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diff --git a/13003-0.txt b/13003-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f019344 --- /dev/null +++ b/13003-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10502 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13003 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13003-h.htm or 13003-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/0/13003/13003-h/13003-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/0/13003/13003-h.zip) + + In this e-text "a" with a breve and "o", "u", and + "a" with a macron are represented by [)a] [¯o] [¯u] [¯a]. + + + + + +PIONEERS IN CANADA + +By + +SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. + +With Eight Coloured Illustrations by E. Wallcousins + +1912 + + + + + + +[Illustration: TYPE OF SHIP SAILED IN BY THE ENGLISH OR FRENCH +PIONEERS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY] + + + + +The Pioneer Library + +A standard series by Sir Harry Johnston. Tastefully bound. + + Pioneers in Australasia. + Pioneers in Canada. + Pioneers in South Africa. + Pioneers in West Africa. + Pioneers in Tropical America. + Pioneers in India. + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +I have been asked to write a series of works which should deal with +"real adventures", in parts of the world either wild and uncontrolled +by any civilized government, or at any rate regions full of dangers, +of wonderful discoveries; in which the daring and heroism of white men +(and sometimes of white women) stood out clearly against backgrounds +of unfamiliar landscapes, peopled with strange nations, savage tribes, +dangerous beasts, or wonderful birds. These books would again and +again illustrate the first coming of the white race into regions +inhabited by people of a different type, with brown, black, or yellow +skins; how the European was received, and how he treated these races +of the soil which gradually came under his rule owing to his superior +knowledge, weapons, wealth, or powers of persuasion. The books were to +tell the plain truth, even if here and there they showed the white man +to have behaved badly, or if they revealed the fact that the American +Indian, the Negro, the Malay, the black Australian was sometimes cruel +and treacherous. + +A request thus framed was almost equivalent to asking me to write +stories of those pioneers who founded the British Empire; in any case, +the first volumes of this series do relate the adventures of those who +created the greater part of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, by +their perilous explorations of unknown lands and waters. In many +instances the travellers were all unconscious of their destinies, of +the results which would arise from their actions. In some cases they +would have bitterly railed at Fate had they known that the result of +their splendid efforts was to be the enlargement of an empire under +the British flag. Perhaps if they could know by now that we are +striving under that flag to be just and generous to all types of men, +and not to use our empire solely for the benefit of English-speaking +men and women, the French who founded the Canadian nation, the Germans +and Dutch who helped to create British Africa, Malaysia, and +Australia, the Spaniards who preceded us in the West Indies, and the +Portuguese in West, Central, and East Africa, in Newfoundland and +Ceylon, might--if they have any consciousness or care for things in +this world--be not so sorry after all that we are reaping where they +sowed. + +It is (as you will see) impossible to tell the tale of these early +days in the British Dominions beyond the Seas, without describing here +and there the adventures of men of enterprise and daring who were not +of our own nationality. The majority, nevertheless, were of British +stock; that is to say, they were English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, perhaps +here and there a Channel Islander and a Manxman; or Nova Scotians, +Canadians, and New Englanders. The bulk of them were good fellows, a +few were saints, a few were ruffians with redeeming features. +Sometimes they were common men who blundered into great discoveries +which will for ever preserve their names from perishing; occasionally +they were men of Fate, predestined, one might say, to change the +history of the world by their revelations of new peoples, new lands, +new rivers, new lakes, snow mountains, and gold mines. Here and there +is a martyr like Marquette, or Livingstone, or Gordon, dying for the +cause of a race not his own. And others again are mere boys, whose +adventures come to them because they are adventurous, and whose feats +of arms, escapes, perils, and successes are quite as wonderful as +those attributed to the juvenile heroes of Marryat, Stevenson, and the +author of _The Swiss Family Robinson_. + +I have tried, in describing these adventures, to give my readers some +idea of the scenery, animals, and vegetation of the new lands through +which these pioneers passed on their great and small purposes; as well +as of the people, native to the soil, with whom they came in contact. +And in treating of these subjects I have thought it best to give the +scientific names of the plant or animal which was of importance in my +story, so that any of my readers who were really interested in natural +history could at once ascertain for themselves the exact type alluded +to, and, if they wished, look it up in a museum, a garden, or a +natural history book. + +I hope this attempt at scientific accuracy will not frighten away +readers young and old; and, if you can have patience with the author, +you will, by reading this series of books on the great pioneers of +British West Africa, Canada, Malaysia, West Indies, South Africa, and +Australasia, get a clear idea of how the British Colonial Empire came +to be founded. + +You will find that I have often tried to tell the story in the words +of the pioneers, but in these quotations I have adopted the modern +spelling, not only in my transcript of the English original or +translation, but also in the place and tribal names, so as not to +puzzle or delay the reader. Otherwise, if you were to look out some of +the geographical names of the old writers, you might not be able to +recognize them on the modern atlas. The pronunciation of this modern +geographical spelling is very simple and clear: the vowels are +pronounced _a_ = ah, _e_ = eh, _i_ = ee, _o_ = o, _ô_ = oh, +_[¯o]_ = aw, _ö_ = u in 'hurt', and _u_ = oo, as in German, Italian, or +most other European languages; and the consonants as in English. + +H. H. JOHNSTON. + + + + + CONTENTS + + I. THE WHITE MAN'S DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA............... 15 + II. JACQUES CARTIER.......................................... 29 + III. ELIZABETHAN PIONEERS IN NORTH AMERICA.................... 45 + IV. CHAMPLAIN AND THE FOUNDATION OF CANADA................... 53 + V. AFTER CHAMPLAIN: FROM MONTREAL TO THE MISSISSIPPI........ 88 + VI. THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS OF THE CANADIAN DOMINION.....120 + VII. THE AMERINDIANS AND ESKIMO: THE ABORIGINES OF BRITISH + NORTH AMERICA.......................................153 + VIII. THE HUDSON BAY EXPLORERS AND THE BRITISH CONQUEST OF + ALL CANADA..........................................202 + IX. THE PIONEERS FROM MONTREAL: ALEXANDER HENRY THE ELDER....211 + X. SAMUEL HEARNE............................................248 + XI. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE'S JOURNEYS...........................277 + XII. MACKENZIE'S SUCCESSORS...................................313 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + COLOURED PLATES + + Type of Ship sailed in by the English or French Pioneers in the + Sixteenth Century _Frontispiece_ + Icebergs and Polar Bears + Indians hunting Bison + Indians lying in wait for Moose + Caribou swimming a River + Great Auks, Gannets, Puffins, and Guillemots + Scene on Canadian River: Wild Swans flying up, disturbed by Bear + Big-horned Sheep of Rocky Mountains + + + BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS + + Jacques Cartier + Samuel de Champlain and Alexander Henry the Elder + An Amerindian Type of British Columbia + Lake Louise, the Rocky Mountains + Samuel Hearne and Alexander Mackenzie + The Upper Waters of the Fraser River + The Kootenay or Head Stream of the Columbia River + A Hunter's "Shack" in British Columbia: After a successful Shoot of + Blue Grouse + + Map of Canada + Map of Eastern Canada and Newfoundland + Map of Part of the Coast Region of British Columbia + + + + +List of the Chief Authorities + + +FROM WHOM THE PRINCIPAL FACTS AND INCIDENTS OF THIS BOOK HAVE BEEN +DERIVED, IN ADDITION TO THE AUTHOR'S OWN RESEARCHES AND EXPERIENCES, +AND INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY PROFESSOR R. RAMSAY WRIGHT, OF TORONTO +UNIVERSITY + +_The Saint Lawrence Basin_. By Dr. S.E. DAWSON. London. 1905. +Lawrence & Bullen. + +_Relation Originale du Voyage de Jacques Cartier au Canada en +1534_; Documents inédits, &c. Publiés par H. MICHELANT et A. RAME. +Paris. Librairie Tross. 1867. + +_Voyage de Jacques Cartier au Canada en 1534_, &c. Par H. +MICHELANT. Paris. 1865. + +_Champlain's Voyages_: The Publications of the Prince Society. +Boston. 1878. Three volumes. + +_Voyage of Verrazano_, &c. By HENRY C. MURPHY. New York. 1875. +(Also the Essay on the Journeys of Verrazano, by Alessandro Bacchiani, +in the Bollettino della Societá Geografica Italiana. Rome. November, +1909.) + +_Volume IX of the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of +Canada_. (For the History of Cape Breton and of the Beothiks of +Newfoundland.) + +_The Search for the Western Sea_. By Lawrence J. Burpee. London. +Alston Rivers. 1908. + +_Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New +France_, &c. Edited by REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. Vol. LIX. Cleveland, +U.S.A. Burrows Bros. 1900. + +_Travels and Explorations in Canada and the Indian Territories between +the years 1760 and 1776_. By ALEXANDER HENRY, Esq. New York. 1809. + +_Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence through the Continent +of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789 +and 1793_, &c. &c. By ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, Esq. London. 1801. + +_A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern +Ocean_, &c. By SAMUEL HEARNE. London. 1795. + +_Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest_. By L.R. MASSON. +Quebec. 1890. Two volumes. + +_New Light on the Early History of the Greater North-West_: The +Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry, Jun., and of David Thompson. +Edited by ELLIOTT COUES. Three Volumes. New York. Harper. 1897. + +_Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada_. By DAVID T. HANBURY. +London. Edward Arnold. 1904. + +_Henry Hudson the Navigator_, &c. By G.M. ASHER. London. Hakluyt +Society, 1860. + +_The Three Voyages of Martin Frobisher_. By Rear-Admiral RICHARD +COLLINSON. London. Hakluyt Society. 1867. + +_The Voyages and Works of John Davis the Navigator_. By Admiral Sir +ALBERT HASTINGS MARKHAM. London. Hakluyt Society. 1880. + +_The Voyages of William Baffin, 1612-1622_. By Sir CLEMENTS R. +MARKHAM. London. 1881. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The White Man's Discovery of North America + + +So far as our knowledge goes, it is almost a matter of certainty that +Man originated in the Old World--in Asia possibly. Long after this +wonderful event in the Earth's history, when the human species was +spread over a good deal of Asia, Europe, and Africa, migration to the +American continents began in attempts to find new feeding grounds and +unoccupied areas for hunting and fishing. How many thousands or +hundreds of thousands of years ago it was since the first men entered +America we do not yet know, any more than we can determine the route +by which they travelled from Asia. Curiously enough, the oldest traces +of man as yet discovered in the New World are not only in South +America, but in the south-eastern parts of South America. Although the +most obvious recent land connection between the Old and New Worlds is +the Aleutian chain of islands connecting Kamschatka with Alaska, the +ethnologist is occasionally led to think by certain evidence that +there may, both earlier and later, have existed another way of +reaching western America from south-eastern Asia through Pacific +archipelagoes and islets now sunk below the sea. In any case it seems +quite probable that men of Mongolian or Polynesian type reached +America on its western coasts long before the European came from the +north-east and east, and that they were helped on this long journey by +touching at islands since submerged by earthquake shocks or tidal +waves. + +The aboriginal natives of North and South America seem to be of +entirely Asiatic origin; and such resemblances as there are between +the North-American Indians and the peoples of northern Europe do not +arise (we believe) from any ancient colonization of America from +western or northern Europe, but mainly from the fact that the +North-American Indians and the Eskimo (two distinct types of people) +are descended from the same human stocks as the ancient populations of +the northern part of Europe and Asia. + +It was--we think--from the far _north-west_ of Europe that America was +first visited by the true White man, though there has been an ancient +immigration of imperfect "White" men (Ainu) from Kamschatka. Three or +four hundred years after the birth of Christ there were great race +movements in northern and central Europe, due to an increase of +population and insufficiency of food. Not only did these white +barbarians (though they were not as barbarous as we were led to think +by Greek and Roman literature) invade southern Europe, North Africa, +and Asia Minor, but from the fourth century of the Christian era +onwards they began to cross over to England and Scotland. At the same +time they took more complete possession of Scandinavia, driving north +before their advance the more primitive peoples like the Lapps and +Finns, who were allied to the stock from which arose both the Eskimo +and the Amerindian.[1] All this time the Goths and Scandinavians +were either learning ideas of navigation from the Romans of the +Mediterranean or the Greeks of the Black Sea, or they were inventing +for themselves better ways of constructing ships; and although they +propelled them mainly by oars, they used masts and sails as well.[2] +Having got over the fear of the sea sufficiently to reach the coasts +of England and Scotland, the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands, they +became still more venturesome in their voyages from Norway, until they +discovered the Faroe Archipelago (which tradition says they found +inhabited by wild sheep), and then the large island of Iceland, which +had, however, already been reached and settled by the northern Irish. + +[Footnote 1: This is a convenient name for the race formerly called +"American Indian". They are not Indians (i.e. natives of India), and +they are not the only Americans, since there are now about 110,000,000 +white Americans of European origin and 24,000,000 negroes and +negroids. The total approximate "Amerindian" or aboriginal population +of the New World at the present day is 16,000,000, of whom about +111,000 live in the Canadian Dominion, and 300,000 in the United +States, the remainder in Central and South America.] + +[Footnote 2: It is doubtful whether actual masts and sails were known +in America till the coming of Europeans, though the ancient Peruvians +are said to have used mat sails in their canoes. But the northern +Amerindians had got as far as placing bushes or branches of fir trees +upright in their canoes to catch the force of the wind.] + +Iceland, though it lies so far to the north that it is partly within +the Arctic Circle, is, like Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, affected by +the Gulf Stream, so that considerable portions of it are quite +habitable. It is not almost entirely covered with ice, as Greenland +is; in fact, Iceland should be called Greenland (from the large extent +of its grassy pastures), and Greenland should be called Iceland. +Instead of this, however, the early Norwegian explorers called these +countries by the names they still bear. + +The Norse rovers from Norway and the Hebrides colonized Iceland from +the year 850; and about a hundred and thirty-six years afterwards, in +their venturesome journeys in search of new lands, they reached the +south-east and south-west coasts of Greenland. Owing to the glacial +conditions and elevated character of this vast continental island +(more than 500,000 sq. miles in area)--for the whole interior of +Greenland rises abruptly from the sea-coast to altitudes of from 5000 +to 11,000 ft.--this discovery was of small use to the early Norwegians +or their Iceland colony. After it was governed by the kingdom of +Norway in the thirteenth century, the Norse colonization of south-west +Greenland faded away under the attacks of the Eskimo, until it ceased +completely in the fifteenth century. When Denmark united herself with +the kingdom of Norway in 1397, the Danish king became also the ruler +of Iceland. In the eighteenth century the Norwegian and Danish +settlements were re-established along the south-east and south-west +coasts of Greenland, mainly on account of the value of the whale, +seal, and cod fisheries in the seas around this enormous frozen +island; and all Greenland is now regarded as a Danish possession. + +But the adventurous Norsemen who first reached Greenland from Iceland +attempted to push their investigations farther to the south-west, in +the hope of discovering more habitable lands; and in this way it was +supposed that their voyages extended as far as Massachusetts and Rhode +Island, but in all probability they reached no farther than +Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. This portion of North America they +called "Vinland", more from the abundance of cranberries (_vinbær_) on +the open spaces than the few vines to be found in the woods of Nova +Scotia.[3] + +[Footnote 3: The grapes and vines so often alluded to by the early +explorers of North America ripened, according to the species, between +August and October. They belong to the same genus--_Vitis_--as that of +the grape vines of the Old World, but they were quite distinct in +species. Nowadays they are known as the Fox Grapes (_Vitis vulpina_), +the Frost Grape (_V. cordifolia_), the _V. aestivalis_, the _V. +labruska_, &c. The fruit of the Fox Grape is dark purple, with a very +dusky skin and a musky flavour. The Frost Grape has a very small +berry, which is black or leaden-blue when covered with bloom. It is +very acid to the taste, but from all these grapes it is easy to make a +delicious, refreshing drink. Champlain, however, says that the wild +grapes were often quite large in size, and his men found them +delicious to eat.] + +This brings us down to the year 1008. The Icelandic Norsemen then +ceased their investigations of the North-American Continent, and were +too ignorant to realize the value of their discoveries. Their colonies +on the coasts of Nova Scotia ("Vinland") and Newfoundland +("Estotiland") were attacked probably by Eskimos, at any rate by a +short, thick-set, yellow-skinned ugly people whom the Norsemen called +"Skræling",[4] who overcame the unfortunate settlers, murdered some, +and carried off others into the interior. + +[Footnote 4: Perhaps from the Eastern Eskimo national name _Karalit_.] + +But about this period, when Europe was going through that dismal era, +the Dark Age which followed the downfall of the Roman Empire of the +west, various impulses were already directing the attention of +European adventurers to the Western Ocean, the Atlantic. One cause was +the increased hold of Roman and Greek Christianity over the peoples of +Europe. These Churches imposed fasts either for single days or for +continuous periods. When people fasted it meant that they were chiefly +denied any form of meat, and therefore must eat fish if they were not +content with oil, bread, or vegetables. So that there was an enormous +and increasing demand for fish, not only amongst those fortunate +people who lived by the seashore, and could get it fresh whenever they +liked, but among those who lived at a distance inland, and were still +required to fast when the Church so directed. Of course in many parts +of Europe they could get freshwater fish from the rivers or lakes. But +the supply was not equal to the demand; and fish sent up from the +seacoast soon went bad, so that the plan of salting and curing fish +was adopted. The Norsemen found it a paying business to fish +industriously in the seas round Iceland, Norway, Scotland, and +Ireland, salt and cure the fish, and then carry it to more southern +countries, where they exchanged it against wine, oil, clothing +materials, and other goods. This led to the Venetians (who had +absorbed so much of the carrying trade of the Mediterranean) sending +their ships through the Straits of Gibraltar into the northern seas +and trading with the Baltic for amber and salt fish. In the course of +this trade some Venetians, such as Antonio Zeno, found their way to +Norway and Iceland.[5] It is thought that by this means Venice became +acquainted with the records of the Icelandic voyages to North +America, and that her explorers thus grew to entertain the idea of a +sea journey westward, or north-westward, of Britain, bringing mariners +to a New World represented by the far-eastern extension of Asia. + +[Footnote 5: Antonio Zeno served as pilot to Earl Sinclair of the +Faeroe Islands and of Roslyn, a Norman-Scottish nobleman who owed +joint fealty to the kings of Norway and Scotland. Sinclair was so +impressed with the stories of a "Newland" beyond Greenland that he +sailed to find it about 1390, but only reached Greenland.] + +Christopher Columbus, the Genoese, conceived a similar idea, which +also may have owed something to the tradition of the Norsemen's +discovery of Vinland. But Columbus's theories were based on better +evidence, such as the discovery on the coasts of the Azores +archipelago, Madeira, and Portugal of strange seeds, tree trunks, +objects of human workmanship, and even (it is said) the bodies of +drowned savages--Amerindians--which had somehow drifted across, borne +by the current of the Gulf Stream, and escaping the notice of the +sharks. + +Whilst Columbus was bestirring himself to find Asia across the +Atlantic, a sea pilot, JOHN CABOT (Zuan Cabota)--Genoese by birth, but +a naturalized subject of Venice--came to England and offered himself +to King Henry VII as a discoverer of new lands across the ocean. At +first he was employed at Copenhagen to settle fishery quarrels about +Iceland, and probably Cabota, or Cabot, visited Iceland in King +Henry's service, and there heard of the Icelandic colonies on the +other side of the Atlantic, only recently abandoned. + +In 1496 King Henry VII provided money to cover some of the expense of +a voyage of discovery to search for the rumoured island across the +ocean. The people of Bristol were ordered to assist John Cabot, and by +them he was furnished with a small sailing ship, the _Matthew_, and a +crew of fifteen mariners. Cabot, with his two sons, Luis and Sancio, +sailed for Ireland and the unknown West in May, 1497, and, after a sea +voyage quite as wonderful as that of Columbus, reached the coast of +Cape Breton Island (or "the New Isle", as it was first named[6]) on +June 24, 1497. They found "the land excellent, and the climate +temperate". The sea was so full of fish along these coasts that the +mariners opined (truly) that henceforth Bristol need not trouble about +the Iceland trade. Here along this "new isle" were the predestined +fisheries of Britain.[7] + +[Footnote 6: Cape Breton was not then, or for nearly two hundred years +afterwards, known to be an island. It was thought to be part of the +"island" (peninsula) of what we now call Nova Scotia, and the whole of +this region which advances so prominently into the Atlantic was +believed to be at first the great unknown "New Island" of Irish and +English legends--legends based on the Norse discoveries of the +eleventh century. Cape Breton was thus named by the Breton seaman who +came thither soon after the Cabot expeditions to fish for cod. This +large island is separated from Nova Scotia by the Gut of Canso, a +strait no broader than a river.] + +[Footnote 7: Dr. S.E. DAWSON (_The St. Lawrence Basin_) says of this +voyage: "When the forest wilderness of Cape Breton listened to the +voices of Cabot's little company (of Bristol mariners) it was the +first faint whisper of the mighty flood of English speech which was +destined to overflow the continent to the shores of another +ocean...."] + +They encountered no inhabitants, though they found numerous traces of +their existence in the form of snares, notched trees, and bone netting +needles. John Cabot hoisted the English flag of St. George and the +Venetian standard of St. Mark; then--perhaps after coasting a little +along Nova Scotia--fearful that a longer stay might cause them to run +short of provisions, he turned the prow of the _Matthew_ eastward, and +reached Bristol once more about August 6, and London on August 10, +1497, with his report to King Henry VII, who rewarded him with a +donation of £10. He was further granted a pension of £20 a year (which +he only drew for two years, probably because he died after returning +from a second voyage to the North-American coast), and he received a +renewal of his patent of discovery in February, 1498. In this patent +it is evidently inferred that King Henry VII assumed a sovereignty +over these distant regions because of John Cabot's hoisting of the +English flag on "the new Isle" (Cape Breton Island) in the preceding +year. + +The new expedition of 1498 was a relatively important affair. The +king assisted to finance the ventures of the Bristol captains, and +five of his ships formed part of the little fleet. It is probable that +John Cabot was in command, and almost certain that his young son +Sebastian was a passenger, possibly an assistant pilot. The course +followed lay much farther to the north, and brought the little sailing +vessels amongst the icebergs, ice floes, polar bears, and stormy seas +of Greenland and Labrador. Commercially the voyage was a failure, +almost a disaster. The ships returned singly, and after a considerable +interval of time. Nevertheless, some of the king's loans were repaid +to him; and in 1501 a regular chartered company was formed (perhaps at +Bristol), with three Bristolians and three Portuguese as directors. +Henry VII not only gave a royal patent to this association, but lent +more money to enable it to explore and colonize these new lands across +the western sea. + +There can be little doubt that between 1498 and 1505 these Bristol +ships, directed by Italian, English, and Portuguese pilots, first +revealed to the civilized world of western Europe the coasts of +Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, and +Delaware. They must have got as far south as the State of Delaware +(according to Sebastian Cabot, their southern limit was lat. 38°), +because in 1505 they were able to bring back parrots ("popyngays"), as +well as hawks and lynxes ("catts of the mountaigne"), for the +delectation of King Henry; and parrots even at that period could not +have been obtained from farther north than the latitude of New +York.[8] + +[Footnote 8: Almost certainly this was _Conurus carolinensis_, a green +and orange parrakeet still found in the south-eastern States of North +America, but formerly met with as far north as New York and Boston.] + +But after 1505 English interest in "the Newe founde launde" and the +"Newe Isle" languished; the exploration of North America was taken up +and carried farther by Portuguese, Bretons and Normans of France, +Italians, and Spaniards.[9] It revived again under Henry VIII, owing +to the irresistible attraction of the Newfoundland fisheries and the +knowledge that the ships from France were returning every autumn with +great supplies of fish cured and salted; for an adequate supply of +salt fish was becoming a matter of great importance to the markets of +western Europe. In 1527 Henry VIII sent two ships under the command of +John Rut to explore the North-American coast, and Captain Rut seems +to have reached the Straits of Belle Isle between Newfoundland +and Labrador (then blocked with ice so that he took them for +a bay), and afterwards to have passed along the east coast of +Newfoundland--already much frequented by the Bretons, Normans, and +Portuguese--and to have stopped at the harbour of St. John's, thence +sailing as far south as Massachusetts. + +[Footnote 9: The name _America_ probably appears for the first time in +English print in the old play or masque the _Four Elements_, which was +published about 1518. In a review of the geography of the Earth, as +known at that period, a description is given of this vast New World +across the Ocean: "But these new landys found lately, been called +America, because only Americus did find them first". Americus was a +Florentine bank clerk--Amerigo Vespucci--at Seville who gave up the +counting-house for adventure, sailed with a Spanish captain to the +West Indies and the mainland of Venezuela (off which he notes that he +met an English sailing vessel, and this as early as 1499!), and then +joined the first exploring voyage of the Portuguese to Brazil. He +returned to Europe, and in a letter to a fellow countryman at Paris, +written in the late autumn of 1502, he claimed to have discovered a +New World across the Ocean. His clear statement about what was really +the South American Continent aroused so much enthusiasm in civilized +Europe that five years afterwards the New World was called after him +by a German printer (Walzmüller) at the little Alsatian University of +St. Dié. By 1518 the English writers and mariners were probably aware +that the discoveries of Cabot, Columbus, and the Portuguese indicated +the extension of "America" from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but not +till about 1553 did the scholars and adventurers of England show +themselves fully alive to the gigantic importance of this New World. +Between 1530 and 1553 their attention was distracted from geography +and over-sea adventure by the religious troubles of the Reformation.] + +The Portuguese monarchy had begun to take possession of the Azores +archipelago from the year 1432. These islands were probably known to +the Phoenicians, and even to the Arabs of the Middle Ages; between the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they had been rediscovered by +Catalans, Genoese, Flemings, and Portuguese; and after 1444 the Azores +began to prove very useful to the sea adventurers of this wonderful +fifteenth century, as they became a shelter and a place of call for +fresh water and provisions almost in the middle of the Atlantic, 800 +to 1000 miles due west of Portugal. Portuguese vessels sailed +northwards from the Azores in search of fishing grounds, and thus +reached Iceland, which they called Terra do Bacalhao.[10] They may +even before Cabot have visited in an unrecorded fashion the wonderful +banks of Newfoundland--an immense area of shallow sea swarming with +codfish. + +[Footnote 10: _Bacalhao_ in Portuguese (and a similar word in Spanish, +old French, and Italian) means dried, salted fish. It comes from a +Latin word meaning "a small stick", because the fish were split open +and held up flat to dry by means of a cross or framework of small +sticks, the Norse name "stokfiske" meant the same: stockfish or +stickfish.] + +As soon as the news of the Cabot voyages reached the King of Portugal +he arranged to send an expedition of discovery to the far north-west, +perhaps to find a northern sea route to Eastern Asia. He gave the +command to Gaspar Corte-Real, a Portuguese noble connected through +family property with the Azores. Starting from the Azores in the +summer of 1500, Corte-Real discovered Newfoundland, and called it +"Terra Verde" from its dense woods of fir trees, which are now being +churned into wood pulp to make paper for British books and newspapers. +He then sailed along the coast of Labrador,[11] and thence crossed +over to Greenland, the southern half of which he mapped with fair +accuracy. His records of this voyage take particular note of the great +icebergs off the coast of Greenland. His men were surprised to find +that sea water frozen becomes perfectly fresh--all the salt is left +out in the process. So that his two ships could supply themselves +with fresh water of the purest, by hacking ice from the masses +floating in these Greenland summer seas. The next year he started +again, but on a more westerly course. His two ships reached the coasts +of New Jersey and Massachusetts, and sailed north once more to +Labrador. They captured a number of Amerindian aborigines, but only +one of the two ships (with seven of these savages on board) reached +Portugal; Gaspar Corte-Real was never heard of again. His brother +Miguel went out in search of him, but he likewise disappeared without +a trace. + +[Footnote 11: _Labrador_ (_Lavrador_ in Portuguese) means a labourer, +a serf. The Portuguese are supposed to have brought some Red Indians +from this coast to be sold as slaves.] + +Nevertheless these Portuguese expeditions to North America have left +ineffaceable traces in the geography of the Newfoundland coast, of +which (under the name of Terra Nova[12]) the governorship was made +hereditary in the Corte-Real family. Cape Race for example--the most +prominent point of the island--is really the Portuguese _Cabo +Raso_--the bare or "shaved" cape--and this was by the Spaniards +regarded as the westernmost limit of Portuguese sovereignty in that +direction. For the Spaniards were by no means pleased at the intrusion +of other nations into a New World which they desired to monopolize +entirely for the Spanish Crown. They did not so much mind sharing it, +along the line agreed upon in the Treaty of Tordesillas, with the +Portuguese, but the ingress of the English and French infuriated them. +The Basque people of the north-east corner of Spain were a hardy +seafaring folk, especially bold in the pursuit of whales in the Bay of +Biscay, and eager to take a share in the salt-fish trade. This desire +took them in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to Ireland and +Iceland. They began to fish off the Newfoundland coasts perhaps as +early as 1525. About this time also the Emperor Charles V, King of +Spain, having through one great Portuguese sea captain--Magalhães +(Magellan)--discovered the passage from Atlantic to Pacific across +the extremity of South America, thought by employing another +Portuguese--Estevão Gomez--to find a similar sea route through North +America, which would prove a short cut from Europe to China. This was +the famous "North-west Passage" the search for which drew so many +great and brave adventurers into the Arctic sea of America between +1500 and 1853, to be revealed at last by our fellow countrymen, but to +prove useless to navigation on account of the enormous accumulation of +ice. + +[Footnote 12: Corte-Real's name of Terra Verde ("Greenland") was soon +dropped in favour of the older English name "New Land" (Newfoundland, +Terra Nova). This was at once adopted by the French seamen as "Terre +Neuve".] + +Gomez left Corunna in the winter of 1524-5, and reached the +North-American coast somewhere about Florida. He probably only began +to investigate closely after he passed into the broad gulf of Maine, +between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia. Here he sighted from the sea the +lofty mountains of New Hampshire, and steered for the mouth of the +Penobscot River (which he named the River of Deer), a title which +sticks to the locality--in Deer Island--at the present day. But this +being no opening of a broad strait, he passed on into the Bay of Fundy +(from Portuguese word, _Fundo_, the bottom of a sack or passage), +explored its two terminal gulfs, then returned along the coast of Nova +Scotia,[13] past Cape Sable, and so to the "gut" or Canal of Canso. +Gomez realized that Cape Breton was an island (we now know that it is +two islands separated by a narrow watercourse), but thought that Cabot +Strait was a great bay, and guessed nothing of the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, and the chance of securing for Spain the possession of this +mighty waterway into the heart of North America. + +[Footnote 13: The name Nova Scotia was not applied to this peninsula +until 1621, by the British Government. It was at first included with +New Brunswick under the Spanish name of Norumbega, and after 1603 was +called by the French "Acadie".] + +From Cape North he crossed over to the south coast of Newfoundland, +and followed this more or less till he came to Cape Race. Newfoundland +was a "very cold and savage land", and Gomez decided it was no use +prosecuting any farther his enquiry as to a water passage across North +America, because, if it existed, it must lie in latitudes of frozen +sea and be unnavigable. + +At different places along the east coast of North America he kidnapped +natives, and eventually returned to Spain (via Florida and Cuba) with +a cargo of Amerindian slaves. + +He had been preceded, by seven or eight months, in his explorations +along the same coast by GIOVANNI DA VERRAZANO, a native of Florence, +who as a navigator and explorer had visited the East, and had +associated himself a good deal with the shipowners of Dieppe. Ever +since the issue of Cabot's voyages was known--at any rate from +1504--ships from Brittany and Normandy had made their way to Cape +Breton Island and Newfoundland for the cod fisheries. In 1508 a Norman +named Aubert was sent out by Jean Ango--a great merchant of Dieppe of +that day--to found a colony in Newfoundland. Aubert failed to do this, +but he captured and brought away at least seven of the natives, no +doubt of the Beothik tribe, from Newfoundland to Rouen, with their +canoe, clothing, and weapons. A good many ships also went out from La +Rochelle on the west coast of France, and took part in the fishing off +the coast of Newfoundland: together with the ships of Brittany and +Dieppe there may have been a French fishing fleet of seventy to eighty +ships plying every summer season between France, Newfoundland, and +Cape Breton. So that when "John from Verrazano" offered his services +to Francis I to make discoveries across the ocean, which should become +possessions of the French Crown, he was quickly provided with the +requisite funds and ships. + +Verrazano started on the 17th of January, 1524, for the coast of +North America, but I shall say little about his expedition here, +because it resulted chiefly in the discovery and mapping of what is +now the east coast of the United States. He reached as far as the +south coast of Newfoundland, it is true; he also gave the names of +Nova Gallia and Francesca to the coast regions of eastern North +America, and distinctly intended to take possession of these on behalf +of the French Crown. But his work in this direction did not lead +directly to the creation of the French colony of Canada, because, when +he returned from America, Francis I was at war with Spain, and could +pay no attention to Verrazano's projects. His voyage is worth +recording in the present volume only for these two reasons: he +certainly put it into the minds of French people that they might found +an empire in North America; and he inspired geographers for another +hundred years with the false idea that the great North American +Continent had a very narrow waist, like the Isthmus of Panama, and +that the Pacific Ocean covered the greater part of what is now called +the United States. This mistake arose from his looking across the +narrow belts or peninsulas of sand in North Carolina and Virginia, and +seeing vast stretches of open water to the west. These were found, a +hundred years afterwards, to be merely large shallow lagoons of sea +water, but Verrazano thought they were an extension of the Pacific +Ocean. + +Nevertheless, Verrazano's voyage developed into the French +colonization of Canada, just as Cabot drew the British to +Newfoundland, Columbus the Spaniards to Central and South America, and +Amerigo Vespucci showed the Portuguese the way to Brazil. The modern +nations of western Europe owe the inception of their great colonies in +America to four Italians. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Jacques Cartier + + +Verrazano and Gomez, and probably the English captain, John Rut, had +all sought for the opening of a strait of salt water--like Magellan's +Straits in the far south--which should lead them through the great +North-American continent to the regions of China and Japan. Yet in +some incomprehensible way they overlooked the two broad passages to +the north and south of Newfoundland--the Straits of Belle Isle and of +Cabot--which would at any rate lead them into the vast Gulf of St. +Lawrence, and thence to the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes; a +natural system of waterways connected each with the other and all with +the Mississippi and Missouri, the Arctic Ocean, and Hudson's Bay; nay, +more, with the North Pacific also; so that with a few "portages", or +carryings of canoes from one watershed to another, a traveller of any +enterprise, accompanied by a sturdy crew, can cross the broad +continent of North America at its broadest from sea to sea without +much walking. + +Estevão Gomez noticed Cabot Straits between Cape Breton and +Newfoundland, but thought them only a very deep bay. John Rut and +others discerned the Straits of Belle Isle as a wide recess in the +coast rather than the mouth of a channel leading far inland. And yet, +after thirty years of Breton, English, and Portuguese fishing +operations in these waters, there must have been glimmerings of the +existence of the great Gulf of St. Lawrence behind Newfoundland: and +JACQUES CARTIER (or Quartier), who had probably made already one +voyage to Newfoundland (besides a visit to Brazil), suspected that +between Newfoundland and Labrador there lay the opening of the great +sea passage "leading to China". He proposed himself to Philippe de +Chabot, the Admiral of France, as the leader of a new French adventure +to find the North-west Passage, was accepted by King Francis, and at +the age of forty-three years set out, with two ships, from St. Malo in +Brittany, on April 20, 1534, ten years after Verrazano's voyage, and +reached the coast of Newfoundland after a voyage of only twenty days. +As he sailed northwards, past the deeply indented fiords and bays of +eastern Newfoundland (the shores of which were still hugged by the +winter ice), he and his men were much impressed with the incredible +numbers of the sea fowl settled for nesting purposes on the rocky +islands, especially on Funk Island.[1] These birds were guillemots, +puffins, great auks,[2] gannets (called by Cartier _margaulx_), and +probably gulls and eider duck. To his sailors--always hungry and +partly fed on salted provisions, as seamen were down to a few years +ago--this inexhaustible supply of fresh food was a source of great +enjoyment. They were indifferent, no doubt, to the fishy flavour of +the auks and the guillemots, and only noticed that they were +splendidly fat. Moreover, the birds attracted Polar bears "as large as +cows and as white as swans". The bears would swim off from the shore +to the islands (unless they could reach them by crossing the ice), and +the sailors occasionally killed the bears and ate their flesh, which +they compared in excellence and taste to veal. + +[Footnote 1: Funk Island--called by Cartier "the Island of Birds"--is +only about 3 miles round, and 46 feet above the sea level. It is 3 +miles distant from the coast.] + +[Footnote 2: The Great Auk (_Alca impennis_), extinct since about 1844 +in Europe and 1870 in Labrador, once had in ancient times a +geographical range from Massachusetts and Newfoundland to Iceland, +Ireland, Scotland, N.E. England, and Denmark. Perhaps nowhere was it +found so abundantly as on the coasts of Eastern Newfoundland and on +Funk Island hard by. The Great Auk was in such numbers on the +north-east coast of Newfoundland that the Amerindians of that country +and of southern Labrador used it as fuel in the winter time, its body +being very full of oil and burning with a splendid flame. The French +seamen called it _pingouin_ ("penguin") from its fatness, and this +name was much later transferred to the real penguins of the southern +seas which are quite unrelated to the auks.] + +Passing through the Straits of Belle Isle, Cartier's ships entered +the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They had previously visited the adjoining +coast of Labrador, and there had encountered their first "natives", +members of some Algonkin tribe from Canada, who had come north for +seal fishing (Cartier is clever enough to notice and describe their +birch-bark canoes). After examining the west coast of Newfoundland, +Cartier's ships sailed on past the Magdalen Islands (stopping every +now and then off some islet to collect supplies of sea birds, for the +rocky ground was covered with them as thickly as a meadow with +grass).