A Journey to the Northern Ocean

by Samuel Hearne

  One of those strangers had about forty beaver skins, with which he intended to pay Matonabbee an old debt; but one of the other Indians seized the whole, notwithstanding he knew it to be in fact Matonabbee’s property. This treatment, together with many other insults, which he had received during my abode with him, made him renew his old resolution of leaving his own country, and going to reside with the Athapuscow Indians.

  As the most interesting part of my journey was now over, I did not think it necessary to interfere in his private affairs; and therefore did not endeavour to influence him either one way or the other: out of complaisance, therefore, rather than any thing else, I told him that I thought such behaviour very uncourteous, especially in a man of his rank and dignity. As to the reason of his determination, I did not think it worth while to enquire into it; but, by his discourse with the other Indians, I soon understood that they all intended to make an excursion into the country of the Athapuscow Indians, in order to kill moose and beaver. The former of those animals are never found in the Northern Indian territories; and the latter are so scarce in those Northern parts, that during the whole Winter of one thousand seven hundred and seventy, I did not see more than two beaver houses. Martins are also scarce in those parts; for during the above period, I do not think that more than six or eight were killed by all the Indians in my company. This exceedingly small number, among so many people, may with great truth be attributed to the indolence of the Indians, and the wandering life which they lead, rather than to the great scarcity of the martins. It is true, that our moving so frequently from place to place, did at times make it not an object worth while to build traps; but had they taken the advantage of all favourable opportunities, and been possessed of half the industry of the Company’s servants in the Bay, they might with great ease have caught as many hundreds, if not some thousands; and when we consider the extent of ground which we walked over in that time, such a number would not have been any proof of the martins being very plentiful.

  Except a few martins; wolves, quiquehatches, foxes, and otters, are the chief furrs to be met with in those parts, and few of the Northern Indians chuse to kill either the wolf or the quiquehatch, under a notion that they are something more than common animals. Indeed, I have known some of them so bigotted to this opinion, that having by chance killed a quiquehatch by a gun which had been set for a fox, they have left it where it was killed, and would not take off its skin. Notwithstanding this silly notion, which is too frequently to be observed among those people, it generally happens that there are some in every gang who are less scrupulous, so that none of those furrs are ever left to rot; and even those who make a point of not killing the animals themselves, are ready to receive their skins from other Indians, and carry them to the Fort for trade.

  October 30th — By the thirtieth of October, all our clothing, snow-shoes, and temporary sledges, being completed, we once more began to prepare for moving; and on the (November 1st) following day set out, and walked five or six miles to the Southward.

  November 1st–5th — From the first to the fifth of November we walked on the ice of a large lake, which, though very considerable both in length and breadth, is not distinguished by any general name; on which account I gave it the name of No Name Lake. On the South side of this lake we found some wood, which was very acceptable, being the first that we had seen since we let Point Lake.

  No Name Lake is about fifty miles long from North to South, and, according to the account of the Indians, is thirty-five miles wide from East to West. It is said to abound with fine fish; but the weather at the time we crossed it was so cold, as to render it impossible to sit on the ice any length of time to angle. A few exceedingly fine trout, and some very large pike, however, were caught by my companions.

  When we arrived on the South side of the above lake, we shaped our course to the South West; and though the weather was in general very cold, yet as we every night found tufts of wood, in which we could pitch our tents, we were enabled to make a better defence against the weather, than we had had it in our power to do for some time past.

  November 10th — On the tenth of November, we arrived at the edge of the main woods; at which time the Indians began to make proper sledges, some snow-shoes, etc. after which we proceeded again to the South West. But deer and all other kinds of game were so scarce the whole way, that, except a few partridges, nothing was killed by any in company: we had, nevertheless, plenty of the provision which had been prepared at Point Lake.

  20th — On the twentieth of the same month, we arrived at Anaw’d Whoie or the Indian Lake. In our way we crossed part of Methy Lake, and walked near eighty miles on a small river belonging to it, which empties itself into the Great Athapuscow Lake.(2) While we were walking on the above little river, the Indians set fishing-nets under the ice every night; but their labour was attended with so little success, that all they caught served only as a delicacy, or to make a little change in our diet; for the quantity was too trifling to occasion any considerable saving of our other provisions.

  Anaw’d Lake, though so small as not to exceed twenty miles wide in the broadest part, is celebrated by the natives for abounding with plenty of fish during the Winter; accordingly the Indians set all their nets, which were not a few, and met with such success, that in about ten days the roes only were as much as all the women could haul after them.

  Tittimeg and barble, with a few small pike, were the only fish caught at this part; the roes of which, particularly those of the tittimeg, are more esteemed by the Northern Indians, to take with them on a journey, than the fish itself; for about two pounds weight of these roes, when well bruised, will make near four gallons of broth, as thick as common burgoe; and if properly managed, will be as white as rice, which makes it very pleasing to the eye, and no less agreeable to the palate.

