at a place called by the Eskimos Paleluah, where the stream is deep and narrow, and has but a moderate current. This is a well-known crossing place for the caribou on their annual migrations from the forest to the Arctic Coast and back again, and the Eskimos wait to spear them while they are swimming across the stream, just as the Indians doubtless waited when they occupied this country. Its position is in lat.i.tude 62 36' north, 28' south of the position a.s.signed to it by Hearne in the text, and the longitude 4 6'

west of Fort Prince of Wales. His map does not here agree with his description, but places this crossing of the Kazan River in lat.i.tude 62 40' north, very nearly in its true position. Cathawhachaga is a Chipewyan word meaning "where fish are plentiful in the river."

[36] Yath-kyed or White Snow Lake, at present known to the Eskimos as Haecoliguah.

[37] Whitefish, suckers, &c.

[38] See note on p. 87.

[39] The bay of Yath-kyed Lake, at which they seem to have stopped, is about eight miles north of Paleluah, where the river was crossed.

[U] To prepare meat in this manner, it requires no farther operation than cutting the lean parts of the animal into thin slices, and drying it in the sun, or by a slow fire, till, after beating it between two stones, it is reduced to a coa.r.s.e powder.

[40] Thewhagon or Yewuhikun is the Cree name for meat dried and beaten as above, and it is generally known throughout the fur countries as "pounded meat." When fat is plentiful this shredded dry meat is often packed into a sack made of hide, and boiling fat is poured over and into it. This mixture of dried meat and grease is called pemican.

[V] Wish-a-capucca is the name given by the natives to a plant which is found all over the country bordering on Hudson's Bay; and an infusion of it is used as tea by all the Europeans settled in that country.[41]

[41] This plant, _Ledum pal.u.s.tre_, commonly known as Labrador Tea, is common everywhere in the swamps throughout the forests of the north.

[W] This river, as well as all others deserving that appellation which I crossed during this part of my journey, ran to the East and North-East; and both them and the lakes were perfectly fresh, and inhabited by fish that are well known never to frequent salt water.[42]

[42] The brief description of this portion of his journey here given leaves his course quite indefinite, but his map shows that he travelled northward to the west of Yath-kyed Lake, across Nutarawit River, and thence around the north side of Napas.h.i.+sh (Nutarawit) Lake, and westward to within a short distance of the south sh.o.r.e of Aberdeen Lake. Thence he turned south-westward until he reached Dubawnt River, where it flows from Dubawnt Lake. It is there a beautiful stream of clear water flowing between gently sloping gra.s.sy banks. The lat.i.tude of this place is 63 33' north, while on his map it is shown as 63 38' north. As the lat.i.tudes of the crossing places of Kazan and Dubawnt Rivers, shown on his map, though differing greatly from his text, are very nearly correct, we may fairly a.s.sume that his intermediate positions are also reasonably accurate, and that his northern point of this journey, which he places in lat.i.tude 64 20', is not far from correct.

Dubawnt (properly To' bon') is a Chipewyan word meaning "water-along-the-sh.o.r.e." It is so called because the main body of the lake is at all seasons of the year covered with ice, though for a few days, or possibly weeks, in summer this ice is loosened from the sh.o.r.e, and there is a lane of water between the ice and the land.

[43] The position of the place where he broke his quadrant on the 12th of August is difficult to determine either from the text or from his map. A point in lat.i.tude 63 10' north and longitude 10 40' west from Churchill, which is the position given in the text, is shown on his map almost in the centre of Dubawnt Lake, and the map shows that after crossing the outlet of the lake his course was at a considerable distance to the north-west and west from it. It is probable therefore that his quadrant was broken on the great plain which lies to the west of the lake, and north-west of the Dubawnt River above the lake.

{47} CHAP. III.

Transactions from the Time the Quadrant was broken, till I arrived at the Factory