[3] He reached the north coast of Prince Edward Island, and +this lovely country received from him an enthusiastic description. The +pine trees, the junipers, yews, elms, poplars, ash, and willows, the +beeches and the maples, made the forest not only full of delicious and +stimulating odours, but lovely in its varied tints of green. In the +natural meadows and forest clearings there were red and white +currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, a vetch which +produced edible peas, and a grass with a grain like rye. The forest +abounded in pigeons, and the climate was pleasant and warm. + +[Footnote 3: On the shores of these islands they noticed "several +great beasts like oxen, which have two tusks in the mouth similar to +those of the elephant". These were walruses.] + +Later on he coasted New Brunswick, and paused for a time over Chaleur +Bay, hoping it might be the opening to the strait across the continent +of which he was in search; but finding it was not, he continued +northwards till he had almost rounded the Gaspé Peninsula, a course +which would have led him straight away into the wonderful discovery of +the St. Lawrence River, but that, being forced by bad weather into +Gaspé Bay, and perhaps hindered by fog, instead of entering the St. +Lawrence he sailed right across to Anticosti Island. After that, +being baffled by bad weather and doubtful as to his resources lasting +out, he decided to return to France through the Strait of Belle Isle. + +So far he had failed to realize two of the most important things in +the geography of this region: the broad southern entrance into the +Gulf of St. Lawrence (subsequently called Cabot Strait), which +separates Newfoundland on the north from Cape Breton Island on the +south, and the broad entrance into the River St. Lawrence between +Anticosti Island and the Gaspé Peninsula. + +Yet, whilst staying in Gaspé Bay, he had a very important meeting with +Amerindian natives of the Huron-Iroquois stock, who had come down the +River St. Lawrence from the neighbourhood of Quebec, fishing for +mackerel. These bold, friendly people welcomed the French heartily, +greeting them with songs and dances. But when they saw Cartier erect a +great cross on the land at the entrance to Gaspé Bay (a cross bearing +a shield with the arms of France and the letters "Vive le Roi de +France"), they were ill at ease. It is certain that not one word could +be understood in language between the two parties, for there were as +yet no interpreters; but the Amerindians were probably shrewd enough +to perceive that Cartier was making some claim on the land, and they +explained by signs that they considered all this country belonged to +themselves. Nevertheless, Cartier persuaded two youths, the sons of +one of the chiefs, to go back with him to France on his ship, to learn +the French language, to see what France looked like, and to return +afterwards as interpreters. The boys, though they were practically +kidnapped at first, were soon reconciled to going, especially when +they were dressed in French clothes! + +[Illustration: JACQUES CARTIER] + +When Cartier was on his way home he sailed in a north-easterly +direction in such a way as to overlook the broad channel between the +Gaspé Peninsula and Anticosti Island, but having rounded the +easternmost extremity of that large island, he coasted along its +northern shores until he caught sight of the opening of the Canadian +channel to the west. He believed then that he had discovered the +long-looked-for opening of the trans-continental passage, and sailed +for France with his wonderful news. + +On the 19th of May, 1535, Cartier started again from St. Malo with +three ships, the biggest of which was only 120 tons, while the others +were respectively 60 and 40 tons capacity. The crew consisted of about +112 persons, and in addition there were the two Indian youths who had +been kidnapped on the previous voyage, and were now returning as +interpreters. Instead, however, of reaching Newfoundland in twenty +days, he spent five weeks crossing the Atlantic before he reached his +rendezvous with the other ships at Blanc Sablon, on the south coast of +Labrador; for the easy access to the Gulf of St. Lawrence through +Cabot Strait (between Newfoundland and Cape Breton) was not yet +realized. Once past Anticosti Island, the two Huron interpreters began +to recognize the scenery.[4] They now explained to Cartier that he had +entered the estuary of a vast river. This they said he had only to +pursue in ships and boats and he would reach "Canada" (which was the +name they gave to the district round about Quebec), and that beyond +"Canada" no man had ever been known to reach the end of this great +water; but, they added, it was fresh water, not salt, and this last +piece of information much disheartened Cartier, who feared that he had +not, after all, discovered the water route across North America to the +Pacific Ocean. He therefore turned about and once more searched the +opposite coast of Labrador most minutely, displaying, as he did so, a +seamanship which was little else than marvellous, for it is a very +dangerous coast, the seas are very stormy, and the look-out often +hampered by a sudden rising of dense fog; there are islands and rocks +(some of them almost hidden by the water) and sandbanks; but Cartier +made this survey of southern Labrador without an accident. + +[Footnote 4: Anticosti Island received from Cartier the name of "the +Island of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin", in consequence of his +having discovered it to be an island on the feast day of that name. It +did not receive its present title until the late seventeenth century.] + +At this period, some three hundred and seventy-five years ago, the +northern coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of Anticosti Island +swarmed with huge walruses, which were described by Cartier as sea +horses that spent the night on land and the day in the water. They +have long since been exterminated by the English and French seamen and +settlers. + +At last Cartier set sail for the south-west, intending to explore this +wonderful river and to reach the kingdom of Canada. According to his +understanding of the Amerindian interpreters, the waters of the St. +Lawrence flowed through three great states: _Saguenay_, which was the +mountainous Gaspé Peninsula and the opposite coast; _Canada_, Quebec +and its neighbourhood; and _Hochelaga_, the region between Montreal +and Lake Ontario. At the mouth of the Saguenay River, where Tadoussac +is now situated, he encountered large numbers of white whales--the +Beluga. These are really huge porpoises, allied to the narwhals, but +without the narwhal's exaggerated tusk. When he reached the vicinity +of the modern Quebec,[5] and his Amerindian interpreters found +themselves at their actual home (for they were far away from home on a +fishing expedition when he caught them in Gaspé Bay) there was great +rejoicing; for they were able to tell their relations of the wonderful +country to which they had been across the ocean. Cartier was delighted +with the surroundings of "Canada" (Quebec), near which at that time +was a large settlement (Stadacona) of Huron Indians under a chief +named Donnacona. He decided to lay up his ships here for the winter, +and to pursue the rest of his western explorations in his boats. + +[Footnote 5: Then called "Canada". The word Quebec (pronounced +_Kebek_) means the narrow part of a river.] + +But the Amerindians for some reason were not willing that he should go +any farther, and attempted to scare him from his projects by arranging +for three of their number to come down river in a canoe, dressed in +dogs' skins, with their faces blackened, and with bisons' horns +fastened to their heads. These devils pretended to take no notice of +the French, but to die suddenly as they reached the shore, while the +rest of the natives gave vent to howlings of despair and +consternation. The three devils were pretending to have brought a +message from a god to these Hurons of "Canada" that the country up +river (Hochelaga) was so full of ice and snow that it would be death +for anyone to go there. + +However, this made little or no impression on Cartier; but he consented +to leave a proportion of his party behind with the chief Donnacona as +hostages, and then started up country in his boats with about seventy +picked officers and men. On the 2nd of October, 1535, they reached the +vicinity of the modern Montreal, the chief settlement of Hochelaga. +The Huron town at the foot of the hills was circular in outline, +surrounded by a stockade of three rows of upright tree trunks, which +rose to its highest point in the middle, where the timbers of the +inner and outward sides sloped to meet one another, the height of the +central row being about 8 feet above the ground. All round the inside +there was a platform or rampart on which were stored heavy stones to +be hurled at any enemy who should attempt to scale the fence. The town +was entered by only one doorway, and contained about fifty houses +surrounding an open space whereon the towns-people made their +bonfires. Each house was about 50 feet long by 12 to 15 feet wide. +They were roofed with bark, and usually had attics which were +storerooms for food. In the centre of each of these long houses there +was a fireplace where the cooking for the whole of the house +inhabitants was done. Each family had its own room, but each house +probably contained five families. Almost the only furniture, except +cooking pots, was mats on which the people sat and slept. The food of +the people consisted, besides fish and the flesh of beavers and deer, +of maize and beans. Cartier at once recognized the maize or Indian +corn as the same grain ("a large millet") as that which he had seen in +Brazil. + +He gives a description of how they made the maize into bread (or +rather "dampers", "ashcakes"); but as this is not altogether clear, it +is better to combine it with Champlain's description, written a good +many years later, but still at a time when the Hurons were unaffected +by the white man's civilization. According to both Cartier and +Champlain, the women pounded the corn to meal in a wooden mortar, and +removed the bran by means of fans made of the bark of trees. From this +meal they made bread, sometimes mixing with the meal the beans +(_Phaseolus vulgaris_), which had been boiled and mashed. Or they +would boil both Indian corn and beans into a thick soup, adding to the +soup blueberries,[6] dried raspberries, or pieces of deer's fat. The +meal derived from the corn and beans they would make into bread, +baking it in the ashes. + +[Footnote 6: The Canada Blueberry (_Vaccinium canadense_), called by +the French _bluës_ or _bluëts_. These bluës were collected and dried +by the Amerindians, and made a sweet nutriment for eating in the +winter.] + +Or they would take the pounded Indian corn without removing the bran, +and put two or three handfuls of it into an earthen pot full of water, +stirring it from time to time, when it boiled, so that it might not +adhere to the pot. To this was added a small quantity of fish, fresh +or dry, according to the season, to give a flavour to the _migane_ or +porridge. When the dried fish was used the porridge smelt very badly +in the nostrils of Europeans, but worst of all when the porridge was +mixed with dried venison, which was sometimes nearly putrid! If fish +was put into this porridge it was boiled whole in the mealy water, +then taken out without any attempt to remove the fins, scales, or +entrails, and the whole of the boiled fish was pounded up and put back +into the porridge. Sometimes a great birch-bark "kettle" would be +filled with water, fish, and meat, and red-hot stones be dropped in +till it boiled. Then with a spoon they would collect from the surface +the fat and oil arising from the fish or meat. This they afterwards +mixed with the meal of roasted Indian corn, stirring it with this fat +till they had made a thick soup. Sometimes, however, they were content +to eat the young corn-cobs freshly roasted, which as a matter of fact +(with a little salt) is one of the most delicious things in the world. +Or they would take ears of Indian corn and bury them in wet mud, +leaving them thus for two or three months; then the cobs would be +removed and the rotted grain eaten with meat and fish, though it was +all muddy and smelt horribly. Cartier also noticed that these Huron +Indians had melons and pumpkins, and described their wampum or shell +money.[7] + +[Footnote 7: Cartier, in Hakluyt's translation, is made to say (I +modernize the spelling): "They dig their grounds with certain pieces +of wood as big as half a sword, on which ground groweth their corn, +which they call 'offici'; it is as big as our small peason.... They +have also great store of musk melons, pompions, gourds, cucumbers, +peas, and beans of every colour, yet differing from ours." + +Wampum, or shell money (which recalls the shell money of the Pacific +Islands), consisted either of beads made from the interior parts of +sea shells or land shells, or of strings of perforated sea shells. The +most elaborate kind of wampum was that of the Amerindians of Canada +and the eastern United States, the shell beads of which were generally +white. The commoner wampum beads were black and violet. Wampum belts +were made which illustrated events, dates, treaties of peace, &c, by a +rude symbolism (figures of men and animals, upright lines, &c), and +these were worked neatly on string by employing different-coloured +beads.] + +From the eminence on which the Huron city stood, Cartier obtained a +splendid view of rivers and mountains and magnificent forests, and +called the place then and there, in his Norman French, Mont Real, or +Royal Eminence, a name which it will probably bear for all time, +though the actual city of Montreal lies a few miles below. + +Montreal was the limit of Cartier's explorations on this journey. He +returned thence to "Canada" or Stadacona, where his men built a fort +armed with artillery, and where his ships were anchored. Here he had +to stay from the middle of November, 1535, to the middle of April, +1536, his ships being shut in by the ice. The experiences of the +French during these five months were mostly unhappy. At first Cartier +gave himself up to the collecting of information. He noticed for the +first time the smoking of tobacco,[8] and collected information about +the products and features of "Canada". The Indians told him of great +lakes in the far west, one of which was so vast that no man had seen +the end of it. They told him that anyone travelling up the Richelieu +River (as it was called sixty years later) would eventually reach a +land in the south where in the winter there was no ice or snow, and +where fruit and nut trees grew in abundance. Cartier thought that they +were talking to him of Florida, but their geographical information can +scarcely have stretched so far; they probably referred to the milder +regions of New Jersey and Virginia, which would be reached by +following southwards the valley of the Hudson and keeping to the +lowlands of the eastern United States. + +[Footnote 8: "There groweth also a certain kind of herb whereof in +summer they make a great provision for all the year, making great +account of it, and only men use it; and first they cause it to be +dried in the sun, then wear it about their necks wrapped in a little +beast's skin made like a bag, together with a hollow piece of stone or +wood like a pipe. Then when they please they make powder of it and put +it in one of the ends of the said cornet or pipe, and laying a coal of +fire upon it at the other end, suck so long that they fill their +bodies full of smoke, till that it cometh out of their mouth and +nostrils, even as out of the tunnel of a chimney. They say that this +doth keep them warm and in health: they never go without some of it +about them. We ourselves have tried the same smoke, and having put it +in our mouths, it seemed almost as hot as pepper." The foregoing is +one of the earliest descriptions of tobacco smoking in any European +language, the original words being in Cartier's Norman French.] + +As the winter set in with its customary Canadian severity the real +trouble of the French began. They did not suffer from the cold, but +they were dying of scurvy. This disease, from which the natives also +suffered to some extent, was due to their eating nothing but salt or +smoked provisions--forms of meat or fish. They lived, of course, shut +up in the fort, and Cartier's fixed idea was to keep the Hurons from +the knowledge of his misfortune, fearing lest, if they realized how +the garrison was reduced, they might treacherously attack and massacre +the rest; for in spite of the extravagant joy with which their arrival +had been greeted, the Amerindians--notably the two interpreters who +had been to France and returned--showed at intervals signs of disquiet +and a longing to be rid of these mysterious white men, whose coming +might involve the country in unknown misfortunes. In January and +February, also, Donnacona and these two interpreters and many of the +Huron men had been absent hunting in the forests, so that there was no +one among the Amerindians to whom the French could turn for +information regarding this strange disease. At last 25 out of the 112 +who had left France were dead, and of the remainder only 10 men, +including Cartier, were not grievously ill. Those who were living +found it sometimes beyond their strength to bury the dead in the +frozen ground, and simply placed their bodies in deep snow. Once or +twice, when Cartier left the fort to go out to the ships, he met +Domagaya, one of the two interpreters, and found that he also was +suffering from this mysterious disease, though not nearly so badly as +the French people. On the body of one young man who died of scurvy +Cartier and his officers, shuddering, made investigations, opening the +corpse and examining the organs to try and find the cause of death. +This was on the afternoon of a day on which they had held a solemn +service before a statue erected to the Virgin Mary on the shore +opposite to the ships. All who were fit to walk went in procession +from the fort to the statue, singing penitential psalms and the Litany +and celebrating Mass. + +Some days after this religious service Cartier met the interpreter, +Domagaya, and to his surprise found him perfectly well and strong. He +asked him for an explanation, and was told that the medicine which +cured this disease was made from the leaves and bark of a tree called +ameda.[9] Cartier then ventured to say that one of his servants was +sick of this unknown disease, and Domagaya sent for two women, who +taught the French people how to make an extract from the balsam fir +for drinking, and how to apply the same liquid to the inflamed skin. +The effect on the crews was miraculous. In six days all the sick were +well and strong. + +[Footnote 9: This tree was the balsam fir, _Abies balsamea_.] + +Then came the sudden spring. Between April 15th and May 1st the ice on +the river was all melted, and on the 6th May, 1536, Cartier started +from the vicinity of Quebec to return to France. But before leaving he +had managed to kidnap Donnacona, the chief of the Huron settlement, +and six or seven other Amerindians, amongst them Tainyoanyi, one of +the two interpreters who had already been to France. He seized these +men, it appears, partly because he wanted hostages and had good reason +to fear that the Indians meditated a treacherous attack on his ships +before they could get away. He also wished for native witnesses at +Court, when he reached France, to testify to the truth of his +discoveries, and even more to convince the King of France that there +was great profit to be obtained from giving effect to Cartier's +explorations. The chief, Donnacona, was full of wonderful stories of +the Saguenay region, and of the great lakes to the northwards of +Quebec. Probably he was only alluding to the wealth of copper now +known to exist in northern Canada, but to Cartier and the other +Frenchmen it seemed as though he spoke of gold and silver, rubies, and +other precious stones. + +Donnacona's people howled and wept when their chief was seized; but +Cartier obliged the chief to reassure them, and to say that the French +had promised to bring him back after he had paid a visit to their +great king, who would return him to his country with great presents. +As a matter of fact, not one of these Indians rapt away by Cartier +ever saw Canada again. But this was not the fault of Cartier, but of +the distractions of the times which turned away the thoughts of King +Francis I from American adventures. The Indians were well and kindly +treated in France, but all of them died there before Cartier left St. +Malo to return to Canada in 1541. + +One advantage he derived from sailing away with these hostages was (no +doubt) that they could give him geographical information of importance +which materially shortened the return journey. For the first time he +made use of the broad strait between Anticosti Island and Gaspé +Peninsula, and, better still, entered the Atlantic, not by the +dangerous northern route through the straits of Belle Isle, but by +means of Cabot Strait, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. Of +these discoveries he availed himself on his third and last voyage in +1541. + +When in that year he once more anchored his ships near Quebec he found +the attitude of the Hurons changed. They enquired about their friends +and relations who had been carried off five years before, and although +they pretended to be reconciled to their fate when they heard (not +altogether truly) that one or two were dead, and the others had become +great lords in France and had married French women, they really felt a +disappointment so bitter and a hostility so great that Cartier guessed +their expressions of welcome to be false. However, he sent back to +France two of the ships under his command and beached the other three, +landed his stores, built two forts at Cap Rouge, above and below, and +then started off with a few of his men and two boats to revisit the +country of Hochelaga. Here he intended to examine the three rapids or +"saults"--interruptions to the navigation of the St. Lawrence--which +he had observed on his previous journey, and which were later named +the La Chine Rapids (in the belief that they were obstacles on the +river route to China). But these falls proved insuperable obstacles to +his boats, and he gave up any further idea of westward exploration, +returned to his forts and ships near Quebec, and there laid the +foundations of a fortified town, which he called Charlesbourg Royal. +Here he spent a very difficult winter, the Hurons in the neighbourhood +becoming increasingly hostile, and at last, when the spring came, as +he had received no relief from France, he took to his three ships, +abandoned Charlesbourg Royal (having probably to do some fighting +before he could get safely away) and thence sailed for France. Off the +Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland he met the other ships of the +expedition which was to have occupied Canada for France. These were +under the command of the Sieur de Roberval, a French nobleman, who had +really been made head of the whole enterprise, with Cartier as a +subordinate officer, but who, the year before, had allowed Cartier to +go off to Canada and prepare the way, promising to follow immediately. +The interview between Cartier and Roberval, near where the capital of +Newfoundland (St. John's) now stands, was a stormy one. Roberval +ordered Cartier to return at once to Charlesbourg and await his +arrival. However, in the middle of the night which followed this +interview, Cartier took advantage of a favourable wind and set sail +for France, arriving soon afterwards at St. Malo. + +But Roberval arrived at Charlesbourg (going the roundabout way through +the straits of Belle Isle, for Cartier had told him nothing of the +convenient passage through Cabot Strait), and there spent the winter +of 1542-3, sending his ships back to France. This winter was one of +horrors. Roberval was a headstrong, passionate man, perfectly reckless +of human life. He maintained discipline by ferocious sentences, +putting many of his men in irons, whipping others cruelly, women as +well as men, and shooting those who seemed the most rebellious. Even +the Indians were moved to pity, and wept at the sight of the woes of +these unhappy French men and women under the control of a bloodthirsty +tyrant, and many of them dying of scurvy, or miserably weak from that +disease.[10] + +[Footnote 10: A story was subsequently told of Roberval's stern +treatment which had a germ of truth in it, though it has since been +the foundation of many a romance. On the journey out from France it is +said that Roberval took with him his niece Marguerite, a high-born +lady, who was accompanied by an old companion or nurse. Marguerite was +travelling with her uncle because, unknown to him, she had a lover who +had sailed with him on this expedition and whom she hoped to marry. As +they crossed the Atlantic these facts leaked out, and Roberval +resolved to bide his time and punish his niece for her deception. As +they passed the coast of Southern Labrador Marguerite and her old +nurse were seized and put into a boat, Roberval ordering his sailors +to row them ashore to an island, and leave them to their fate. They +were given four guns with ammunition and a small supply of provisions. +But, as the boat was leaving the ship, Marguerite's lover threw +himself into the sea and swam to the island. Here, according to the +story which Marguerite is supposed to have told afterwards, they +endeavoured to live by killing the wild animals and eating their +flesh; but her lover-husband died, so also did her child soon after it +was born, and then the old nurse, and the unhappy Marguerite was left +alone with the wild beasts, especially the white Polar bears, who +thronged round her hut. Nevertheless she kept them at bay with her +arquebus, and managed somehow to support an existence, until after +nineteen months' isolation the ascending smoke of her fire was seen by +people on one of the many fishing vessels which, by this time, +frequented the coasts of Newfoundland. She was taken off the island +and restored to her home in France. The island to which this tradition +more especially relates is now called Grand Meccatina.] + +However, when the weather was warm again, in June, 1543, Roberval +started up the St. Lawrence River in boats to reach the wonderful +country of Saguenay. Apparently he met with little success, and, being +relieved by French ships in the late summer of 1543, he returned to +France. + +Thus the splendid work achieved by Cartier seemed to have come to +nothing, for neither he nor Roberval revisited America. The French +settlement near Quebec was abandoned, so far as the officers of the +French king were concerned, and between 1545 and about 1583, if any +other Frenchman or European visited Canada it was some private +adventurer who traded with the natives in furs, or Basques from France +and Spain who frequented the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence on +account of the abundance of whales, walruses, and seals. In fact, at +the close of the sixteenth century, the Spanish Basques had +established themselves on shore at Tadoussac and other places, and +seemed likely to colonize the country. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Elizabethan Pioneers in North America + + +Except that the ships of Bristol still no doubt continued to resort to +the banks of Newfoundland for fishing, and that even the captains of +these ships were occasionally elected admirals of the French, Basque, +Portuguese, and English fishing fleets during the summer, the English, +as a nation, took no part in claiming political dominion over North +America after the voyage of Captain John Rut in 1527. This was the +fault of Sebastian Cabot, the son of the man who founded British +America, and who had returned to England long afterwards as the Grand +Pilot appointed by Edward VI to further the discovery of a northern +sea passage to China. Through him the attention of adventurers for a +time was diverted from America to the "discovery" of Russia (as it has +been called). The efforts of Sebastion Cabot were directed towards the +revelation of a north-east passage by way of Arctic Russia to the +Pacific, rather than past Newfoundland and Labrador and across Arctic +America. + +But as soon as Elizabeth came to the throne the sea adventurers of +Britain, freed from any subservience to Spanish wishes, developed +maritime intercourse between England, Morocco, and West Africa on the +one hand, and Tropical and North America on the other. Once more the +discovery of the North-west Passage across America to China came into +favour. MARTIN FROBISHER[1] offered himself as a discoverer, and the +Earl of Warwick found the means which provided him with two small +sailing vessels of 25 and 20 tons each, besides a pinnace of 10 +tons.[2] Queen Elizabeth confined herself, in the way of +encouragement, to waving her lily hand from her palace of Greenwich as +these three little boats dropped down the Thames on the 8th of June, +1576. She also sent them "an honourable message", which no doubt +reached them at Tilbury. + +[Footnote 1: The name was also spelt Furbusher, and in other ways. He +became Sir Martin Frobisher over the wars of the Armada, and died Lord +High Admiral of England in 1592.] + +[Footnote 2: It may be of interest to set forth the kind of rations +shipped in those Elizabethan times for the food of the sailors. +According to Frobisher's accounts these consisted of salted beef, salt +pork, salt fish, biscuit, meal for making bread, dried peas, oatmeal, +rice, cheese, butter, beer, and wine, with brandy for emergencies. As +regards beer, the men were to have a ration of 1 gallon a day each. +Altogether it may be said that these rations were superior in +variety--and no doubt in quality--to the food given to seamen in the +British merchant marine in the nineteenth century.] + +But the pinnace was soon swallowed up in the high seas; the seamen in +the vessel of 20 tons lost heart and turned their ship homewards. +Frobisher alone, in his 25-ton bark, sailed on and on across the +stormy Atlantic, past the south end of Greenland, and over the great +gulf that separates Greenland from Labrador. He missed the entrance to +Hudson's Bay, but reached a great "island" which he named Meta +Incognita[3]. Here he gathered up stones and, as he believed, +minerals, besides capturing at least one Eskimo, and then returned. + +[Footnote 3: We now know Meta Incognita to be the southernmost +peninsula of the vast Baffin Island.] + +One of his stones was declared by the refiners of London to contain +gold. There was at once--as we should say in modern slang--a boom for +these Arctic regions. Queen Elizabeth took part in it, and on the 27th +of May, 1577, a considerable fleet, under the command of Frobisher, +sailed past the Orkneys for the south end of Greenland. It did not +reach as far as Meta Incognita, but it brought back large heaps of +earth and pieces of rock, probably from northern Labrador, which +almost certainly contained mica schist, and were therefore believed +to be full of gold. The following year 1578, Frobisher started on his +third American voyage with a fleet of fifteen vessels, mainly financed +by Queen Elizabeth, and manned to a great extent by the sons of the +aristocracy, besides a hundred persons who were going out as +colonists. For this region of ice and snow which was believed to be a +mass of gold-bearing rocks! But the result was one of bitter +disappointment. The captains were bewildered by the immense icebergs, +"so vast that, as they melted, torrents poured from them in sparkling +waterfalls". One iceberg toppled over on to a ship and crushed it, +though most of the sailors were picked up in the sea and saved. In the +thick mists the greater part of the fleet blundered into Hudson's +Straits, yet did not realize that they had found a passage into the +heart of Canada. At last, disgusted with this land of bare rocks, ice, +and snow, they filled up the ships with cargoes of stones supposed to +contain gold, and straggled back to England. No gold was extracted, +however, from these cargoes, and much discouragement ensued. + +SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT, one of the brilliant figures of Elizabeth's +reign--scholar, poet, courageous adventurer, and man of +chivalry--stimulated by the discoveries of Frobisher, obtained a +patent or charter in 1578, and, after several unsuccessful attempts, +led an expedition of small sailing ships to Newfoundland, where he +entered St. John's Bay, and in the presence of the Basque, Portuguese, +and Breton fishermen took formal possession of the country for Queen +Elizabeth, raising a pillar on which the arms of England were engraved +as a token. He then proceeded to grant lands to the fishermen to +reassure them, and loaded his ships with rocks brought from the +interior mountains and supposed to contain minerals. But in his +further explorations of the southern coast of Newfoundland one of the +ships was lost and nearly a hundred men intended as colonists were +drowned. + +Gilbert then determined to return to England in his small frigate of +10 tons named the _Squirrel_. He was accompanied by a larger vessel, +the _Golden Hinde_, but refused to leave the men on the _Squirrel_ to +their fate. Consequently, between the Azores and the north coast of +Spain, when the _Squirrel_ was overwhelmed by the heavy seas, Sir +Humphrey Gilbert perished together with all on board. + +In spite, however, of the disappointing results of Gilbert's attempt +to found a colony in Newfoundland, the importance of the cod fishery +and the ivory tusks and oil of the walruses drew ever more and more +ships from Bristol and Devonshire to the coasts of that great island +and to the Gulf of St. Lawrence beyond. In 1592 the English +adventurers got as far west as Anticosti Island (in a ship from +Bristol), and in 1597 there is the first record of English ships (from +London--the _Hopewell_ and the _Chancewell_) sailing up the St. +Lawrence River, perhaps as far west as Quebec. + +In 1602, stimulated by Sir Walter Raleigh,[4] Bartholomew Gosnold +sailed direct to the coast of North America south of the Newfoundland +latitudes, and anchored his bark off the coast of Massachusetts on the +26th of March, 1602. Failing to find a good harbour here, he stood out +for the south and definitely discovered and named Cape Cod, not far +from the modern city of Boston. From Cape Cod he made his way to the +Elizabeth Islands in Buzzard's Bay, and here he built a storehouse and +fort, and may be said to have laid the foundations of the future +colony of New England. He brought back with him a cargo of sassafras +root, which was then much esteemed as a valuable medicine and a remedy +for almost all diseases. + +[Footnote 4: In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh, the half-brother of Sir +Humphrey Gilbert, financed an expedition to sail to the coast of North +America in a more southerly direction. In this way was founded the +(afterwards abandoned) colony of Roanoke, in North Carolina. It was to +this region that Queen Elizabeth applied the title of Virginia, which +some years afterwards was transferred to the first English colony on +the James River.] + +Subsequent expeditions of English ships explored and mapped the coast +of Maine, and took on board Amerindians for exhibition in England. +Their adventures, together with those of the colonists farther south, +led to the creation of chartered companies, and to the great British +colonies of New England, New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, and +Georgia, which were to become in time the United States of America--a +vast field of adventure which we cannot follow farther in this book. + +As regards Newfoundland, James I, in 1610, granted a patent to a +Bristol merchant for the foundation there of a colony, and although +this attempt, and another under Sir George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) in +1616, came almost to nothing through the attacks of the French and the +dislike of the crews of the fishing vessels to permanent settlers who +might interfere with the fishing industry, the English colonization of +Newfoundland to some extent caught hold, so that in 1650 there were +about two thousand colonists of English descent along the east and +south-east coasts of the island. But settlement was prohibited within +six miles of the shore, to please the fishermen, and this regulation +checked for more than two hundred years the colonization of +Newfoundland. + +Nova Scotia as a British colony also came into being as another result +of these adventurous British expeditions to North America in the reign +of James I. Under the name of Acadie this region had been declared to +be a portion of New France by De Monts and Champlain in 1604-14. But +the English colonists in 1614 drove the French out of the peninsula of +Nova Scotia on the plea that it was a part of the discoveries made by +the Cabots on behalf of the British Crown. In 1621 James I gave a +grant of all this territory to Sir William Alexander under the name of +Nova Scotia, and both Charles I and Cromwell encouraged settlement in +this beautiful region. When Charles II ceded it to France in 1667 the +English and Scottish colonists who were residing there, and the +English settlers of New England, refused to recognize the effects of +the Treaty of Bréda, and so harassed the French in the years which +followed that in 1713 Nova Scotia was, together with Newfoundland, +recognized as belonging to Great Britain. The French colonists were +allowed to remain, but during the course of the eighteenth century +they combined with the Amerindians (who liked the French and disliked +the British) and made the position of the British colonists so +precarious that they were finally expelled and obliged to transfer +themselves to Louisiana and Canada. This was the departure of the +Acadians so touchingly described by Longfellow. + +The British had become tenacious of their rights over the east coast +of Newfoundland, because from the middle of the seventeenth century +onwards they were becoming increasingly interested in the whale +fisheries and the fur trade of the lands bordering on Hudson's Bay, +and would not tolerate any blocking of the sea route thither by the +French. + +In the explorations of Arctic America, Frobisher's expeditions had +been succeeded by those of JOHN DAVIS, who in the course of three +voyages, beginning in June, 1585, passed the entrance of Hudson's +Straits and reached a point as far north as 72° 41', a lofty granite +island, which he named Sanderson's Hope. He saw beyond him a great +sea, free, large, very salt, and blue, unobstructed by ice and of an +unsearchable depth, and believed that he had completely discovered the +eastern entrance of the North-West Passage. + +[Illustration: ICEBERGS AND POLAR BEARS] + +HENRY HUDSON, the great English navigator, who had made two voyages +(1607-8) for the English-Moscovy Company to discover a north-east +passage to India, past Siberia, commanded a third experiment in 1609 +at the expense of the Dutch East India Company. He was to discover the +North-West Passage. For this purpose he entered the river now named +the Hudson, but soon found it was only a river; though he returned to +Holland with such an encouraging account of the surrounding country +that the Dutch a little later on, founded on the banks of the Hudson +River their colony of New Amsterdam (afterwards the State of New +York). In 1610 Hudson accepted a British commission to sail beyond +where Davis and Frobisher had passed, and once more seek for the +north-west passage to China. Instead he found the way into Hudson's +Bay. Here his men, alarmed at the idea of being lost in these regions +of ice and snow, mutinied against him, placed him and those who were +faithful to him in a boat, and cast them off, themselves returning to +England with the news of his discovery. Hudson was never heard of +again, and, strange to say, the mutineers apparently received no +punishment. + +Between 1602 and 1668, English adventurers from London and Bristol, +notable amongst whom were WILLIAM BAFFIN, LUKE FOX, and CAPTAIN JAMES, +mapped the coasts of Hudson's Bay and Baffin's Bay and brought to the +notice of merchants in England the abundance of whales in these Arctic +waters, and of fur-bearing beasts and fur-trading Indians in the +region of Hudson's Bay. + +This last point was most forcibly presented to Charles II and his +Government by a disappointed French Canadian, Pierre Esprit Radisson, +whose adventures will later on be described. Radisson, conceiving +himself to be badly treated by the French Governor of Canada, crossed +over to England with his brother-in-law, Chouart, and the two were +warmly taken up by Prince Rupert of Bavaria, the cousin of Charles II. +They were sent out by Prince Rupert in command of an expedition +financed by him and a number of London merchants, and in 1669 the New +England captain, Gillam, returned to England with Chouart and the +first cargo of furs from Hudson's Bay. This cargo so completely met +the expectations of those who had promoted the venture that it led in +1670 to the foundation of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of +England trading into Hudson's Bay, a company chartered by Charles II +and presided over by Prince Rupert, and an association which proved to +be the germ of British North America, of the vast three-quarters of +the present Dominion of Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Champlain and the Foundation of Canada + + +From the first voyage of Cartier onwards, Canada was called +intermittently New France, and its possibilities were not lost sight +of by a few intelligent Frenchmen on account of the fur trade. Amongst +these was Amyard de Chastes, at one time Governor of Dieppe, who got +into correspondence with the adventurers who had settled as fur +traders at Tadoussac, prominent amongst whom was Du Pont-Gravé. De +Chastes dispatched with Pont-Gravé a young man whose acquaintance he +had just made, SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN.[1] This was the man who, more than +any other, created French Canada. + +[Footnote 1: Afterwards the Sieur de Champlain. The title of _Sieur_ +(from the Latin _Senior_) is the origin of the English "sir", and is +about equivalent to an English baronetcy.] + +Champlain had had already a most adventurous life. He was born about +1567, at Brouage, in the Saintonge, opposite to the Island of Héron, +on the coast of western France. From his earliest years he had a +passion for the sea, but he also served as a soldier for six years. +His father had been a sea captain, and his uncle as an experienced +navigator was commissioned by the King of Spain to transport by sea to +that country the remainder of the Spanish soldiers who had been +serving in Brittany. The uncle took his nephew with him. Young +Champlain when in Spain managed to ingratiate himself so much with the +Spanish authorities that he was actually commissioned as a captain to +take a king's ship out to the West Indies. No sooner did he reach +Spanish America than he availed himself of the first chance to +explore it. For two years he travelled over Cuba, and above all +Mexico. He visited the narrowest part of Central America and conceived +the possibility of making a trans-oceanic canal across the Panama +isthmus. + +When he got back to France he placed before Henry IV a report on +Spanish Central America, together with a project for making a canal at +Panama. Henry IV was so pleased with his work and enterprise that he +gave him a pension and the title of Geographer to the King. Shortly +afterwards he met Governor de Chastes at Dieppe, and was by him sent +out to Canada. The ship which carried Champlain, PONT-GRAVÉ,[2] the +SIEUR DE MONTS,[3] and other French adventurers (together with two +Amerindian interpreters whom Pont-Gravé had brought from Canada to +learn French) arrived at Tadoussac on May 24, 1603. + +[Footnote 2: Correctly written this was François Gravé, Sieur du +Pont.] + +[Footnote 3: The full name was Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts. +Including de Champlain and de Poutrincourt, who will be described +later, we have here the four great heroes who founded French Canada.] + +Champlain lost no time in commencing his explorations. Tadoussac was +at the mouth of an important river, called by the French the Saguenay, +a name which they also applied to the mysterious and wonderful country +through which it flowed in the far north; a country rich in copper and +possibly other precious metals. Champlain ascended the Saguenay River +for sixty miles as far as the rapids of Chicoutima. The Amerindians +whom he met here told him of Lake St. John, lying at a short distance +to the west, and that beyond this lake and the many streams which +entered it there lay a region of uplands strewn with other lakes and +pools; and farther away still began the sloping of the land to the +north till the traveller sighted a great arm of the salt sea, and +found himself amongst tribes (probably the Eskimo) who ate raw flesh, +and to the Indians appeared absolute savages.