  The land round this lake is very hilly, though not mountainous, and chiefly consists of rocks and loose stones; there must, however, be a small portion of soil on the surface, as it is in most parts well clothed with tall poplars, pines, fir, and birch; particularly in the vallies, where the poplars, pine, and birch seem to thrive best; but the firs were as large, and in as flourishing a state, on the very summit of the hills, as in any other part.

  Rabbits were here so plentiful, particularly on the South and South East side of the lake, that several of the Indians caught twenty or thirty in a night with snares; and the wood-partridges were so numerous in the fir trees, and so tame, that I have known an Indian kill near twenty of them in a day with his bow and arrows. The Northern Indians call this species of the partridge Day; and though their flesh is generally very black and bitter, occasioned by their feeding on the brush of the fir tree, yet they make a variety, or change of diet, and are thought exceedingly good, particularly by the natives, who, though capable of living so hard, and at times eating very ungrateful food, are nevertheless as fond of variety as any people whom I ever saw; and will go as great lengths, according to their circumstances, to gratify their palates, as the greatest epicure in England. As a proof of this assertion, I have frequently known Matonabbee, and others who could afford it, for the sake of variety only, send some of their young men to kill a few partridges at the expence of more ammunition than would have killed deer sufficient to have maintained their families many days; whereas the partridges were always eaten up at one meal: and to heighten the luxury on these occasions, the partridges are boiled in a kettle of sheer fat, which it must be allowed renders them beyond all description finer flavoured than when boiled in water or common broth. I have also eat deer-skins boiled in fat, which were exceedingly good.

  As during our stay at Anaw,d Lake several of the Indians were sickly, the doctors undertook to administer relief; particularly to one man, who had been hauled on a sledge by his brother for two months. His disorder was the dead palsey, which affected one side, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. Besides this dreadful disorder, he had some inward complaints, with a total loss of appetite; so
that he was reduced to a mere skeleton, and so weak as to be scarcely capable of speaking. In this deplorable condition, he was laid in the center of a large conjuring-house, made much after the manner as that which has been already described. And that nothing might be wanting toward his recovery, the same man who deceived me in swallowing a bayonet in the Summer, now offered to swallow a large piece of board, about the size of a barrel-stave, in order to effect his recovery. The piece of board was prepared by another man, and painted according to the direction of the juggler, with a rude representation of some beast of prey on one side, and on the reverse was painted, according to their rude method, a resemblance of the sky.

  Without entering into a long detail of the preparations for this feat, I shall at once proceed to observe, that after the conjurer had held the necessary conference with his invisible spirits, or shadows, he asked if I was present; for he had heard of my saying that I did not see him swallow the bayonet fair: and on being answered in the affirmative, he desired me to come nearer; on which the mob made a lone for me to pass, and I advanced close to him, and found him standing at the conjuring-house door as naked as he was born.

  When the piece of board was delivered to him, he proposed at first only to shove one-third of it down his throat, and then walk round the company afterward to shove down another third; and so proceed till he had swallowed the whole, except a small piece of the end, which was left behind to haul it up again. When he put it to his mouth it apparently slipped down his throat like lightning, and only left about three inches sticking without his lips; after walking backwards and forwards three times, he hauled it up again, and ran into the conjuring-house with great precipitation. This he did to all appearance with great ease and composure; and notwithstanding I was all attention on the occasion, I could not detect the deceit; and as to the reality of its being a piece of wood that he pretended to swallow, there is not the least reason to doubt of it, for I had it in my hand, both before and immediately after the ceremony.

  To prevent a variety of opinions on this occasion, and to lessen the apparent magnitude of the miracle, as well as to give some colour to my skepticism, which might otherwise perhaps appear ridiculous, it is necessary to observe, that this feat was performed in a dark and excessively cold night; and although there was a large fire at some distance, which reflected a good light, yet there was great room for collusion: for though the conjurer himself was quite naked, there were several of his fraternity well-clothed, who attended him very close during the time of his attempting to swallow the board, as well as at the time of his hauling it up again.

  For these reasons it is necessary also to observe, that on the day preceding the performance of this piece of deception, in one of my hunting excursions, I accidentally came across the conjurer as he was sitting under a bush, several miles from the tents, where he was busily employed shaping a piece of wood exactly like that part which stuck out of his mouth after he had pretended to swallow the remainder of the piece. The shape of the piece which I saw him making was this,; which exactly resembled the forked end of the main piece, the shape of which was this, . So that when his attendants had concealed the main piece, it was easy for him to stick the small point into his mouth, as it was reduced at the small end to a proper size for the purpose.

  Similar proofs may easily be urged against his swallowing the bayonet in the Summer, as no person less ignorant than themselves can possibly place any belief in the reality of those feats; yet on the whole, they must be allowed a considerable share of dexterity in the performance of those tricks, and a wonderful deal of perseverance in what they do for the relief of those whom they undertake to cure.

