A Journey to the Northern Ocean

by Samuel Hearne

  Persons who attempt to take beaver in Winter should be thoroughly acquainted with their manner of life, otherwise they will have endless trouble to effect their purpose, and probably without success in the end; because they have always a number of holes in the banks, which serve them as places of retreat when any injury is offered to their houses; and in general it is in those holes that they are taken.

  When the beaver which are situated in a small river or creek are to be taken, the Indians sometimes find it necessary to stake the river across, to prevent them from passing; after which, they endeavour to find out all their holes or places of retreat in the banks. This requires much practice and experience to accomplish, and is performed in the following manner: every man being furnished with an ice-chisel, lashes it to the end of a small staff about four or five feet long; he then walks along the edge of the banks, and keeps knocking his chisels against the ice. Those who are well acquainted with that kind of work well know by the sound of the ice when they are opposite to any of the beavers’ holes or vaults. As soon as they suspect any, they cut a hole through the ice big enough to admit an old beaver; and in this manner proceed till they have found out all their places of retreat, or at least as many of them as possible. While the principal men are thus employed, some of the understrappers, and the women, are busy in breaking open the house, which at times is no easy task; for I have frequently known these houses to be five and six feet thick; and one in particular, was more then eight feet thick on the crown. When the beaver find that their habitations are invaded, they fly to their holes in the banks for shelter; and on being perceived by the Indians, which is easily done, by attending to the motion of the water, they block up the entrance with stakes of wood, and then haul the beaver out of its hole, either by hand, if they can reach it, or with a large hook made for that purpose, which is fastened to the end of a long stick.

  In this kind of hunting, every man has the sole right to all the beaver caught by him in the holes or vaults; and as this is a constant rule, each person takes care to mark such as he discovers, by sticking up the branch of a tree, or some other distinguishing post, by which he may know them. All that are caught in the house also are the property of the person who finds it.

  The same regulations are observed, and the same process used in taking beaver that are found in lakes and other standing waters, except it be that of staking the lake across, which would be both unnecessary and impossible. Taking beaver-houses in these situations is generally attended with less trouble and more success than in the former.

  The beaver is an animal which cannot keep under water long at a time; so that when their houses are broke open, and all their places of retreat discovered, they have but one choice left, as it may be called, either to be taken in their houses or their vaults: in general they prefer the latter; for where there is one beaver caught in the house, many thousands are taken in their vaults in the banks. Sometimes they are caught in nets, and in the Summer very frequently in traps. In Winter they are very fat and delicious; but the trouble of rearing their young, the thinness of their hair, and their constantly roving from place to place, with the trouble they have in providing against the approach of Winter, generally keep them very poor during the Summer season, at which time their flesh is but indifferent eating, and their skins of so little value, that the Indians generally singe them, even to the amount of many thousands in one Summer. They have from two to five young, at a time. Mr. Dobbs, in his Account of Hudson’s Bay, enumerates no less than eight different kinds of beaver; but it must be understood that they are all of one kind and species: his distinctions arise wholly from the different seasons of the year in which they are killed, and the different uses to which their skins are applied, which is the sole reason that they vary so much in value,

  Joseph Lefranc, or Mr. Dobbs for him, says, that a good hunter can kill six hundred beaver in one season, and can only carry one hundred to market. If that was really the case in Lefranc’s time, the canoes must have been much smaller than they are at present; for it is well known that the generality of the canoes which have visited the Company’s Factories for the last forty or fifty years, are capable of carrying three hundred beaver-skins with great ease, exclusive of the Indians luggage, provisions, etc.

  If ever a particular Indian killed six hundred beaver in one Winter, (which is rather to be doubted,) it is more than probable that many in his company did not kill twenty, and perhaps some none at all; so that by distributing them among those who had bad success, and others who had no abilities for that kind of hunting, there would be no necessity of leaving them to rot, or for singing them in the fire, as related by that Author. During my residence among the Indians I have known some individuals kill more beaver, and other heavy furrs, in the course of a Winter, than their wives could manage; but the overplus was never wantonly destroyed, but always given to their relations, or to those who had been less successful; so that the whole of the great hunters labours were always brought to the Factory. It is indeed too frequently a custom among the Southern Indians to singe many otters, as well as beaver; but this is seldom done, except in Summer, when their skins are of so little value as to be scarcely worth the duty; on which account it has been always thought impolitic to encourage the natives to kill such valuable animals at a time when their skins are not in season.

  The white beaver, mentioned by Lefranc, are so rare, that instead of being “blown upon by the Company’s Factors,” as he asserts, I rather doubt whether one-tenth of them ever saw one during the time of their residence in this country. In the course of twenty years experience in the countries about Hudson’s Bay, though I travelled six hundred miles to the West of the sea-coast, I never saw but one white beaver-skin, and it had many reddish and brown hairs along the ridge of the back, and the sides and belly were of a glossy silvery white. It was deemed by the Indians a great curiosity; and I offered three times the usual price for a few of them, if they could be got; but in the course of ten years that I remained there afterward, I could not procure another; which is a convincing proof there is no such thing as a breed of that kind, and that a variation from the usual colour is very rare.