[4] This was probably +the first allusion, recorded by a European, to the existence of +Hudson's Bay, that huge inlet of the sea, which is one of the leading +features in the geography of British North America. + +[Footnote 4: The real name for this remarkable people, the Eskimo, is, +in Alaska and Arctic North America, _Innuit_, and in Labrador and +Greenland, _Karalit_. Eskimo (in French, _Esquimaux_) is said to be a +corruption of the Montagnais-Indian word, Eskimantsik, meaning "eaters +of raw flesh".] + +The Montagnais Indians round about Tadoussac received Champlain with +great protestations of friendship, and at the headquarters of their +principal chief or "Sagamore" celebrated this new friendship and +alliance with a feast in a very large hut. The banquet, as usual, was +preceded by a long address from the Sagamore in answer to the +description of France, given by one of the Indian interpreters. The +address was accompanied by the solemn smoking of tobacco, and at every +pause in this grave oration the natives present shouted with one +voice: "Ho! ho! ho!" The repast consisted of elk's meat (which struck +the Frenchmen as being like beef), also the flesh of bear, seal, +beaver, and wild fowl. There were eight or ten stone boilers or +cauldrons full of meats in the middle of the great hut, separated each +six feet from each other, and each one having its own fire. Every +native used a porringer or vessel made of birch bark. When the meat +was cooked a man in authority distributed it to each person. But +Champlain thought the Indians ate in a very filthy manner. When their +hands were covered with fat or grease they would rub them on their own +heads or on the hair of their dogs. Before the meat was cooked each +guest arose, took a dog, and hopped round the boilers from one end of +the great hut to the other. Arriving in front of the chief, the +Montagnais Indian feaster would throw his dog violently to the ground, +exclaiming: "Ho! ho! ho!" after which he returned to his place. + +At the close of the banquet every one danced, with the skulls of +their Iroquois enemies slung over their backs. As they danced they +slapped their knees with their hands, and shouted: "Ho! ho! ho!" till +they were out of breath. + +The huts of these Indians were low and made like tents, being covered +with the bark of the birch tree. An opening about a foot of the top +was left uncovered to admit light and to allow the smoke to escape. +Though low, the huts were sometimes quite large, and would accommodate +ten families. These slept higgledy-piggledy on skins, with their dogs +amongst them. The dogs in appearance were something like what we know +as Eskimo dogs, and also rather resembled the Chinese chow, with broad +heads and rather short muzzles, prick ears, and a tail inclined to +curl over the back. "All these people have a very cheerful +disposition, laughing often, yet at the same time they are somewhat +phlegmatic. They talk very deliberately, as if desiring to make +themselves well understood, and, stopping suddenly, they reflect for a +long time, when they resume their discourse." + +They were agile, well-proportioned people, who in the summertime went +about nearly naked, but in the winter were covered with good furs of +elk, otter, beaver, bear, seal, and deer. The colour of their skin was +usually a pale olive, but the women for some reason made themselves +much darker-skinned than the men by rubbing their bodies with pigments +which turned them to a dark brown. At times they suffered very much +from lack of food, being obliged then to frequent the shore of the +river or gulf to obtain shellfish. When pressed very hard by famine +they would eat their dogs (their only domestic animal) and even the +leather of the skins with which they clothed themselves. In the autumn +they were much given to fishing for eels, and they dried a good deal +of eel flesh, to last them through the winter. During the height of +the winter they hunted the beaver, and later on the elk. Though they +ate wild roots and fruits whenever they could obtain them, they do +not seem to have cultivated any grain or vegetables. In the early +spring they were sometimes dying of hunger, and looked so thin and +haggard that they were mere walking skeletons. They were then ready to +eat carrion that was putrid, so that it is little wonder that they +suffered much from scurvy. + +Yet the rivers and the gulf abounded in fish, and as soon as the +waters were unlocked by the melting of the ice in April, the surviving +Indians rapidly grew fat and well, and of course the late summer and +the autumn brought them nuts (hickory and other kinds of walnut, and +hazel nuts), wild cherries, wild plums, raspberries, strawberries, +gooseberries, blackberries, currants,[5] cranberries, and grapes. + +[Footnote 5: The wild currants so often mentioned by the early +explorers of Canada are often referred to as red, green, and blue. The +blue currants are really the black currant, now so familiar to our +kitchen gardens (_Ribes nigrum_). This, together with the red currant +(_Ribes rubrum_), grows throughout North America, Siberia, and eastern +Europe. The unripe fruit may have been the green currants alluded to +by Champlain, or these may have been the white variety of our gardens. +The two species of wild strawberry which figure so frequently in the +stories of these early explorers are _Fragaria vesca_ and _F. +virginiana_. From the last-named is derived the cultivated strawberry +of Europe. The wild strawberries of North America were larger than +those of Europe. Champlain does not himself allude to gooseberries +(unless they are his _groseilles vertes_), but later travellers do. +Three or more kinds of gooseberry grow wild in Canada, but they are +different from the European species. The blueberry so often Mentioned +by Champlain (bluëts or bluës) was _Vaccinium canadense_.] + +Champlain observed amongst them for the first time the far-famed +Amerindian snowshoes, which he compares very aptly for shape to a +racquet used in tennis. + +Champlain next visited the site of Stadacona, but there was no longer +any settlement of Europeans at that place, nor were the native +Amerindians the descendants of the Hurons that had received Jacques +Cartier. For the first time the name Quebec (pronounced Kebek) is +applied to this point where the great River St. Lawrence narrows +before dividing to encircle the Isle of Orleans. In fact, Quebec meant +in the Algonkin speech a place where a river narrows; for a tribe of +the great Algonkin family, _the_ Algonkins, allied to the tribes of +Maine and New Brunswick, had replaced the Hurons as the native +inhabitants of this region. + +On the shore of Quebec he noticed "diamonds" in some slate rocks--no +doubt quartz crystals. Proceeding on up the River St. Lawrence he +observed the extensive woods of fir and cypress (some kind of _Thuja_ +or _Juniper_), the undergrowth of vines, "wild pears", hazel nuts, +cherries, red currants and green currants, and "certain little +radishes of the size of a small nut, resembling truffles in taste, +which are very good when roasted or boiled". As they advanced towards +the interior the country became increasingly mountainous on the south +(the green mountains of New Hampshire), and was more and more +beautiful--"the pleasantest land yet seen". Landing on the south bank +of the St. Lawrence, west of the entrance of the river of the Iroquois +(the Richelieu), he found magnificent forests, which, besides the +trees already mentioned, included oaks, chestnuts, maples, pines, +walnut-like nut trees,[6] aspens, poplars, and beeches; with climbing +hops and vines, strawberries trailing over the ground, and raspberry +canes and currant bushes "growing in the thick grass". These splendid +woods on the islands and banks of the broad river were full of game: +elks,[7] wapiti deer, Virginian deer, bears, porcupines, hares, foxes, +beavers, otters, and musk rats, besides many animals he could not +recognize. + +[Footnote 6: Of the genera _Juglans_ and _Carya_.] + +[Footnote 7: The huge deer of the genus _Alces_. Elk is the old +Scandinavian name. _Moose_, derived from the Kri language, is the +Canadian term, "Elk" being misapplied to the wapiti (red) deer. +Champlain calls the elk _orignac_, its name in Algonkin.] + +At last his little expedition in "a skiff and canoe" had to draw into +the bank, warned by the noise that they were approaching a great fall +of water--the La Chine or St. Louis Rapids. Champlain wrote: "I saw, +to my astonishment, a torrent of water descending with an impetuosity +such as I have never before witnessed.... It descends as if in steps, +and at each descent there is a remarkable boiling, owing to the force +and swiftness with which the water traverses the fall, which is about +a league in length.... The territory on the side of the fall where we +went overland consists, so far as we saw it, of very open wood, where +one can go with his armour without much difficulty." + +From the Algonkin Indians in the neighbourhood of these St. Louis +Rapids, and also from those living near Quebec, Champlain obtained a +good deal of geographical information to add to his own observations. +He was given an idea, more or less correct, of Lake Ontario, the Falls +of Niagara, Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and perhaps also of Lake +Superior, a sea so vast, said the Amerindians, that the sun set on its +horizon. This sheet of water, Champlain calculated, must be 1200 miles +distant to the west, and therefore identical with the "Mer du sud" +(Pacific Ocean), which all North-American explorers for three +centuries wished to reach. + +After collecting much information about possible copper mines in the +regions north and south of the Lower St. Lawrence, and of silver[8] in +New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, and a terrible story which he more than +half believed about a monster of prodigious size, the _Gougou_,[9] +Champlain set sail for France at the end of August, 1603. + +[Footnote 8: Or lead mixed with silver. The local natives used this +ore, which was white when beaten, for their arrowheads.] + +[Footnote 9: The Gougou dwelt on the small island of Miscon, to the +east of the Bay of Chaleurs. It had the form of a woman but was about +a hundred feet high. Its habit was to catch and devour men and women, +whom it first placed in a pocket capacious enough to hold a small +ship. Its roarings and hissings could be heard at times coming from +the island of Miscon, where the Gougou lay concealed. Even a +Frenchman, the Sieur Prévert, had heard these noises. Probably this +islet had a whirlpool communicating with a cavern into which fishermen +were sucked by the current.] + +In April, 1604, Champlain accompanied the Sieur de Monts (who had +succeeded the dead Amyard de Chastes as head of a chartered +fur-trading association) in a fresh expedition to North America, +together with a hundred and twenty artisans and several noblemen. +They were to occupy the lands of "Cadie" (Acadia, Nova Scotia), +Canada, and other places in New France. De Monts thought Tadoussac and +Quebec too cold in wintertime, and preferred the sunnier east coast +regions. He aimed indeed at colonizing what is now New England. + +On the way to Nova Scotia, the expedition was nearly wrecked on Sable +Island, about one hundred and twenty miles south of Cape Breton +Island, and noticed there the large red cattle run wild from the bulls +and cows landed on Sable Island by the Portuguese some sixty years +earlier. (The Portuguese of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries +deserved well of humanity for the generous way in which they left +cattle, goats, pigs, and rabbits to run wild on desert islands and +serve as provender for shipwrecked mariners like Robinson Crusoe.) +Champlain also speaks of the "fine large black foxes" which he and +other voyagers noticed on Sable Island. How they came there is a +mystery, unless the island had once been part of the mainland. + +This same Sable Island had been the scene of an extraordinary +experiment at the end of the previous century. In 1598 the Marquis de +la Roche, given a commission to colonize New France, sailed in a small +ship for North America with sixty convicts from French prisons as +colonists. He landed them on Sable Island, and went away to look for +some good site for his colony. But then a storm arose, and his little +ship was literally blown back to France. The convicts, abandoned thus, +built themselves shelters out of the driftwood of wrecks; killed and +ate the cattle and caught fish. They made themselves warm clothes out +of the skins of the seals which frequented the island coast in +thousands. But these convicts quarrelled and fought among themselves +so fiercely that when at last a ship from Normandy came to take them +away, there were only twelve left--twelve shaggy men with long tangled +hair and beards; and, a legend says, in addition a Franciscan monk +who had been landed on the island with them as a kind of missionary or +chaplain, and who had been so heartbroken at their bloody quarrels and +horrible deeds that when the Norman ship arrived to take the castaways +back to France, the Franciscan refused to go with them, believing +himself to be dying and wishing to end his life undisturbed. So he was +left behind. But after the ship had sailed away he slowly mended, grew +well and strong, and cultivated eagerly his little garden. For food he +ate the whelks, mussels, and oysters that were so abundant on the +shore. Occasionally ships (then as now) were wrecked on Sable Island +in stormy weather, and the good monk ministered to the mariners who +reached the shore. Also he was visited, ever and again, by the Breton +fishing boats, which brought him supplies of necessaries and the bread +and wine for celebrating Mass. Long after his death his spirit was +thought to haunt the desolate island. + +Champlain and his companions passed on from Sable Island to the +south-east coast of Nova Scotia, noticing as they landed here and +there the abundance of rabbits[10] and sea birds, especially the Great +Auk, of which they killed numbers with sticks, cormorants (whose fishy +eggs they ate with enjoyment), puffins, guillemots, gulls, terns, +scissorbills, divers, ospreys, buzzards, and falcons; and no doubt the +typical American white-tailed sea eagles, ravens, ducks, geese, +curlews, herons, and cranes. Here and there they found the shore +"completely covered with sea wolves"--seals, of course, probably the +common seal and the grey seal. Of these they captured as many as they +wanted, for the seals, like most of the birds, were quite unafraid of +man. + +[Footnote 10: There are no real rabbits in America. This was probably +the Polar Hare (_Lepus timidus glacialis_), or the common small +varying hare (_L. americanus_).] + +They then explored the Bay of Fundy, and, after zig-zagging about, +decided to fix on the harbour of St. John's (New Brunswick) as the +site for their colony. The future capital of New France, therefore, +was begun on La Sainte Croix (Dochet) Island, near the mouth of the +wonderful tidal estuary of the Uigudi (Ouygoudy) River. + +Here they passed the winter, but suffered so badly from scurvy[11] +that, when in the spring of 1605 Du Pont Gravé arrived from Brittany +with supplies, the remnant of the colony was removed to the opposite +coast of Nova Scotia to Port Royal (afterwards named by the English +Annapolis[12]). The French seem to have fallen in love with this place +from the very first. Nevertheless here they suffered from scurvy +during the winter as elsewhere. Before moving over here, however, +Champlain, together with De Monts, had explored the west of New +England south of New Brunswick as far as Plymouth, just south of +Boston. + +[Footnote 11: How awful was this "mal de terre" or scurvy amongst the +French settlers may be seen from this description of Champlain: "There +were produced in the mouths of those who had it great pieces of +superfluous and drivelling flesh, which got the upper hand to such an +extent that scarcely anything but liquid could be taken. Their teeth +became very loose and could be pulled out with the fingers without its +causing them pain.... Afterwards a violent pain seized their arms and +legs, which remained swollen and very hard, all spotted as if with +fleabites; and they could not walk on account of the contraction of +the muscles.... They suffered intolerable pains in the loins, stomach, +and bowels, and had a very bad cough and short breath.... Out of +seventy-nine who composed our party, thirty-five died and twenty were +on the point of death (when spring began in May)." + +Scurvy is said to be a disease of the blood caused by a damp, cold, +and impure atmosphere combined with absence of vegetable food and a +diet of salted or semi-putrid meat or fish, such as was so often the +winter food of Amerindians and of the early French pioneers in Canada. +We have already noted Cartier's discovery of the balsam remedy.] + +[Footnote 12: From Queen Anne.] + +Off the coast of Maine (Richmond's Island) they encountered +agricultural Amerindians of a new tribe, the Penobskot probably, who +cultivated a form of rank narcotic tobacco (_Nicotiana rustica_), +which they called _Petun_. (A variety of this has produced the +handsome garden flower _Petunia_, whose Latin name is derived from +this native word Petun.) They also grew maize or Indian corn, planting +very carefully three or four seeds in little mounds three feet apart +one from the other, the soil in between being kept clear of weeds. The +American farmers of to-day cannot adopt any better method. + +The islands round about Portland (Maine) were matted all over with +wild red currants, so that the eye could scarcely discern anything +else. Attracted by this fruit, clouds of wild pigeons had +assembled[13]. They manifested hardly any fear of the French, who +captured large numbers of them in snares, or killed them with guns. +The natives of southern Maine fled with dismay on sighting the French +ships, for they had never before seen sailing vessels, but later on +they timidly approached the French ships in a canoe, then landed and +went through a wild dance on the shore to typify friendliness. +Champlain took with him some drawing paper and a pencil or crayon, +together with a quantity of knives and ship's biscuit. Landing alone, +he attracted the natives towards him by offering them biscuits, and +having gathered them round him (being of course as much unable to +understand their speech as they were French), he proceeded to ask +questions by means of certain drawings, chiefly the outlines of the +coast. The savages at once seized his idea, and taking up his pencil +drew on the paper an accurate outline of Massachusetts Bay, adding +also rivers and islands unknown to the French. They went on by further +intelligent signs to supply information. For instance, they placed six +pebbles at equal distances to intimate that Massachusetts Bay was +occupied by six tribes and governed by as many chiefs. By drawings of +growing maize and other plants they intimated that all these people +lived by agriculture. + +[Footnote 13: The pigeons referred to by Champlain were probably the +Passenger pigeon (_Ectopistes_) which at one time was extraordinarily +abundant in parts of North America, though it has now been nearly +killed out by man. It would arrive in flocks of millions on its +migratory journeys in search of food.] + +Champlain thought Massachusetts (in his first voyage) a most +attractive region in the summer, what with the blue water of the +enclosed arms of the sea, the lofty forest trees, and the fields of +Indian corn and other crops. + +When these French explorers reached the harbour of Boston, the islands +and mainland were swarming with the native population. The Amerindians +were intensely interested in the arrival of the first sailing vessel +they had ever seen. Although it was only a small barque, its size was +greater than any canoe known to them. As it seemed to spread huge +white wings and to glide silently through the water without the use of +paddles or oars, it filled them with surprise and admiration. They +manned all their canoes[14] and came out in a flotilla to express +their honour and reverence for the wonderful white men. But when the +French took their leave, it was equally obvious that the natives +experienced a sense of relief, for they were disquieted as well as +filled with admiration at the arrival of these wonderful beings from +an unknown world. + +[Footnote 14: It is interesting to learn from his accurate notes that +in Massachusetts (and from thence southwards) there were no more bark +canoes, but that the canoes were "dug-outs"--trunks of tall trees +burnt and chipped till they were hollowed into a narrow vessel of +considerable length.] + +Champlain describes the wigwams or native huts as being cone-shaped, +heavily thatched with reeds, with an opening at the top of the roof +for the smoke to escape. Inside the huts was a low bed raised a foot +from the ground and made of short posts driven into the ground, with a +surface made of boards split from trees. On these boards were laid +either the dressed skins of deer or bear, or thick mattresses made of +reeds or rushes. The beds were large enough for several people to lie +on. Champlain describes the huts as being full of fleas, and likewise +the persons of the nearly naked Indians, who carried these fleas out +with them into the fields when they were working, so that the +Frenchmen by stopping to talk to the natives became covered with +fleas to such an extent that they were obliged to change their +clothes. + +In the fields were cultivated not only maize, but beans similar to the +beans grown by the natives of Brazil, vegetable marrows or pumpkins, +Jerusalem artichokes[15], radishes, and tobacco. The woods were filled +with oaks, walnut trees[16], and the red "cedar" of North America, +really a very large juniper, the foliage of which in the summertime +often assumes a reddish colour, together with the trunk. This +Virginian juniper or "red cedar" is now quite a common tree in +England. In warm weather it exhales a delicious aromatic scent. + +[Footnote 15: This tuber, which is a well-known and very useful +vegetable in England, comes from the root of a species of sunflower +(_Helianthus tuberosus_). It has nothing to do with the real +artichoke, which is a huge and gorgeous thistle, and it has equally +nothing to do with Jerusalem. The English people have always taken a +special delight in mispronouncing and corrupting words in order to +produce as much confusion as possible in their names for things. +Jerusalem is a corruption of _Girasole_, which is the Italian name +given to this sunflower with the edible roots, because its flower is +supposed always to turn towards the sun. The Jerusalem artichoke was +originally a native of North America.] + +[Footnote 16: These walnut trees were afterwards known in modern +American speech as hickories, butter-nuts, and pig-nuts, all of which +are allied to, but distinct from, the European walnut.] + +All these natives of the Massachusetts coast were described by +Champlain as being almost naked in the summertime, wearing at most a +small piece of leather round the waist, and a short robe of spun hemp +which hung down over the shoulders. Their faces were painted red, +black and yellow. The men pulled out any hairs which might come on the +chin, and thus were beardless. They were armed with pikes, clubs, +bows, and arrows. The pikes were probably made of wood with the ends +hardened by being burnt to a point in the fire, and the arrow tips +were made of the sharp termination of the tail of the great +king-crab[17]. + +[Footnote 17: _Limulus polyphemus_. This extraordinary crustacean is +one of the oldest of living animals in its history, as it is closely +related to the Xiphosura and even the Trilobites of the Primary Epoch, +which existed millions of years ago. In a rough way it is a kind of +connecting link between the Crustacea, or crabs and lobsters, and the +Scorpions and spiders.] + +These Massachusetts "Indians" described to Champlain a wonderful bird +which at some seasons of the year they caught in snares and ate. This +Champlain at once guessed was the wild turkey, now, of course, quite +extinct in that region. This wild turkey of the eastern half of North +America (including southern Canada) was quite a distinct form from the +Mexican bird, which last is the origin of our domestic turkey. + +In July, 1606, as De Monts had not returned from France, and the +little colony at Port Royal was without supplies, they decided to +leave two Frenchmen in charge of the local chief of the Mikmak +Indians, and find their way along the coast to Cape Breton, where they +might get a fishing vessel to take them back to France. But after +travelling in an open boat--a chaloupe--round the coast of Nova Scotia +they met another small boat off Cape Sable, under the charge of the +secretary of De Monts, and learnt that Lieutenant-General DE +POUTRINCOURT[18] (one of the great names amongst the pioneers of +Canada, and the man who had really chosen Port Royal for the French +headquarters at Nova Scotia) had already returned from France with +fresh supplies. Consequently, Champlain and his companions returned to +Port Royal, and all set to work with eagerness to develop the +settlement. Champlain relates in his book how he created vegetable +gardens, trout streams and ponds, and a reservoir of salt water for +sea fish; but he was soon off again on a fresh journey of exploration, +because De Monts was not satisfied with Nova Scotia on account of the +cold in winter. Accordingly Champlain examined the whole coast round +the Bay of Fundy, and down to Cape Cod, and the islands of Martha's +Vineyard and Nantucket. But in this region, already visited in past +times by French, Spanish, and English ships, they found the natives +treacherous and hostile. An unprovoked attack was made on the French +after they landed, and several of the seamen were killed with arrows. + +[Footnote 18: Jean de Biencourt, the Sieur de Poutrincourt and Baron +de Saint-Just, were his full titles.] + +On the 24th of May, 1607, a small barque of six or seven tons burden +(fancy crossing the wide Atlantic from Brittany to Nova Scotia in a +ship of that size at the present day!) arrived outside Port Royal from +France, with an abrupt notification that De Monts' ten years' monopoly +and charter were _cancelled_ by Henry IV, and that all the colony was +to be withdrawn and brought back to France. Henry IV took this action +simply because De Monts attempted to make his monopoly a real one,[19] +and stop the ships of fur traders who were trading with the +Amerindians of Cape Breton without his licence. These fur traders of +Normandy then complained bitterly that because De Monts was a +Protestant he was allowed not only to have this monopoly, but to +endanger the spiritual welfare of the savages by spreading his false +doctrines! So King Henry IV, volatile and capricious, like most of the +French kings, cancelled a charter which had led to such heroic and +remarkable results. + +[Footnote 19: You will observe that neither the French nor the English +sovereigns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries went to much +personal expense over the creation of colonies. They simply gave a +charter or a monopoly, which cost them nothing, but which made other +people pay.] + +The greater part of the little colony had to leave Port Royal and make +its way in small boats along the Nova Scotia coasts till they reached +Cape Breton Island. Here fishing vessels conveyed them back to +Brittany. It was in this boat journeying along the coast of Nova +Scotia that Champlain discovered Halifax Harbour, then called by the +Indian name of Shebuktu. As they passed along this coast with its many +islands, they feasted on ripe raspberries, which grew everywhere "in +the greatest possible quantity". + +Poutrincourt, however, had succeeded in taking back with him samples +of the corn, wheat, rye, barley, and oats which had been so +successfully grown on the island of Sainte Croix and at Port Royal, +and also presented to that monarch five brent-geese[20] which he had +reared up from eggs hatched under a hen. The king was so delighted at +these presents that he once more veered about and gave to De Monts the +monopoly of the fur trade for one more year, in order to enable him to +renew his colonies in New France. + +[Footnote 20: _Branta canadensis_, a handsome black-and-brown goose +with white markings, which the French pioneers in Canada styled +"outarde" or "bustard", and whose eggs were considered very good +eating.] + + +The Sieur de Monts was again appointed by Henry IV Lieutenant-General +in New France. The latter engaged Champlain as his lieutenant, and +also sent out Du Pont Gravé in command of the second vessel, as head +of the trading operations. This time, on the advice of Champlain, the +expedition made its way directly to the St. Lawrence River, stopping +first at Tadoussac, where Du Pont Gravé proceeded to take very strong +measures with the Basque seamen, who were infringing his monopoly by +trading with the natives in furs. Apparently they were still allowed +to continue their whale fishery. + +Once more Champlain heard from the Montagnais Indians of the great +Salt Sea to the north of Saguenay, in other words, the southern +extension of Hudson's Bay; and in his book he notes that the English +in these latter years "had gone thither to find their way to China". +However, he kept his intent fixed on the establishment of a French +colony along the St. Lawrence, and may be said to have founded the +city of Quebec (the site of which was then covered with nut trees) on +the 4th of July, 1608. Then his enterprise was near being wrecked by a +base conspiracy got up between a surgeon and a number of French +artisans, who believed that by seizing and killing Champlain, and then +handing over the infant settlement to the Spanish Basques, they might +enable these traders and fishermen with their good strong ships to +overcome Du Pont Gravé, and seize the whole country. Naturally (they +believed) the Basques would reward the conspirators, who would thus at +a stroke become rich men. They none of them wished to go to France, +but would live here independent of outside interference. A +conspirator, however, revealed the plot to Champlain as he was +planting one of the little gardens which he started as soon as he had +been in a place a few days. He went about his business very +discreetly, arrested all the leading conspirators, gave them a fair +trial, had the ringleader executed by Pont Gravé, and sent three +others back to France. After this he settled down at Quebec for the +winter, taking care, however, in the month of October, to plant seeds +and vines for coming up in the spring. + +In the summer of 1609 Champlain, apparently with the idea of thus +exploring the country south of the St. Lawrence, decided to accompany +a party of Algonkins and Hurons from Georgian Bay and the +neighbourhood of Montreal, who were bent on attacking the Iroquois +confederacy in the Mohawk country at the headwaters of the Hudson +River. He was accompanied by two French soldiers--Des Marais and La +Routte--and by a few Montagnais Indians from Tadoussac. + +The Hurons[21] were really of the same group (as regards language and +descent) as the Iroquois (Irokwá), but in those days held aloof from +the five other tribes who had formed a confederacy[22] and alliance +under the name of _Ongwehonwe_--"Superior Men". The Iroquois +(Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Kayugas, and Senekas) dominated much of +what is now New York State, and from the mountain country of the +Adirondaks and Catskills descended on the St. Lawrence valley and the +shores of Lakes Ontario and Huron to rob and massacre. + +[Footnote 21: Huron was a French name given to the westernmost group +of the Iroquois family (see p. 159). The Huron group included the +Waiandots, the Eries or Erigas, the Arendáronons, and the Atiwándoronk +or "neutral" nation. The French sometimes called all these Huron +tribes "the good Iroquois". Iroquois was probably pronounced "Irokwá", +and seems to have been derived from a word like Irokosia, the name of +the Adirondack mountain country.] + +[Footnote 22: The confederacy was founded about 1450 by the great +Hiawatha (of Longfellow's Poem), himself an Onondaga from south of +Lake Ontario, but backed by the Mohawks only, in the beginning of his +work.] + + +The route into the enemy's country lay along the Richelieu River and +across Lake Champlain to its southern end, in sight of the majestic +snow-crowned Adirondak Mountains. On the way the allies stopped at an +island, held a kind of review, and explained their tactics to +Champlain. They set no sentries and kept no strict watch at night, +being too tired; but during the daytime the army advanced as follows: +The main body marched in the centre along the warpath; a portion of +the troops diverged on either side to hunt up food for the expedition; +and a third section was told off for "intelligence" work, namely, they +ran on ahead and roundabout to locate the enemy, looking out +especially along the rivers for marks or signals showing whether +friends or enemies had passed that way. These marks were devised by +the chiefs of the different tribes, and were duly communicated to the +war leaders of tribes in friendship or alliance, like our cipher +codes; and equally they were changed from time to time to baffle the +enemy. Neither hunters nor main body ever got in front of the advance +guard, lest they should give an alarm. Thus they travelled until they +got within two days or so of the enemies' headquarters; thenceforward +they only marched by night, and hid in the woods by day, making no +fires or noise, and subsisting only on cooked maize meal. + +At intervals the soothsayers accompanying the army were consulted for +signs and omens; and when the war-chiefs decided on their plan of +campaign they summoned all the fighting men to a smooth place in a +wood, cut sticks a foot long (as many as there were warriors), and +each leader of a division "put the sticks in such order as seemed to +him best, indicating to his followers the rank and order they were to +observe in battle. The warriors watched carefully this proceeding, +observing attentively the outline which their chief had made with the +sticks. Then they would go away and set to placing themselves in such +order as the sticks were in. This manoeuvre they repeated several +times, and at all their encampments, without needing a sergeant to +maintain them in the proper order they were able to keep accurately +the positions assigned to them" (Champlain). + +The Hurons who were accompanying Champlain frequently questioned him +as to his dreams, they themselves having a great belief in the value +of dreams as omens and indications of future events. One day, when +they were approaching the country of the Iroquois, Champlain actually +did have a dream. In this he imagined that he saw the Iroquois enemies +drowning in a lake near a mountain. Moved to pity in his dream he +wished to help them, but his savage allies insisted that they must be +allowed to die. When he awoke he told the Amerindians of his dream, +and they were greatly impressed, as they regarded it as a good omen. + +Near the modern town of Ticonderoga the Hurons and Algonkins of +Georgian Bay and Ottawa met a party of Iroquois, probably of the +Mohawk tribe. The Iroquois had built rapidly a stockade in which to +retreat if things should go badly with them, but the battle at first +began in the old heroic style with as much ceremony as a French duel. +First the allies from the St. Lawrence asked the Iroquois what time it +would suit them to begin fighting the next day; then the latter +replied: "When the sun is well up, if you don't mind? We can see +better then to kill you all." Accordingly in the bright morning the +Hurons and Algonkins advanced against the circular stockade of the +Iroquois, and the Iroquois marched out to fight in great pomp, their +leaders wearing plumed headdresses. With this exception both parties +fought quite naked, and armed only with bows and arrows. + +"I marched twenty paces in advance of the rest" (wrote Champlain) +"till I was within about thirty paces of the Iroquois.... I rested my +musket against my cheek, and aimed directly at one of the three +chiefs. With the same shot two fell to the ground, and one of their +men was so wounded that he died some time afterwards. I had loaded my +musket with four balls. When they saw I had shot so favourably for +them, they (the Algonkins and Hurons) raised such loud cries that one +could not have heard it thunder. + +"Meantime the arrows flew on both sides. The Iroquois were greatly +astonished that two men had been so quickly killed, though they were +equipped with armour woven from copper thread and with wood, which was +proof against their arrows." + +Whilst Champlain was loading to fire again one of his two companions +fired a shot from the woods, whereupon the Iroquois took to flight, +abandoning their camp and fort. As they fled they threw off their +armour of wooden boards and cotton cloth. + +As to the way in which the Hurons tortured their Iroquois prisoners, +Champlain writes of one instance. + +"They commanded him (the prisoner) to sing, if he had courage, which +he did, but it was a very sad song." The Hurons kindled a fire, and +when it was well alight they each took a brand from the blaze, the end +of which was red-hot, and with this burnt the bodies of their +prisoners tied to stakes. Every now and then they stopped and threw +water over them to restore them from fainting. Then they tore out +their finger nails and applied fire to the extremities of the fingers. +After that they tore the scalps off their heads, and poured over the +raw and bleeding flesh a kind of hot gum. Then they pierced the arms +of the prisoners near the wrists, and drew up their sinews with sticks +inserted underneath, trying to tear them out by force, and, if +failing, cutting them. One poor wretch "uttered such terrible cries +that it excited my pity to see him treated in this manner, yet at +other times he showed such firmness that one would have said he +suffered scarcely any pain at all". + +In this case Champlain, seeing that the man could not recover from his +injuries, drew apart and shot him dead, "thus putting an end to all +the tortures he would have suffered". + +But the savage Hurons were not yet satisfied. They opened the corpse +and threw its entrails into the lake. Then they cut off head, arms, +and legs, and cut out the heart; this they minced up, and endeavoured +to force the other prisoners to eat it. + +With those of his allies who were Montagnais Indians from Tadoussac, +Champlain returned to that place. As they neared the shore the +Montagnais women undressed themselves, jumped into the river, and swam +to the prows of the canoes, from which they took the heads of the +slain Iroquois. These they hung about their necks as if they had been +some costly chain, singing and dancing meanwhile. + +However, in spite of these and other horrors, Champlain had "separated +from his Upper Canadian allies with loud protestations of mutual +friendship", promising to go again into their country and assist them +with continued "fraternal" relations. + +From this expedition Champlain learned much regarding the geography of +eastern North America, and he brought back with him to France, to +present to King Henry IV, two scarlet tanagers--one of the commonest +and most beautiful birds of the eastern United States--a girdle of +porcupine quills made from the Canadian porcupine, and the head of a +gar-pike caught in Lake Champlain.[23] + +[Footnote 23: Unconsciously, no doubt, he brought away with him to the +King of France one of the most remarkable freshwater fish living on +the North-American continent, for the gar-pike belongs, together with +the sturgeon and its allies, to an ancient type of fish the +representatives of which are found in rock formations as ancient as +those of the Secondary and Early Tertiary periods. Champlain may be +said to have discovered this remarkable gar-pike (_Lepidosteus +osseus_), which is covered with bony scales "so strong that a poniard +could not pierce them". The colour he describes as silver-grey. The +head has a snout two feet and a half long, and the jaws possess double +rows of sharp and dangerous teeth. These teeth were used by the +natives as lancets with which to bleed themselves when they suffered +from inflammation or headache. Champlain declares that the gar-pike +often captures and eats water birds. It would swim in and among rushes +or reeds and then raise its snout out of the water and keep perfectly +still. Birds would mistake this snout for the stump of a tree and +would attempt to alight on it; whereupon the fish would seize them by +the legs and pull them down under the water.] + +On Champlain's return from France in 1610 (he and other Frenchmen and +Englishmen of the time made surprisingly little fuss about crossing +the North Atlantic in small sailing vessels, in spite of the storms of +spring and autumn) he found the Iroquois question still agitating the +minds of the Algonkins, Montagnais, and Hurons. Representatives of +these tribes were ready to meet this great captain of the _Mistigosh_ +or _Matigosh_[24] (as they called the French), and implored him to +keep his promise to take part in another attack on the dreaded enemy +of the Adirondak heights. Apparently the Iroquois (Mohawks) this time +had advanced to meet the attack, and were ensconced in a round +fortress of logs built near the Richelieu River.[25] The Algonkins and +their allies on this expedition were armed with clubs, swords, and +shields, as well as bows and arrows. The swords of copper(?) were +really knife blades attached to long sticks like billhooks. Before the +barricade, as usual, both parties commenced the fight by hurling +insults at each other till they were out of breath, and shouting "till +one could not have heard it thunder". The circular log barricade, +however, would never have been taken by the Algonkins and their +allies but for the assistance of Champlain and three or four +Frenchmen, who with their musketry fire at short range paralysed the +Iroquois. Champlain and one other Frenchman were wounded with arrows +in the neck and arm, but not seriously. The victory of the allies was +followed by the usual torture of prisoners, which Champlain made a +slight--only slight--attempt to prevent. + +[Footnote 24: Spelt by Champlain with a "ch" instead of _sh_.] + +[Footnote 25: Then called the Rivière des Iroquois.] + +But results far more serious arose from these two skirmishes with the +Iroquois in 1609 and 1610. The Confederacy of the Five Nations +(afterwards six) realized that they had been attacked unprovoked by +the dominant white men of the St. Lawrence, called by the Montagnais +_Mistigosh_, and by the Iroquois _Adoreset[¯u]i_ ("men of iron", from +their armour). They became the bitter enemies of the French, and +tendered help first to the Dutch to establish themselves in the valley +of the Hudson, and secondly to the English. In the great Colonial wars +of the early eighteenth century the Iroquois were invaluable allies to +the British forces, Colonial and Imperial, and counted for much in the +struggle which eventually cost France Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, +Maine, the two Canadas, and Louisiana. On the other hand, the French +alliance with the Hurons, Algonkins, and Montagnais, begun by this +brotherhood-in-arms with Champlain, secured for France and the French +such widespread liking among the tribes of Algonkin speech, and their +allies and friends, that the two Canadas and much of the Middle West, +together with Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, became French in +sympathy without any war of conquest. When the French dominion over +North America fell, in 1759, with the capture of Quebec by Wolfe's +army, tribes of Amerindians went on fighting for five years afterwards +to uphold the banner and the rule of the beloved French king. + +On Champlain's next visit to Canada, in 1610, he handed over to the +Algonkin Indians a French youth named Étienne Brulé (see p. 88), to +be taught the Algonkin language (the use of which was spread far and +wide over north-east America), and, further, sent a Huron youth to +France to be taught French. Between 1611 and 1616 he had explored much +of the country between Montreal (the foundations of which city he may +be said to have laid on May 29, 1611, for his stockaded camp is now in +the centre of it) and Lakes Huron and Ontario, especially along the +Ottawa River, that convenient short cut (as a water route) between the +St. Lawrence at Sault St. Louis (Montreal) and Lakes Huron and +Superior. With short portages you can get in canoes from Montreal to +the waters of Hudson Bay, or to Lake Winnipeg and the base of the +Rocky Mountains. + +In exploring this "River of the Algonkins" (as he called it), +Champlain was nearly drowned between two rocks, and much hurt, from +over bravery and want of knowledge of how to deal with a canoe on +troubled water; but on June 4, 1613, he stood on the site of the +modern city of Ottawa--the capital of the vast Canadian Dominion--and +gazed at the marvellous Rideau or Curtain Fall, where the Rideau River +enters the Ottawa. But the air was resonant with the sound of falling +water. Three miles above the falls of the Gatineau and the Rideau, the +main Ottawa River descended with a roar and a whirl of white foam and +rainbow-tinted mist into the chasm called the Chaudière or Kettle. On +a later occasion he describes the way in which the Algonkins +propitiated the Spirit of the Chasm: + +"Continuing our way, we came to the Chaudière Falls, where the savages +carried out their customary ceremony. After transporting their canoes +to the foot of the fall they assemble in one spot, where one of them +takes up a collection on a wooden platter, into which each person puts +a bit of tobacco. The collection having been made, the plate is placed +in the midst of the troop, and all dance about it, singing after +their style. Then one of the captains makes an harangue, setting forth +that for a long time they have been accustomed to make this offering, +by which means they are ensured protection against their enemies, that +otherwise misfortune would befall them from the evil spirit. This +done, the maker of the harangue takes the plate and throws the tobacco +into the midst of the cauldron (the chasm of foaming water), whereupon +they all together raise a loud cry. These poor people are so +superstitious, that they would not believe it possible for them to +make a prosperous journey without observing this ceremony at this +place; for sometimes their enemies (Iroquois) await them at this +portage, not venturing to go any farther on account of the difficulty +of the journey. Consequently they are occasionally surprised and +killed by the Iroquois at this place (the south bank of the Ottawa)." + +Above the Chaudière Champlain met the Algonkin chief, Tessouat, and +thus described the burial places of his tribe: + +"On visiting the island I observed their cemeteries, and was struck +with wonder as I saw sepulchres of a shape like shrines, made of +pieces of wood fixed in the ground at a distance of about three feet +from each other, and intersecting at the upper end. On the +intersections above they place a large piece of wood, and in front +another upright piece on which is carved roughly, as would be +expected, the figure of the male or female interred. If it is a man, +they add a shield, a sword attached to a handle after their manner, a +mace, and bow and arrows. If it is a chief, there is a plume on his +head, and some other _matachia_ or embellishment. If it is a child, +they give it a bow and arrow, if a woman or girl, a boiler, an earthen +vessel, a wooden spoon, and an oar. The entire sepulchre is six or +seven feet long at most, and four wide; others are smaller. They are +painted yellow and red, with various ornaments as neatly done as the +carving. The deceased is buried with his dress of beaver or other +skins which he wore when living, and they lay by his side all his +possessions, as hatchets, knives, boilers, and awls, so that these +things may serve him in the land whither he goes; for they believe in +the immortality of the soul, as I have elsewhere observed. These +carved sepulchres are only made for the warriors, for in respect to +others they add no more than in the case of women, who are considered +a useless class, accordingly but little is added in their case." + +In the summer of 1615 Champlain, returning from France, made his way +up the Ottawa River, and, by a short portage, to Lake Nipissing, +thence down French River to the waters of Lake Huron. On the banks of +the French River he met a detachment of the Ottawa tribe (of the +Algonkin family). These people he styled the _Cheveux Relevés_, +because the men's hair was gathered up and dressed more carefully and +becomingly on the top of the head than (he says) could at that time be +done by a hairdresser in France. This arrangement of the hair gave the +men a very handsome appearance, but here their toilet ended, for they +wore no clothes whatever (in the summertime), making up for this +simplicity by painting their faces in different colours, piercing +their ears and nostrils and decorating them with shell beads, and +tattooing their bodies and limbs with elaborate patterns. + +These Ottawas carried a club, a long bow and arrows, and a round +shield of dressed leather, made (wrote Champlain) "from the skin of an +animal like the buffalo".