A Journey to the Northern Ocean

by Samuel Hearne

  His apartments were not only convenient but elegant, and always crowded with favourite Indians: at night he locked the doors, and put the keys under his pillow; so that in the morning his dining-room was generally, for the want of necessary conveniencies, worse than a hog-stye. As he advanced in years his jealousy increased, and he actually poisoned two of his women because he thought them partial to other objects more suitable to their ages. He was a most notorious smuggler; but though he put many thousands into the pockets of the Captains, he seldom put a shilling into his own. An inflammation in his bowels occasioned his death on the 29th of December 1773; and though he died in the most excruciating pain, he retained his jealousy to the last; for a few minutes before he expired, happening to see an officer laying hold of the hand of one of his women who was standing by the fire, he bellowed out, in as loud a voice as his situation would admit, “God d--n you for a b----h, if I live I’ll knock out your brains.” A few minutes after making this elegant apostrophe, he expired in the greatest agonies that can possibly be conceived.

  This I declare to be the real character and manner of life of the late Mr. Moses Norton.

  2 The stone here meant is fourteen pounds.

  3 Matonabbee had eight wives, and they were all called Martins.

  CHAPTER 5

  1 See Plate III where Fig. A represents the bottom of the canoe, Fig. B being the fore-part. Fig. C is the complete frame of one before it is covered with the bark of the birch-tree: it is represented on an artificial bank, which the natives raise to build it on. Fig. D is an end-view of a set of timbers, bent and lashed in their proper shape, and left to dry. Fig. E is the representation of a complete canoe. Fig. F represents one of their paddles. Fig. G a spear with which they kill deer; and Fig. H, their mode of carrying the canoe.

  The following references are to the several parts of the canoe: Fig. C 1. The stem. 2. The stern-post. 3. Two forked sticks supporting the stem and stern-post. 4. The gunwales. 5. Small rods placed between the timbers and birch-back that covers them. 6. The timbers. 7. The keelson. 8.Large stones placed there to keep the bottom steady till the sides are sewed on.

  2 The tobacco used in Hudson’s Bay is the Brasil tobacco; which is twisted into the form of a rope, of near an inch diameter, and then wound into a large roll; from which it is taken by measures of length, for the natives.

  3 I have observed, during my several journies in those parts, that all the way to the North of Seal River the edge of the wood is faced with old withered stumps, and trees which have been blown down by the wind. They are mostly of the sort which is called her Juniper, but were seldom of any considerable size. Those blasted trees are found in some parts to extend to the distance of twenty miles from the living woods, and detached patches of them are much farther off; which is a proof that the cold has been increasing in those parts for some ages. Indeed, some of the older Northern Indians have assured me, that they have heard their fathers and grandfathers say, they remembered the greatest part of those places where the trees are now blasted and dead, in a flourishing state; and that they were remarkable for abounding with deer. It is a well-known fact, that many deer are fond of frequenting those plains where the juniper trees abound near barren grounds, particularly in fine weather during the Winter; but in heavy gales of wind they either take shelter in the thick woods, or go out on the open plains. The Indians, who never want a reason for any thing, say, that the deer quit the thin straggling woods during the high winds, because the nodding of the trees, when at a considerable distance from each other, frightens them; but in the midst of a thick forest, the constant rustling of the branches lulls them into security, and renders them an easy prey to a skilful hunter.

  4 Probably the same with Partridge Lake in the Map.

  5 See Postlethwayt on the article of Labour.

  6 Nothwithstnading this is the general character of the Southern Indian women, as they are called on the coasts of Hudson’s Bay, and who are the same tribe with the Canadian Indians, I am happy to have it in my power to insert a few lines to the memory of one of them, whom I knew from her infancy, and who, I can truly affirm, was directly the reverse of the picture I have drawn.

  MARY, the daughter of MOSES NORTON, many years Chief at Prince of Wales’s Fort, in Hudson’s Bay, though born and brought up in a country of all others the least favourable to virtue and virtuous principles, possessed them, and every other good and amiable quality, in a most eminent degree.