  Black beaver, and that of a beautiful gloss, are not uncommon: perhaps they are more plentiful at Churchill than at any other Factory in the Bay; but it is rare to get more than twelve or fifteen of their skins in the course of one year’s trade.

  Lefranc, as an Indian, must have known better than to have informed Mr. Dobbs that the beaver have from ten to fifteen young at a time; or if he did, he must have deceived him willfully: for the Indians, by killing them in all stages of gestation, have abundant opportunities of ascertaining the usual number of their offspring. I have seen some hundreds of them killed at the seasons favourable for those observations, and never could discover more than six young in one female, and that only in two instances; for the usual number, as I have before observed is from two to five.

  Besides this unerring method of ascertaining the real number of young which any animal has at a time, there is another rule to go by, with respect to the beaver, which experience has proved to the Indians never to vary or deceive them, that is by dissection; for on examining the womb of a beaver, even at a time when not with young, there is always found a hardish round knob for every young she had at the last litter. This is a circumstance I have been particularly careful to examine, and can affirm it to be true, from real experience.

  Most of the accounts, nay I may say all the accounts now extant, respecting the beaver, are taken from the authority of the French who have resided in Canada; but those accounts differ so much from the real state and economy of all the beaver to the North of that place, as to leave great room to suspect the truth of them altogether. In the first place, the assertion that they have two doors to their house, one on the land-side, and the other next the water, is, as I have before observed, quite contrary to fact and common sense, as it would render their houses of no use to them, either as places of shelter from the incl
emency of the extreme cold in Winter, or as a retreat from their common enemy the quiquehatch. The only thing that could have made M. Du Pratz, and other French writers, conjecture that such a thing did exist, must have been from having seen some old beaver-houses which had been taken by the Indians; for they are always obliged to make a hole in one side of the house before they can drive them out; and it is more than probable that in so mild a climate as Canada, the Indians do generally make those holes on the land-side,(6) which without doubt gave rise to the suggestion.

  In respect to the beaver dunging in their houses, as some persons assert, it is quite wrong, as they always plunge into the water to do it. I am the better enabled to make this assertion, from having kept several of them till they became so domesticated as to answer to their name, and follow those to whom they were accustomed, in the same manner as a dog would do; and they were as much pleased at being fondled, as any animal I ever saw. I had a house built for them, and a small piece of water before the door, into which they always plunged when they wanted to ease nature; and their dung being of a light substance, immediately rises and floats on the surface, then separates and subsides to the bottom. When the Winter sets in so as to freeze the water solid, they still continue their custom of coming out of their house, and dunging and making water on the ice; and when the weather was so cold that I was obliged to take them into my house, they always went into a large tub of water which I set for that purpose: so that they made not the least dirt, though they were kept in my own sitting-room, where they were the constant companions of the Indian women and children, and were so fond of their company, that when the Indians were absent for any considerable time, the beaver discovered great signs of uneasiness, and on their return shewed equal marks of pleasure, by fondling on them, crawling into their laps, laying on their backs, sitting erect like a squirrel, and behaving to them like children who see their parents but seldom. In general, during the Winter they lived on the same food as the women did, and were remarkably fond of rice and plum-pudding: they would eat partridges and fresh venison very freely, but I never tried them with fish, though I have heard they will at times prey on them. In fact, there are few of the granivorous animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous. It is well known that our domestic poultry will eat animal food: thousands of geese that come to London market are fattened on tallow-craps; and our horses in Hudson’s Bay would not only eat all kinds of animal food, but also drink freely of the wash, or pot-liquor, intended for the hogs. And we are assured by the most authentic Authors, that in Iceland, not only black cattle, but also the sheep, are almost entirely fed on fish and fish-bones during the Winter season. Even in the Isles of Orkney, and that in Summer, the sheep attend the ebbing of the tide as regular as the Esquimaux curlew, and go down to the shore which the tide has left, to feed on the sea-weed. This, however, is through necessity; for even the famous Island of Pomona(7) will not afford them an existence above high water-mark.

  With respect to the inferior, or slave-beaver, of which some Authors speak, it is, in my opinion, very difficult for those who are best acquainted with the economy of this animal to determine whether there are any that deserve that appellation or not. It sometimes happens, that a beaver is caught, which has but a very indifferent coat, and which has broad patches on the back, and shoulders almost wholly without hair. This is the only foundation for asserting that there is an inferior, or slave-beaver, among them. And when one of the above description is taken, it is perhaps too hastily inferred that the hair is worn off form those parts by carrying heavy loads: whereas it is most probable that it is caused by a disorder that attacks them somewhat similar to the mange; for were that falling off of the hair occasioned by performing extra labour, it is natural to think that instances of it would be more frequent than there are; as it is rare to see one of them in the course of seven or ten years. I have seen a whole house of those animals that had nothing on the surface of their bodies but the fine soft down; all the long hairs have molted off. This and every other deviation from the general run is undoubtedly owing to some particular disorder.

  CHAPTER 8

  January 9th, 1772 to June 29th, 1772

  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 Theelayaza 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, 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 Indian 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.

  1772 January — 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.

  The lake is stored with great quantities of very fine fish; particularly between the islands, which in some 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, tattameg, and methy; 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. 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 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.

  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, 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 life. Their reasons for this shall be given in a subsequent part of my Journal.