[26] The chief of the party explained many +things to the white man by drawing with a piece of charcoal on the +white bark of the birch tree. He gave him to understand that the +present occupation of his band of warriors was the gathering of +blueberries, which would be dried in the sun, and could then be +preserved for eating during the winter. + +[Footnote 26: This was the first intimation probably that any European +sent home for publication regarding the existence of the bison in +North America, though the Spanish explorers nearly a hundred years +before Champlain must have met with it in travelling through +Louisiana, Texas, and northern Mexico. The bison is not known ever to +have existed near Hudson Bay, or in Canada proper (basin of the St. +Lawrence). South of Canada it penetrated to Pennsylvania and the +Susquehanna River, but not farther eastward.] + +From French River, Champlain passed southwards to the homeland of the +Hurons, which lay to the east of what Champlain called "the Fresh +Water Sea" (Lake Huron). This country he describes in enthusiastic +terms. The Hurons, like the other Iroquois tribes (and unlike the +hunting races to the north of them), were agriculturists, and +cultivated pumpkins, sunflowers,[27] beans and Indian corn. + +[Footnote 27: The Amerindians of the Lake regions made much use of the +sunflowers of the region (_Helianthus multiflorus_). Besides this +species of sunflower already mentioned, which furnishes tubers from +its roots (the "Jerusalem" artichoke) others were valued for their +seeds, and some or all of these are probably the originals of the +cultivated sunflower in European gardens. The largest of these was +called _Soleille_ by the French Canadians. It grew in the cultivated +fields of the Amerindians to seven or eight feet in height, with an +enormous flower. The seeds were carefully collected and boiled. Their +oil was collected then from the water and was used to grease the hair. +This same Huron country (the Simcoe country of modern times) was +remarkable for its wild fruits. There was the Canada plum (_Prunus +americana_), the wild black cherry (_Prunus serotina_), the red +cherries (_P. pennsylvanica_), the choke cherry (_P. virginiana_), +wild apples (_Pyrus coronaria_), wild pears (a small berry-like pear +called "poire" by the French: _Pyrus canadensis_), and the may-apple +(_Podophyllum peltatum_). Champlain describes this may-apple as of the +form and colour of a small lemon with a similar taste, but having an +interior which is very good and almost like that of figs. The +may-apples grow on a plant which is two and a half feet high, with not +more than three or four leaves like those of the fig tree, and only +two fruits on each plant.] + +The Hurons persuaded Champlain to go with them to attack the Iroquois +tribe of the Senekas (Entuhónorons) on the south shores of Lake +Ontario. On the way thither he noticed the abundance of stags and +bears, and, near the lake, of cranes, white and purple-brown.[28] + +[Footnote 28: The cranes of Canada--so often alluded to by the French +explorers as "Grues"--are of two species, _Grus canadensis_, with its +plumage of a purple-grey, and _Grus americanus_, which is pure white +(see p. 139).] + +On the southern shores of the lake[29] were large numbers of chestnut +trees, "whose fruit was still in the burr. The chestnuts are small but +of a good flavour." The southern country was covered with forests, +with very few clearings. After crossing the Oneida River the Hurons +captured eleven of the Senekas, four women, one girl, three boys, and +three men. The people had left the stockade in which their relations +were living to go and fish by the lake shore. One of the Huron +chiefs--the celebrated Iroquet, who had been so much associated with +Champlain from the time of his arrival--proceeded at once to cut off +the finger of one of these women prisoners. Whereupon Champlain, +firmer than in years gone by, interposed and reprimanded him, pointing +out that it was not the act of a warrior such as he declared himself +to be, to conduct himself with cruelty towards women "who had no +defence but their tears, so that one should treat them with humanity +on account of their helplessness and weakness". Champlain went on to +say that this act was base and brutal, and that if he committed any +more of such cruelties he, Champlain, "would have no heart to assist +or favour them in the war". To this Iroquet replied that their enemies +treated them in the same manner, but that since this was displeasing +to the Frenchmen he would not do anything more to women, but he would +not promise to refrain from torturing the men. + +[Footnote 29: Lakes Ontario and Huron were probably first actually +reached by Father Le Caron, a Recollett missionary who came out with +Champlain in 1615 (see p. 90), and by Étienne Brulé, Champlain's +interpreter.] + +However, in the subsequent fighting which occurred when they reached +the six-sided stockade of the Senekas (a strong fortification which +faced a large pond on one side, and was surrounded by a moat +everywhere else except at the entrance), the Hurons and Algonkins +showed a great lack of discipline. Champlain and the few Frenchmen +with him, by using their arquebuses, drove the enemy back into the +fort, but not without having some of their Indian allies wounded or +killed. Champlain proposed to the Hurons that they should erect what +was styled in French a _cavalier_--a kind of box, with high, loopholed +sides, which was erected on a tall scaffolding of stout timbers. This +was to be carried by the Hurons to within a pike's length of the +stockade. Four French arquebusiers then scrambled up into the +_cavalier_ and fired through the loopholes into the huts of the Seneka +town. Meantime the Hurons were to set fire, if possible, to the wooden +stockade. They managed the whole business so stupidly that the fire +produced no effect, the flames being blown in the opposite direction +to that which was desired. The brave Senekas threw water on to the +blazing sticks and put out the fire. Champlain was wounded by an arrow +in the leg and knee. The reinforcement of the five hundred Hurons +expected by the allies did not turn up. The Hurons with Champlain lost +heart, and insisted on retreating. Only the dread of the French +firearms prevented the retreat being converted into a complete +disaster. Whenever the Senekas came near enough to get speech with the +French they asked them "why they interfered with native quarrels". + +Champlain being unable to walk, the Hurons made a kind of basket, +similar to that in which they carried their wounded. In this he was so +crowded into a heap, and bound and pinioned, that it was as impossible +for him to move "as it would be for an infant in his swaddling +clothes". This treatment caused him considerable pain after he had +been carried for some days; in fact he suffered agonies while fastened +in this way on to the back of a savage. + +He was afterwards obliged to pass the winter of 1615-6 in the Huron +country. At that time it swarmed with game. Amongst birds, there were +swans, white cranes, brent-geese, ducks, teal, the redbreasted thrush +(which the Americans call "robin"), brown larks (_Anthus_), snipe, and +other birds too numerous to mention, which Champlain seems to have +brought down with his fowling-piece in sufficient quantities to feed +the whole party whilst waiting for the capture of deer on a large +scale. + +Meanwhile, many of the Indians were catching fish, "trout and pike of +prodigious size". When they desired to secure a large number of deer, +they would make an enclosure in a fir forest in the form of the two +converging sides of a triangle, with an open base. The two sides of +these traps were made of great stakes of wood closely pressed +together, from 8 to 9 feet high; and each of the sides was 1000 yards +long. At the point of the triangle there was a little enclosure. The +Hurons were so expeditious in this work that in less than ten days +these long fences and the "pound" or enclosure at their convergence +were finished. They then started before daybreak and scattered +themselves in the woods at a considerable distance behind the +commencement of these fences, each man separated from his fellow by +about 80 yards. Every Huron carried two pieces of wood, one like a +drumstick and the other like a flat, resonant board. They struck the +flat piece of wood with the drumstick and it made a loud clanging +sound. The deer who swarmed in the forest, hearing this noise, fled +before the savages, who drove them steadily towards the converging +fences. As they closed up, the Hurons imitated very cleverly the +yapping of wolves. This frightened the deer still more, so that they +huddled at last into the final enclosure, where they were so tightly +packed that they were completely at the men's mercy. "I assure you," +writes Champlain, "there is a singular pleasure in this chase, which +takes place every two days, and has been so successful that in +thirty-eight days one hundred and twenty deer were captured. These +were made good use of, the fat being kept for the winter to be used as +we do butter, and some of the flesh to be taken to their homes for +their festivities." + +Champlain himself, in the winter of 1615, pursuing one day a +remarkable bird "which was the size of a hen, had a beak like a parrot +and was entirely yellow, except for a red head and blue wings, and +which had the flight of the partridge"--a bird I cannot +identify--lost his way in the woods. For two days he wandered in the +wilderness, sustaining himself by shooting birds and roasting them. +But at last he found his way back to a river which he recognized, and +reached the camp of the Hurons, who were extremely delighted at his +return. Had they not found him, or had he not come back of himself, +they told him that they could never again have visited the French for +fear of being held responsible for his death. + +By the month of December of this year (1615) the rivers, lakes, and +ponds were all frozen. Hitherto, Champlain had had to walk when he +could not travel in a canoe, and carry a load of twenty pounds, while +the Indians carried a hundred pounds each. But now the water was +frozen the Hurons set to work and made their sledges. These were +constructed of two pieces of board, manufactured from the trunks of +trees by the patient use of a stone axe and by the application of +fire. These boards were about 6 inches wide, and 6 or 7 feet long, +curved upwards at the forward end and bound together by cross pieces. +The sides were bordered with strips of wood, which served as brackets +to which was fastened the strap that bound the baggage upon the +sledge. The load was dragged by a rope or strap of leather passing +round the breast of the Indian, and attached to the end of the sledge. +The sledge was so narrow that it could be drawn easily without +impediment wherever an Indian could thread his way over the snow +through the pathless forests. + +The rest of the winter and early spring Champlain spent alone, or in +company with Father Joseph Le Caron (one of the Recollet +missionaries), visiting the Algonkin and Huron tribes in the region +east of Lake Huron. He has left this description of the modern country +of Simcoe, the home, three hundred years ago, of the long-vanished +Hurons[30]; and gives us the following particulars of their home +life. The Huron country was a pleasant land, most of it cleared of +forest. It contained eighteen villages, six of which were enclosed and +fortified by palisades of wood in triple rows, bound together, on the +top of which were galleries provided with stores of stones, and +birch-bark buckets of water; the stones to throw at an enemy, and the +water to extinguish any fire which might be put to the palisades. +These eighteen villages contained about two thousand warriors, and +about thirty thousand people in all. The houses were in the shape of +tunnels, and were thatched with the bark of trees. Each lodge or house +would be about 120 feet long, more or less, and 36 feet wide, with a +10-foot passage-way through the middle from one end to the other. On +either side of the tunnel were placed benches 4 feet high, on which +the people slept in summer in order to avoid the annoyance of the +fleas which swarmed in these habitations. In winter time they slept on +the ground on mats near the fire. In the summer the cabins were filled +with stocks of wood to dry and be ready for burning in winter. At the +end of each of these long houses was a space in which the Indian corn +was preserved in great casks made of the bark of trees. Inside the +long houses pieces of wood were suspended from the roof, on to which +were fastened the clothes, provisions, and other things of the +inmates, to keep them from the attacks of the mice which swarmed in +these villages. Each hut might be inhabited by twenty-four families, +who would maintain twelve fires. The smoke, having no proper means of +egress except at either end of the long dwelling, and through the +chinks of the roof, so injured their eyes during the winter season +that many people lost their sight as they grew old. + +[Footnote 30: They were almost completely exterminated by the Iroquois +confederacy between thirty and forty years after Champlain's visit.] + +"Their life", writes Champlain, "is a miserable one in comparison +with our own, but they are happy amongst themselves, not having +experienced anything better, nor imagining that anything more +excellent could be found." + +These Amerindians ordinarily ate two meals a day, and although +Champlain and his men fasted all through Lent, "in order to influence +them by our example", that was one of the practices they did _not_ +copy from the French. + +The Hurons of this period painted their faces black and red, mixing +the colours with oil made from sunflower seed, or with bears' fat. The +hair was carefully combed and oiled, and sometimes dyed a reddish +colour; it might be worn long or short, or only on one side of the +head. The women usually dressed theirs in one long plait. Sometimes it +was done up into a knot at the back of the head, bound with eelskin. +The men were usually dressed in deerskin breeches, with gaiters of +soft leather. The shoes ("Moccasins") were made of the skin of deer, +bears, or beavers. In addition to this the men in cold weather wore a +great cloak. The edges of these cloaks would often be decorated with +bands of brown and red colour alternating with strips of a +whitish-blue, and ornamented with bands of porcupine quills. These, +which were originally white or grey in colour, had been previously +dyed a fine scarlet with colouring matter from the root of the +bed-straw (_Galium tinctorum_). The women were loaded with necklaces +of violet or white shell beads, bracelets, ear-rings, and great +strings of beads falling below the waist. Sometimes they would have +plates of leather studded with shell beads and hanging over the back. + +[Illustration: SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN; ALEXANDER HENRY THE ELDER] + +In 1616 Champlain returned to France, but visited Quebec in 1617 and +1618. During the years spent at Quebec, which followed his +explorations of 1616, he was greatly impeded in his work of +consolidating Canada as a French colony by the religious strife +between the Catholics and Huguenots, and the narrow-minded greed of +the Chartered company of fur-trading merchants for whom he worked. But +in 1620 he came back to Canada as Lieutenant-Governor (bringing his +wife with him), and after attending to the settlement of a violent +commercial dispute between fur-trading companies he tried to compose +the quarrel between the Iroquois and the Algonkins, and brought about +a truce which lasted till 1627. + +In 1628 came the first English attack on Canada. A French fleet was +defeated and captured in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in the +following year Champlain, having been obliged to surrender Quebec (he +had only sixteen soldiers as a garrison, owing to lack of food), +voyaged to England more or less as a prisoner of state in the summer +of 1629. He found, on arriving there, that the cession of Quebec was +null and void, peace having been concluded between Britain and France +two months before the cession. Charles I remained true to his compact +with Louis XIII, and Quebec and Nova Scotia were restored to French +keeping. In 1633 Champlain returned to Canada as Governor, bringing +with him a considerable number of French colonists. _It is from 1633 +that the real French colonization of Canada begins_: hitherto there +had been only one family of settlers in the fixed sense of the word; +the other Frenchmen were fur traders, soldiers, and missionaries. But +Champlain only lived two years after his triumphant return, and died +at Quebec on Christmas Day, 1635. + +His character has been so well summed up by Dr. S.E. Dawson, in his +admirable book on the _Story of the St. Lawrence Basin_, that I cannot +do better than quote his words: + +"Champlain was as much at home in the brilliant court of France as in +a wigwam on a Canadian lake, as patient and politic with a wild band +of savages on Lake Huron as with a crowd of grasping traders in St. +Malo or Dieppe. Always calm, always unselfish, always depending on +God, in whom he believed and trusted, and thinking of France, which he +loved, this single-hearted man resolutely followed the path of his +duty under all circumstances; never looking for ease or asking for +profit, loved by the wild people of the forest, respected by the +courtiers of the king, and trusted by the close-fisted merchants of +the maritime cities of France." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +After Champlain: from Montreal to the Mississippi + + +A very remarkable series of further explorations were carried out as +the indirect result of Champlain's work. In 1610 he had allowed a +French boy of about eighteen years of age, named ÉTIENNE BRULÉ, to +volunteer to go away with the Algonkins, in order to learn their +language. Brulé was taken in hand by Iroquet,[1] a chief of the +"Little Algonkins", whose people were then occupying the lands on +either side of the Ottawa River, including the site of the now great +city of Ottawa. After four years of roaming with the Indians, Brulé +was dispatched by Champlain with an escort of twelve Algonkins to the +headwaters of the Suskuehanna, far to the south of Lake Ontario, in +order to warn the Andastes[2] tribe of military operations to be +undertaken by the allied French, Hurons, and Algonkins against the +Iroquois. This enabled Brulé to explore Lake Ontario and to descend +the River Suskuehanna as far south as Chesapeake Bay, a truly +extraordinary journey at the period. This region of northern Virginia +had just been surveyed by the English, and was soon to be the site of +the first English colony in North America.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Mentioned on p. 80.] + +[Footnote 2: The Andastes were akin to the Iroquois, but did not +belong to their confederacy; they lived in Pennsylvania.] + +[Footnote 3: The inaccurate statement has frequently been written +about Newfoundland being "the first British American colony". +Newfoundland was reached by the ship in which John Cabot sailed on his +1497 voyage of discovery, and a few years afterwards its shores were +sought by the English in common with the French and the Portuguese, +and later on the Spaniards and Basques, for the cod fishery. But no +definite British settlement, such as subsequently grew into an actual +colony, was founded in Newfoundland until the year 1624; the island +was not recognized as definitely British till 1713, and no governor +was appointed till 1728. The first permanent English colonial +settlement in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607; and +in the Bermudas and Barbados (West Indies) soon afterwards.] + +In attempting to return to the valley of the St. Lawrence in 1616, +with his Andaste guides, Brulé lost his way, and to avoid starvation +surrendered himself to the Seneka Indians (the westernmost clan of the +Iroquois) against whom the recent warlike operations of the French +were being directed. Discovering his nationality, the Senekas decided +to torture him before burning him to death at the stake. As they tore +off his clothes they found that he was wearing an _Agnus Dei_ medal +next his skin. Brulé told them to be careful, as it was a medicine of +great power which would certainly kill them. By a coincidence, at that +very moment a terrific thunderstorm burst from a sky which until +recently had been all sunshine. The Senekas were so scared by the +thunder and lightning that they believed Brulé to be a person of +supernatural powers. They therefore released him, strove to heal such +slight wounds as he had incurred, and carried him off to their +principal town, where he became a great favourite. After a while they +gave him guides to take him north into the country of the Hurons. + +His further adventures led him to discover Lake Superior and the way +thither through the Sault Ste. Marie, and to reach a place probably +not far from the south coast of Hudson Bay, in which there was a +copper mine. Then he explored the Montagnais country north of Quebec, +and even at one time (in 1629) entered the service of the English, who +had captured Quebec and Tadoussac from the French. When the English +left this region Brulé travelled again to the west and joined the +Hurons once more. + +His licentious conduct amongst his Indian friends seems to have +roused them to such a pitch of anger that in 1632 they murdered him, +then boiled and ate his body. But immediately afterwards misfortune +seemed to fall on the place. The Hurons were terrified at what they +had done, and thought they heard or saw in the sky the spirits of the +white relations of Brulé--some said the sister, some the +uncle--threatening their town (Toanche), which they soon afterwards +burnt and deserted. + +In 1615 Champlain, returning from France, had brought out with him +friars of the Récollet order.[4] These were the pioneer missionaries +of Canada, prominent amongst whom was FATHER LE CARON, and these +Récollets traversed the countries in the basin of the St. Lawrence +between Lake Huron and Cape Breton Island, preaching Christianity to +the Amerindians as well as ministering to the French colonists and fur +traders. One of these Récollet missionaries died of cold and hunger in +attempting to cross New Brunswick from the St. Lawrence to the Bay of +Fundy, and another--Nicholas Viel--was the first martyr in Canada in +the spread of Christianity, for when travelling down the Ottawa River +to Montreal he was thrown by the pagan Hurons (together with one of +his converts) into the waters of a rapid since christened Sault le +Récollet. Another Récollet, Father d'Aillon, prompted by Brulé, +explored the richly fertile, beautiful country known then as the +territory of the Neutral nation, that group of Huron-Iroquois +Amerindians who strove to keep aloof from the fierce struggles between +the Algonkins and Hurons on the one hand and the eastern Iroquois +clans on the other. This region, which lies between the Lakes +Ontario, Erie, and Huron, is the most attractive portion of western +Canada. Lying in the southernmost parts of the Dominion, and nearly +surrounded by sheets of open water, it has a far milder climate than +the rest of eastern Canada. + +[Footnote 4: The Récollet (properly Recollect) friars were a strict +branch of the Franciscan order that were sometimes called the +Observantines. They were also known as "Recollects" (pronounced in +French _récollet_) because they were required to be constantly keeping +guard over their thoughts. This development of the Franciscan order of +preaching missionary friars was originally a Spanish one, founded +early in the sixteenth century, and becoming well established in the +Spanish Netherlands. Many of them were Flemings or Walloons.] + +In 1626 the Jesuit order supplanted the Récollets, and commenced a +campaign both of Christian propaganda and of geographical exploration +which has scarcely finished in the Canada of to-day. + +In 1627 the war between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Huron and +Algonkin tribes recommenced, and this, together with the British +capture of Quebec and other portions of Canada, put a stop for several +years to the work of exploration. This was not resumed on an advanced +scale till 1634, when Champlain, unable himself, from failing health, +to carry out his original commission of seeking a direct passage to +China and India across the North-American continent, dispatched a +Norman Frenchman named JEAN NICOLLET to find a way to the Western Sea. +Nicollet, as a very young man, had lived for years amongst the +Amerindian tribes, especially amongst the Nipissings near the lake of +that name. Being charged, amongst other things, with the task of +making peace between the Hurons and the tribes dwelling to the west of +the great lakes, Nicollet discovered Lake Michigan. He was so +convinced of the possibility of arriving at the Pacific Ocean, and +thence making his way to China, that in the luggage which he carried +in his birch-bark canoe was a dress of ceremony made of Chinese damask +silk embroidered richly with birds and flowers. He was on his way to +discover the Winnebago Indians, or "Men of the Sea", of whom Champlain +had heard from the Hurons, with whom they were at war. But the great +water from which they derived their name was not in this instance a +sea, but the Mississippi River. The Winnebago Indians were totally +distinct from the Algonkins or the Iroquois, and belonged to the +Dakota stock, from which the great Siou confederation[5] was also +derived. + +[Footnote 5: See p. 160.] + +Nicollet advanced to meet the Winnebagos clad in his Chinese robe and +with a pistol in each hand. As he drew near he discharged his pistols, +and the women and children fled in terror, for all believed him to be +a supernatural being, a spirit wielding thunder and lightning. +However, when they recovered from their terror the Winnebagos gave him +a hearty welcome, and got up such lavish feasts in his honour, that +one chief alone cooked 120 beavers at a single banquet. + +Nicollet certainly reached the water-parting between the systems +of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and under that +name--Misi-sipi--"great water"--he heard through the Algonkin Indians +of a mighty river lying three days' journey westward from his last +camp. Winnebago (from which root is also derived the names of the +Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis much farther to the north-west) meant +"salt" or "foul" water. Both terms might therefore be applied to the +sea, and also to the lakes and rivers which, in the minds of the +Amerindians, were equally vast in length or breadth. + +From 1648 to 1653 the whole of the Canada known to the French settlers +and explorers was convulsed by the devastating warfare carried on by +the Iroquois, who during that period destroyed the greater part of the +Algonkin and Huron clans. The neutral nation of Lake Erie (the Erigas) +was scattered, and between the shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron and +Montreal the country was practically depopulated, except for the +handfuls of French settlers and traders who trembled behind their +fortifications. Then, to the relief and astonishment of the French, +one of the Iroquois clans--the Onondaga--proposed terms of peace, +probably because they had no more enemies to fight of their own +colour, and wished to trade with the French. + +The fur trade of the Quebec province had attracted an increasing +number of French people (men bringing their wives) to such settlements +as Tadoussac and Three Rivers. Amongst these were the parents of +PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON. This young man went hunting near Three Rivers +station and was captured in the woods by Mohawks (Iroquois) who +carried him off to one of their towns and intended to burn him alive. +Having bound him at a stake, they proceeded to tear out some of his +finger nails and shoot arrows at the less vital parts of his body. But +a Mohawk woman was looking on and was filled with pity at the +sufferings of this handsome boy. She announced her intention of +adopting him as a member of her family, and by sheer force of will she +compelled the men to release him. After staying for some time amongst +the Mohawks he escaped, but was again captured just as he was nearing +Three Rivers. Once more he was spared from torture at the intercession +of his adopted relations. He then made an even bolder bid for freedom, +and fled to the south, up the valley of the Richelieu and the Hudson, +and thus reached the most advanced inland post of Dutch America--then +called Orange, now Albany--on the Hudson River. From this point he was +conveyed to Holland, and from Holland he returned to Canada. + +Soon after his return he joined two Jesuit fathers who were to visit a +mission station of the Jesuits amongst the Onondagas (Iroquois) on a +lakelet about thirty miles south-east of the present city of +Rochester. The Iroquois (whose language Radisson had learnt to speak) +received them with apparent friendliness, and there they passed the +winter. But in the spring Radisson found out that the Onondaga +Iroquois were intending to massacre the whole of the mission. +Instructed by him, the Jesuits pretended to have no suspicions of the +coming attack, but all the while they were secretly building canoes at +their fort. As soon as they were ready for flight, and the sun of +April had completely melted the ice in the River Oswego, the French +missionaries invited the Onondagas to a great feast, no doubt making +out that it was part of the Easter festivities sanctioned by the +Church. They pointed out to their guests that from religious motives +as well as those of politeness it was essential that the _whole_ of +the food provided should be eaten, "nothing was to be left on the +plate". They set before their savage guests an enormous banquet of +maize puddings, roast pigs, roast ducks, game birds, and fish of many +kinds, even terrapins, or freshwater turtles. The Iroquois ate and ate +until even _their_ appetites were satisfied. Then they began to cry +off; but the missionaries politely insisted, and even told them that +in failing to eat they were neglecting their religious duties. To help +them in this respect they played hymn and psalm tunes on musical +instruments. At last the Onondagas were gorged to repletion, and sank +into a stertorous slumber at sunset. Whilst they slept, the Jesuits, +their converts, and Radisson got into the already prepared canoes and +paddled quickly down the Oswego River far beyond pursuit. + +Radisson next joined his brother-in-law, Medard Chouart, and after +narrowly escaping massacre by the Iroquois (once more on the warpath +along the Ottawa River) reached the northern part of Lake Huron, and +Green Bay on the north-west of Lake Michigan. From Green Bay they +travelled up the Fox River and across a portage to the Wisconsin, +which flows into the Mississippi. Down this river they sped, meeting +people of the great Siou confederation and Kri (Cree) Indians, these +last an Algonkin nation roaming in the summertime as far north as +Hudson's Bay, until at length they reached the actual waters of the +Mississippi, first of all white men. Returning then to Lake Michigan, +the shores of which seemed to them an earthly paradise with a climate +finer than Italy, they journeyed northwards into Lake Huron, and +thence north-westwards through the narrow passages of St. Mary's River +into Lake Superior. The southern coast of Lake Superior was followed +to its westernmost point, where they made a camp, and from which they +explored during the winter (in snowshoes) the Wisconsin country and +collected information regarding the Mississippi and its great western +affluent the Missouri. The Mississippi, they declared, led to Mexico, +while the other great forked river in the far west was a pathway, +perhaps, to the Southern Sea (Pacific). + +The Jesuits, on the other hand, were convinced that Hudson's Bay (or +the "Bay of the North") was at no great distance from Lake Superior +(which was true) and that it must communicate to the north-west with +the Pacific Ocean or the sea that led to China. + +In 1661, without the leave of the French Governor of Canada, who +wanted them to take two servants of his own with them and to give him +half the profits of the venture, Chouart and Radisson hurried away to +the west, picked up large bodies of natives who were returning to the +regions north of Lake Huron, with them fought their way through the +ambushed Iroquois, and once more navigated the waters of Lake +Superior. Once again they started for the Mississippi basin and +explored the country of Minnesota, coming thus into contact with +native tribes which lived on the flesh of the bison. In Minnesota they +met a second time the Kri or Kinistino Indians of north-central +Canada, and joined one of their camps in the spring of 1662, somewhere +to the west of Lake Superior. With Kri guides they started away to the +north and north-east, no doubt by way of the Lake of the Woods, the +English River, Lake St. Joseph, and the Albany River, thus reaching +the salt sea at James Bay, the southernmost extension of Hudson Bay. +Or they may have proceeded by an even shorter route, though with +longer portages for canoes, through Lake Nipigon to the Albany. + +The summer of 1662 they passed on the islands and shores of James Bay +hunting "buffalo"[6] with the Indians. Then, in 1663, travelling back +along the same route they had followed in the previous year, they +regained Lake Superior, and so passed by the north of Lake Huron to +the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence. But on their return to Three +Rivers they were arrested by the French Governor, D'Avaugour, who +condemned them to imprisonment and severe fines. The courts of France +gave them no redress, and in their furious anger Chouart and Radisson +went over to the English, offered their services to England, and so +brought about the creation of the Hudson Bay Company. + +[Footnote 6: More probably musk oxen.] + +Radisson's journey from England to Hudson Bay has been treated of in +an earlier chapter: it is preferable to follow out to its finish the +great, western impulse of the French, which led them to neglect for a +time the doings of the British on the east coast of North America and +in the sub-Arctic regions of Hudson Bay. + +From 1660 onwards the Jesuit missionaries again took up vigorously +that work of Christianizing the Amerindians which had been so +completely checked by the frightful ravages of the Iroquois between +1648 and 1654. + +By 1669 the Jesuits had three permanent stations in western Canada. +The first was the mission station at Sault Ste. Marie, the second was +the station of Ste. Esprit, on Lake Superior (not far from the modern +town of Ashland), and the third was the station of St. François Xavier +at the mouth of the Fox River, on Green Bay, Lake Michigan. + +As regards some of the sufferings which these missionaries had to go +through when travelling across Canada in the winter, I quote the +following from _The Relations of the Jesuits_ (p. 35):-- + +"I [Father de Crépieul] set out on the 16th of January, 1674, from the +vicinity of Lake St. John, near the Saguenay River, with an Algonkin +captain and two Frenchmen. We started after Mass, and walked five long +leagues on snowshoes with much trouble, because the snow was soft and +made our snowshoes very heavy. At the end of five leagues, we found +ourselves on a lake four or five leagues long all frozen over, on +which the wind caused great quantities of snow to drift, obscuring the +air and preventing us from seeing where we are going. After walking +another league and a half with great difficulty our strength began to +fail. The wind, cold, and snow were so intolerable that they compelled +us to retrace our steps a little, to cut some branches of fir which +might in default of bark serve to build a cabin. After this we tried +to light a fire, but were unable to do so. We were thus reduced to a +most pitiful condition. The cold was beginning to seize us to an +extraordinary degree, the darkness was great, and the wind blew +fearfully. In order to keep ourselves from dying with cold, we resumed +our march on the lake in spite of our fatigue, without knowing whither +we were going, and all were greatly impeded with the wind and snow. +After walking a league and a half we had to succumb in spite of +ourselves and stop where we were. The danger we ran of dying from cold +caused me to remember the charitable Father de Noue, who in a similar +occasion was found dead in the snow, kneeling and with clasped +hands.... We therefore remained awake during the rest of the night.... +On the following morning two Frenchmen arrived from Father Albanel's +cabin very opportunely, and kindled a great fire on the snow.... After +this we resumed our journey on the same lake, and at last reached the +spot where Father Albanel was.... A serious injury, caused by the fall +of a heavy load upon his loins, prevented him from moving, and still +more, from performing a missionary's duties." + +One of the Jesuit fathers, Allouez, in founding the station of St. +François Xavier on Green Bay, Lake Michigan, had gained further +information about the wonderful Mississippi, which he called "Messi +Sipi". He also thoroughly explored Lake Nipigon, to the north of Lake +Superior. In 1669 two missionaries, named Dollier de Casson and +Galinée, started from the seminary of St. Sulpice (Montreal) to reach +the great tribes of the far west, supposed to be eager to learn of +Christianity and known to be much more tractable than the Iroquois. +These two missionaries, in their expedition of seven canoes and +twenty-one Amerindians, were accompanied by a remarkable young man +commonly known as La Salle, but whose real name was Robert +Cavalier.[7] + +[Footnote 7: La Salle was the name of his property in France.] + +Before leaving Lake Ontario, they actually passed the mouth of the +Niagara River and heard the falls, but had not sufficient curiosity to +leave their canoes and walk a short distance to see them. The +wonderful cascades of Niagara, where the St. Lawrence leaving Lake +Erie plunges 328 feet down into Lake Ontario (which is not much above +sea level), remained nearly undiscovered and undescribed until the +year 1678, when they were visited by Father Hennepin. Near the western +end of Lake Ontario the two Sulpician missionaries met another +Frenchman, Jolliet, who had come down to Lake Superior by way of the +Detroit passage, which is really the portion of the St. Lawrence +connecting Lake Huron with Lake Erie. Jolliet told the missionary de +Casson of a great tribe in the far west, the Pottawatomies, who had +asked for missionaries, and who were of Algonkin stock. La Salle, on +the other hand, was determined to make for the rumoured Ohio River, +which lay somewhere to the south-west of Lake Erie. + +The two Sulpicians wintered in "the earthly paradise" to the north of +Lake Erie, passing a delightful six months there in the amazing +abundance of game and fish. They then met with various disasters to +their canoes, and consequently gave up their western journey, passing +northwards through Detroit and Lake St. Clair into Lake Huron, and +thence to the Jesuit mission station of the Sault Ste. Marie. Here +they were received rather coldly, as being rivals in the mission field +and in exploration. They in their turn accused the Jesuits of thinking +mainly, if not entirely, of the foundation of French colonies, and +very little of evangelizing the natives. + +JOLLIET, a Canadian by birth,[8] was dispatched by the Viceroy of +Canada in 1672 to explore the far west. Two years--1670--previously +the French Government had for the first time adopted a really definite +policy about Canada, and had taken formal possession of the Lake +region and of all the territories lying between the lakes and the +Mississippi. A great assembly of Indians was held at Sault Ste. Marie, +near the east end of Lake Superior; and here a representative of the +French Government, accompanied by numerous missionaries and by +Jolliet, read a proclamation of the sovereignty of King Louis XIV of +France and Navarre. Below a tall cross was erected a great shield +bearing the arms of France. Father Allouez addressed the Indians in +the Algonkin language, and told them of the all-powerful Louis XIV, +who "had ten thousand commanders and captains, each as great as the +Governor of Quebec". He reminded them how the troops of this king had +beaten the unconquerable Iroquois, of how he possessed innumerable +soldiers and uncountable ships; that at times the ground of France +shook with the discharge of cannon, while the blaze of musketry was +like the lightning. He pictured the king covered with the blood of his +enemies and riding in the middle of his cavalry, and ordering so many +of his enemies to be slain that no account could be kept of the number +of their scalps, whilst their blood flowed in rivers. The Amerindians +being what they were, addicted to warfare, and only recognizing the +right of the strongest, it may be that this gospel of force was not +quite so shocking and unchristian as it reads to us nearly 250 years +afterwards, though it jars very much as coming from the lips of a +missionary of Christianity. However, it must be remembered that but +for the valour of the French soldiers in the awful period between 1648 +and 1666 (when the Mohawks received a thorough and well-deserved +thrashing) many of the tribes addressed on this occasion by the Jesuit +missionaries would have been completely exterminated; the Iroquois +would have depopulated much of north-eastern America. It is obvious, +indeed, from our study of the conditions of life amongst the +Amerindians, that one reason why the New World was so poorly populated +at the time of its discovery by Europeans was the wars of +extermination between tribe and tribe; for America between the Arctic +regions and Tierra del Fuego is marvellously well supplied with +natural food products--game, fish, fruits, nuts, roots, and +grain--much more so than any area of similar extent in the Old World. + +[Footnote 8: Born at Quebec in 1645.] + +Jolliet was to be accompanied on his westward expedition by Father +JACQUES MARQUETTE,[9] a Jesuit missionary who had become well +acquainted with the tribes visiting Lake Superior, and had learnt the +Siou dialect of the Illinois people. On May 17, 1673, Jolliet and +Marquette started from the Straits of Michili-Makinak with only two +bark canoes and five Amerindians. They coasted along the north coast +of Lake Michigan, passed into Green Bay, and thence up the River Fox. +They were assisted by the Maskutins, or Fire Indians, and were given +Miami guides. Thence the natives assisted them to transport their +canoes and baggage over the very short distance that separates the +upper waters of the Fox River from the Wisconsin River, and down the +Wisconsin they glided till they reached the great Mississippi. The +Governor of Quebec, who had sent Jolliet on this mission, believed +that the Great River of the west would lead them to the Gulf of +California, which was then called the Vermilion Sea by the Spaniards, +because it resembled in shape and colour the Red Sea. + +[Footnote 9: Father Jacques Marquette was born in the province of +Champagne, eastern France. He came to Canada when he was twenty-nine +years old, having already been prepared by the Jesuits for priesthood +and missionary work since his seventeenth year. He spent nine years in +Canada, and died at the age of thirty-eight. He has left an enduring +memory for goodness, courage, and purity of life.] + +"On the 17th of June (1673)", writes Father Marquette, "we safely +entered the Mississippi with a joy that I cannot express. Its current +is slow and gentle, the width very unequal. On its banks there are +hardly any woods or mountains. The islands are most beautiful, and +they are covered with fine trees. We saw deer and cattle (bison), +geese, and swans. From time to time we came upon monstrous fish, one +of which struck our canoe with such violence that I thought it was a +great tree. On another occasion we saw on the water a monster with the +head of a tiger, a sharp nose like that of a wild cat, with whiskers +and straight erect ears. The head was grey, and the neck quite black +(possibly a lynx).... We found that turkeys had taken the place of +game, and the _pisikiou_, or wild cattle, that of the other animals." + +Father Marquette, of course, by his wild cattle means the bison, of +which he proceeds to give an excellent description. He adds: "They are +very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some savages. +When attacked, they catch a man on their horns if they can, toss him +in the air, throw him on the ground, then trample him under foot and +kill him. If a person fires at them from a distance with either a bow +or a gun, he must immediately after the shot throw himself down and +hide in the grass, for if they perceive him who has fired they run at +him and attack him." + +Soon after entering the Mississippi, Marquette noticed some rocks +which by their height and length inspired awe. "We saw upon one of +them two painted monsters which at first made us afraid, and upon +which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as +large as a calf; they have horns on their heads like those of deer, a +horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like +a man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds +all round the body and ends like that of a fish. Green, red, and black +are the three colours composing the picture. Moreover, these two +monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any savage is +their author, for good painters in France would find it difficult to +paint so well, and, besides, they are so high up on the rock that it +is difficult to reach that place conveniently to paint them."