  Without the assistance of religion, and with no education but what she received among the dissolute natives of her country, she would have shone with superior lustre in any other country: for, if an engaging person, gentle manners, an easy freedom, arising from a consciousness of innocence, an amiable modesty, and an unrivalled delicacy of sentiment, are graces and virtues which render a woman lovely, none ever had greater pretensions to general esteem and regard; while her benevolence, humanity, and scrupulous adherence to truth and honesty, would have done honour to the most enlightened and devout Christian.

  Dutiful, obedient, and affectionate to her parents; steady and faithful to her friends; grateful and humble to her benefactors; easily forgiving and forgetting injuries; careful not to offend any, and courteous and kind to all; she was, nevertheless, suffered to perish by the rigours of cold and hunger, amidst her own relations, at a time when the griping hand of famine was by no means severely felt by any other member of their company; and it may truly be said that she fell a martyr to the principles of virtue. This happened in the Winter of the year 1782, after the French had destroyed Prince of Wales’s’ Fort; at which time she was in the twenty-second year of her age.

  Human nature shudders at the bare recital of such brutality, and reason shrinks from the task of accounting for the decrees of Providence on such occasions as this: but they are the strongest assurances of a future state, so infinitely superior to the present, that the enjoyment of every pleasure in this world by the most worthless and abandoned wretch, or the most innocent and virtuous woman perishing by the most excruciating of all deaths, are matters equally indifferent. But,

  Peace to the ashes, and the virtuous mind,

  Of her who lived in peace with all mankind;

  Learn’d from the heart, unknowing of disguise,

  Truth in her thoughts, and candour in her eyes;

  Stranger alike to envy and pride,

  Good sense her light, and Nature all her guide;

  But now removed from all the ills of life,

  Here rests the pleasing friend and faithful wife. –Waller.

  Her father was, undoubtedly, very blamable for bringing her up in the tender manner which he did, rendering her by that means not only incapable of bearing the fatigues and hardships which the rest of her countrywomen think little of, but of providing for herself. This is, indeed, too frequent a practice among Europeans in that country, who bring up their children in so indulgent a manner, that when they retire, and leave their offspring behind, they find themselves so helpless, as to be unable to provide for the few wants to which they are subject. The late Mr. Ferdinand Jacobs, many years Chief at York Fort, was the only person whom I ever knew that acted in a different manner; though no man could possibly be fonder of his children in other respects, yet as there were some that he could not bring to England, he had them brought up entirely among the natives; so that when he left the country, they scarcely ever felt the loss, though they regretted the absence of a fond and indulgent parent.

  7 Most of the Southern Indians, as well the Athapuscow and Neheaway tribes, are entirely without scruple in this respect. It is notoriously known, that many of them cohabit occasionally with their own mothers, and frequently espouse their sisters and daughters. I have known several of them who, after having lived in that state for some time with their daughters, have given them to their sons, and all parties been perfectly reconciled to it.

  In fact, notwithstanding the severity of the climate, the licentiousness of the inhabitants cannot be exceeded by any
of the Eastern nations, whose luxurious manner of life, and genial clime, seem more adapted to excite extraordinary passions, than the severe cold of the frigid Zone.

  It is true, that few of those who live under the immediate protection of the English ever take either their sisters or daughters for wives, which is probably owing to the fear of incurring their displeasure; but it is well known that acts of incest too often take place among them, though perhaps not so frequently as among the foreign Indians.

