A Journey to the Northern Ocean

by Samuel Hearne

  June 9th — On the ninth as we were continuing our course to the Factory, which then lay in the South East quarter, we saw several smokes to the North East, and the same day spoke with many Northern Indians, who were going to Knapp’s Bay to meet the Churchill sloop. Several of those Indians had furrs with them, but having some time before taken up goods on trust at Prince of Wales’s Fort, were taking that method to delay the payment of them. Defrauds of this kind have been practiced by many of those people with great success, ever since the furr-trade has been established with the Northern Indians at Knapp’s Bay; by which means debts to a considerable amount are annually lost to the Company, as well as their Governor in the Bay.

  Being desirous of improving every opportunity that the fine weather afforded, we did not lose much time in conversation with those Indians, but proceeded on our course to the South East, while they continued theirs to the North East.

  For many days after leaving those people, we had the good fortune to meet with plenty of provisions; and as the weather was for a long time remarkably fine and pleasant, our circumstances were altered so much for the better, that every thing seemed to contribute to our happiness, as if desirous to make some amends for the severe hunger, cold, and excessive hardships that we had suffered long before, and which had reduced us to the greatest misery and want.

  Deer was so plentiful a great part of the way, that the Indians killed as many as were wanted, without going out of their road; and every lake and river to which we came seemed willing to give us a change of diet, by affording us plenty of the finest fish, which we caught either with hooks or nets. Geese, partridges, gulls, and many other fowls, which are excellent eating, were also in such plenty, that it only required ammunition, in skilful hands, to have procured as many of them as we could desire.

  The only inconvenience we now felt was from frequent showers of heavy rain; but the intervals between these showers being very warm, and the Sun shining bright, that difficulty was easily overcome, especially as the belly was plentifully supplied with excellent victuals. Indeed the very thoughts of being once more arrived so near home, made me capable of encountering every difficulty, even if it had been hunger itself in the most formidable shape.

  June 18th — On the eighteenth, we arrived at Egg River, from which place, at the solicitation of my guide Matonabbee, I sent a letter post-haste to the Chief at Prince of Wales’s Fort, advising him of my being so far advanced on my return. The weather at this time was very bad and rainy, which caused us to lose near a whole day; but upon the fine weather returning, we again proceeded at our usual rate of eighteen or twenty miles a day, sometimes more or less, according as the road, the weather, and other circumstances, would admit.

  Deer now began to be not quite so plentiful as they had been, though we met with enough for present use, which was all we wanted, each person having as much dried meat as he could conveniently carry, besides his furrs and other necessary baggage.

  26th — Early in the morning of the twenty-sixth we arrived at Seal River;(12) but the wind blowing right up it, made so great a sea, that we were obliged to wait near ten hours before we could venture to cross it in our little canoes. In the afternoon the weather grew more moderate, so that we were enabled to ferry over the river; after which we resumed our journey, and at night pitched our tents in some tufts of willows in sight of the woods of Po-co-thee-kis-co River, at which we arrived early in the morning of the twenty-eighth; but the wind again blowing very hard in the North East quarter, it was the afternoon of the twenty-ninth before we could attempt to cross it.

  29th — Just at the time we were crossing the South branch of Po-co-thee-kis-co River, the Indians that were sent from Egg River with a letter to the Chief at Churchill, joined us on their return, and brought a little tobacco and some other articles which I had desired. Though it was late in the afternoon before we had all crossed the river, yet we walked that evening till after ten o’clock, and then put up on one of the Goose-hunting Islands, as they are generally called, about ten miles from the Factory. The next morning I arrived in good health at Prince of Wales’s Fort, after having been absent eighteen months and twenty-three days on this last expedition; but from my first setting out with Captain Chawchinaha, it was two years seven months and twenty-four days.

  Though my discoveries are not likely to prove of any material advantage to the Nation at large, or indeed to the Hudson’s Bay Company, yet I have the pleasure to think that I have fully complied with the orders of my Masters, and that it has put a final end to all disputes concerning a North West Passage through Hudson’s Bay. It will also wipe off, in some measure, the ill-grounded and unjust aspersions of Dobbs, Ellis, Robson, and the American Traveller; who have all taken much pains to condemn the conduct of the Hudson’s Bay Company, as being averse from discoveries, and from enlarging their trade.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Landscape and its People

  A short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, etc.