[10] + +[Footnote 10: These remarkable rock pictures were situated immediately +above the present city of Alton, Illinois. In 1812 they still remained +in a good state of preservation, but the thoughtless Americans had +gradually destroyed them by 1867 in quarrying the rock for building +stone.] + +As the Jolliet expedition paddled down the Mississippi--ever so easily +and swiftly--a marvellous panorama unfolded itself before the +Frenchmen's fascinated gaze. Immense herds of bison occasionally +appeared on the river banks, flocks of turkeys flew up from the glades +and roosted in the trees and on the river bank. Everywhere the natives +seemed friendly, and Father Marquette was usually able to communicate +with them through his knowledge of the Illinois Algonkin dialect, +which the Siou understood. + +[Illustration: INDIANS HUNTING BISON] + +On their first meeting with the Mississippi Indians, the French +explorers were not only offered the natives' pipes to smoke in token +of peace, but an old man amongst the latter uttered these words to +Jolliet: "How beautiful the sun is, O Frenchman, when thou comest to +visit us. Our village awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins +in peace."... "There was a crowd of people," writes Marquette; "they +devoured us with their eyes, but nevertheless preserved profound +silence. We could, however, hear these words addressed to us from time +to time in a low voice: 'How good it is, my brothers, that you should +visit us'. + +"... The council was followed by a great feast, consisting of four +dishes, which had to be partaken of in accordance with all their +fashions. The first course was a great wooden platter full of +sagamité, that is to say, meal of Indian corn boiled in water, and +seasoned with fat. The Master of the Ceremonies filled a spoon with +sagamité three or four times, and put it to my mouth as if I were a +little child. He did the same to Monsieur Jollyet. As a second course +he caused a second platter to be brought, on which were three fish. He +took some pieces of them, removed the bones therefrom, and, after +blowing upon them to cool them, he put them in our mouths as one would +give food to a bird. For the third course, they brought a large dog +that had just been killed, but, when they learned that we did not eat +this meat, they removed it from before us. Finally, the fourth course +was a piece of wild ox, the fattest morsels of which were placed in +our mouths.... We thus pushed forward and no longer saw so many +prairies, because both shores of the river are bordered with lofty +trees. The cotton wood, elm and bass wood are admirable for their +height and thickness. There are great numbers of wild cattle whom we +hear bellowing. We killed a little parroquet, with a red and yellow +head and green body.... We have got down to near the 33° of +latitude.... We heard from afar savages who were inciting one another +to attack us by their continual yelling. They were armed with bows and +arrows, hatchets, clubs, and shields.... Part of them embarked in +great wooden canoes, some to ascend, others to descend the river in +order to surround us on all sides.... Some young men threw themselves +into the water and seized my canoe, but the current compelled them to +return to land. One of them hurled his club, which passed over without +striking us. In vain I showed the calumet (pipe of peace), and made +them signs that we were not coming to war against them. The alarm +continued; they were already preparing to pierce us with arrows from +all sides when God suddenly touched the hearts of the old men who were +standing at the water's edge, who checked the ardour of their young +men.... Whereon we landed, not without fear on our part. First we had +to speak by signs, because none of them understood the six languages +which I spoke. At last we found an old man who could speak a little +Illinois. We informed them that we were going to the sea. + +"The next day was spent in feasting on Indian corn and dogs' flesh. +The people here had an abundance of Indian corn, which they sowed at +all seasons. They cook it in great earthen jars which are very well +made, and also have plates of baked earth. The men go naked and wear +their hair short; they pierce their noses, from which, as well as from +their ears, hang beads.... Their cabins are made of bark, and are long +and wide. They sleep at the two ends, which are raised two feet above +the ground. They know nothing of the beaver, and their wealth consists +in the skins of wild cattle. They never see snow in their country, and +recognize the winter only through the rains." + +The expedition had passed the confluence of the Missouri and that of +the Ohio, and had finally reached the place where the Arkansas River +enters the Mississippi. Here the Frenchmen gathered from the natives +that the sea was only ten days distant, and this sea they knew (for +Jolliet was able to take astronomical observations and to make a rough +survey) could only be the Gulf of Mexico. Jolliet feared if he +prosecuted his journey any farther, he and his people would fall into +the hands of the Spaniards and be imprisoned, if not killed. +Therefore, at this point on the Lower Mississippi, the expedition +turned back. Its return journey was a weary business, for the current +was against the canoes as they were propelled northwards up the Great +River. But Jolliet learnt from the natives of a better homeward route, +that of following the Illinois River upstream until the expedition +came within a very short distance of Lake Michigan, near where Chicago +now stands. The canoes were carried over a low ridge of ground, +launched again in the Chicago River, and so passed into Lake Michigan. +(There is, in fact, at this point the remains of an ancient water +connection between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River, and a canal +now connects the two systems.) Jolliet, in describing this region, +realized that by cutting a canal through two miles of prairie it would +be possible to go "in a small ship" from Lake Erie or Lake Superior +"to Florida". + +Father Marquette remained at his new mission on the Fox River (he died +two years afterwards on the shores of the Straits of Michili-makinak). +Jolliet, on returning by way of the Ottawa River to Quebec, was nearly +drowned in the La Chine Rapids (Montreal), and all his papers and maps +were lost. The natives with him also perished, but he struggled to +shore with difficulty, and went on his way to Quebec to report his +wonderful discoveries to the Governor, Frontenac. Fortunately Father +Marquette had also kept a journal and had made maps, and these +reaching the superior of his mission arrived in time to confirm +Jolliet's statements. + +Jolliet married at Quebec, and proceeded to explore and develop the +regions along the north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, travelling +in this work as far as Hudson's Bay. He was given by the French +Government the Island of Anticosti as a reward for his achievements, +but the work and capital which he put into the development of this +long-neglected island came to nothing; for it was captured by the +English, and Jolliet died a poor man whilst attempting to explore the +coast of Labrador. + +As to ROBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE, he had, after all, discovered the +Ohio, and had descended that river as far as the site of the present +town of Louisville. Then he interested the Governor (Frontenac) of +Canada in his enterprises. A fort, called Fort Frontenac, was built at +what is now Kingston, at the point where the St. Lawrence leaves Lake +Ontario. La Salle returned to France, and obtained the grant of the +lordship of this fort and the surrounding country on conditions of +maintaining the whole cost of the establishment, and making a +settlement of colonists. Another visit to France in 1677-8 secured him +further support and capital, and he returned from France with a +companion, Henry de Tonty. + +La Salle, with de Tonty, started from Fort Frontenac in September, +1678, so intensely anxious to commence his discoveries that he +disregarded the difficulties of the winter season. On his way to +Niagara he paid a visit to the Iroquois to conciliate them, and +cleverly got from them permission to build a vessel on Lake Erie and +also to erect a blacksmith's forge, near where Niagara now stands. The +blacksmith's forge grew rapidly into a fort before the Indians were +aware of what was being done. By August, 1679, he had built and +launched (in spite of extraordinary calamities and misfortunes) on the +Upper Niagara River the first sailing boat which ever appeared on the +four great upper lakes of the St. Lawrence basin. + +In this ship he sailed through Lake Erie and past Detroit into Lake +Huron, and thence to Green Bay (Lake Michigan), stopping at intervals +amongst the canoes of the amazed natives, who for the first time heard +the sound of cannon, for he had armed his vessel with guns. At Green +Bay he collected a large quantity of furs, which had been obtained in +trade by the men he had sent on in advance. He loaded up his sailing +boat, the _Griffon_, and sent her on a voyage back to the east to +transport this splendid load of furs to the merchants with whom he had +become deeply indebted. Unhappily the _Griffon_ foundered in a storm +on Lake Michigan, and was never heard of again. Meantime La Salle, +with de Tonty and Father HENNEPIN, the discoverer of Niagara, had +travelled in canoes to the south-east end of Lake Michigan, had passed +up the Joseph River, and thence by portage into the Kankaki, which +flows into the Illinois. This river he descended till he stopped near +the site of the modern Peoria. Below this place he built a fort--for +it was winter time--and although the natives were not very friendly he +collected enough information from them to satisfy himself that he +could easily pass down the Illinois to the Mississippi. + +He sent one of the Frenchmen, Michel Accault, together with Father +Hennepin, to explore the Illinois down to the Mississippi; de Tonty he +placed in charge of the fort with a small garrison; and then himself, +on the last day of February, 1680, started to walk overland from Lake +Michigan to Detroit. Eventually, by means of a canoe, which he +constructed himself, he regained Fort Frontenac and Montreal. When he +returned to Fort Crèvecoeur, on the Illinois River,[11] it was to meet +with the signs of a horrible disaster. The Iroquois in his absence had +descended on the place with a great war party. They had massacred the +Illinois people dwelling in a big settlement near the fort, and the +remains of their mutilated bodies were scattered all over the place. +Their town had been burnt; the fort was empty and abandoned. There +were no traces of the Frenchmen, however, amongst the skulls and +skeletons lying around him; for the skulls retained sufficient hair to +show that they belonged to Amerindians. Nevertheless, he deposited his +new stock of goods and most of his men in the ruins of the Fort +Crèvecoeur, and descended the River Illinois to the Mississippi. But +he was obliged to turn back. On the west bank of the river were the +scared Illinois Indians, on the east the raging Iroquois. Whenever La +Salle could safely visit a deserted camp he would examine the remains +of the tortured men tied to stakes to see if amongst them there was a +Frenchman. + +[Footnote 11: He had named this place "Heartbreak" because when +building it he had learnt of the loss of his sailing ship _Griffon_, +with the splendid supply of furs which was to have paid off his debts, +with all his reserve supplies and his men. This was not the limit of +his troubles; for, after the overland journey of appalling hardships +through a country of melting ice, flood, swamp, and hostile +Iroquois--the Iroquois being furious with La Salle for having +outwitted them in the building of this fort, and seeking him +everywhere to destroy him--when he got to Montreal it was only to +learn that a ship, coming from France with further supplies for his +great journey had been wrecked at the mouth of the St. Lawrence!] + +But de Tonty was not dead. After incredible adventures he had escaped +the raids of the Iroquois and had reached the Straits of +Michili-makinak, between Lakes Michigan and Huron, and there met La +Salle, who was once more on his way to Montreal. + +Again de La Salle and de Tonty, in the winter of 1681, returned to the +south end of Lake Michigan, and made their way over the snow to the +Illinois River. On the 6th February, 1682, they left the junction of +the Illinois and the Mississippi to trace that great river to its +outlet in the sea. La Salle reached the delta on the 6th April, 1682, +having on the way taken possession of the country in the name of the +King of France. Accault and Father Hennepin had meantime paddled up +the Northern Mississippi as far as its junction with the Wisconsin. At +this place their party was surrounded and captured by a large band of +Siou warriors. + +The Frenchmen were at first in danger of being killed, as the Sious +refused to smoke with them the pipe of peace. But being much less +bloodthirsty than the Iroquois, they soon calmed down and treated +their captives with a certain rough friendliness. All their goods were +taken from them, even the vestments worn by Father Hennepin. But they +were well supplied with food such as the country produced--bison, +beef, fish, wild turkeys, and the grain of the wild rice, which made +such excellent flour. They were gradually conveyed by the Siou[12] to +a large settlement of that tribe on the shore of Mille Lacs, a sheet +of water not far distant from the westernmost extremity of Lake +Superior. Whilst staying at this Siou town Hennepin conversed with +Indians from the far north and north-west, and from what they told him +came to the conclusion that there was no continuous waterway or +"Strait of Anian" across the North-American continent, but that +the land extended to the north-west till it finally joined the +north-eastern part of Asia--a guess that was not very far wrong. But +he also surmised that there were rivers in the far west which led to +an ocean--the Pacific--across which ships might go to Japan and China +without passing to the southward of the Equator. + +[Footnote 12: The real name of the Siou, as far as we can arrive at it +through the records of the French pioneers, was Issati or Naduessiu.] + +Whilst moving up and down the northern Mississippi, bison-hunting with +the Indians, the Frenchmen were met near the site of St. Paul by one +of the great French pioneers of the seventeenth century, the Sieur +DANIEL DE GREYSOLON DU L'HUT. This remarkable man, who was an officer +of the French army, had already planted the French arms at the +Amerindian settlement of Mille Lacs in 1679, and had established +himself as a powerful authority at the west end of Lake Superior. He +had also summoned a great council of Amerindian tribes--the Siou from +the Upper Mississippi, the Assiniboins from the Lake of the Woods +(between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg), and the Kri Indians from +Lake Nipigon. He had further discovered, in 1679, the water route of +the St. Croix River from near Lake Superior to the Mississippi. + +Du L'Hut soon persuaded the Siou to let his fellow countrymen return +with him to Lake Superior. Accault remained behind with the Siou, +delighted with their wild, roving life, and no doubt married an Indian +wife and became the father of some of those bold half-breeds who +played such a great part in the subsequent history of innermost +Canada. But Father Hennepin returned to Montreal, and made his way +eventually to France, where he fell into great disgrace and was +unfrocked. He had richly merited this treatment, for after he heard of +the death of La Salle he impudently claimed the discovery of the whole +course of the Mississippi River for himself, and for a long time was +believed. He will certainly go down in history as the man who +discovered and described Niagara Falls (in 1678), and he also assisted +greatly to clear up the geography of the time by the information he +collected from the Amerindians as to the vast extent of the +North-American continent; but he was a boastful, unscrupulous man. + +Du L'Hut, who came to the rescue of Accault and Hennepin, was of noble +family, and a member of the king's bodyguard. He decided, however, to +seek his fortune in Canada, and obtained a commission as captain. It +was his cousin, Henri de Tonty, who had accompanied La Salle. After +returning to France to fight in the wars then going on, he came back +to Canada with a younger brother, Claude. He had in him the spirit of +great adventurers, and longed to visit the unknown countries of the +upper Mississippi. In the early part of these journeys he rescued his +fellow countrymen from the keeping of the Sious in the manner +described. After that he spent _thirty_ years travelling and trading +about North America, from the northern Mississippi into what we +should now call Manitoba, and from the vicinity of Lake Winnipeg to +Hudson Bay. He brought the great Amerindian nation of the Dakotas into +direct relations with the French. He was absolutely fearless, and in +no period of Canadian history has France been more splendidly +represented in the personality of any of her officers than she was by +Daniel de Greysolon du L'Hut. His was a tiresome name for English +scribes and speakers. It was therefore written by them "Duluth" and +pronounced D[)a]l[)a]th (instead of "Dülüt"). It is the name given to +the township near the southernmost extremity of Lake Superior. + +When the journeys of du L'Hut came to an end--he died at Montreal in +1710--and after the era of great French explorations in North America +drew to a close, the French power was beginning to be eclipsed by that +of the British, who were building up the foundations of a colony on +the shores of Hudson's Bay, and were taking steps to acquire +Newfoundland and to colonize New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. + +Nevertheless, in 1720, the King of France, or rather the regent acting +for the king, decided that a serious attempt must be made to discover +the Western Sea, or Pacific Ocean, from the French posts which had +been established in what is now known as Manitoba. The French had +already discovered the Missouri, and had heard from several Indian +tribes that it was possible to cross the Rocky Mountains and descend +by other rivers to the waters of a great ocean, the coasts of which +were visited by Spaniards. Several expeditions were sent out, more or +less under the control of Jesuits, but did not accomplish much. + +The really great discoveries which link the "Great North-West" for all +time in history with France and French names were initiated by PIERRE +GAULTIER DE LA VÉRENDRYE, who was born in 1685 at the town of Three +Rivers, in Lower Canada, where his father was Governor. He entered +the army at the age of twelve, and took part in the French campaigns +in Flanders, winning the rank of lieutenant at the battle of +Malplaquet, where he received nine wounds and was left for dead on the +field. He then returned to Canada, not having the necessary means with +which to support the position of a lieutenant; and then, as France +seemed to have entered upon a period of protracted peace, he +determined to become an explorer. In 1728, when he was commandant of +the trading post of Nipigon, to the north of Lake Superior, he heard +from an Indian that there was a great lake beyond Lake Superior, out +of which flowed a river towards the west, which ultimately led to a +great salt lake where the water ebbed and flowed. As a matter of fact, +these stories simply referred to Lake Winnipeg, but the importance of +them lay in the fact that they acted as a powerful incentive to La +Vérendrye to push his explorations westwards, and perhaps discover a +route to the Pacific Ocean.[13] + +[Footnote 13: The water of Lake Winnipeg--whatever it may be now--was +frequently stated by Amerindians in earlier days to be "stinking +water", or salt, brackish water, disagreeable to drink, and this lake +exhibits a curious phenomenon of a regular rise and fall, reminding +the observer of a tide, a phenomenon by no means confined to Lake +Winnipeg, but occurring on sheets of water of much smaller extent.] + +La Vérendrye afterwards went to Quebec, where he discussed his plans +for Western exploration with the Governor of New France, the Marquis +de Beauharnais, who was a distant connection of the Beauharnais family +from which sprang the first husband of the Empress Joséphine, the +grandfather of Napoleon III. + +This Governor entered into his scheme with enthusiasm, though he could +obtain little or no money from the ministers of Louis XVI. But a way +out of the difficulty was found by the Governor giving La Vérendrye +the monopoly of the fur trade in the far North-West.[14] This +monopoly enabled La Vérendrye to obtain the funds for his expenditure +from the merchants of Montreal, and in the summer of 1731 he started +out on his explorations, accompanied by three of his sons, his nephew, +fifty soldiers and French Canadian canoe men, and a Jesuit missionary. +For a guide they had the Indian, Oshagash, who had first told La +Vérendrye of the western river and the salt water. After many delays, +necessitated by the need for trading in furs to satisfy the merchants +of Montreal, La Vérendrye and his expedition skated on snowshoes down +the ice of the Winnipeg River and reached the shores of Lake Winnipeg. +They were probably the first white men to arrive there. La Vérendrye +established forts and posts along his route from Lake Nipigon, but his +expedition had not been a commercial success. There was a deficit of +£1700 between the amount realized in furs and the cost of the +equipment and wages of the French and French Canadians. De Beauharnais +made a fresh appeal to the French Court; he urged that the expenditure +to convey La Vérendrye's expedition to the Pacific Ocean would not be +a large one--perhaps only £1500. + +[Footnote 14: What we should call to-day a "concession".] + +But the French Court was obdurate; it would not furnish a penny. Thus +La Vérendrye, in all probability, was prevented from forestalling the +British explorers of sixty and seventy years later, besides the +expeditions of Captain Cook and Captain Vancouver, which secured for +Great Britain a foothold on the Pacific seaboard of British Columbia. + +La Vérendrye in his fort on Lake Winnipeg was in a desperate position. +He made a hasty journey back to Montreal and even Quebec, to beat up +funds and to pacify the capitalists of his fur-trading monopoly. He +painted in glowing colours the prospects of cutting off the trade of +the Hudson's Bay Company and the building up of an immense commerce in +valuable furs, and these men agreed once again to furnish the funds +for the extension of the expedition. On his return he took back with +him his youngest son, Louis, a boy of eighteen. Whilst he had been +absent from Fort St. Charles (a post which he had built on the Lake of +the Woods, in communication by water with the Winnipeg River), on Lake +Winnipeg, that place was visited by a party of Siou Indians. They +found the fort occupied in the absence of the French by a number of +Kri or "Knistino" Indians in French service. These Kris were +frightened at the arrival of the Sious and fired guns at them. "Who +fired on us?" demanded these haughty Indians from Dakota, and the Kris +replied, "The French". Then the Sious withdrew, but vowed to be +completely revenged on the treacherous white man. + +When La Vérendrye reached Fort St. Charles its little garrison was +almost at the point of starvation. He had travelled himself ahead of +his party, and the immense stock of supplies and provisions he was +bringing up country were a long way behind him when he reached the +fort. He therefore sent back his son Jean, together with the most +active of his Canadian voyageurs and the Jesuit missionary, in order +that they might meet the heavily laden canoes and hurry them up +country as fast as possible. But this party was met by the Sious on +Rainy River, who massacred them to a man. They were afterwards found +lying in a circle on the beach, decapitated and mutilated. The heads +of most of them were wrapped ironically in beaver skins, and La +Vérendrye's son, Jean, was horribly cut and slashed, and his +mutilated, naked body decorated with garters and bracelets of +porcupine quills. + +Meantime, during his absence in Lower Canada, two of his sons in +charge of Fort Maurepas, on Lake Winnipeg, had been very active. They +had discovered the great size of this lake, and also the entrance of +the Red River on the south. They then proceeded to explore both the +Red River and its western tributary the Assiniboin. On the Assiniboin +was afterwards built the post of Fort La Reine, and from this place in +1738 La Vérendrye started with two of his sons, several other +Frenchmen, a few Canadian voyageurs, and twenty-five Assiniboin +Indians. Leaving the Assiniboin River, they crossed the North Dakota +prairies on foot. Owing to the timidity of his Indian guides, La +Vérendrye was not led direct to the Missouri River, the "Great River +of the West", but along a zigzag route which permitted his guides to +reinforce their numbers at Assiniboin villages, and every now and then +join in a bison hunt. All the party were on foot, horses not then +having reached the Assiniboin tribe. But on the 28th of November, +1738, they drew near to the Missouri and were met by a chief of the +great Mandan tribe, who was accompanied by thirty of his warriors, and +who presented La Vérendrye with young maize cobs and leaves of native +tobacco, these being regarded as emblems of peace and friendship. + +The Mandan tribe differed materially in its habits and customs from +the Indians to the north, who supported themselves mainly, if not +entirely, by hunting, who cared very little for agriculture, and moved +continually like nomads over great stretches of country, living +chiefly in tents or temporary villages. The Mandans, on the other +hand, were a people who practised agriculture, and had permanent and +well-constructed towns. In fact, their civilization and demeanour made +such an impression on the Assiniboin and other northern tribes that +they had been considered a sort of "white people", somewhat akin to +Europeans, and La Vérendrye was a little disappointed to find them +only Amerindians in race and colour. + +The six hundred Assiniboins who had gathered about La Vérendrye's +expedition proved to be a great trouble to him, as they were +constantly picking quarrels with the Mandans, who were very dishonest. +Accordingly, La Vérendrye arranged with the Mandans to frighten them +away by pretending that the Siou Indians were on the warpath. The six +hundred Assiniboins bolted, but took with them La Vérendrye's +interpreter, so that he was henceforth obliged to communicate with the +Mandans by means of signs and gestures. This and other reasons decided +him to return--even though it was the depth of winter, to Fort La +Reine, but not before he had given the head chief of the Mandans a +flag and a leaden plate which (unknown to the Mandans) meant taking +possession of their country in the name of the French king. + +The journey back to Fort La Reine, over the plains of the Assiniboin, +was a terrible experience. The party had to travel in the teeth of an +almost unceasing north-east wind which was freezingly cold. Night +after night they were obliged to dig deep holes in the snow for their +sleeping places. La Vérendrye nearly died of agonizing pain and +fatigue during this journey, and was a long time recovering from its +effects. + +As they continued to receive friendly messages from the Mandans, +inviting them to make further discoveries, LA VÉRENDRYE'S sons, PIERRE +and FRANCOIS, set out in the spring of 1742, and, after some checks +and disappointments, managed with a single Mandan guide to reach Broad +Lands on the Little Missouri River, where they noticed the earths of +different colours, blue, green, red, black, white, and yellow, which +are so characteristic of this region. They reached the village of the +Crow Indians, passed through a portion of the friendly tribe, the +Cheyennes (the name was probably pronounced Shian) and got into the +country which was constantly being ravaged by the Snake Indians, or +Shoshones. Here, on the 1st of January, 1743, when the mists of +morning cleared away, they saw upon the horizon the outline of huge +mountains. As they travelled westwards or south-westwards, day after +day, the jagged blue wall resolved itself into towering snow-capped +peaks, glittering in the sun and provoking the appellation of "the +Mountains of Bright Stones", a name probably given to the Rocky +Mountains by the Amerindians, but used in all the earlier French and +English maps until the end of the eighteenth century.[15] + +[Footnote 15: The term Rocky Mountains was probably first officially +applied by the American expedition, under Lewis and Clarke, sent out +by the United States Government in 1804 to take possession of the +coast of Oregon, but it was used twenty or thirty years earlier by +British explorers of Western Canada.] + +On the 12th of January they reached the very foot of the mountains, +the slopes of which they saw were thickly covered with magnificent +forests of pine and fir--forests, that have since suffered to an +appalling extent from annual bush fires, which so far the United +States Government seems unable to check. Here they were to meet with a +bitter disappointment. They were travelling with a very large war +party of the Bow Indians for the purpose, if need be, of attacking and +routing the Shoshones; but a Shoshone camp at the base of the +mountains was found to be deserted, and the Bow Indians jumped to the +conclusion that the Shoshones had turned back through the forest +unseen, and were now making with all speed for the principal war camp +of the Bow Indians, where they would massacre the women and children. +They would listen to no remonstrances from the two Frenchmen, who +perforce had also to travel back, either alone or with the Bow +Indians, in the direction of their war camp, where the idea of a +Shoshone attack was found to be baseless. Eventually, the two La +Vérendrye brothers were obliged to make their way to the Missouri +River, and abandon any idea of finding a way to the Western Ocean +across the Rocky Mountains. + +The French pioneers had already heard of the Spaniards in California, +and the possibility of getting into touch with them. They had now +discovered, first of all Europeans, the Rocky Mountains--that great +snowy range of North America which extends from Robson Peak on the +eastern borders of British Columbia to Baldy Peak in New Mexico. + +Afterwards the La Vérendryes directed their attention more to the +opportunities of reaching the Far West through the streams that flowed +into the system of Lake Winnipeg, and in this way discovered, in or +about 1743, the great River Saskatchewan. This river La Vérendrye's +sons followed up till they reached the junction between the North and +the South Rivers, and then they probably learnt a good deal more of +the Southern Saskatchewan, on which they may have built one or two +posts. La Vérendrye himself thought that this would prove to be the +best route by which the French could reach the Western Sea. + +By this time the French Government was becoming alive to the +importance of these discoveries, and it conferred a decoration on La +Vérendrye, and allowed him to hope that he might be furnished with +means for further exploration. But he died soon afterwards, at the +close of 1749, and after his death his sons were treated with gross +ingratitude and neglect. The self-seeking Governor of New France +endeavoured to secure the fur trade for his own friends, and sent an +officer with a terribly long name--Captain Jacques Répentigny Le +Gardeur de Saint Pierre--to continue the exploration towards the +Pacific. From 1750 to 1763 the French occupation of this region of the +two Saskatchewan Rivers was extended till in all probability the +French got within sight of the northern Rocky Mountains in the +vicinity of Calgary. Then came the English conquest of Canada to stop +all further enterprise in this direction, and the story was next to be +taken up by English, Scottish, and Canadian explorers. + +It will be men with English and Scottish names, mainly, who will +henceforth complete the work begun and established so magnificently by +Cartier, Brulé, Nicollet, Jolliet, La Salle, du L'Hut, and La +Vérendrye, though the French Canadians will also play a notable part, +together with "Americans", from New England. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Geographical Conditions of the Canadian Dominion + + +Before we continue to follow the adventures of the pioneers of British +North America, I think--even if it seems wearisome and discursive--my +readers would better understand this story if I placed before them a +general description of what is now the Dominion of Canada, more +particularly as it was seen and discovered by the earliest European +explorers. + +The most prominent feature on the east, and that which was nearest to +Europe, was the large island of NEWFOUNDLAND, 42,000 square miles in +extent, that is to say, nearly as large as England without Wales. It +seems to bar the way of the direct sea access by the Gulf of St. +Lawrence to the very heart of North America; and, until the Straits of +Belle Isle and of Cabot were discovered, did certainly arrest the +voyages of the earliest pioneers. Newfoundland, as you can see on the +map, has been cut into and carved by the forces of nature until it has +a most fantastic outline. Long peninsulas of hills alternate with +deep, narrow gulfs, and about the south-east and east coasts there are +innumerable islets, most of which in the days of the early discoverers +were the haunt of millions of sea birds who resorted there for +breeding purposes. The heart of Newfoundland, so to speak, is an +elevated country with hills and mountains rising to a little over 2000 +feet. A great deal of the country is, or was, dense forests, chiefly +consisting of fir trees. As numerous almost as the sea birds were the +seals and walruses which frequented the Newfoundland coasts. Inland +there were very large numbers of reindeer, generally styled nowadays +by the French-Canadian name of _Caribou_[1]. Besides reindeer there +were wolves, apparently of a smaller size than those of the mainland. +There were also lynxes and foxes, besides polar bears, martens, +squirrels, &c. The human inhabitants of Newfoundland, whom I shall +describe in the next chapter, were known subsequently by the name of +Beothuk, or Beothik, a nickname of no particular meaning. They had +evidently been separated for many centuries from contact with the +Amerindians of the mainland, though they may have been visited +occasionally on the north by the Eskimo. They had in fact been so long +separated from the other Amerindians of North America that they were +strikingly different from them in their habits, customs, and language. + +[Footnote 1: The first Frenchmen visiting North America, and seeing +the caribou without their horns, thought they were a kind of wild ass. +The reindeer of Newfoundland is a sub-species peculiar to this +island.] + +The climate of Newfoundland is not nearly so cold as that of the +mainland, nor so hot in summer, but it is spoilt at times by fogs and +sea mists which conceal the landscape for days together. In the +wintertime, and quite late in the spring, quantities of ice hang about +the shores of the islands, and when the warm weather comes, these +accumulations of ice slip away into the Atlantic in the form of +icebergs and are most dangerous to shipping. + +To the south-east of Newfoundland the sea is very shallow for hundreds +of miles, the remains no doubt of a great extension of North America +in the direction of Europe which had sunk below the surface ages ago. +In this shallow water--the "Banks" of Newfoundland--fish, especially +codfish, swarmed in millions, and still continue to swarm with little, +if any, diminution from the constant toll of the fishing fleets. +Another creature found in great abundance on these coasts is the true +lobster,[2] which filled as important a part in the diet of the +Beothuk natives, before the European occupation, as the salmon did in +the dietary of the British Columbian tribes. + +[Footnote 2: _Homarus americanus_. The lobster of Newfoundland and the +coasts of North-east America is closely related to the common lobster +of British waters. These true lobsters resemble the freshwater +crayfish in having their foremost pair of legs modified into large, +unequal-sized claws. The European rock-lobster of the Mediterranean +and French coasts (the _langouste_ of the French) has no large claws.] + +The next most striking feature in the geography of Eastern North +America is NOVA SCOTIA. AS you look at it on the map this province +seems to be a long peninsula connected with the mainland by the narrow +isthmus of Chignecto; but its northernmost portion--Cape +Breton--really consists of two big and two little islands, only +separated from Nova Scotia by a very narrow strait--the Gut of Canso. +On the north of Nova Scotia lies the large Prince Edward Island, and +north of this again the small group of the Magdalen Islands, +discovered by Cartier, the resort of herds of immense walruses at one +time. Due west of Nova Scotia the country, first flat (like Nova +Scotia itself) and at one time covered with magnificent forests, rises +into a very hilly region which culminates on the north in the Shikshok +Mountains of the Gaspé Peninsula (nearly 4000 feet in height) and the +White Mountains (over 6000 feet) and the Adirondak Mountains (over +5000 feet). The White, the Green, and the Adirondak Mountains lie just +within the limits of the United States. + +North of the Gaspé Peninsula, in the great Gulf of St. Lawrence, is +Anticosti Island, which rises on the south in a series of terraces +until it reaches an altitude of about 2000 feet. This island, which is +well wooded, was said to have swarmed with reindeer at one time, and +perhaps other forms of deer also, and to have possessed grizzly bears +which fed on the deer, besides Polar bears visiting it in the winter. + +[Illustration: MAP OF CANADA] + +Newfoundland is separated from the mainland of LABRADOR on the north +by the Strait of Belle Isle, and from Cape Breton Island on the south +by Cabot Strait. Labrador is an immense region on the continent, where +the coast (except for the deep inlet of Melville Lake) soon rises into +an elevated plateau 2000 feet in height, which is strewn with almost +uncountable lakes, out of which rivers flow north, south, east, and +west. On the north-east corner of Labrador there are mountains from +3000 to 4000 feet, overlooking the sea. The whole of this vast +Labrador or Ungava Peninsula, which is bounded on the south by the +River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on the north by Hudson's Bay and +Hudson's Straits, is an inhospitable land, at no time with much +population. + +"The winter of Labrador is long and severe; one would need to have +blood like brandy, a skin of brass, and an eye of glass not to suffer +from the rigours of a Labrador winter. In the summer the frequent fogs +render the air damp, and the constant breezes from the immense fields +of ice floating in the gulf keep the land very cool, and make any +alteration in the winter dress almost unnecessary" (James M'Kenzie). +Labrador and the lands farther north on the continent of North America +are separated from Greenland on the east by the broad straits--a great +branch of the Atlantic--named after Davis and Baffin, who first +explored them. Passing up Davis Strait, along the coast of Labrador to +beyond 60° N. lat., the voyager comes to Hudson's Straits, which, if +followed up first to the northwards and then to the south-west, would +lead him into the great expanse of Hudson's Bay, one of the most +important features in the geography of North America. + +HUDSON'S BAY, which is a great inland sea with an area of about +315,000 square miles, has a southern loop or extension called James +Bay, the shores of which are not at a very great distance either from +Lake Superior to the south-west, or from the source of the River +Saguenay on the south. The Saguenay flows into the Lower St. Lawrence +River. It is therefore not surprising that as soon as the French began +to settle in Lower Canada they heard of a vast northern inland sea of +salt water--Hudson's Bay. But the people who discovered and surveyed +Hudson's Bay during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth +centuries were always on the search for a passage out of its waters +into the Arctic Sea, which would enable them to get right round +America into the Pacific Ocean. + +In Arctic North America Nature really seems to have been preparing +during millions of years a grim joke with which to baffle exploring +humanity! It is easy enough to pass from Davis Straits into Hudson's +Bay, but to get out of Hudson's Bay in the direction of the Arctic +Ocean is like getting out of a very cleverly arranged maze. There are +innumerable false exits, which have disappointed one Arctic explorer +after another. When they had discovered that Hudson's Bay to the south +was only like a great bottle, and had no outlet, they explored its +northern waters; and when they found Chesterfield Inlet on the +north-west, which leads into Baker Lake, they thought perhaps here was +the passage through into the Arctic Sea. But no; that was no good. To +the north of Chesterfield Inlet was a broad channel called Roe's +Welcome, which led into Wager Bay and through frozen straits into +Fox's Channel, and this again into Ross Bay. Here only a very narrow +isthmus separates Hudson's Bay from the Arctic Sea; but still it is an +isthmus of solid land. Turning to the north-east and north there are +the broad waters of Fox's Channel leading into Fox's Basin; but the +north-west corner of this inland sea was so blocked with ice and +islands that it was not until the year 1822 that the _real_ northern +outlet of Hudson's Bay was discovered by Captain EDWARD PARRY to be +the narrow Fury and Hecla Straits (the discovery was not completed +until 1839 by the Hudson's Bay Company's explorers T. SIMPSON and W. +DEASE). + +Here you have found the way out into the Gulf of Boothia, which +communicates in the north with Barrow Strait and Baffin's Bay. But +across the supposed peninsula of Boothia there were discovered, in +1847, by Dr. JOHN RAE (also an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company) +the narrow Bellot Straits, which lead into Franklin Straits and so +into M'Clintock Channel and the Arctic Ocean. After this you might +theoretically (if the ice permitted it) sail or steam your ship +through Victoria Straits and Coronation Gulf till you got into +Beaufort Sea (part of the open Arctic Ocean), or, by turning round +Prince Albert Land, pass through the Prince of Wales' Straits or +M'Clure Straits into the same Beaufort Sea. + +The North-West Passage across the Arctic extremity of North America, +therefore, _did_ exist after all, and the directest route would be up +Davis Straits, through Hudson's Straits into Fox's Basin, then through +the Fury and Hecla Straits into the Gulf of Boothia, then through the +Bellot Straits and Franklin Straits (past Victorialand and Kemp +Peninsula) and out through the Dolphin and Union Straits into the +Arctic Ocean, and so on round the north coast of Alaska, past Bering's +Straits into Bering Sea and the Pacific. But of course the +accumulations of ice completely block continuous navigation. + +The huge jagged island of BAFFIN'S LAND differs from much of Arctic +America in that it has high land rising into mountains. This is so +completely covered with ice that it is of little interest under +present circumstances to the world of civilization, though the large +herds of musk oxen which it once supported were of much use to Arctic +explorers as a food supply in winter. The coasts are inhabited by a +few thousand Eskimo, and Davis Straits and Baffin's Bay possess a +certain amount of commercial importance owing to the whale fisheries +which are carried on there by the British, the Danes, the Americans, +and the Eskimo. In fact the importance of these whale fisheries have +of late made the Americans of the United States a little inclined to +challenge the British possession of these great Arctic islands. North +Devon, North Somerset, Prince of Wales' Land, Melville Island, Banks +Land, Prince Albert Land, &c. &c, are names of other great Arctic +islands completely within the grip of the ice. The nature of their +interior is almost unknown. They are at present of use to no form of +man unless it be to a few wandering Eskimo, who come to their coasts +in the summer to kill seals. + +The great NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES of the Canadian Dominion extend