  8 Mr. Dragge says, in his Voyage, vol.ii.p 260, that the musk-ox is lower than a deer, but larger as to belly and quarters; which is very far from the truth; they are of the size I have here described them and the Indians always estimate the flesh of a full-grown cow to be equal in quantity to three deer. I am sorry also to be obliged to contradict my friend Mr. Graham, who says that the flesh of this animal is carried on sledges to Prince of Wales’s Fort, to the amount of three or four thousand pounds annually. To the amount of near one thousand pounds may have been purchased from the natives in some particular years, but it more frequently happens that not an ounce is brought one year out of five. In fact, it is by no means esteemed by the Company’s servants, and of course no great encouragement is given to introduce it; but if it had been otherwise, their general situation is so remote from the settlement, that it would not be worth the Indians while to haul it to the Fort. So that, in fact, all that has ever been carried to Prince of Wales’s Fort, has most assuredly been killed out of a herd that has been accidentally found within a moderate distance of the settlement; perhaps an hundred miles, which is only thought a step by an Indian.

  9 Voyage to Hudson’s Bay, p. 232

  10 This river runs nearly North East, and in all probability empties itself into the Northern Ocean, not far from the Copper River.

  CHAPTER 6

  1 Tima in the Esquimaux language is a friendly word similar to what cheer.

  2 When the fifteen Indians turned back at the Stony Mountains, they took two or three canoes with them; some of our crew that were sent a-head as messengers had not yet returned, which occasioned the number of our canoes to be so small.

  3 When the Esquimaux who reside near Churchill River travel in Winter, it is always from lake to lake, or from river to river, where they have formed magazines of provisions, and heaps of moss for firing. As some of those places are at a considerable distance from each other, and some of the lakes of considerable width, they frequently pitch their tents on the ice, and instead of having a fire, which the severity of the climate so much requires, they cut holes in the ice within their tents, and there sit and angle for fish; if they meet with any success, the fish are eaten alive out of the water; and when they are thirsty, water their usual beverage, is at hand.

  When I first entered into the employment of the Hudson’s Bay Company, it was as Mate of one of their sloops which was employed in trading with the Esquimaux; I had therefore frequent opportunities of observing the miserable manner in which those people live. In the course of our trade with them we frequently purchased several seal-skin bags, which we supposed were full of oil; but on opening them have sometimes found great quantities of venison, seals, and sea-horse paws, as well as salmon; and as these were of no use to us, we always returned them to the Indians, who eagerly devoured them though some of the articles had been perhaps a whole year in that state; and they seemed to exult greatly in having so over-reached us in the way of trade, as to have sometimes one third of their bargain returned.

  This method of preserving their food, though it effectually guards it from the external air, and from the flies, does not prevent putrefaction entirely, though it renders its progress very slow. Pure train oil is of such a quality that it never freezes solid in the coldest Winters; a happy circumstance for those people, who are condemned to live in the most rigorous climate without the assistance of fire. While these magazines last, they have nothing more to do when hunger assails them, but to open one of the bags, take out a side of venison, a few seals, sea-horse paws, or some half-rotten salmon, and without any preparation, sit down and make a meal; and the lake or river by which they pitch their tent, affords them water, which is their constant drink. Besides the extraordinary food already mentioned, they have several other dishes equally disgusting to an European palate; I will only mention one, as it was more frequently part of their repast when I visited their tents, than any other, except fish. The dish I allude to, is made of the raw liver of a deer, cut in small pieces of about an inch square, and mixed up with the contents of the stomach of the same animal; and the farther digestion has taken place, the better it is suited to their taste. It is impossible to describe or conceive the pleasure they seem to enjoy when eating such unaccountable food: nay, I have even seen them eat whole handfuls of maggots that were produced in meat by fly-blows; and it is their constant custom, when their noses bleed by any accident, to lick their blood into their mouths, and swallow it. Indeed, if we consider the inhospitable part of the globe they are destined to inhabit, and the great distresses to which they are frequently driven by hunger in consequence of it, we shall no longer be surprised at finding they can relish any thing in common with the meanest of the animal creation, but rather admire the wisdom and kindness of Providence in forming the palates and powers of all creatures in such a manner as is best adapted to the food, climate, and every other circumstance which may be incident to their respective situations.