  An account of the persons and tempers of the Northern Indians.–They possess a great deal of art and cunning.–Are very guilty of fraud when in their power, and generally exact more for their furrs than any other tribe of Indians.–Always dissatisfied, yet have their good qualities.–The men in general jealous of their wives.–Their marriages.–Girls always betrothed when children, and their reasons for it.–Great care and confinement of young girls from the age of eight or nine years.–Divorces common among those people.–The women are less prolific than in warmer countries.–Remarkable piece of superstition observed by the women at particular periods.–Their art in making it an excuse for a temporary separation from their husbands on any little quarrel.– Reckoned very unclean on those occasions.–The Northern Indians frequently, for the want of firing, are obliged to eat their meat raw.–Some through necessity obliged to boil it in vessels made of the rind of the birch-tree.–A remarkable dish among those people.–The young animals always cut out of their dams eaten, and accounted a great delicacy.–The parts of generation of all animals eat by the men and boys.–Manner of passing their time, and method of killing deer in Summer with bows and arrows.–Their tents, dogs, sledges, etc.–Snow-shoes.–Their partiality to domestic vermin.–Utmost extent of the Northern Indian country.–Face of the country.–Species of fish.–A peculiar kind of moss useful for the support of man.–Northern Indian method of catching fish, either with hooks or nets.–Ceremony observed when two parties of those people meet.–Diversions in common use.–A singular disorder which attacks some of those people.–Their superstition with respect to the death of their friends.–Ceremony observed on those occasions.–Their ideas of the first inhabitants of the world.–No form of religion among them.–Remarks on that circumstance.–The extreme misery to which old age is exposed.–Their opinion of the Aurora Borealis, etc.–Some account of Matonabbee, and his services to his country, as well as to the Hudson’s Bay Company.

  As to the person of the Northern Indians, they are in general above the middle size; well-proportioned, strong, and robust, but not corpulent. They do not possess that activity of body, and liveliness of disposition, which are so commonly met with among the other tribes of Indians who inhabit the West coast of Hudson’s Bay.

  Their complexion is somewhat of the copper cast, inclining rather toward a dingy brown; and their hair, like all the tribes in India, is black, strong, and straight.(1) Few of the men have any beard; this seldom makes its appearance till they are arrived at middle-age, and then is by no means equal in quantity to what is observed on the faces of the generality of Europeans; the little they have, however, is exceedingly strong and bristly. Some of them take but little pains to eradicate their beards, though it is considered as very unbecoming; and those who do, have no other method than that of pulling it out by the roots between their fingers and the edge of a blunt knife. Neither sex have any hair under their armpits, and very little on any other part of the body, parti
cularly the women; but on the place where Nature plants the hair, I never knew them attempt to eradicate it.

  Their features are peculiar, and different from any other tribe in those parts; for they have very low foreheads, small eyes, high cheek-bones, Roman noses, full cheeks, and in general long broad chins. Though few of either sex are exempt from this national set of features, yet Nature seems to be more strict in her observance of it among the females, as they seldom vary so much as the men. Their skins are soft, smooth, and polished; and when they are dressed in clean clothing, they are as free from an offensive smell as any of the human race.

  Every tribe of Northern Indians, as well as the Copper and Dog-ribbed Indians, have three or four parallel black strokes marked on each cheek; which is performed by entering an awl or needle under the skin, and, on drawing it out again, immediately rubbing powdered charcoal into the wound.

  Their dispositions are in general morose and covetous, and they seem to be entirely unacquainted even with the name of gratitude. They are for ever pleading poverty, even among themselves; and when they visit the Factory, there is not one of them who has not a thousand wants.

  When any real distressed objects present themselves at the Company’s Factory, they are always relieved with victuals, clothes, medicines, and every other necessary, gratis; and in return, they instruct every one of their countrymen how to behave, in order to obtain the same charity. Thus it is very common to see both men and women come to the Fort half-naked, when either the severe cold in Winter, or the extreme troublesomeness of the flies in Summer, make it necessary for every part to be covered. On those occasions they are seldom at a loss for a plausible story, which they relate as the occasion of their distress, (whether real or pretended,) and never fail to interlard their history with plenty of sighs, groans, and tears, sometimes affecting to be lame, and even blind, in order to excite pity. Indeed, I know of no people that have more command of their passions on such occasions; and in this respect the women exceed the men, as I can affirm with truth I have seen some of them with one side of the face bathed in tears, while the other has exhibited a significant smile. False pretences for obtaining charity are so common among those people, and so often detected, that the Governor is frequently obliged to turn a deaf ear to many who apply for relief; for if he did not, he might give away the whole of the Company’s goods, and by degrees all the Northern tribe would make a trade of begging, instead of bringing furrs, to purchase what they want. It may truly be said, that they possess a considerable degree of deceit, and are very complete adepts in the art of flattery, which they never spare as long as they find that it conduces to their interest, but not a moment longer. They take care always to seem attached to a new Governor, and flatter his pride, by telling him that they look up to him as the father of their tribe, on whom they can safely place their dependance; and they never fail to depreciate the generosity of his predecessor, however extensive that might have been, however humane or disinterested his conduct; and if aspersing the old, and flattering the new Governor, has not the desired effect in a reasonable time, they represent him as the worst of characters, and tell him to his face that he is one of the most cruel of men; that he has no feeling for the distresses of their tribe, and that many have perished for want of proper assistance, (which, if it be true, is only owing to want of humanity among themselves,) and then they boast of having received ten times the favours and presents from his predecessor. It is remarkable that those are most lavish in their praises, who have never either deserved or received any favours from him. In time, however, this language also ceases, and they are perfectly reconciled to the man whom they would willingly have made a fool, and say, “he is no child, and not to be deceived by them.”