from +the American frontier of Alaska (which is the 141° of W. long.) to the +Ungava Peninsula, which abuts on Labrador. Where this vast region +slopes to the Arctic Ocean and Hudson's Bay it is rather low and flat, +except between Alaska and the Mackenzie River, and between the +Mackenzie and the watershed of Hudson's Bay. The principal river +system in the far North-West is that of the great Mackenzie River, +which flows into the Arctic Ocean (Beaufort Sea) through an immense +delta, and is one of the longest rivers in the world. The southernmost +sources of the Mackenzie (such as the Peace River and the Athabaska +River) rise in the Rocky Mountains to the east of British Columbia. +These waters are stored for a time in Lake Athabaska, and then under +the name of Slave River flow northwards into the Great Slave Lake, and +out of this, under the name of Mackenzie River, into Beaufort Sea, +through an immense delta. The Great Bear Lake is also a feeder of the +Mackenzie. + +Two other Arctic rivers at one time thought to be of great importance +as means of communication with the Arctic Ocean, are the Great Fish +River, which flows into Elliot Bay, and the Coppermine River, which +enters Coronation Gulf. The other northward-flowing rivers (passing +through innumerable lakes and lakelets) enter Hudson's Bay. + +West of the great Mackenzie River rises the northernmost extension of +the Rocky Mountains. All this easternmost part of Alaska, which is +under British control, is a region of great elevation, something like +parts of Central Asia. The streams which rise here unite in the great +Yukon River, and this has its outlet in Bering's Sea. Some points of +the great mountains within the limits of British territory in this +direction reach to nearly 20,000 feet (Mount Logan). + +But the climate of the northern parts of the Canadian Dominion differs +very greatly in the west as compared to the east. For instance, the +northern parts of Labrador are cruelly Arctic, hopelessly frozen, +though they are in the same latitude as St. Petersburg (the capital of +European Russia) and as the splendidly forested northern parts of +British Columbia. Eastern Labrador is a region in which explorers have +frequently perished from cold and starvation. Although in the lofty +parts of the Yukon country (three hundred and fifty miles north of +treeless Labrador) the winter is intensely cold, and the ground is +frozen for a considerable depth downwards, all the year round, there +are still great forests; and a white and Amerindian population find it +possible to live there all the year round, while animal life is +extremely abundant. On the other hand, a good deal of the territory +between Mackenzie River and Hudson's Bay is almost uninhabitable, +except during the summertime, owing to the depth of the snow and the +bare rocky nature of the ground. + +The treeless area north of Lake Athabaska (the "barren lands" of the +Canadian Dominion) seems to consist of nothing but slabs of rock and +loose stones. Yet this region is far from being without vegetation. +The rock is often covered with a thin or thick sod of lichen +("reindeer moss", in some districts three feet deep) intermixed with +the roots of the wishakapakka herb (_Ledum palustre_, from which +Labrador tea is made), of cranberries, gooseberries, heather (with +white bell flowers), and a dwarf birch. This last, in sheltered places +where a little vegetable soil has been formed, grows into a low +scrubby bush. As to the gooseberries--here and farther south--Hearne +describes them as "thriving best on the stony or rocky ground, open +and much exposed to the sun". They spread along the ground like vines. +The small red fruit is always most plentiful and fine on the under +side of the branches, probably owing to the reflected heat of the +stones. In the bleaker places a hard, black, crumply lichen--the +"Tripe de roche" of the French Canadians (_Gyrophoreus_) grows on the +rocks and stones, and is of great service to the Amerindians, as it +furnishes them with a temporary subsistence when no animal food can be +procured. This lichen, when boiled, turns to a gummy consistence +something like sago. Hearne describes it as being remarkably good when +used to thicken broth; but some other pioneers complained that it made +them and their Indians seriously ill. Another lichen, "reindeer moss" +(_Cladina_), is also eaten by men as well as deer. The _muskegs_, or +bogs and marshes, produce in the summertime a very rapid growth of +grass (as well as breeding swarms of mosquitoes!), and thus furnish +food for the geese and swans which throng them between June and +October. + +In the summertime all these northern territories of Canada--from the +basin of Lake Winnipeg, with its white pelicans, to the Arctic +circle--swarm with birds, wild swans, geese, ducks, plovers, grouse, +cranes, eagles, owls of several kinds--especially the great snowy +eagle-owl--red-breasted thrushes, black and white snow-buntings, +scarlet grosbeaks (the female green and grey), crested jays, and +ravens "of a beautiful glossy black, richly tinged with purple", but +smaller in size than those of Europe. + +This is also the country for bears. Some grizzlies still linger here. +Their range at one time extended to near the Arctic circle. In +Alaska (British as well as United States) there is an enormous +chocolate-coloured bear, the biggest in the world. The Polar bear, +usually creamy white along the seacoast, is stated to range inland +during the summer over the "barren grounds", and to develop either a +permanent local variety or a seasonal change of coat, which is +greyish-brown or blue-grey. + +The black bear in northern Canada is said to give birth at times to +cubs which are cinnamon-brown in colour. + +"In the early summer the black bears swim up and down the northern +rivers with their mouths open, swallowing the immense number of water +insects which have come into being at that season." Hearne goes on to +state that bears which have subsisted on this food for some days, when +cut open emit a stench that is intolerable, and which taints their +flesh to a sickening degree. The insects on which they feed are mostly +of two kinds: one a sort of grasshopper with a hard black skin, and +the other a soft, brown, sluggish fly. "This last is the most +numerous. In some of the lakes such quantities are forced into the +bays when the wind blows hard, that they are pressed together in dead +multitudes and remain a great nuisance. I have several times, in my +inland voyages from York Fort (Hudson's Bay), found it scarcely +possible to land in some of those bays for the intolerable stench of +those insects, which in some places were lying in putrid masses to the +depth of two or three feet." It is more than probable that the bears +occasionally feed on these dead insects. After the middle of July, +when they take to a diet of berries, they are excellent eating, and +continue to be so to the end of the winter. + +The Arctic foxes of this region when young are sooty black all over, +and gradually change to a light ash-grey in colour, with a dark, +almost blue, tint on the head, legs, and back. In winter they usually +become white all over, with or without a black tip to the tail; but it +is recorded by some travellers that not all the foxes of the _Canis +lagopus_ species turn white; some keep their dark-grey colour all the +year round. The common fox (_C. vulpes fulvus_) in Northern Canada is +sometimes black, with white-tipped hairs. Wolves in these far northern +regions do not seem to have been so abundant as farther south. + +The deer tribe are represented (north of the Athabaska region) by the +reindeer and the elk (called by the Canadians "Moose"). The wapiti or +red deer (for which the common Amerindian name in the north was +_Waskesiu_) seldom ranged farther north than the vicinity of Lake +Winnipeg. The reindeer of the "barren ground" sub-species extended to +the Arctic seacoast, and were at one time especially abundant in +Labrador. Here they were so tame, down to a hundred years ago, that +fishermen were often known to shoot many of them from the windows of +their huts near the seashore. This type (_Rangifer tarandus arcticus_) +might possibly be domesticated; not so the larger and much wilder +Caribou woodland reindeer of the more southern and western parts of +the Dominion, which dislikes the neighbourhood of man. The elk or +moose, east of the Rocky Mountains, was not found northward of about +50° to 55°; but west of that range extended over all British Columbia +and Alaska, in which latter country it grows to a giant size and +develops enormous antlers. + +Hearne says of the elk in northern Canada: "In summer, when they +frequent the margins of rivers and lakes, they are often killed by the +Indians in the water while they are crossing rivers or swimming from +the mainland to islands, &c. When pursued in this manner, they are +the most inoffensive of all animals, never making any resistance; and +the young ones are so simple that I remember to have seen an Indian +paddle his canoe up to one of them and take it by the poll without the +least opposition; the poor, harmless animal seeming at the same time +as contented alongside the canoe as if swimming by the side of its +dam, and looking up in our faces with the same fearless innocence that +a house lamb would; making use of its fore foot almost every instant +to clear its eyes of mosquitoes, which at that time were remarkably +numerous.... The moose are also the easiest to tame and domesticate of +any of the deer kind. I have repeatedly seen them at Churchill as tame +as sheep, and even more so; for they would follow their keeper any +distance from home, and at his call return with him without the least +trouble, or ever offering to deviate from the path." + +The most northern range of the elk would seem to be the region round +Lake Athabaska. + +The musk ox (_Ovibos_) is perhaps the most remarkable beast of Arctic +Canada.[3] Samuel Hearne is my principal source for the following +notes as to its habits and appearance: The number of bulls is very few +in proportion to the cows, for it is rare to see more than two or +three full-grown bulls with the largest herd; and from the number of +the males that are found dead, the Indians are of opinion that they +kill each other in contending for the females. In the rutting season +they are so jealous of the cows that they run at either man or beast +who offers to approach them, and have been observed to run and bellow +even at ravens and other large birds which chanced to alight near +them. They delight in the most stony and mountainous parts of the +"barren ground", but are seldom found at any great distance from the +woods. Though they are a beast of great magnitude, and apparently of a +very unwieldy inactive structure, yet they climb the rocks with ease +and agility, and are nearly as surefooted as a goat. Like it, too, +they will feed on anything; and though they seem fondest of grass, yet +in winter, when grass cannot be had in sufficient quantity, they will +eat moss or any other herbage they can find, as also the tops of +willows and the tender branches of the pine tree. + +[Footnote 3: The musk ox, which is not an ox, but a creature about +midway in structure and affinities between cattle on the one hand and +sheep and goats on the other, is a large beast comparatively, being +the size of a small ox, but appearing very much larger than it is on +account of the extremely thick coat of hair and wool. Both sexes have +horns, and the horns, after meeting in the middle and making more or +less of a boss over the forehead, droop down at the sides of the +cheeks and then turn up with sharp points. The musk ox once ranged +right across the northern world, from England and Scandinavia, through +Germany, Russia, and Siberia, to Alaska and North America. Many +thousands of years ago, during one of the Glacial periods, it +inhabited southern England. At the present day it is extinct +everywhere, excepting in the eastern parts of Arctic America, not +going west of the Mackenzie River nor south of Labrador. It is also +found in Greenland.] + +"The musk ox, when full grown, is as large as the generality of +English black cattle; but their legs, though thick, are not so long, +nor is their tail longer than that of a bear; and, like the tail of +that animal, it always bends downward and inward, so that it is +entirely hid by the long hair of the rump and hind quarters. The hunch +on their shoulders is not large, being little more in proportion than +that of a deer. Their hair is in some parts very long, particularly on +the belly, sides, and hind quarters; but the longest hair about them, +particularly the bulls, is under the throat, extending from the chin +to the lower part of the chest between the fore legs. It there hangs +down like a horse's mane inverted, and is fully as long, which gives +the animal a most formidable appearance. It is of the hair from this +part that the Eskimo make their mosquito wigs (face screens or masks). +In winter the musk oxen are provided with a thick fine wool or fur +that grows at the root of the long hair, and shields them from the +intense cold to which they are exposed during that season; but as the +summer advances this fur loosens from the skin, and by frequently +rolling themselves on the ground it works out to the end of the hair, +and in time drops off, leaving little for their summer clothing except +the long hair. This season is so short in these high latitudes, that +the new fleece begins to appear almost as soon as the old one drops +off, so that by the time the cold becomes severe they are again +provided with a winter dress." + +According to Hearne, the flesh of the musk ox does not resemble that +of the bison, but is more like the meat of the moose or wapiti. The +fat is of a clear white, "slightly tinged with a light azure". The +calves and young heifers are good eating, but the flesh of the bulls +both smells and tastes so strongly of musk as to be very disagreeable; +"even the knife that cuts the flesh of an old bull will smell so +strongly of musk that nothing but scouring the blade quite bright can +remove it, and the handle will retain the scent for a long time". + +Bisons of the "wood" variety are (or were) found far up the heights of +the Rocky Mountains and in the regions south-west of the Great Slave +Lake. These "wood buffaloes" delight in mountain valleys, and never +resort to the plains. And higher than anything, of course, range the +great white mountain goat-antelopes (_Oreamnus montanus_) from +northern Alaska to the Columbia River. + +The north and the north-west were, of course, pre-eminently the great +fur-trading regions, though all parts of the vast Dominion have at one +time or another yielded furs for commerce with the white man. The +principal fur-bearing smaller mammals of the north and north-west were +wolves, foxes, lynxes, gluttons (wolverene), otters, martens (sables) +and black fishing martens, mink (a kind of polecat), ermine-stoats, +weasels, polar hares (_Lepus timidus_), beavers, musquash, lemming, +gopher or pouched ground-squirrels, and the common red squirrel of +North America. The grey squirrel and striped chipmunk are only found +in southern Canada. + +The musquash (_Fiber zibethicus_) is such a characteristic animal of +northern Canada that it is worth while to give Hearne's description of +it (I would mention it is really a huge _vole_, and no relation of the +beaver):-- + +"The musk rat or musquash builds a dwelling near the banks of ponds or +swamps to shelter it from the bitter cold of the winter, but never on +land, always on the ice, as soon as it is firm enough, taking care to +keep a hole open to admit it to dive for its food, which chiefly +consists of the roots of grass or arums. It sometimes happens in very +cold winters that the holes communicating with their dwellings under +the water are so blocked by ice that they cannot break through them. +When this is the case, and they have no provisions left in the house, +they begin to eat one another. At last there may be only one rat left +out of a whole lodge. They occasionally eat fish, but in general feed +very cleanly, and when fat are good eating. They are easily tamed and +soon grow fond of their owner. They are very cleanly and playful, and +'smell exceedingly pleasant of musk', but their resemblance to the rat +is so great that few are partial to them, though of course they are +much larger in size, and have webbed hind feet and a flat scaly tail. +In Canadian regions farther south the musquash no longer builds on the +ice, but in swamps, where it raises heaps of mud like islands in the +surrounding water. On the top of these mounds they build their nests, +and on the top of the musquash nest, or 'lodge', wild geese frequently +lay their eggs and bring forth their young brood without any fear of +being molested by foxes." + +The YUKON territories of the Dominion, and above all the State of +BRITISH COLUMBIA, constitute a very distinct region from the rest of +British North America, not only in their tribes of Amerindians but in +their fauna, flora, and climate. British Columbia is one of the most +beautiful and richly endowed countries in the world. Here, in spite +of northern latitudes, the warm airs coming up from the Pacific Ocean +act somewhat in the same way as the Gulf Stream on north-west Europe, +and favour the growth of magnificent forests. + +All this north-western part of British Columbia is very mountainous, +and the rocks are rich in minerals, especially gold in the Fraser and +Columbia Rivers, far north in the upper valley of the Yukon, and +copper and coal in Vancouver Island. + +The rainfall in British Columbia is considerable, and the +flora--trees, plants, ferns--richer than anywhere else in North +America, with many resemblances to the trees and plants of Japan and +northern China. In British Columbia more than in any other part of the +world are found the noblest developments of the pines, firs, and +junipers (_Coniferæ_). + +The coast rivers swarm with salmon, and perhaps because of the +abundance of sea fish close in shore there have been developed in the +course of ages those remarkable aquatic mammals, the sea lions or fur +seals (_Otaria_), whose relationship to the true seals is a very +distant one. On the Alaskan coasts and islands is _Otaria ursina_, the +creature which provides the sealskin fur of commerce. There is also +the much larger sea lion (_Otaria stelleri_), on the coasts of British +Columbia and Vancouver Island. Alexander Henry, jun., gives some +interesting facts about this remarkable beast. + +"The natives at Oak Point, during the time Mr. Keith was there, killed +five very large sea lions by spearing them at night. Two canoes being +lashed together, they approach very softly, and throw their spears, +which are fastened by a long, strong cord, with a barb so fixed in a +socket that, when it strikes the animal and pierces the flesh, it is +detached from the shaft of the spear, but remains fastened to the +cord. This is instantly made fast between the canoes; the animal +dives and swims down river, dragging the canoes with such velocity +that they may be in danger of filling, and require great skill in +steering. In this manner they are carried down some miles before the +animal becomes exhausted with loss of blood, makes for the shore, and +lies on the beach, where they dispatch it and cut it up. The price of +a sea lion among the natives is one slave and an assortment of other +articles. Mr. Keith bought the flesh of one of these animals, and we +had some roasted; it resembles bear's meat. The hair is like that of a +horse, in summer of a chestnut colour. The natives, and also the +Russians, are particularly fond of marine animals, such as whales, +&c.; they drink the oil like milk." + +Another notable water beast of the British Columbia coast was the sea +otter (_Enhydris_), described on p. 305. Such an immense value was set +on its fur that it is now nearly extinct within British limits. + +The huge chocolate-coloured bear of the Yukon valley has already been +mentioned; also the very large, blackish-brown wild dog (_Canis +pambasileus_), which from one or two passages in the writings of +Canadian pioneers may also be found as far south as the British +Columbian Rocky Mountains. In the Yukon country the elk (which was +formerly very common in British Columbia) grows to gigantic +proportions with longer and larger antlers than elsewhere. In the +forested mountains of British Columbia (as well as farther north) are +the wood bison, the white mountain goat, grizzly bears, black bears, +two kinds of lynx, the wapiti red deer, and the large bighorn sheep. + +These (_Ovis montana_) sheep are of a grey or leaden colour; the rump +and the inner side of the legs are white; the hoofs black, about one +inch long. "The hair is rather soft, and at the roots is mixed with +exceedingly fine white wool, which seems to grow only in certain +patches. The neck is relatively much thicker than that of other +animals of the same size; the legs and hoofs are also strongly built, +like the neck." The horns of the female are comparatively small, +flat, and have only a small bend backward; they are of a +dirty-yellowish white, marked with closely connected annulations to +the very tip. The legs are brown, as are also the ends of the hairs +about the neck; the hoofs are black. "A ewe will weigh about 100 lb. +when in full flesh, with only the entrails taken out. The head bears +every resemblance to that of our European sheep." The colour of the +males is nearly the same as that of the females, only rather browner; +they are much larger and more strongly built, with a pair of enormous +horns, which incline backward. As they grow they bend downward, and in +the course of time form a complete curve and project forward. At the +root the horns are nearly three inches square, the flat sides +opposite; they are marked with closely connected ridges and end in a +tapering flat point. + +When the horns grow to a great length, forming a complete curve, the +tips project on both sides of the head so as to prevent the ram from +feeding. This, with their great weight, causes the sheep to dwindle to +a mere skeleton and die. The bighorn sheep feed much in the caverns of +the Rocky Mountains, eating a kind of moss and grass growing on the +floors of these caves, and also a peculiar soft, sweet-tasting "clay", +of which the natives also are fond. + +The southern part of British Columbia contains the mule deer of +western North America (_Mazama macrotis_), and a very strange rodent, +the sewellel or mountain beaver (_Haplodon_), a creature distantly +allied to squirrels, marmots, and beavers, but restricted in its +distribution to a few parts of California, Oregon, and British +Columbia. Amongst the birds noteworthy in the landscape are the +white-headed sea eagles and Californian condors (_Pseudogryphus +californianus_). Humming-birds range through British Columbia and +Vancouver Island between mid-April and October. + +In the regions about the upper Kootenay River (Eastern British +Columbia), before the railway was constructed, there were wild horses, +descended, no doubt, from those which had escaped from the Spaniards +in New Mexico and California. They went in large herds, and in the +winter when the snow was deep the natives would try to catch them by +running them down with relays of fresh horses, or driving them up the +mountains into the deepest snow or some narrow pass. A noose would +then be thrown about the exhausted animal, which would be instantly +mounted by an Indian and broken immediately to the saddle. Some of +these wild horses were exceedingly swift, well-proportioned, and +handsome in shape, but they seldom proved as docile as those born in +captivity. When in a wild condition they would snort so loudly through +the nostrils on descrying an enemy that they could be heard at a +distance of five hundred yards. + +The provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba--the MIDDLE +WEST--represent mainly the great prairie region of the Canadian +Dominion. Nearly all the streams here flow from the eastern side of +the Rocky Mountains and direct their course to the basin of Lake +Winnipeg and to Hudson's Bay. A few turn south-west to the Missouri +and Mississippi. The landscapes here remind one more of the middle +part of the United States. The climate is severe in winter but very +warm and dry in summer. In the extreme south, within the basin of the +upper Missouri, the "prickly pear" (_Opuntia_) cactus grows in +sheltered places, and suggests affinities with distant Colorado and +California. + +These great plains and river courses of the middle West were, until +about fifty years ago, one of the world's great natural parks or +zoological gardens. Large numbers of wapiti deer, of the smaller +Virginian deer,[4] and of the prongbuck "antelope"[5] thronged the +grassy flats, and elk browsed on the foliage of the thickets along the +river banks. Grizzly bears and black bears,[6] large grey wolves, the +small coyote wolf, the pretty little kit fox and large red fox preyed +on these herbivores, as did also pumas and lynxes. Marmots and prairie +hares (_Lepus campestris_)--often called rabbits by the pioneers, who +also named the marmots "wood-chucks"--frolicked in the herbage, and +formed the principal prey of the numerous rattlesnakes. By the shores +of streams and lakes stood rows of stately cranes: the whooping crane, +of large size, pure white, with black quill feathers, the crown of the +head crimson scarlet and the long legs black; and the purple-brown +crane, somewhat smaller in size. On hot, calm days in the region of +Lake Winnipeg the cranes soar to an amazing height, flying in circles, +till by degrees they are almost out of sight. Yet their loud note +sounds so distinct and near that the spectator might fancy they were +close to him. + +[Footnote 4: _Mazama americana_, similar to, but quite distinct from, +the larger mule deer of British Columbia.] + +[Footnote 5: The prongbuck (_Antilocapra americana_) is not a true +antelope, though in outward appearance it resembles a large gazelle. +It was called "cabri" by the French Canadians.] + +[Footnote 6: "Bears make prodigious ravages in the brush and willows; +the plum trees, and every tree that bears fruit share the same fate. +The tops of the oaks are also very roughly handled, broken, and torn +down, to get the acorns. The havoc they commit is astonishing...." +--Alex. Henry, jun.] + +The air at this season is full of great birds--eagles, buzzards, +hawks, and falcons--soaring in circles to look out for prey among the +flocks of wild swans, white geese, bernicle geese and brent geese, +duck and teal, which cover the backwaters and the marshes and shallow +lagoons. Turkey buzzards, coming up from the south, act as scavengers +during the summer months. Immense flocks of passenger pigeons, +buntings, grosbeaks, attack the ripening fruits and the wild rice of +the swamps. Grouse in uncountable numbers inhabit the drier tablelands +and open moors.[7] + +[Footnote 7: Nowhere in the world are there so many kinds of grouse as +in North America. In the more northern regions are several species of +ptarmigan or snow partridges (_Lagopus_), which turn white in winter, +and the spruce partridges (_Canachites_); in the more genial climate +of the great plains of eastern Canada and in the Far West the ruffled +grouse and hazel grouse (_Bonasa_), the sage cocks (_Centrocercus_), +the prairie hens (_Tympanuchus_), and the blue or pine grouse +(_Dendrapagus_). + +"To snare grouse requires no other process than making a few little +hedges across a creek, or a few short hedges projecting at right +angles from the side of an island of willows, which those birds are +found to frequent. Several openings must be left in each hedge, to +admit the birds to pass through, and in each of them a snare must be +set; so that when the grouse are hopping along the edge of the willows +to feed, which is their usual custom, some of them soon get into the +snares, where they are confined till they are taken out. I have caught +from three to ten grouse in a day by this simple contrivance, which +requires no further attendance than going round them night and +morning" (Hearne).] + +[Illustration: INDIANS LYING IN WAIT FOR MOOSE] + +But--a hundred years ago and more--the dominant features in the +fauna of the Middle West was the bison. Between the Athabaska and +Saskatchewan Rivers on the north, the Rocky Mountains on the west, and +Lake Superior on the east the bison passed backwards and forwards over +the great plains and prairies in millions, when white explorers first +penetrated these lands. They moved in herds which concealed the ground +from sight for miles. Here are some word pictures selected from the +writings of the pioneers between 1770 and 1810: + +"The buffaloes chiefly delight in wide open plains, which in those +parts produce very long coarse grass, or rather a kind of small flags +and rushes, upon which they feed; but when pursued they always take to +the woods. They are of such an amazing strength, that when they fly +through the woods from a pursuer, they frequently brush down trees as +thick as a man's arm; and be the snow ever so deep, such is their +strength and agility, that they are enabled to plunge through it +faster than the swiftest Indian can run in snowshoes. To this I have +been an eyewitness many times, and once had the vanity to think that I +could have kept pace with them; but though I was at that time +celebrated for being particularly fleet of foot in snowshoes, I soon +found that I was no match for the buffaloes, notwithstanding they were +then plunging through such deep snow, that their bellies made a +trench in it as large as if many sacks had been hauled through it. Of +all the large beasts in those parts the buffalo is easiest to kill, +and the moose are the most difficult; neither are the (red) deer very +easy to come at, except in windy weather: indeed it requires much +practice and a great deal of patience to slay any of them, as they +will by no means suffer a direct approach, unless the hunter be +entirely sheltered by woods or willows. + +"The flesh of the buffalo is exceedingly good eating, and so entirely +free from any disagreeable smell or taste, that it resembles beef as +nearly as possible." + +"The spots of wood along the Park River are ravaged by buffaloes +(bison); none but the large trees are standing, the bark of which is +rubbed perfectly smooth, and heaps of hair and wool lie at the bottom +of the trees ... and even the grass is not permitted to grow.... The +ground is trampled more by these cattle than about the gate of a +farmyard." + +"The Kris informed me they had seen a calf as white as snow in a herd +of buffalo. White buffalo are very scarce. They are of inestimable +value among the nations of the Missouri.... There were also some of a +dirty-grey colour, but these are very rare." + +"I brought home two buffalo calves alive; they no sooner lost sight of +the herd than they followed my horse like dogs, directly into the +fort. On chasing a herd at this season the calves follow it until they +are fatigued, when they throw themselves down in high grass and lie +still, hiding their heads if possible. But seeing only a man and his +horse they remain quiet and allow themselves to be taken. Having been +a little handled, they follow like dogs." + +In the spring, when the ice melted, innumerable buffaloes were killed +through attempting to cross the rivers on the melting ice. They would +drift by an observer (such as Alexander Henry, jun.) in entire herds +of drowned corpses. Vast numbers perished. They formed one continuous +line on the current for two days and two nights. + +"By this time the river was crowded with them, swimming across, +bellowing and grunting terribly. The bulls really looked fierce; all +had their tails up, and each appeared eager to land first. The scene +would have struck terror to one unaccustomed to such innumerable +herds. From out in the plains, as far as the eye could reach, to the +middle of the river, they were rushing toward us, and soon began to +land about ten yards off. I shot one dead on the spot, my ball having +broken his neck; my hunter and guide only wounded theirs. This +discharge suddenly halted those on the south side, and turned those +that were still in the water." + +In the autumn:--"Plains burned in every direction and blind buffalo +seen every moment wandering about. The poor beasts have all the hair +singed off; even the skin in many places is shrivelled up and terribly +burned, and their eyes are swollen and closed fast. It was really +pitiful to see them staggering about, sometimes running afoul of a +large stone, at other times tumbling down hill and falling into creeks +not yet frozen over. In one spot we found a whole herd lying dead." + +Throughout British North America, from the Yukon to Newfoundland, and +from Labrador to Vancouver's Island, the rivers and freshwater lakes +swarm with fish, and fish that in most cases is exceedingly good to +eat. Salmon are most strikingly abundant in the rivers of British +Columbia and Newfoundland, but they also ascend most of the rivers +flowing into the Atlantic and Hudson's Bay. In the great lakes of +Canada and of the middle west there are trout and white fish +(_Coregonus_), pike, bass, chub, barbel, and five species of sturgeon. +In the rivers and lakes of the far north-west is found the blackfish +(_Dallia_). + +Hearne writes of Lake Athabasca that it swarms with fish, such as +pike, trout, perch, barbel, and other kinds not easily identified. +Apparently there is also a form of gar-pike found here (see p. 74); +this is described as having scales of a very large and stiff kind, and +being a beautiful bright silver in colour. The size of these gar-pike +range from two feet to four feet in length. Their flesh was delicately +white and soft, but so foul and rank in taste that even the Indians +would not eat it. The trout in Lake Athabaska seem to have been +enormous, weighing from 35 to 40 pounds, while pike were of about the +same weight. + +The Amerindian tribes and the early European explorers lived mainly on +fish, which was a palatable and easily obtained food. Yet it must be +admitted that they had a splendid array of large and small game from +which to take their toll. + +Nor was the whole Dominion, from west to east and up to the Arctic +zone, wanting in wild vegetable produce fit for man's consumption. The +sugar maple (_Acer saccharinum_) and its ally the _Negundo_ maple +provided a delicious syrup; the bark of certain poplars and the bast +of the sugar pine were chewed for their well-flavoured sweetness; the +wild rice of the marshes will be further described in the next +chapter. The wild fruits included delicious strawberries, cherries, +gooseberries, currants, black currants, grapes (in the south only), +blackberries of many kinds, whortleberries, cranberries, pears of the +service tree (_Pyrus canadensis_[8]), and raspberries of various +types--red, yellow, and black. Southern Canada and Nova Scotia +contained various nut trees of the walnut order (hickories, +butter-nuts, &c.), and hazel nuts were found everywhere except in the +north. + +[Footnote 8: Sometimes called _Amelanchier canadensis_.] + +We have left undescribed what is still politically the most important +part of the whole of British North America--UPPER and LOWER CANADA. +These regions lie within the basin of the great St. Lawrence River, +beyond all doubt the most important waterway of North America, more +important even than the Mississippi. The main origin of the St. +Lawrence in the west is Lake Superior, the largest sea of fresh water +in the world, which is connected with Lake Nipigon on the north. The +waters of Lake Superior are carried over the Sault Ste. Marie rapids +into Lake Huron and find a huge backwater in Lake Michigan.[9] Out of +Lake Huron again they flow past Detroit into Lake Erie. From Duluth, +at the westernmost extremity of Lake Superior, to Buffalo, on the +easternmost point of Lake Erie, including all Lake Michigan and Lake +Huron, with its bays and channels, a steamer can pass with just the +one difficulty (easily surmounted) of the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie +between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. But after you have left Lake +Erie on the east you find yourself in the Niagara River, which at the +Niagara Falls plunges several hundred feet downwards into Lake +Ontario. From Lake Ontario to the sea along the St. Lawrence there is +uninterrupted navigation, though there are rapids that require careful +steering both with steamers and boats. Quebec marks the place where +the St. Lawrence River suddenly broadens from a river into a tidal +gulf of brackish or salt water. Ocean steamers from all over the world +can come (except during the height of the winter, when the water +freezes) to Quebec. But for the ice in wintertime Quebec would be +_the_ great sea-port of eastern Canada. + +[Footnote 9: The south shore of Lake Superior, the whole of Lake +Michigan, the west shore of Lake Huron, and the south coasts of Lake +Erie and Lake Ontario are within the territories of the United +States.] + +"If pitiless rock is commonly understood by an 'iron-bound shore', +then the coasts of the River St. Lawrence along the northern side of +the Gulf may truly be so styled, as nothing scarcely is to be seen +for hundreds of leagues but bare rocky mountains, capes and cliffs in +various shapes and figures, some of which are dotted with a few spruce +firs, while others present their bald pates deprived of covering by +the unmerciful hand of time." (James M'Kenzie). + +The winters of the Quebec province are extremely cold, but the summer +and autumn are warm and sunny. The best winter climate, possibly, in +all Canada (though not as good as that of Vancouver Island, British +Columbia) is to be found in the small peninsula region, on the shores +of Lakes Erie and Huron, between Toronto and Detroit. This is the +district which the Jesuit missionaries described as "an earthly +paradise" even during the winter-time. + +The following extracts, mostly from the journals of Alex. Henry, jun., +give a good idea of the difference in climate and temperature between +the western and the central parts of the Canadian Dominion. + +The late spring of northern Canada (Lake Nipigon, 50° N. lat.):--About +May 15, the tops of the poplars begin to appear green, with fresh +buds; the hills are changing their hue from a dry straw colour to a +delightful verdure, and fragrant odours greet us. + +"Early in March, 1800, in the Assiniboin country (Manitoba, about 29° +N. lat.) the snow was entirely gone, for this winter had been an +abnormally mild one for central Canada. The birds soon realized the +openness of the season, for, on the 7th of March, turkey-buzzards +began to arrive from the south, and cormorants, ducks, swans, and +other spring birds; indeed, by the 24th of March not only had the snow +quite melted, but the meadows had grown so dry with the hot sun that +some accidents set them on fire. By April the 11th the weather had +become excessively hot, and immense flocks of the traveller-pigeon +(_Ectopistes_) flew northwards over the country." + +In somewhat similar latitudes (50°) the spring bursts on the Pacific +coast region of British Columbia towards the end of February. "The +tall raspberry bushes were in blossom with a beautiful red flower, +which appeared more forward than the leaf (_Rubus spectabilis_). The +elder had sprouts an inch long, the alder was also beginning to +sprout, and willows were budding." + +Although nowhere in Upper and Lower Canada (or in the maritime +provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) are the forests so +splendid as in parts of British Columbia, yet nevertheless when this +region was first discovered the magnificence of its woodlands greatly +impressed even the explorers of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries, who were not as much given to praise of landscape beauty as +are we of later times. These Canadian forests include oaks, elms, +pines and firs, chestnuts and beeches, birch trees and sycamores, +maples and poplars, willows, alders, and hazelnuts (these last +sometimes growing into tall trees with thick trunks). The trees and +low-growing plants are partly like those of the north-eastern United +States, and partly resemble those of northern and central Europe. + +Nowadays, owing to two centuries of incessant killing, the beasts and +birds of Upper and Lower Canada are not nearly so abundant as they +were a hundred years ago. When Canada proper was first discovered, the +wapiti red deer was still found in the basin of the St. Lawrence; it +has long since been extinct. There are, however, still lingering, +reindeer in the north, and elk in the forests of the east. There are +also Virginian deer (_Mazama_), but there is no bison (and, so far as +we know, never has been). There is no prongbuck, and many other +creatures characteristic of the United States and British Columbia are +not found in Upper and Lower Canada or in the maritime provinces. The +tree porcupine (_Erethizon dorsatus_), which the Canadians call +"Urson", or "Little Bear" is found still in the well-wooded regions +of eastern and southern Canada, as well as in British Columbia and +Alaska. In southern Canada there is the wood hare (_Lepus +sylvaticus_), and in the east and north the varying hare (_L. +americanus_) which turns white in winter. + +Perhaps the most characteristic animal of this region was and is still +the beaver, though the beaver is found all over British North America +as far north as the Saskatchewan province and westwards into British +Columbia. + +It is curious that the Indians of central Canada had a belief +(recorded by French and English pioneers) that occasionally in the +dusk, or at night, they have seen an enormously large beaver in the +water, so large that at first sight they have taken it for a moose. +Travellers who have related this have surmised that the Indian perhaps +saw a bear swimming, or a female moose, and in the dim light mistook +it for a giant beaver. But as we know that there were once giant +beavers (_Trogontherium_) as large as a bear, existing in England, it +is just possible there may have been a gigantic type of beaver +lingering in Canada before the opening up of the country by Europeans. + +The beaver of North America is a very similar animal to the beaver +which used to exist wild in Wales, England, France, Germany, and +central Europe, and which still lingers in some parts of the Rhine +valley, Poland, Russia, and Siberia; but the American form is +classified as a separate species--_Castor canadensis_. + +Beavers were sometimes exterminated or diminished in numbers by an +epidemic disease, which, according to JAMES TANNER[10], destroyed vast +quantities of them. + +[Footnote 10: A remarkable eighteenth-century pioneer who joined the +Indians when a boy and lived as one of them.] + +"I found them dead or dying in the water, on the ice, and on the land; +sometimes I found one that, having cut a tree half down, had died at +its roots; sometimes one who had drawn a stick of timber halfway to +his lodge was lying dead by his burthen. Many of them which I opened +were red and bloody about the heart. Those in large rivers and running +water suffered less; almost all of those that lived in ponds and +stagnant water, died. Since that year the beaver have never been so +plentiful in the country of Red River and Hudson's Bay as they used +formerly to be." + +The great attraction which Canada offered to France and England as a +field of adventure lay in its wonderful supply of furs. The beaver +skins were perhaps the commonest article of export, and were generally +regarded as a unit of value, such as a shilling might be. Other skins +were valued at "so many beavers," or the smaller ones at half or a +quarter of a beaver each. Besides beaver skins, which were used for +making hats, as well as capes and coats, the following furs and skins +were formerly, or are still, exported from Canada. "Buffalo" +robes--the carefully rubbed-down hides of the bison, rendered, by +shaving and rubbing, so thin and supple that they could be easily +folded; reindeer and musk-ox skins treated in the same way; marten or +sable skins; mink (a kind of polecat); ermine (the white winter dress +of the stoat); the fishing marten, or pekan; otter skins; black bear +and white polar bear skins; raccoon, muskwash, squirrel, suslik, and +marmot skins, and the soft white fur of the polar hare; the white +skins of the Arctic fox, the skins of the blue fox, black fox, and red +fox;[11] wolf skins, and the furs of the wolverene or glutton, and of +the skunk--a handsome black-and-white creature of the weasel family, +which emits a most disgusting smell from a gland in its body. (The +skunk only comes from the south-central parts of the Canadian +Dominion). At one time a good many swans' skins were exported for the +sake of the down between the feathers, also the skins of grebes. + +[Footnote 11: The blue fox is the Arctic fox (_Canis lagopus_) in its +summer dress; the black fox is a beautiful variety or sub-species of +the common fox (_C. vulpes_); so also is the red or "cross" fox. There +is also common throughout the Canadian Dominion the pretty little kit +fox (_Canis velox_).] + + * * * * * + +A general fact that must not be forgotten in studying the adventures +of the pioneers of Canada was the means which Nature and savage man +had provided or invented for quickly traversing in all directions this +enormous area of nearly half North America. These means consisted (1) +of the distribution of salt and fresh water in such a way that by +means of ocean-sailing ships explorers coming from the east could +enter through straits and bays of the sea into the heart of Canada; +and (2) the facility, on quitting the seashore, of passing up +navigable rivers in boats or canoes into big lakes, and from these +lakes into other rivers leading to other lakes. Moreover, the +different river systems approached so closely to one another that even +the Amerindians and the Eskimo, long before the white man, had +realized that they had only to pick up their light canoes and carry +them a few miles, to launch them on fresh waters which might provide +hundreds or even thousands of miles of continuous travel. These are +the celebrated "portages" of Canadian history, from the French word +_porter_, to carry, transport. Sometimes the portages were made still +easier for loaded canoes by a road being cleared through the scrub and +over the rocks, and wooden rollers placed across it. Strong men could +then easily haul a loaded canoe over these wooden rollers until it +could be launched again in the water. Often these portages were made +to circumvent dangerous rapids or waterfalls. The Indians and the +French Canadians soon learnt how to steer canoes down rushes of +water--rapids--which we should think very dangerous on an English +river; but of course many of the rivers were obstructed at intervals +by descents of water which no canoe could traverse up or down, and in +these cases a path was cut from one smooth part of the river to +another, and the canoe carried or hauled overland. + +In this way the great French and British explorers found it possible +to travel by water from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean across a +width of land of something like 2500 miles. The only serious walking +that had to be done was the crossing somewhere or other of the Rocky +Mountains, where the streams, of course, were far too precipitate in +descent to be navigable. In the hot, dusty plains of Assiniboia and +the upper Missouri region the Amerindians had introduced horses, +obtained indirectly from Spanish Mexico, and these were of great +service to the white pioneers, especially in their pursuit of the +bison. + +So much for the summer season, when the rivers were full and +overflowing, and the ground consisted of bare rock, sand, or soil +covered with vegetation; the abundance of navigable streams and the +suitability of the country to horses rendered very little walking +necessary for those who wished to traverse the Canadian Dominion from +end to end. + +But the winter changed these conditions, the rivers became coated with +thick ice, and the ground was covered, except in steep places, with an +unvarying mantle of snow. Yet transport became just as easy as in the +summertime, though perhaps a trifle more fatiguing. Men and women put +on snowshoes shaped like tennis rackets, and flew over the hard snow +quicker than a canoe could travel, dragging after them small sledges +on which their luggage was packed; or, if they had not much luggage, +carrying it slung round the shoulders and scurrying away on their +snowshoes even swifter for the weight they carried; or they travelled +over the smooth ice of the rivers and lakes. + +Winter travellers, however, were sometimes troubled with a disorder +known as the snowshoe evil. This arose from the placing of an unusual +strain on the tendons of the leg, occasioned by the weight of the +snowshoe. It often resulted in severe inflammation of the lower leg. +The local remedy was a drastic one: it was to place a piece of lighted +touchwood on the most inflamed part, and to leave it there till the +flesh was burnt to the nerve! + +In the north and the regions round Hudson's Bay, and also in the far +west--British Columbia and Alaska--there were dogs, more or less of +the Eskimo breed, trained by Eskimo or by Amerindians to drag the +sledges. In the months of December and January it is true that the +daylight in Arctic Canada (north of Lake Athapaska) became so short +that the sun at its greatest altitude only appeared for two or three +hours a short distance above the horizon. But there were +compensations. The brilliancy of the Aurora Borealis, even without the +assistance of the moon and the stars, made some amends for that +deficiency, for it was frequently so light all night that travellers +could see to read a very small print (Samuel Hearne). The importance +of these "Northern lights" must not be overlooked in forming an +opinion on the habitability of the far north in the "dark" winter +months. The display was frequent and brilliant. + +The Athapaskan Indians called this phenomenon _Edthin_, that is to +say, "reindeer". When the Aurora Borealis was particularly bright in +the sky they would say that deer were plentiful in that part of the +heavens. Their fancy in this respect was not quite so silly as one +might think. They had learnt from experience that the Aurora Borealis +was in some way connected with electricity, and experience had equally +shown them that the skin of the reindeer, if briskly stroked by the +hand on a dark night, would emit as many electric sparks as the back +of a cat. On the other hand, the Amerindians in the southern and more +temperate regions thought the Aurora Borealis was a vast concourse of +"spirits of the happy day" dancing in the clouds. + +Thus there were no climatic reasons why, both in summer and in winter, +immense distances should not be quickly covered in Canada between the +Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. This is how a mere hundred of +white pioneers opened up Canada to the knowledge of the civilized +world far quicker than the same area could have been discovered in +Africa or Asia. Sometimes, for about a month, between the melting of +the snow and ice and the steady flowing of the rivers in the late +spring, or between the uncertain autumn of November and the confirmed +winter of December, there might be an interval of a few weeks in which +journeys had to be made on foot under conditions of great hardship, +through mud, swamp, and over sharp stones or slippery rocks. + +"The plains are covered with water from the melting of the snow so +suddenly, and our men suffer much, as they are continually on the +march, looking after Indians in every creek and little river. The +water is commonly knee deep, in some places up to the middle, and in +the morning is usually covered with ice, which makes it tedious and +even dangerous travelling. Some of our men lose the use of their legs +while still in the prime of life", wrote one eighteenth-century +pioneer, in the Canadian spring. + +Severe as were the winter conditions of climate, the explorers were +just as willing to travel through the winter as the summer, because in +the winter they were spared the awful plague of mosquitoes and midges +which still renders summer and early-autumn travel throughout the +whole of Canada, from the United States borders on the south to the +Arctic Ocean on the north, a severe trial, and even an unbearable +degree of physical suffering. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Amerindians and Eskimo: the Aborigines of British North America + + +I have already attempted to describe in the first chapter the ancient +peopling of America from north-eastern Asia, but it might be useful if +I gave here some description of the Eskimo and Amerindian tribes of +the Canadian Dominion at the time of its gradual discovery by +Europeans, especially during the great explorations of the eighteenth +and early nineteenth centuries. + +It is evident that the ESKIMO--who are quite distinct from the +Amerindians in physical type, language, customs, and industries--have +been for thousands of years the only inhabitants of Arctic America. +When the Norsemen came to the New World they seem to have met with +Eskimo as far south as New England, but in more recent times the +Eskimo have only been found inhabiting the extreme north and +north-east: in Greenland, on the Labrador coast, on Baffin's Land, and +along the Arctic coast of the North-American continent, between the +Coppermine River and the westernmost extremity of Alaska, as well as +on the opposite islands and promontories of Asia. + +Their name for themselves as a people is usually "Innuit" (in +Greenland, "Karalit"). Eskimo is a corruption of _Eskimantsik_, a +northern Algonkin word meaning "eaters of raw flesh". Although their +geographical range extends over a distance of about three thousand +five hundred miles--from north-easternmost Asia to the east coast of +Greenland--the difference in their dialects is little more than that +between French and Italian; whereas the difference between the speech +of one Amerindian tribe and another--even where they belong to the +same language group--is very great--not less than that between German +and Latin, or English and French, or even between Russian and +Hindustani. This fact--of the widespread Eskimo language--makes some +authorities suppose that the presence of the Eskimo in Arctic America +cannot be such a very ancient event as, from other evidence, one might +believe. Perhaps the bold travelling habits of the Eskimo--which makes +them range over vast distances of ice and snow when hunting seals, +walruses, whales, musk ox, or reindeer--enables them to keep in touch +with their far-away relations. + +The canoes or _kayaks_ in which they travel (first described by the +Norsemen in the tenth century) are made out of the hide of the seal or +walrus. The leather is stretched over a framework constructed from +driftwood or whales' bones. There is a hole in the middle for the man +or woman to insert their legs. This hole they fill up with their +bodies. If the canoe capsizes, the Eskimo cannot fall out, but bobs up +immediately. He and the canoe are really "one-and-indivisible" when he +is navigating the seas and lakes, plying deftly a large paddle. + +In regard to food they were certainly not particular or squeamish. +They loved best of all whales' blubber, or to drink the fishy-tasting +oil from bodies of whales, seals, or walruses. Besides the meat of +Polar bears and of any fur animals they could catch, or the musky beef +of the musk ox, they devoured eagerly sea birds' eggs, Iceland moss, +and even the parasitic insects of their own heads and bodies! Hearne +relates that they will eat with a relish whole handfuls of maggots +that have been produced in meat by the eggs of the bluebottle fly! On +the other hand, they held cannibalism in horror, whereas for two-two's +their Amerindian neighbours on the west and south would eat human +flesh without repugnance. + +The Eskimo, though occasionally tall, are as a rule stumpy and +thickset, with very small hands and feet, broad faces, and projecting +cheekbones, a narrow nose without the aquiline bridge of the +Amerindian, slanting narrow eyes, and long heads containing large +well-developed brains. In disposition the Eskimo are nearly always +merry, affectionate to one another, honest, and modest. Modern +travellers in the Arctic regions give them invariably a high +character; but Frobisher, Davis, and the explorers of the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries accused them of treachery and an inclination +to steal. Iron in any shape or form they could hardly resist taking. +Moreover, if they are the same people as the Skraellings of the Norse +traditions they must have been of a fiercer disposition a thousand +years ago. + +The Amerindians who inhabited (more or less) the rest of the Canadian +Dominion, and the whole remainder of the New World, differed in +physical appearance from the Eskimo mainly in being taller and better +proportioned, with shorter and rounder heads, larger, fuller eyes, a +bigger nose, and a handsomer personal appearance. The skin colour, as +a rule, was darker and browner than the greyish- or pinkish-yellow of +the Eskimo. + +The various human types that went to form the Amerindian race (beside +the Eskimo element in them) seem to have entered north-west America +from Asia, and first to have peopled the Pacific slopes of the Rocky +Mountains, after which they wandered farther and farther south till +they got into a warmer climate. Then they crossed the Rocky Mountains +and peopled the centre and east of what is now the United States. As +they pushed their way north up the valleys of the great rivers, they +no doubt killed, mingled with, or pushed back the Eskimo. At last +their northernmost extensions reached to the Mackenzie River, the +vicinity of Hudson's Bay, Labrador, and Newfoundland. But in all the +middle, west, and even east of Canada they seem to have been +_relatively recent arrivals_,[1] not to have inhabited the country for +a great many centuries before the white man came, and all their +recorded and legendary movements in North America have been from the +south-west towards the north-east (after they had got across the Rocky +Mountains). The few cultivated plants they had, such as maize (Indian +corn), tobacco, and pumpkins, they brought with them or received from +the south. + +[Footnote 1: There may have been an earlier race inhabiting north-east +America which was killed out or driven away by the last Glacial +period.] + +The only domestic animal possessed by either Eskimo or Amerindian was +the dog. We are most of us by now familiar with the type of the Eskimo +dog--a large, wolf-like animal with prick ears and a bushy tail curled +over its back. In this carriage of the tail the Eskimo and most other +true dogs differ from wolves, with whom the tail droops between the +hind quarters. But there is a small wild American wolf--the +coyote--which carries its tail more upright, like that of the true +dog; and the coyote seems indeed an intermediate form between the wolf +and the original wild dog. Most of the domestic dogs of the +Amerindians[2] (as distinguished from those of the Eskimo) seem to +have been derived from the coyote or small wolf of central North +America. + +[Footnote 2: "The dogs of the Northern Indians are of various sizes +and colours, but all of them have a foxy or wolf-like appearance, +sharp noses, bushy tails, and sharp ears standing erect." (Samuel +Hearne). + +Hearne also remarks that the northern Indians had a superstitious +reverence and liking for the wolf. They would frequently go to the +mouth of the burrows where the female wolves lived with their young, +take out the puppies and play with them, and even paint the faces of +the young wolves with vermilion or red ochre. + +When first observed by Europeans the unhappy Beothiks (of +Newfoundland) had apparently no domestic dogs, only "tame wolves", +whom they distinguished from the wild wolves by marking their ears. +They were made more angry by the European seamen attacking and killing +the wolves than by anything else they did. Apparently some kind of +alliance had been struck up between the Beothiks--a nation of +hunters--and the wolf packs which followed in their tracks; and the +Newfoundland wolves were on the way to becoming domesticated "dogs". +Later on it was realized that the island _did_ produce a special +breed--the celebrated Newfoundland dog--the original type of which was +much smaller than the modern type, nearly or entirely black in colour, +with a sharper muzzle and less pendulous ears. But its feet were as +strongly webbed and its habits as aquatic as those of the +"Newfoundland" of the modern breed. Some people have noticed the +resemblance between the farmers' dogs in Norway and the Newfoundland +type, and have thought that the latter may not be altogether of wolf +extraction, but be descended from the dogs brought from Norway and +Iceland by the Norse adventurers who visited Newfoundland in the tenth +and eleventh centuries.] + +On the Pacific coast there were other types of domestic dog, +resembling greatly breeds that are found in eastern Asia and the +Pacific islands. Some of these were naked, and others grew silky hair, +which was woven by the natives into cloth (see p. 323). The Eskimo dog +almost certainly has been derived from northern Asia, and is closely +related to the well-known Chinese breed--the chow dog--and the +domestic breeds of ancient Europe. Even the commonest type of house +dog in the Roman Empire was very much like an Eskimo or a chow in +appearance. There is a true wild dog, however, in the Yukon province +of the Canadian Dominion and in Alaska--_Canis pambasileus_--a dark, +blackish-brown in colour. This may have been a parent of the Eskimo +dog, but it is also doubtless closely allied to the original (extinct) +wild dog of northern Asia, from which the chow and many other breeds +are directly descended. The Eskimo never under ordinary circumstances +ate their dogs; on the other hand, the Amerindians were fond of dog's +flesh, and in some tribes simply bred dogs for the table. + +When Europeans first reached America all these Amerindian tribes, and +also the Eskimo, were still, for all practical purposes, in the Stone +Age. Those who lived in the north had discovered the use of copper and +had shaped for themselves knives and spear blades out of copper, but +not even this metal was in use to any great extent, and for the most +part they relied, down to the end of the eighteenth century, for their +implements and weapons, on polished and sharpened stones, on deer's +antlers, buffalo horns, sticks, sharp shells, beavers' incisor +teeth,[3] the claws or spines of crustaceans, flints, and suchlike +substances--in short, they were leading the same life and using almost +exactly the same tools as the long-since-vanished hunter races of +Europe of five thousand to one hundred thousand years ago--the people +who pursued the mammoth, the bison, the Irish "elk", and the other +great beasts of prehistoric Europe. Indeed, North America represented +to some extent, as late as a hundred years ago, what Europe must have +looked like in the days of palæolithic Man. + +[Footnote 3: Of which they made very serviceable chisels.] + + * * * * * + +The AMERINDIANS of the Canadian Dominion (when the country first +became known to Europeans) belonged to the following groups and +tribes. The order of enumeration begins in the east and proceeds +westwards. I have already mentioned the peculiar _Beothiks_ of +Newfoundland.[4] In Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, +and the Gaspé Peninsula there were the _Mikmak_ Indians belonging to +the widespread ALGONKIN family or stock. West and south of the +Mikmaks, in New Brunswick and along the borders of New England, were +other tribes of the Algonkin group: the Etchemins, Abenakis, +Tarratines, Penobscots, _Mohikans_, and Adirondacks. North of these, +in the eastern part of the Quebec province, on either side of the Gulf +of St. Lawrence, were the _Montagnais_. This name, though it looks +like a French word meaning "mountaineers", was also spellt Montagnet, +and in various other ways, showing that it was originally a native +name, pronounced Montanyé. The Montagnais in various clans extended +northwards across Labrador until they touched the Eskimo, with whom +they constantly fought. The interior of Labrador was inhabited by +another Algonkin tribe, the _Naskwapi_, living in a state of rude +savagery. The _Algonkins_ proper, whose tribe gave their name to the +whole stock because the French first became acquainted with them as a +type, dwelt in the vicinity of Montreal, Lake Ontario, and the valley +of the St. Lawrence. In upper Canada, about the great lakes and the +St. Lawrence valley, were the Chippeways, or _Ojibwés_, and the +Ottawas. West and north of Lake Michigan were the Miamis, the +Potawátomis, and the Fox Indians (the Saks or Sawkis). Between Lake +Winnipeg and Lake Superior were the _Cheyennes_ (Shians); between +North and South Saskatchewan, the _Blackfeet_ or Siksika Indians +(sections of which were also called Bloods, Paigans, Piegans, &c). +North of Lake Winnipeg, as far as Lake Athabaska, and almost from the +Rocky Mountains to the shores of Hudson's Bay, were the widespread +tribe of the _Kris_, or _Knistino_.[5] The Gros Ventres or Big +Bellies--properly called _Atsina_--inhabited the southern part of the +middle west, between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri basins; and the +Monsoni or Maskegon were found in eastern Rupert Land. + +[Footnote 4: See also pp. 156, 164, 186, and 199. In this list I have +put in italics the names of the tribes more important in history, and +in capitals the principal group names.] + +[Footnote 5: Kinistino, Kiristineaux, Kilistino; called "Crees" or +"Kris" for short.] + +All the above-enumerated tribes, except the Beothik indigenes of +Newfoundland, belong to the great and widespread ALGONKIN group. +(Algonkin is a word derived from the "Algommequin" of Champlain.) In +the valley of the St. Lawrence the French first encountered those +Indians whom they called _Huron_. This was a French word meaning +"crested", because these people wore their hair in a great crest over +the top and back of the head, which reminded the French of the +appearance of a wild boar (_Hure_). The real name of the Hurons, who +dwelt at a later date between Lakes Huron, Erie, Ontario, and the +neighbourhood of Montreal, was _Waiandot_ (Wyandot); but they went +under a variety of other names, according to the clans, such as the +Eries and the Atiwándoran or Neutral Nation. They were also called the +"Good" Iroquois, to distinguish them from the six other nations, the +IROQUOIS proper of the French Canadians, who signalized themselves by +fiendish and frightful warfare against the French and the various +tribes of Algonkin Indians. The Hurons and the rest of the six tribes +grouped under the name of IROQUOIS[6] were of the same stock +originally, forming a separate group like that of the Algonkins, +though they are supposed to be related distantly to the Dakota or +Siou. Amongst the "Six Nations" or tribes banded together in warfare +and policy were the celebrated "Mohawks" who dwelt on the southern +borders of the St. Lawrence basin and near Lake Champlain. As the +others of the six nations (including the Senekas and Onondagas) +inhabited the eastern United States, well outside the limits of +Canada, they need not be referred to here. + +[Footnote 6: "Iroquois" was a name invented by Champlain (see p. 69). +Apparently this confederation called themselves _Hodenosauni_. The +termination "ois" in all French-American names is pronounced +"wa"--Irokwá.] + +Between the South Saskatchewan, the Rocky Mountains, and Lake +Superior, nearly outside the limits of the Canadian Dominion, was the +great DAKOTA, or Siou group,[7] divided into the distinct tribe of +_Assiniboin_ or "Stone" Indians (because they used hot stones in +cooking), the "Crows" or Absaroka, the Hidatsa or Minitari (also +called Big Bellies, like the quite distinct Atsina of the Algonkin +family), the Menómini (the most north-eastern amongst the Siouan +tribes, and the first met with by the British and French Canadians +south-west of Lake Superior), the Winnebagos on the southern borders +of Manitoba, the Yanktons or Yanktonnais, the "_Santi Siou_" +proper--generally calling themselves _Dakota_ or Mdewakanton--and the +"Tétons" along the northern Dakota frontier and into the Rocky +Mountains--also known as _Blackfeet_, Sans Arcs ("without bows"), +"Two-kettles", "Brulés" or "Burnt" Indians, &c. + +[Footnote 7: The far-famed term _Siou_ is said to have been an +abbreviation of one of the original French names for this type of +Amerindian, _Nadouessiou_. In early books they are often called the +Nadouessies.] + +Next must be mentioned the very important and widespread ATHAPASKAN or +Déné (Tinné) group, named after Lake Athapaska (or Athabaska), because +that sheet of water became a great rallying place for these northern +tribes. The Athapaskan group of Indians indeed represents the +"Northern Indians" of the Hudson's Bay Company's reports and +explorers. They drew a great distinction between the Northern Indians +(the Athapaskan tribes) and the Southern Indians, which included all +the other Amerindian groups dwelling to the south of the Athapaskan +domain. But although nowadays so much associated with the far north +and north-west of America, the Athabaskan group evidently came from a +region much farther south, and has been cut in half by other tribal +movements, wars, and migrations; for the Athapaskan family also +includes the Apaches and the Navaho of the south-western portions of +the United States and the adjoining territories of Mexico. The +northern and southern divisions of the Athapaskan group are separated +by something like twelve hundred miles. The following are the +principal tribes into which the Northern ATHAPASKAN group was divided +at the time of the first explorations of the north-west. There were +the _Chippewayan_ Indians[8] round about Lake Athapaska, and the +Caribou Eaters or Ethen-eldeli between Lake Athapaska and Reindeer +Lake. The "_Slaves_", or Slave Indians of the Great Slave Lake and the +upper Mackenzie River; the Beaver and Sarsi Indians (known also as the +Tsékehn), about the Peace River and the northern part of Alberta +province; and the _Yellow Knives_, or Totsan-ottine (so called from +their being found with light-coloured copper knives when first +discovered by Europeans), north-east of the Great Slave Lake and along +the Coppermine River: the _Dogribs_ between the Great Slave Lake and +Great Bear Lake, perhaps (except in Alaska) the most northern +extension of the Amerindian type towards the Arctic regions. West of +the Dogribs dwelt--and still dwell--the interesting tribe of _Hare_ +Indians, or Kawcho-Tinné. They extend northwards to the Anderson +River, on the verge of the Arctic Ocean. West of the lower Mackenzie +River, and stretching thence to the Porcupine or Yukon Rivers, are the +Squinting Indians ("Loucheux", or Kuchin), who in former times were +met with much farther to the south-east than at the present day. +Finally, there are the Nahani Indians, who have penetrated through the +Rocky Mountains to the Stikine River, reaching thus quite close to the +Pacific Ocean. This penetration northwards of groups of Athapaskan +Indians into districts inhabited for the most part by Amerindian +tribes differing widely in language and customs from all those _east_ +of the Rocky Mountains, explains the way in which stories of the great +western sea--the Pacific--reached, by means of trading intercourse, +those Amerindian tribes of the middle-west and upper Canada, and so +stirred up the French and English explorers of the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries to make the marvellous journeys which are +recounted in this book. + +[Footnote 8: These northern Indians are described by Hearne as having +very low foreheads, small eyes, high cheekbones, Roman noses, broad +cheeks, and long, broad chins. Their skins were soft, smooth and +polished, somewhat copper-coloured, and inclining towards a dingy +brown. The hair of the head was black, strong, and straight. They were +not in general above middle size, though well proportioned.] + +_West_ of the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia and Vancouver +Island (besides southern Alaska), the Amerindian tribes form the +N[¯u]tka-Columbian group, which is markedly distinct from the +Amerindians _east_ of the Rocky Mountains, from whom they differ +_widely_ in language, type, and culture. They are divided into quite a +large number of small separate groups--the Wakashan or _N[¯u]tkas_ of +Vancouver Island and south-western British Columbia, the Shahaptian or +"Nez percés" Indians of the Columbia basin, and the Chin[¯u]ks of +the lower Columbia River, the _Salishan_ or "Flathead" group +(including the Atn[¯a]s) of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers and central +British Columbia; and the _Haida_ Indians of Queen Charlotte's Islands +and the north-west coast of British Columbia. It must be remembered +that these different groups are only based on the relationships of +their component tribes in language or dialect, and do not always imply +that the tribes belonging to them had the same customs and +dispositions; but they were generally able to communicate with one +another in speech, whereas if they met the Indians of another group +the language might be so totally different that they could only +communicate by means of signs. + +[Illustration: AN AMERINDIAN TYPE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA] + +Sign and gesture language[9] was extraordinarily developed amongst all +the Amerindian races from the Arctic Ocean to the Antarctic. Not only +that, but they were quick to understand the purpose of pictures. They +could draw maps in the sand to explain the geography of their country, +and Europeans could often make them understand what they required by +rough drawings. They themselves related many events by means of a +picture language--the beginning of hieroglyphics; and in the +south-eastern parts of Canada, as in the United States, these signs or +pictographs were recorded in bead-shell work--the celebrated "wampum". + +[Footnote 9: "It is surprising how dexterous all these natives of the +plains are in communicating their ideas by signs. They hold +conferences for several hours, upon different subjects, during the +whole of which time not a single word is pronounced upon either side, +and still they appear to comprehend each other perfectly well. This +mode of communication is natural to them; their gestures are made with +the greatest ease, and they never seem to be at a loss for a sign to +express their meaning" (Alex. Henry the Younger, 1800). But it should +also be noted that during the last hundred years the peoples belonging +to the N[¯u]tka-Columbian group have developed a trade language which +they use in common. This is a mixture of Chin[¯u]k, English, French, +Chinese, and Hawaaian.] + +All these tribes, of course, varied very much in personal appearance, +though not in disposition. The vanished Beothiks of Newfoundland are +described as having been a good-looking tall people, with large black +eyes and a skin so light, when washed free from dirt or paint, that +the Portuguese compared them to gipsies; and the writer of Fabian's +_Chronicle_, who saw two of them (brought back by Cabot) at Henry +VII's Court, in 1499, took them for Englishmen when they were dressed +in English clothes. It was these people--subsequently killed out by +the British settlers on Newfoundland--who originated the term "Red +Indians", or, in French, _Peaux Rouges_, because their skins, like +those of so many other Amerindians, were painted with red ochre. + +Many of the British Columbian peoples made themselves artificially +ugly by flattening the sides of the head. To press the skull whilst it +was soft, they squeezed the heads of their children between boards; +others, such as the warlike tribes of the upper Missouri, had a +passion for submitting themselves to mutilation by the medicine man of +the clan, in order to please the sun god. Such would submit to large +strips being cut from the flesh of their shoulders, arms, or legs, or +having their cheeks slashed. The result, of course, was to leave their +limbs and features horribly scarred when they healed up. In some +tribes, however, a young man could not obtain--or retain--a wife +unless he had shown his bravery by submitting to this mutilation. +Women often cut off one or more joints of their fingers to show their +grief for the death of children. + +In some tribes, especially of the far north-west and of the Rocky +Mountains, the personal habits of men and women, or of the women only, +were so filthy, and their dislike to bathing so pronounced, that they +became objects of loathing to white men; in other tribes personal +cleanliness was highly esteemed, especially on the seacoast of British +Columbia or along the banks of the great rivers. Usually the men were +better looking and better developed than the women--for one reason, +because they were better fed. + +Here is a description by PETER GRANT--a pioneer of the North-West +Company--of the Ojibwé Indians dwelling near the east end of Lake +Superior at the beginning of the nineteenth century:-- + +"Their complexion is a whitish cast of copper colour, their hair +black, long, straight, and of a very strong texture. The young men +allow several locks of the hair to fall down over the face, ornamented +with ribbons, silver brooches, &c. They gather up another lock from +behind the head into a small clump, and wrap it up with very thin +plates of silver, in which they fix the tail feathers of the eagle or +any other favourite bird with the wearing of which they have +distinguished themselves in war. They are very careful with their +hair, anointing it with bears' oil, which gives it a smooth and glossy +appearance. The teeth are of a beautiful ivory white, the cheeks +rather high and prominent, the eyes black and lively. Their +countenances are generally pleasant, and they might often be called +handsome. The ears are pierced in infancy, and the lobe is extended to +an unnatural size by suspending lead or any other heavy metal from the +outer rim, which in time brings them down near the shoulder. The nose +ornaments hang down half an inch, and nearly touch the upper lip. + +"The men are bold, manly, and graceful in their gait, always carrying +their bodies erect and easy. On the other hand, the women, by walking +with the toes of their feet turned inwards, have a disagreeable and +lame appearance. The men are specially fond of painting their faces +and bodies with vermilion, white and blue clay, charcoal or soot mixed +with a little grease or water. With this colour they daub the body, +legs, and thighs in bars and patches, and take the greatest pains +about painting the face, usually with red and black. Their skins are +generally tattooed with figures representing the sun, stars, eagles, +serpents, &c, especially objects which have appeared to them in their +dreams. The women's faces are much less painted, usually a spot of red +on each cheek and a circle of red round the roots of the hair or +eyes." + +Here is a summary of what Alexander Henry, sen., wrote of the _Kri_ or +_Knistino_ Indians of Lake Athabaska about 1770:-- + +"The men in general tattoo their bodies and arms very much. The women +confine this ornamentation to the chin, having three perpendicular +lines from the middle of the chin to the lip, and one or more running +on each side, nearly parallel with the corner of the mouth. Their +dress consists of leather; that of the men is a pair of leggings, +reaching up to the hip and fastened to the girdle. Between the legs is +passed a strip of woollen stuff, but when this cannot be procured they +use a piece of dressed leather about nine inches broad and four feet +long, whose ends are drawn through the girdle and hang down before and +behind about a foot.... The shirt is of soft dressed leather, either +from the prong-buck or young red deer, close about the neck and +hanging to the middle of the thigh; the sleeves are of the same, loose +and open under the arms to the elbows, but thence to the wrist sewed +tight. The cap is commonly a piece of leather, or skin with the hair +on, shaped to fit the head, and tied under the chin; the top is +usually decorated with feathers or other ornament. Shoes are made of +buffalo (bison) hide, dressed in the hair, and mittens of the same. +Over the whole a buffalo robe is thrown, which serves as covering day +and night. + +"Such is their common dress, but on particular occasions they appear +to greater advantage, having their cap, shirt, leggings, and shoes +perfectly clean and white, trimmed with porcupine quills and other +ingenious work of their women, who are supposed to be the most skilful +hands in the country at decorations of this kind. The women's dress +consists of the same materials as the men's. Their leggings do not +reach above the knee, and are gathered below that joint; their shoes +always lack decoration. The shift or body garment reaches down to the +calf, where it is generally fringed and trimmed with quillwork; the +upper part is fastened over the shoulders by strips of leather; a flap +or cape hangs down about a foot before and behind, and is ornamented +with quillwork and fringe. This covering is quite loose, but tied +around the waist with a belt of stiff parchment fastened on the side, +where also some ornaments are suspended. The sleeves are detached from +the body garment; from the wrist to the elbow they are sewed, but +thence to the shoulder they are open underneath and drawn up to the +neck, where they are fastened across the breast and back. + +"Their ornaments are two or three coils of brass wire twisted around +the rim of each ear, in which incisions are made for that purpose; +blue beads, brass rings, quillwork, and fringe occasionally answer. +Vermilion (a red clay) is much used by the women to paint the face. + +"Their hair is generally parted on the crown and fastened behind each +ear in large knots, from which are suspended bunches of blue beads or +other ingenious work of their own. The men adjust their hair in +various forms; some have it parted on top and tied in a tail on each +side, while others make one long _queue_ which hangs down behind, and +around which is twisted a strip of otter skin or dressed buffalo +entrails. This tail is frequently increased in thickness and length by +adding false hair, but others allow it to flow loose naturally. Combs +are seldom used by the men, and they never smear the hair with grease, +but red earth is sometimes put upon it. White earth daubed over the +hair generally denotes mourning. The young men sometimes have a bunch +of hair on the crown, about the size of a small teacup, and nearly in +the shape of that vessel upside down, to which they fasten various +ornaments of feathers, quillwork, ermine tails, &c. Red and white +earth and charcoal are much used in their toilets; with the former +they usually daub their robes and other garments, some red and others +white. The women comb their hair and use grease on it." + +The Slave Indians (a tribe of the Athapaskan family) tattooed their +cheeks with charcoal inserted under the skin, also daubed their +bodies, robes, and garments profusely with red earth (generally +called, in the text of travellers, vermilion), but they had another +favourite pigment, procured from the regions on the west of the Rocky +Mountains, some kind of graphite, like the lead of lead pencils. With +this they marked their faces in black lead after red earth has been +applied, and thus gave themselves a ghastly and savage appearance. +Their dress consists of a leather shirt trimmed with human hair and +porcupine-quill work, and leggings of leather. Their shoes and caps +were made of bison leather, with the hair outside. Their necklaces +were strings of grizzly-bear claws, and a "buffalo" robe was thrown +over all occasionally. Some of them occasionally had quite light +skins--when free of dirt or paint--and grey eyes, and their hair, +instead of being black, was greyish-brown. These last features (grey +eyes and brown hair) characterized many individuals among the northern +British-Columbian tribes. + +The Naskwapis of inland Labrador--allied in speech to the Kris and the +Montagnais, but in blood to the Eskimo--are described as above the +middle size in height, slender, and long-legged, their cheeks being +very prominent, eyes black, nose rather flat, mouth large, lips thick, +teeth white, hair rough and black, and the complexion a yellowish +"frog" colour. They were dressed in elaborate and warm garments made +of reindeer skin. The ordinary covering for the head of the men was +the skin of a bear's head. "Thus accoutred, with the addition of a +bow and quiver, a stone axe, and a bone knife, a Naskwapi man +possessed no small degree of pride and self-importance" (James +M'Kenzie). + +The handsomest tribes of Amerindians encountered by the Canadian +pioneers seem to have been the Ojibwés of Lake Superior, the Iroquois +south of the St. Lawrence, and the Mandans of the upper Missouri. + +Until well on in the nineteenth century none of the Canadian +Amerindians were particular about wearing clothes if the weather was +hot. The men, especially, were either quite oblivious of what was +seemly in clothing (except perhaps the Iroquois) or thought it +necessary to go naked into battle, or to remove all clothing before +taking part in religious ceremonies. + +It is commonly supposed that the Red Man was a rather glum person, +seldom seen to smile and averse to showing any emotion. That is not +the impression one derives from the many pen portraits of Amerindians +in the journals of the great pioneers. Here, on the contrary, you see +the natives laughing, smiling, kissing eagerly their wives and +children after an absence, displaying exuberant and cordial friendship +towards the white man who treated them well, having love quarrels and +fits of raging jealousy, moods of deep remorse after a fight, touching +devotion to their comrades or chiefs, and above all to their children. +They are most emotional, indeed, and, apart from this chapter you will +find frequent descriptions of how they wept at times over the +remembrance of their dead relations and friends. + +Hearne remarked, in 1772, that when two parties of Athapaska Indians +met, the ceremonies which passed between them were very formal. They +would advance within twenty or thirty yards of each other, make a full +halt, and then sit or lie down on the ground, not speaking for some +minutes. At length one of them, generally an elderly man, broke +silence by acquainting the other party with every misfortune that had +befallen him and his companions from the last time they had seen or +heard of each other, including all deaths and other calamities which +had happened to any other Indians during the same period. When he +finished, another orator, belonging to the other party, related in +like manner all the bad news that had come to _his_ knowledge. If +these orations contained any news that in the least affected either +party, it would not be long before some of them began to sigh and sob, +and soon after to break out into a loud cry, which was generally +accompanied by most of the grown persons of both sexes; and sometimes +it was common to hear them all--men, women, and children--joining in +one universal howl. When the first transports of grief had subsided, +they advanced by degrees, and both parties mixed with each other, the +men with the men, the women with the women. They then passed round +tobacco pipes very freely, and the conversation became general. They +had now nothing but good news left to tell, and in less than half an +hour probably nothing but smiles and cheerfulness would be seen on +every face. + +One direction in which the Amerindians did not shine was in their +treatment of women. This perhaps was worse than in other uncivilized +races. Woman was very badly used, except perhaps for the first year of +courtship and marriage. Courtship began by the young man throwing +sticks at the girl[10] who pleased his fancy, and if she responded he +asked her in marriage. But not long after she had become a mother she +sank into the position of a household drudge and beast of burden. For +example, amongst the Beaver Indians, an Athapaskan tribe of the far +north-west, it is related by Alexander Mackenzie that the women are +permanently crippled and injured in physique by the hardships they +have to undergo. "Having few dogs for transport in that country, the +women alone perform that labour which is allotted to beasts of burden +in other countries. It is not uncommon whilst the men carry nothing +but a gun, that their wives and daughters follow with such weighty +burdens that if they lay them down they cannot replace them; nor will +the men deign to perform the service of hoisting them on to their +backs. So that during their journeys they are frequently obliged to +lean against a tree for a small degree of temporary relief. When they +arrive at the place which their tyrants have chosen for their +encampment, they arrange the tent in a few minutes by forming a curve +of poles meeting at the top and expanding into a circle of twelve or +fifteen feet in diameter at the bottom, covered with dressed skins of +the moose sewn together. During these preparations the men sit down +quietly to the enjoyment of their pipes, if they happen to have any +tobacco." + +[Footnote 10: The manner of courtship among the Ojibwés seemed to +Peter Grant not only singular, but rude. "The lover begins his first +addresses by gently pelting his mistress with bits of clay, snowballs, +small sticks, or anything he may happen to have in his hand. If she +returns the compliment, he is encouraged to continue the farce, and +repeat it for a considerable time, after which more direct proposals +of marriage are made by word of mouth."] + +Among the Ojibwé and Huron Indians of the Great Lakes the men +sometimes obliged their wives to bring up and nourish young bears +instead of their own children, so that the bears might eventually be +fattened for eating. If food was scarce, the women went without before +even the male slaves of the tribe were unprovided with food. Women +might never eat in the society of males, not even if these males were +slaves or prisoners of war. If food was very scarce, the husband as +likely as not killed and ate a wife; perhaps did this before slaying +and eating a valuable dog. (On the other hand, Mackenzie instances the +case of a woman among the Slave Indians who, in a winter of great +scarcity, managed to kill and devour her husband and several +relations.) So terrible was the ill-treatment of the women in some +tribes that these wretched beings sometimes committed suicide to end +their tortures. Even in this, however, they were not let off lightly, +for the Siou men invented as a tenet of their religion the saying that +"Women who hang themselves are the most miserable of all wretches in +the other world". + +On the other hand, the kind treatment of children by fathers as well +as mothers is an "Indian" trait commented on by writer after writer. +Here is a typical description by Alexander Henry the Elder, concerning +the children of the Ojibwé tribe: + +"As soon as the boys begin to run about, they are provided with bows +and arrows, and acquire, as it were 'by instinct', an astonishing +dexterity in shooting birds, squirrels, butterflies, &c. Hunting in +miniature may be justly said to comprise the whole of their education +and childish diversion. Such as excel in this kind of exercise are +sure of being particularly distinguished by their parents, and seldom +punished for any misbehaviour, but, on the contrary, indulged in every +degree of excess and caprice. I have often seen grown-up boys of this +description, when punished for some serious fault, strike their father +and spit in his face, calling him 'bad dog', or 'old woman', and, +sometimes, carrying their insolence so far as to threaten to stab or +shoot him, and, what is rather singular, these too-indulgent parents +seem to encourage such unnatural liberties, and even glory in such +conduct from their favourite children. I