  It is no less true, that these people, when I first knew them, would not eat any of our provisions, sugar, raisins, figs, or even bread; for though some of them would put a bit of it into their mouths, they soon spit it out again with evident marks of dislike; so that they had no greater relish for out food than we had for theirs. At present, however, they will eat any part of our provisions, either fresh or salted; and some of them will drink a draft of porter, or a little brandy and water; and they are now so far civilized, and attached to the English, that I am persuaded any of the Company’s servants who could habituate themselves to their diet and manner of life, might now live as secure under their protection, as under that of any of the tribes of the Indians who border on Hudson’s Bay.

  They live in a state of perfect freedom; no one apparently claiming the superiority over, or acknowledging the least subordination to another, except what is due from children to their parents, or such of their kin as take care of them when they are young and incapable of providing for themselves. There is, however, reason to think that, when grown up to manhood, they pay some attention to the advice of the old men, on account of their experience.

  4 See Hist. of Greenland, vol.i. p.132-156.

  5 This piece of Copper is now in the possession of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

  6 There is a strange tradition among those people, that the first person who discovered those mines was a woman, and that she conducted them to the place for several years; but as she was the only woman in company, some of the men took such liberties with her as made her vow revenge on them; and she is said to have been a great conjurer. Accordingly when the men had loaded themselves with copper, and were going to return, she refused to accompany them, and said she would sit on the mine till she sunk into the ground, and that the copper should sink with her. The next year, when the men went for more copper, they found her sunk up to the waist, though still alive, and the quantity of copper much decreased; and on their repeating their visit the year following, she had quite disappeared, and all the principal part of the mine with her; so that after that period nothing remained on the surface but a few small pieces, and those were scattered at a considerable distance from each other. Before that period they say the copper lay on the surface in such large heaps, that the Indians had nothing to do but turn it over, and pick such pieces as would best suit the different uses for which they intended it.

  7 What is meant by Beaver in other kind of furrs, must be understood as follows: For the easier trading with the Indians, as well as for the more correctly keeping their accounts, the Hudson
’s Bay Company have made a full-grown beaver-skin the standard by which they rate all other furrs, according to their respective values. Thus in several species of furrs, one skin is valued at the rate of four beaver skins; some at three, and others at two; whereas those of an inferior quality are rated at one; and those of still less value considered so inferior to that of a beaver, that from six to twenty of their skins are only valued as equal to one beaver skin in the way of trade, and do not fetch one-fourth of the price at the London market. In this manner the term “Made Beaver” is to be understood.

  8 Since this Journal was written, the Northern Indians, by annually visiting their Southern friends, the Athapuscow Indians, have contracted the small-pox, which has carried off nine-tenths of them, and particularly those people who composed the trade at Churchill Factory. The few survivors follow the example of their Southern neighbours, and all trade with the Canadians, who are settled in the heart of the Athapuscow country: so that a very few years has proved my short-sightedness, and that it would have been much more to the advantage of the Company, as well as have prevented the depopulation of the Northern Indian country, if they had still remained at war with the Southern tribes, and never attempted to better their situation. At the same time, it is impossible to say what increase of trade might not, in time, have arisen from a constant and regular traffic with the different tribes of Copper and Dog-ribbed Indians. But having been totally neglected for several years, they have now sunk into their original barbarism and extreme indigence; and a war has ensued between the two tribes, for the sake of the few remnants of iron-work which was left among them; and the Dog-ribbed Indians were so numerous, and so successful, as to destroy almost the whole race of the Copper Indians. While I was writing this Note, I was informed by some Northern Indians, that the few which remain of the Copper tribe have found their way to one of the Canadian houses in the Athapuscow Indians country, where they get supplied with every thing at less, or about half the price they were formerly obliged to give; so that the few surviving Northern Indians, as well as the Hudson’s Bay Company, have now lost every shadow of any future trade from that quarter, unless the Company will establish a settlement with the Athapuscow country, and undersell the Canadians.