  Not long after the above performance had taken place, some of the Indians began to ask me what I thought of it. As I could not have any plea for saying that I was far off, and at the same time not caring to affront them by hinting my suspicions of the deceit, I was some time at a loss for an answer: I urged, however, that impossibility of a man’s swallowing a piece of wood, that was not only much longer than his whole back, but nearly twice as broad as he could extend his mouth. On which some of them laughed at my ignorance, as they were pleased to call it; and said, that the spirits in waiting swallowed, or otherwise concealed, the stick, and only left the forked end apparently sticking out of the conjurer’s mouth. My guide, Matonabbee, with all his other good sense, was so bigotted to the reality of those performances, that he assured me in the strongest terms, he had seen a man, who was then in company, swallow a child’s cradle, with as much ease as he could fold up a piece of paper, and put it into his mouth; and that when he hauled it up again, not the mark of a tooth, or of any violence, was to be discovered about it.

  This story so far exceeded the feats which I had seen with the bayonet and board, that, for the sake of keeping up the farce, I began to be very inquisitive about the spirits which appear to them on those occasions, and their form; when I was told that they appeared in various shapes, for almost every conjurer had his peculiar attendant; but that the spirit which attended the man who pretended to swallow the piece of wood, they said, generally appeared to him in the shape of a cloud. This I thought very a-propos to the present occasion; and I must confess that I never had so thick a cloud thrown before my eyes before or since; and had it not been by accident, that I saw him make a counterpart to the piece of wood said to be swallowed, I should have been still at a loss how to account for so extraordinary a piece of deception, performed by a man who was entirely naked.

  As soon as our conjurer had executed the above feat, and entered the conjuring-house, as already mentioned, five other men and an old woman, all of whom were great professors of that art, stripped themselves quite naked and followed him, when they soon began to suck, blow, sing, and dance, round the poor paralytic; and continued so to do for three days and four nights, without taking the least rest or refreshment, not even so much as a drop of water. When these poor deluding and deluded people came out of the conjuring-house, their mouths were so parched with thirst as to be quite black, and their throats so sore, that they were scarcely able to articulate a single word, except those that stand for yes and no in their language.

  After so long an abstinence they were very careful not to eat or drink too much at one time, particularly for the first day; and indeed some of them, to appearance, were almost as bad as the poor man they had been endeavouring to relieve. But great part of this was feigned; for they lay on their backs with their eyes fixed, as if in the agonies of death, and were treated like young children; one person sat constantly by them, moistening their mouths with fat, and now and then giving them a drop of water. At other times a small bit of meat was put into their mouths, or a pipe held for them to smoke. This farce only lasted for the first day; after which they seemed to be perfectly well, except the hoarseness, which continued for a considerable time afterwards. And it is truly wonderful, though the strictest truth, that when the poor sick man was taken from the conjuring-house, he had not only recovered his appetite to an amazing degree, but was able to move all the fingers and toes of the side that had been so long dead. In three weeks he recovered so far as to be capable of walking, and at the end of six weeks went a hunting for his family. He was one of the persons(3) particularly engaged to provide for me during my journey; and after his recovery from this dreadful disorder, accompanied me back to Prince of Wales’s Fort in June one thousand seven hundred and seventy-two; and since that time has frequently visited the Factory, though he never had a healthy look afterwards, and at times seemed troubled with a nervous complaint. It may be added, that he had been formerly of a remarkable lively disposition; but after his last illness he always appeared thoughtful, sometimes gloomy, and, in fact, the disorder seemed to have changed his whole nature; for before that dreadful paralytic stroke, he was distinguished for his good-nature and benevolent disposition; was entirely free from every appearance of avarice; and the whole of his wishes seemed confined within the narrow limits of possessing as many goods as w
ere absolutely necessary, with his own industry, to enable him to support his family from season to season; but after this event, he was the most fractious, quarrelsome, discontented, and covetous wretch alive.

  Though the ordinary trick of these conjurers may be easily detected, and justly exploded, being no more than the tricks of common jugglers, yet the apparent good effect of their labours on the sick and diseased is not so easily accounted for. Perhaps the implicit confidence placed in them by the sick may, at times, leave the mind so perfectly at rest, as to cause the disorder to take a favourable turn; and a few successful cases are quite sufficient to establish the doctor’s character and reputation. But how this consideration could operate in the case I have just mentioned I am at a loss to say; such, however, was the fact, and I leave it to be accounted for by others.

  When these jugglers take a dislike to, and threaten a secret revenge on any person, it often proves fatal to that person; as, from a firm belief that the conjurer has power over his life, he permits the very thoughts of it to prey on his spirits, till by degrees it brings on a disorder which puts an end to his existence:(4) and sometimes a threat of this kind causes the death of a whole family; and that without any blood being shed, or the least apparent molestation being offered to any of the parties.

  December 1st — Having dried as many fish and fish-roes as we could conveniently take with us, we once more packed up our stores, and, on the first day of December, set out, and continued our course to the South West, leaving Anaw’d Lake on the South West. Several of the Indians being out of order, we made but short days journies.

  From the first to the thirteenth, we walked along a course of small lakes, joined to each other by small rivers, or creeks, that have communication with Anaw’d Lake.

  In our way we caught daily a few fish by angling, and saw many beaver houses; but these were generally in so difficult a situation, and had so many stones in the composition of them, that the Indians killed but few, and that at a great expence of labour and tools.