  They differ so much from the rest of mankind, that harsh uncourteous usage seems to agree better with the generality of them, particularly the lower class, than mild treatment; for if the least respect be shewn them, it makes them intolerably insolent; and though some of their leaders may be exempt from this imputation, yet there are but few even of them who have sense enough to set a proper value on the favours and indulgences which are granted to them while they remain at the Company’s Factories, or elsewhere within their territories. Experience has convinced me, that by keeping a Northern Indian at a distance, he may be made serviceable both to himself and the Company; but by giving him the least indulgence at the Factory, he will grow indolent, inactive, and troublesome, and only contrive methods to tax the generosity of an European.

  The greatest part of these people never fail to defraud Europeans whenever it is in their power, and take every method to over-reach them in the way of trade. They will disguise their persons and change their names, in order to defraud them of their lawful debts, which they are sometimes permitted to contract at the Company’s Factory; and all debts that are outstanding at the succession of a new Governor are entirely lost, as they always declare, and bring plenty of witnesses to prove, that they were paid long before, but that their names had been forgotten to be struck out of the book.

  Notwithstanding all those bad qualities, they are the mildest tribe of Indians that trade at any of the Company’s settlements; and as the greatest part of them are never heated with liquor, are always in their senses, and never proceed to riot, or any violence beyond bad language.

  The men are in general very jealous of their wives, and I make no doubt but the same spirit reigns among the women; but they are kept so much in awe of their husbands, that the liberty of thinking is the greatest privilege they enjoy. The presence of a Northern Indian man strikes a peculiar awe into his wives, as he always assumes the same authority over them that the master of a family in Europe usually does over his domestic servants.

  Their marriages are not attended with any ceremony; all matches are made by the parents, or next of kin. On those occasions the women seem to have no choice, but implicitly obey the will of their parents, who always endeavour to marry their daughters to those that seem most likely to be capable of maintaining them, let their age, person, or disposition be ever so despicable.

  The girls are always betrothed when children, but never to those of equal age, which is doubtless sound policy with people in their situation, where the existence of a family depends entirely on the abilities and industry of a single man. Children, as they justly observe, are so liable to alter in their manners and disposition, that it is impossible to judge from the actions of early youth what abilities they may possess when they arrive at puberty. For this reason the girls are often so disproportionately matched for age, that it is very common to see men of thirty-five or forty years old have young girls of no more than ten or twelve, and sometimes much younger. From the early age of eight or nine years, they are prohibited by custom from joining in the most innocent amusements with children of the opposite sex; so that when sitting in their tents, or even when travelling, they are watched and guarded with such an unremitting attention as cannot be exceeded by the most rigid discipline of an English boarding-school. Custom, however, and constant example, make such uncommon restraint and confinement sit light and easy even on children, whose tender ages seem better adapted to innocent and cheerful amusements, than to be cooped up by the side of old women, and constantly employed in scraping skins, mending shoes, and learning other domestic duties necessary in the care of a family.

  Notwithstanding those uncommon restraints on the young girls, the conduct of their parents is by no means uniform or consistent with this plan; as they set no bounds to their conversation, but talk before them, and even to them, on the most indelicate subjects. As their ears are accustomed to such language from their earliest youth, this has by no means the same effect on them, it would have on girls born and educated in a civilized country, where every care is taken to prevent their morals from being contaminated by obscene conversation. The Southern Indians are still less delicate in conversation, in the presence of their children.

  The women among the Northern Indians are in general more
backward than the Southern Indian women; and though it is well known that neither tribe lose any time, those early connections are seldom productive of children for some years.