heard them boast of having +sons who promised at an early age to inherit such bold and independent +sentiments.... Children of nine or ten years of age not only enjoy +the confidence of the men, but are generally considered as companions +and very deliberately join in their conversations." + +When death overtook anybody the grief of the female relations was +carried to great excess. They not only cut their hair, cried and +howled, but they would sometimes, with the utmost deliberation, +employ some sharp instrument to separate the nail from the finger and +then force back the flesh beyond the first joint, which they +immediately amputated. "Many of the old women have so often repeated +this ceremony that they have not a complete finger remaining on either +hand" (Mackenzie). + +[Illustration: CARIBOU SWIMMING A RIVER] + +The Amerindians of North America were religious and superstitious, and +had a firm faith in a world of spiritual agencies within or outside +the material world around us. Most of them believed in the existence +of "fairies",--woodland, earth, mountain, or water spirits--whom they +declared they could see from time to time in human semblance. Or such +spirit or demi-god might assume for a time or permanently the form of +an animal. To all such spirits of earth, air, and water, or to the +sacred animals they inhabited, sacrifices would be offered and prayers +made. Great importance was attributed to dreams and visions. They +accustomed themselves to make long fasts, so that they might become +light-headed and see visions, or hear spirit voices in a trance. To +prepare their minds for this state they would go four or five days +without food, and even abstain from drinking. + +Undoubtedly their "medicine men" developed great mesmeric powers, and +this force, combined with rather clumsy juggling and ventriloquism, +enabled them to perform a semblance of "miracles". The Iroquois +offered much opposition to Christianity, thinking it would tame their +warriors too quickly and affect their national independence; but by +the greater part of the Amerindians the message of the Gospel brought +by the French priests was eagerly received, and the converts became +many and most sincere. Their reverence for the missionaries and belief +in them was increased when they saw how effectually they were able to +protect them from too-rapacious white adventurers, fierce soldiers, +and unscrupulous traders. + +The Miamis of Lake Michigan held the symbol of the cross in great +respect. A young Frenchman who was trading with them got into a +passion and drew his sword to avenge himself for a theft committed on +his goods. The Miama chieftain, to appease him, showed him the cross, +which was planted in the ground at the end of his lodge, and said to +him: "Behold the tree of the Black Gown; he teaches us to pray and not +to lose our temper,"--of course, referring to the missionary in the +black gown who had been amongst them. Before the cross was planted +here these Miamis kept in their houses one or more bogies, to which +they appealed in times of distress or sickness. One of these was the +skull of the bison with its horns. Another was the skin of the bear +raised on a pole in the middle of the hut and retaining the head, +which was usually painted green. The women sometimes died of terror +from the stories told them by the men about these idols, and the +Jesuits did a great deal of good by getting them abolished in many +places. + +The Supreme Being of the Eskimos was a goddess rather than a god: a +mother of all things who lived under the sea. On the other hand, most +of the Amerindian tribes believed in one great God of the Sky--Manito, +as He was called by the peoples of Algonkin stock, Nainubushan by the +Siou and their kindred. This Being was usually kindly disposed towards +man; but they also (in most cases) believed in a _bad_ Manito, who was +responsible for most of the harm in the world. But sometimes the Great +Manito was capricious, or apparently made many mistakes which he had +afterwards to rectify. Thus the Siou tribes of Assiniboia believed +that the Supreme Being (whom they called Eth-tom-é) first created +mankind and all living things, and then, through some oversight or +mistake, caused a great flood to cover the earth's surface. So in a +hurry he was obliged to make a very large canoe of twigs and +branches, and into this he put a pair of every kind of bird and beast, +besides a family of human beings, who were thus saved from drowning, +and began the world afresh when the waters subsided. This legend was +something like the story of Noah's ark, but seems in some form or +another to have existed in the mind of all the North-American peoples +before the arrival of Christian missionaries. Much the same story was +told by the Ojibwés about the Great Hare-God, Nainiboju. + +The Siou and the Ojibwé (and other tribes also) believed that after +death the soul lay for a time in a trance, and then found itself +floating towards a River which must be crossed. Beyond the River lay +the Happy Hunting Grounds, the Elysian fields; but to oppose the weary +soul anxious to reach this paradise there ramped on the other side a +huge, flaming-red bison bull, if it had been ordained by the Great +Spirit that the soul's time was not yet come, this red bison pushed it +back, and the soul was obliged to re-enter the body, which then awoke +from its trance or swoon and resumed its worldly activities. + +Suicide was regarded as the most heinous of crimes. Any man killing +himself deliberately, fell into the river of the ghost world and was +never heard of again, while women who hanged themselves "were regarded +as the most miserable of all wretches in the other world". + +Their belief in spirits--even ancestral spirits--taking up an abode in +the bodies of beasts, birds, or reptiles, or even in plants or stones, +caused them to view with respect of a superstitious kind many natural +objects. Some one thing--a beast, bird, reptile, fish, plant, or +strange stone had been fixed on as the abode of his tutelary spirit by +some father of a family. The family grew into a clan, and the clan to +a tribe, and the object sacred in the eyes of its father and founder +became its "totem", crest, or symbol. As a rule, whatever thing was +the _totem_ of the individual or the clan was held sacred in their +eyes, and, if it was an animal, was not killed, or, if killed, not +eaten. Many of the northern Indians would refrain from killing the +wolf or the glutton, or if they did so, or did it by accident, they +would refuse to skin the animal. The elder people amongst the +Athapaskan Indians, in Hearne's day, would reprove the young folk for +"speaking disrespectfully" of different beasts and birds. + +Their ideas of medicine and surgery were much mixed up with a belief +in magic and in the mysterious powers of their "medicine men". This +person, who might be of either sex, certainly knew a few simple +medicines to be made from herbs or decoctions of bark, but for the +most part he attempted to cure the sick or injured by blowing lustily +on the part affected or, more wisely, by massage. A universal cure, +however, for all fevers and mild ailments was sweating. Sweating huts +were built in nearly every settlement. They were covered over in a way +to exclude air as much as possible. The inside was heated with red-hot +stones and glowing embers, on to which from time to time water was +poured to fill the place with steam. The Amerindians not only went +through these Turkish baths to cure small ailments but also with the +idea of clearing the intelligence and as a fitting preliminary to +negotiations--for peace, or alliance, or even for courtship. In many +tribes if a young "brave" arrived with proposals of marriage for a +man's daughter he was invited to enter the sweating house with her +father, and discuss the bargain calmly over perspiration and the +tobacco pipe. + +Tobacco smoking indeed was almost a religious ceremony, as well as a +remedy for certain maladies or states of mind. The "pipe of peace" has +become proverbial. Nevertheless tobacco was still unknown in the +eighteenth century to many of the Pacific-coast and far-north-west +tribes, as to the primitive Eskimo. It was not a very old practice in +the Canadian Dominion when Europeans first arrived there, though it +appeared to be one of the most characteristic actions of these +red-skinned savages in the astonished eyes of the first pioneers. They +used pipes for smoking, however, long before tobacco came among them, +certain berries taking the place of tobacco. + +The Amerindians of the southern parts of Canada and British Columbia +were more or less settled peoples of towns or villages, of fixed homes +to which they returned at all seasons of the year, however far afield +they might range for warfare, trade, or hunting. But the more northern +tribes were nomads: people shifting their abode from place to place in +pursuit of game or trade. Unlike the people of the south and west +(though these only grew potatoes) they were not agriculturists: the +only vegetable element in their food was the wild rice of the marshes, +the sweet-tasting layer between the bark and the wood of certain +trees, and the fruits or fungi of the forest or the lichen growing on +the rocks. Though these people might in summertime build some hasty +wigwam of boughs and moss, their ordinary dwelling place was a tent. + +The Wood Indians, or Opimitish Ininiwak, of the Athapaskan group +(writes Alexander Henry, sen.) had no fixed villages; and their lodges +or huts were so rudely fashioned as to afford them very inadequate +protection against the weather. The greater part of their year was +spent in travelling from place to place in search of food. The animal +on which they chiefly depended was the _hare_--a most prominent animal +in Amerindian economy and tradition. This they took in springes. From +its skin they made coverings with much ingenuity, cutting it into +narrow strips and weaving this into the shape of a blanket, which was +of a very warm and agreeable quality. + +The Naskwapi Algonkins of inland Labrador were savages that led a +wandering life through the bare, flat parts of that country, +subsisting chiefly upon flesh, and clothing themselves with the skin +of the caribou, which they caught in pitfalls or shot with the bow +and arrow. "Very few sights, I believe, can be more distressing to the +feelings of humanity than a Labrador savage, surrounded by his wife +and five or six small children, half-famished with cold and hunger in +a hole dug out of the snow and screened from the inclemency of the +weather by the branches of the trees. Their whole furniture is a +kettle hung over the fire, not for the purpose of cooking victuals, +but for melting snow" (James M'Kenzie). + +A description of the tents of the Kris or Knistino (Algonkins of the +Athabaska region), written by Alexander Henry, sen., applies with very +little difference to all the other tribes dwelling to the east of the +Rocky Mountains.[11] + +[Footnote 11: See also p. 249.] + +These tents were of dressed leather, erected with poles, generally +seventeen in number, of which two were tied together about three feet +from the top. The first two poles being erected and set apart at the +base, the others were placed against them in a slanting position, +meeting at the top, so that they all formed nearly a circle, which was +then covered with the leather. This consisted of ten to fifteen +dressed skins of the bison, moose, or red deer, well sewed together +and nicely cut to fit the conical figure of the poles, with an opening +above, to let out smoke and admit the light. From this opening down to +the door the two edges of the tent were brought close together and +well secured with wooden pegs about six inches long, leaving for the +door an oval aperture about two feet wide and three feet high, below +which the edges were secured with similar pegs. This small entrance +did well enough for the natives, who would be brought up to it from +infancy, but a European might be puzzled to get through, as a piece of +hide stretched upon a frame of the same shape as the door, but +somewhat larger, hung outside, and must be first raised by the hand of +the incomer. + +Such tents were usually spacious, measuring twenty feet in diameter. +The fire was always made in the centre, around which the occupants +generally placed a range of stones to prevent the ashes from +scattering and to keep the fire compact. New tents were perfectly +white; some of them were painted with red and black figures. These +devices were generally derived from the dreams of the Amerindians, +being some mythical monster or other hideous animal, whose description +had been handed down from their ancestors. A large camp of such tents, +pitched regularly on a level plain, had a fine effect at a distance, +especially when numerous bands of horses were seen feeding in all +directions. + +The "lodges" or long houses made of poles, fir branches, moss, &c., +wherein, among the Iroquois, Algonkin, and Siou peoples, several +families made a common habitation, are described here and there in the +course of the narrative. The houses of the coast tribes of British +Columbia were bigger, more elaborate, and permanent, and in this +region the natives had acquired some idea of carpentry, and had learnt +to make planks of wood by splitting with wedges or hewing with adzes. + +One of these British Columbian houses was measured, and found to be +seventy feet long by twenty-five feet wide; the entrance in the gable +end was cut through a plank five and a half feet wide, and nearly +oval. A board suspended on the outside answered for a door; on the +other side of the broad plank was rudely carved a large painted figure +of a man, between whose legs was the passage. But other houses on the +Pacific coast, visited by Cook or Vancouver, are said to have been +large enough to accommodate seven hundred people. These houses of the +Pacific coast region were exceedingly filthy, sturgeon and salmon +being strewn about in every direction. The men inhabiting them were +often disgusting in their behaviour, while the women are declared to +have been "devoid of shame or decency". + +According to Mackenzie, such habitations swarmed with fleas, and even +the ground round about them "was alive with this vermin". The +Alexander Henrys, both uncle and nephew, complain of the flea plague +(partly due to the multitude of dogs) in every Indian village or +encampment. + +The domestic implements of the Amerindians were few. Pottery seems to +have been unknown amongst the northern tribes to the east and north of +the Mississippi valley, but earthen jars and vessels were made by the +Dakota-Siou group in the valley of the Mississippi. Amongst these +agricultural Indians the hoe was made of a buffalo's blade bone +fastened to a crooked wooden handle. The Ojibwés manufactured chisels +out of beavers' teeth. The Eskimo and some of the neighbouring +Amerindian tribes used oblong "kettles" of stone--simply great blocks +of stone chipped, rubbed, and hollowed out into receptacles, with +handles at both ends. (It is suggested that they borrowed the idea of +these stone vessels for cooking from the early Norse settlers of +Greenland; see p. 18.) + +The Amerindians of the regions west of the Rocky Mountains made +kettles or cooking vessels out of blocks of "cedar" (_Juniper_) wood; +east of the Rocky Mountains the birch-bark kettle was universal. Of +course these vessels of wood or bark could not be placed on the fire +or embers to heat or boil the contents, as was possible with the +"kettles" of stone or the cooking pots of clay. So the people using +them heated the water in which the food or the soup was boiled by +making stones red-hot in the fire and then dropping them into the +birch-bark or cedar-wood tubs. Many of the northern Indians got into +the way of eating their food raw because of the difficulty of making a +fire away from home. + +In regard to food, neither Amerindian nor Eskimo was squeamish. They +were almost omnivorous, and specially delighted in putrid or noisome +substances from which a European would turn in loathing, and from the +eating of which he might conceivably die. + +It was only in the extreme south of Canada or in British Columbia +(potatoes only) that any agriculture was carried on and that the +natives had maize, pumpkins, and pease to add to their dietary; but +(as compared to the temperate regions of Europe and Asia) Nature was +generous in providing wild fruits and grain without trouble of +husbandry. The fruits and nuts have been enumerated elsewhere, but a +description might be given here of the "wild oats" (_Avena fatua_) and +the "wild rice" of the regions of central Canada and the middle west. +The wild oats made a rough kind of porridge, but were not so important +and so nourishing as the wild rice which is so often mentioned in the +stories of the pioneers, who liked this wild grain as much as the +Indians did. + +This wild rice (_Zizania aquatica_) grew naturally in small rivers and +swampy places. The stems were hollow, jointed at intervals, and the +grain appeared at the extremity of the stalk. By the month of June +they had grown two feet above the surface of the shallow water, and +were ripe for harvesting in September. At this period the Amerindians +passed in canoes through the water-fields of wild rice, shaking the +ears into the canoes as they swept by. The grain fell out easily when +ripe, but in order to clean it from the husk it was dried over a slow +fire on a wooden grating. After being winnowed it was pounded to flour +in a mortar, or else boiled like rice, and seasoned with fat. "It had +a most delicate taste", wrote Alexander Henry the Elder. + +Fish was perhaps the staple of Amerindian diet, because in scarcely +any part of the Canadian Dominion is a lake, river, or brook far away. +In the region of the Great Lakes fish were caught in large quantities +in October, and exposed to the weather to be frozen at nighttime. They +were then stored away in this congealed state, and lasted good--more +or less--till the following April. + +Pemmican--that early form of potted meat so familiar to the readers of +Red-Indian romances--was made of the lean meat of the bison. The +strips of meat were dried in the sun, and afterwards pounded in a +mortar and mixed with an equal quantity of bison fat. Fish "pemmican" +was sun-dried fish ground to powder. + +A favourite dish among the northern Indians was blood mixed with the +half-digested food found in the stomach of a deer, boiled up with a +sufficient quantity of water to make it of the consistency of pease +porridge. Some scraps of fat or tender flesh were shredded small and +boiled with it. To render this dish more palatable they had a method +of mixing the blood with the contents of the stomach in the paunch +itself, and hanging it up in the heat and smoke of the fire for +several days--in other words, the Scotch haggis. The kidneys of both +moose and buffalo were usually eaten _raw_ by the southern Indians, +for no sooner was one of those beasts killed than the hunter ripped up +its belly, snatched out the kidneys, and ate them warm, before the +animal was quite dead. They also at times put their mouths to the +wound the ball or the arrow had made, and sucked the blood; this, they +said, quenched thirst, and was very nourishing. + +The favourite drink of the Ojibwé Indians in the wintertime was hot +broth poured over a dishful of pure snow. + +The Amerindians of the Nipigon country (north of Lake Superior) and +the Ojibwés and Kris often relapsed into cannibalism when hard up for +food. Indeed some of them became so addicted to this practice that +they simply went about stalking their fellow Indians with as much +industry as if they were hunting animals. "These prowling ogres caused +such terror that to sight the track of one of them was sufficient to +make twenty families decamp in all the speed of their terror" +(Alexander Henry). It was deemed useless to attempt any resistance +when these monsters were coming to kill and eat. The people would even +make them presents of clothes and provisions to allow them and their +children to live. There were women cannibals as well as men (see p. +171). + +As the greater part of their food came from the chase, and their only +articles of commerce likewise, they devoted themselves more entirely +to hunting and fishing than to any other pursuit. The women did most +of the fishing (and all the skin-curing for the fur market and for +their own dress), while the men pursued with weapons the beasts of the +chase, trapped them in pitfalls or snares, or drove them into "pounds" +(excavated enclosures). + +Illustrating the wonderful sagacity of the Amerindians as game +trackers, Alexander Henry the Elder tells the following story in the +autumn of 1799:-- + +"We had not gone far from the house before we fell upon the fresh +tracks of some red deer (wapiti), and soon after discovered the herd +in a thicket of willows and poplars; we both fired, and the deer +disappeared in different directions. We pursued them, but to no +purpose, as the country was unfavourable. We then returned to the spot +where we had fired, as the Indian suspected that we had wounded some +of them. We searched to see if we could find any blood; on my part, I +could find tracks, but no blood. The Indian soon called out, and I +went to him, but could see no blood, nor any sign that an animal had +been wounded. However, he pointed out the track of a large buck among +the many others, and told me that from the manner in which this buck +had started off he was certain the animal had been wounded. As the +ground was beaten in every direction by animals, it was only after a +tedious search that we found where the buck had struck off. But no +blood was seen until, passing through a thicket of willows, he +observed a drop upon a leaf, and next a little more. He then began to +examine more strictly, to find out in what part of the body the +animal had been wounded; and, judging by the height and other signs, +he told me the wound must have been somewhere between the shoulder and +neck. We advanced about a mile, but saw nothing of the deer, and no +more blood. I was for giving up the chase; but he assured me the wound +was mortal, and that if the animal should lie down he could not rise +again. We proceeded two miles farther, when, coming out upon a small +open space, he told me the animal was at no great distance, and very +probably in this meadow. We accordingly advanced a few yards, and +there we found the deer lying at the last gasp. The wound was exactly +as I had been told. The sagacity of the Saulteurs [Ojibwés] in tracing +big wood animals is astonishing. I have frequently witnessed +occurrences of this nature; the bend of a leaf or blade of grass is +enough to show the hunter the direction the game has taken. Their +ability is of equally great service to war parties, when they discover +the footsteps of their enemies." + +The Assiniboin Indians (a branch of the Sious) down to about fifty +years ago captured the bison of the plains in hundreds at a time by +driving them into large excavated areas below the level of the ground. + +Alexander Henry, jun., gives the following description of this +procedure in 1810:-- + +"The pounds are of different dimensions, according to the number of +tents in one camp. The common size is from sixty to one hundred paces +or yards in circumference, and about five feet in height. Trees are +cut down, laid upon one another, and interwoven with branches and +green twigs; small openings are left to admit the dogs to feed upon +the carcasses of the (old) bulls, which are generally left as useless. +This enclosure is commonly made between two hummocks, on the declivity +or at the foot of rising ground. The entrance is about ten paces wide, +and always fronts the plains. On each side of this entrance commences +a thick range of fascines, the two ranges spreading asunder as they +extend to the distance of one hundred yards, beyond which openings are +left at intervals; but the fascines soon become more thinly planted, +and continue to spread apart to the right and left until each range +has been extended about three hundred yards from the pound. The labour +is then diminished by only placing at intervals three or four cross +sticks, in imitation of a dog or other animal (sometimes called 'dead +men'); these extend on the plain for about two miles, and double rows +of them are planted in several other directions to a still greater +distance. Young men are usually sent out to collect and bring in the +buffalo--a tedious task, which requires great patience, for the herd +must be started by slow degrees. This is done by setting fire to dung +or grass. Three young men will bring in a herd of several hundred from +a great distance. When the wind is aft it is most favourable, as they +can then direct the buffalo with great ease. Having come in sight of +the ranges, they generally drive the herd faster, until it begins to +enter the ranges, where a swift-footed person has been stationed with +a buffalo robe over his head, to imitate that animal; but sometimes a +horse performs this business. When he sees buffaloes approaching he +moves slowly toward the pound until they appear to follow him; then he +sets off at full speed, imitating a buffalo as well as he can, with +the herd after him. The young men in the rear now discover themselves, +and drive the herd on with all possible speed. There is always a +sentinel on some elevated spot to notify the camp when the buffalo +appear; and this intelligence is no sooner given than every man, +woman, and child runs to the ranges that lead to the pound to prevent +the buffalo from taking a wrong direction. Then they lie down between +the fascines and cross sticks, and, if the buffalo attempt to break +through, the people wave their robes, which causes the herd to keep +on, or turn to the opposite side, where other persons do the same. +When the buffalo have been thus directed to the entrance of the pound, +the Indian who leads them rushes into it and out at the other side, +either by jumping over the enclosure or creeping through an opening +left for that purpose. The buffalo tumble in pell-mell at his heels, +almost exhausted, but keep moving around the enclosure from east to +west, and never in a direction against the sun. What appeared +extraordinary to me on those occasions was that, when word was given +to the camp of the near approach of the buffalo, the dogs would skulk +away from the pound and not approach until the herd entered. Many +buffaloes break their legs and some their necks in jumping into the +pound, as the descent is generally six or eight feet, and stumps are +left standing there. The buffalo being caught, the men assembled at +the enclosure, armed with bows and arrows; every arrow has a +particular mark of the owner, and they are let fly until the whole +herd is killed. Then the men enter the pound, and each claims his own; +but commonly there is what they term the master of the pound, who +divides the animals and gives each tent an equal share, reserving +nothing for himself. But in the end he is always the best provided +for; everyone is obliged to send him a certain portion, as it is in +his tent that the numerous ceremonies relating to the pound are +observed. There the young men are always welcome to feast and smoke, +and no women are allowed to enter, as that tent is set apart for the +affairs of the pound. Horses are sometimes used to collect and bring +in buffalo, but this method is less effectual than the other; besides, +it frightens the herds and soon causes them to withdraw to a great +distance. When horses are used the buffalo are absolutely driven into +the pound, but when the other method is pursued they are in a manner +enticed to their destruction." + +A somewhat similar method was adopted by the northern Kris and +Athapascans for the capture of reindeer. + +As regards means of transport, the use of dogs as draught animals was +by no means confined to the Eskimo: they were used in wintertime to +draw sledges over the snow or ice by nearly all the northern Indian +tribes, and by the people of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast. +After the Amerindians of the prairies and plains received horses +(indirectly through the Spaniards of Mexico)[12] they sometimes +employed the smaller and poorer kind of ponies as pack animals; but +for the most part throughout the summer season of the Canadian +Dominion--from May to October--transport and travel by canoe was the +favourite method. + +[Footnote 12: See p. 150.] + +There were four very well marked types of canoe or boat in British +North America. There was the already-described Eskimo _kayak_, made of +leather stretched over a framework of wood or bone; the Amerindians of +the Dominion, south of the Eskimo and east of the Rocky Mountains, +used the familiar "birch-bark" canoe;[13] the peoples of the Pacific +coast belt possessed something more like a boat, made out of a +hollowed tree trunk and built up with planks; and the tribes of the +Upper Mississippi used round coracles. Here are descriptions of all +three kinds of Amerindian canoe from the pens of eighteenth-century +pioneers: The birch-bark canoe used on the Great Lakes was about +thirty-three feet long by four and a half feet broad, and formed of +the smooth rind or bark of the birch tree fastened outside a wooden +framework. It was lined with small splints of juniper cedar, and the +vessel was further strengthened with ribs of the same wood, of which +the two ends were fastened to the gunwales. Several bars rather than +seats were laid across the canoe from gunwale to gunwale, the small +roots of the spruce fir afforded the fibre with which the bark was +sewn or stitched, and the gum of the pine tree supplied the place of +tar and oakum. Bark, some spare fibre, and gum were always carried in +each canoe for repairs, which were constantly necessary (one +continually reads in the diaries of the pioneers of "stopping to gum +the canoe"). The canoes were propelled with paddles, and occasionally +a sail. + +[Footnote 13: In the far north-west, on the rivers of the Pacific +slope, the natives used spruce-fir bark instead of birch.] + +The aborigines of Newfoundland--the Beothiks--are said to have known +the birch-bark canoe, framework canoe, but to have employed +"dug-outs"--hollowed tree trunks. The canoes of the Mandans of the +upper Missouri basin were like coracles, of circular form, made of a +framework of bent willow branches over which was stretched a raw +bison-hide with the hair inside. This was sewn tightly round the +willow rim. In lieu of a paddle they use a pole about five feet long, +split at one end to admit a piece of board about two feet long and +half a foot broad, which was lashed to the pole and so formed a kind +of cross. There was but one for each canoe. The paddler of this +coracle made directly for the opposite shore; every stroke he gave +turned his "dish" almost entirely round; to recover his position and +go on his intended route, he must give a stroke on the other side, +which brought him up again; and so on till he got over, not without +drifting down sometimes nearly a mile. + +Alexander Henry, jun., thus describes a canoe of the Clatsop people on +the Lower Columbia (Pacific coast, opposite Vancouver Island): "This +was a war canoe--the first of the kind I had seen. She was about +thirty-six feet long and wide in proportion, the stem rising upright +about six feet, on top of which was a figure of some imaginary monster +of uncouth sculpture, having the head of a carnivorous animal with +large erect ears but no body, clinging by arms and legs to the upper +end of the canoe, and grinning horribly. The ears were painted green, +the other parts red and black. The stern also rose about five feet in +height, but had no figure carved on it. On each side of both stem and +stern broad strips of wood rose about four feet, having holes cut in +them to shoot arrows through. She had a high sprit-sail made of +handkerchiefs and pieces of gunny-cloth or jute, forming irregular +stripes, I am told these Indians commonly have pieces of squared +timber, not unlike a three-inch plank, high and broad, perforated to +shoot arrows through; this is fixed on the bow of the war canoe to +serve as bulwarks in battle." + +Canoe voyages were mainly embarked on for trading; but in all +probability before the coming of the European there was little trading +done between one tribe and another, except in the region _west_ of the +Rocky Mountains, in which--especially to the north--the Amerindians +were so different in their habits and customs from those dwelling east +of the mountains as to suggest that they must very occasionally have +been in touch with some world outside America, such as Hawaii, +Kamschatka, or Japan. In these Pacific coastlands they used a white +seashell as a currency and a medium of exchange. So also did the +Iroquois people and the southern Algonkin tribes, in the form of +"wampum". The principal articles of barter were skins of fur animals, +porcupine quills, dogs, slaves, and women. + +First Hunting (to supply food), then Trading in the products of the +chase, and lastly War were the main subjects which occupied the +Amerindian's thoughts before the middle of the nineteenth century. +They usually went to war to turn other tribes out of profitable +hunting grounds or productive fisheries; or because they wanted slaves +or more wives; or because a chief or a medicine man had a dream; or +because some other notability felt he had given way too much to tears +over some personal or public sorrow, and must show his manliness by +killing the people of another tribe. In their wars they knew no mercy +when their blood was up, and frequently perpetrated frightful +cruelties for the sheer pleasure of seeing human suffering. Yet these +devilish moods would alternate with fits of sentimentality. A man or a +woman would suddenly take a war prisoner, or a person who was wounded +or half-tortured to death, under their protection, and a short time +afterwards the whole war party would be greeting this rescued wretch +(usually a man--they were far more pitiless towards women) as brother, +son, or friend, and even become quite maudlin over a scratch or a +bruise; whereas an hour or so before they were on the point of +disembowelling, or of driving splinters up the nails and setting them +on fire. In warfare they often gave way to cannibalism. + +Though extremely fond of singing--they sang when they were merry; when +they thought they were going to die; when they were victorious in +hunting, love, or war; when they were defeated; when they were +paddling a canoe or sewing a moccasin--they had but a poor range of +musical instruments. Most of the tribes used flutes made out of the +wing bones of cranes or out of reeds, and some had small trumpets of +wood, bark, or buffalo horn. The Pacific coast Indians made gongs or +"xylophones" out of blocks or slabs of resonant wood. + +Here is a specimen of Amerindian singing. It is the song which +accompanied the famous Calumet dance in celebration of the peacemaking +qualities of tobacco-smoking. It was taken down by the Jesuit +missionaries in the seventeenth century from the Ilinwa (Illinois) +Algonkin Indians of the middle west, and its notation reminds one of +Japanese music. + + [Musical notation and words: + + THE CALUMET OR TOBACCO-PIPE DANCE + + Ni-na-ha-ni, ni-na-ha-ni, ni-na-ha-ni + na-ni on-go; Ni-na-ha-ni, ni-na-ha-ni, + ni-na-ha-ni ho-ho; ni-na-ha-ni, ni-na-ha-ni, + ni-na-ha-ni, Ka-wa ban-no-ge at-chi-cha + Ko-ge a-ke a-w[¯a]; Ba-no-ge a-chi-cha + sha-go-be hé, hé, hé! Min-tin-go mi-ta-de + pi-ni, pi-ni hé! A-chi-cha lé ma-chi + mi nam ba mik-tan-de, mik-tan-de pi-ni, pini hé!] + + + Ninahani, &c, ongo; ninahani, &c, hoho; ninahani, &c. + Kawa bannoge atchicha Koge ake aw[¯a]; + Banoge atchicha shagobe hé hé hé! Mintingo mitade + Pini pini hé! Atchicha lé machi mi nam ba miktande, + Miktande pini pini hé! + +Dancing was little else than posturing and jumping in masks--usually +made to look like the head of a wild beast. But the men were usually +very athletic. Wrestling competitions were almost universal, +especially as a means of winning a wife. The conqueror in a wrestling +match took the wife or wives of the defeated man. Their running powers +for endurance and speed became justly celebrated. + +"Their principal and most inveterate game is that of the hoop," writes +Alexander Henry, sen., "which proves as ruinous to them as the platter +does to the Saulteurs (Ojibwé)." This game was played in the following +manner. A hoop was made about two feet in diameter, nearly covered +with dressed leather, and trimmed with quillwork, feathers, bits of +metal, and other trinkets, on which were certain particular marks. Two +persons played at the same time, by rolling the hoop and accompanying +it, one on each side; when it was about to fall, each gently threw one +arrow in such a manner that the hoop might fall upon it, and according +to that mark on the hoop which rested on the arrows they reckoned the +game. They also played another game by holding some article in one +hand, or putting it into one of two shoes, the other hand or shoe +being empty. They had another game which required forty to fifty small +sticks, as thick as a goose quill and about a foot long; these were +all shuffled together and then divided into two bunches, and according +to the even or odd numbers of sticks in the bunch chosen, the players +lost or won. + +A favourite game amongst the Ojibwé is described as "the hurdle", +which is another name for the Canadian national game of La Crosse. +When about to play, the men, of all ages, would strip themselves +almost naked, but dress their hair in great style, put ornaments on +their arms, and belts round their waists, and paint their faces and +bodies in the most elaborate style. Each man was provided with "a +hurdle", an instrument made of a small stick of wood about three feet +long, bent at the end to a small circle, in which a loose piece of +network is fixed, forming a cavity big enough to receive a leather +ball about the size of a man's fist. Everything being prepared, a +level plain about half a mile long was chosen, with proper barriers or +goals at each end. Having previously formed into two equal parts, they +assembled in the very middle of the field, and the game began by +throwing up the ball perpendicularly in the air, when instantly both +parties (writes an eyewitness) "formed a singular group of naked men, +painted in different colours and in the most comical attitudes +imaginable, holding their rackets elevated in the air to catch the +ball". Whoever was so fortunate as to catch it in his net ran with it +to the barrier with all his might, supported by his party; whilst the +opponents were pursuing and endeavouring to knock the ball out of the +net. He who succeeded in doing so ran in the same manner towards the +opposite barrier, and was, of course, pursued in his turn. If in +danger of being overtaken, he might throw it with his hurdle towards +any of his associates who happened to be nearer the barrier than +himself. They had a particular knack of throwing it a great distance +in this manner, so that the best runners had not always the advantage; +and, by a peculiar way of working their hands and arms while running, +the ball never dropped out of their "hurdle". + +"The best of three heats wins the game, and, besides the honour +acquired on such occasions, a considerable prize is adjudged to the +victors. The vanquished, however, generally challenge their +adversaries to renew the game the next day, which is seldom refused. +The game then becomes more important, as the honour of the whole +village is at stake, and it is carried on with redoubled impetuosity, +every object which might impede them in their career is knocked down +and trodden under foot without mercy, and before the game is decided, +it is a common thing to see numbers sprawling on the ground with +wounded legs and broken heads, yet this never creates any disputes or +ill-will after the play is decided" (Alexander Henry, sen.). + +It has been computed that in the middle of the eighteenth century the +Amerindian population of the vast territories now known as the +Dominion of Canada numbered about 300,000. It now stands at an +approximate 110,000. The chief diminution has taken place in +Newfoundland, Lower and Upper Canada, New Brunswick, Assiniboia, and +British Columbia. There may even have been an increase in the north +and north-west. The first great blow to the Amerindians of these +regions was the smallpox epidemic of 1780. The next was the effect of +the strong drink[14] introduced by the agents of the Hudson's Bay and, +still more, the two North-west Companies. Phthisis or pulmonary +consumption also seems to have been introduced from Europe (though +Hearne thought that the Northern Indians had it before the white man +came). In fact, before the European invaded America neither Eskimo nor +Amerindian seem to have had many diseases. They suffered from ulcers, +scurvy, digestive troubles, rheumatism, headache, bronchitis, and +heart complaints, but from few, if any, "germ" diseases. + +[Footnote 14: Before the white man came to _North_ America the natives +had no form of intoxicating drink.] + +Some of the agents of the North-west Company apologize in their +writings for the amount of rum that was circulated among the +Amerindians at the orders of that company to stimulate trade, by +saying that it was seven parts water. Nevertheless it excited them to +madness, as the following extracts show. These are mostly taken from +the journals of Alexander Henry the Younger, but they are typical of +what was recorded by many other writers who describe the far interior +of British North America between 1775 and 1835. + +"To see a house full of drunken Indians, consisting of men, women, and +children, is a most unpleasant sight; for, in that condition, they +often wrangle, pull each other by the hair, and fight. At times, ten +or twelve of both sexes may be seen fighting each other promiscuously, +until at last they all fall on the floor, one upon another, some +spilling rum out of a small kettle or dish which they hold in their +hands, while others are throwing up what they have just drunk. To +add to this uproar, a number of children, some on their mothers' +shoulders, and others running about and taking hold of their clothes, +are constantly bawling, the elder ones, through fear that their +parents may be stabbed, or that some other misfortune may befal them +in the fray. These shrieks of the children form a very unpleasant +chorus to the brutal noise kept up by their drunken parents." + + * * * * * + +"In a drinking match at the Hills yesterday, Gros Bras (Thick Arms) in +a fit of jealousy stabbed Aupusoi to death with a hand-dague (dagger); +the first stroke opened his left side, the second his belly, and the +third his breast; he never stirred, although he had a knife in his +belt, and died instantly. Soon after this Aupusoi's brother, a boy +about ten years of age, took the deceased's gun, loaded it with two +balls, and approached Gros Bras's tent. Putting the muzzle of the gun +through the door the boy fired the two balls into his breast and +killed him dead, just as he was reproaching his wife for her affection +for Aupusoi, and boasting of the revenge he had taken. The little +fellow ran into the woods and hid. Little Shell (Petite Coquille) +found the old woman, Aupusoi's mother, in her tent; he instantly +stabbed her. Ondainoiache then came in, took the knife, and gave her a +second stab. Little Shell, in his turn taking the knife, gave a third +blow. In this manner did these two rascals continue to murder the old +woman, as long as there was any life in her. The boy escaped into +Langlois' house, and was kept hid until they were all sober. Next +morning a hole was dug in the ground, and all three were buried +together. This affair kept the Indians from hunting, as Gros Bras was +nearly related to the principal hunters." + + * * * * * + +"Grand' Gueule stabbed Perdrix Blanche with a knife in six places. +Perdrix Blanche fighting with his wife, fell in the fire and almost +roasted, but had strength enough left notwithstanding his wounds to +bite her nose off." + + * * * * * + +"In the first drinking match a murder was committed in an Assiniboine +tent, but fortunately it was done by an Ojibwé. L'Hiver stabbed +Mishewashence to the heart three times, and killed him instantly. The +wife and children cried out, and some of my people ran to the tent +just as L'Hiver came out with the bloody knife in his hand, expecting +we would lay hold of him. The first person he met was William Henry, +whom he attempted to stab in the breast; but Henry avoided the stroke, +and returned the compliment with a blow of his cudgel on the fellow's +head. This staggered him; but instantly recovering he made another +attempt to stab Henry. Foiled in this design, and observing several +coming out of the fort, he took to his heels and ran into the woods +like a deer. I chased him with some of my people, but he was too fleet +for us. We buried the murdered man, who left a widow and five +helpless orphans, having no relations on this river. The behaviour of +two of the youngest was really piteous while we were burying the body; +they called upon their deceased father not to leave them, but to +return to the tent, and tried to prevent the men from covering the +corpse with earth, screaming in a terrible manner; the mother was +obliged to take them away." + + * * * * * + +"Men and women have been drinking a match for three days and nights, +during which it has been drink, fight--drink, fight--drink, and fight +again--guns, axes, and knives being their weapons--very disagreeable." + + * * * * * + +"Mithanasconce was so troublesome (in drink) that we were obliged to +tie him with ropes to prevent his doing mischief. He was stabbed in +the back in three different places about a month ago. His wounds were +still open, and had an ugly appearance; in his struggling to get loose +they burst out afresh and bled a great deal. We had much trouble to +stop the blood, as the fellow was insensible to pain or danger; his +only aim was to bite us. We had some narrow escapes, until we secured +his mouth, and then he fell asleep." + + * * * * * + +"Some Red Lake Indians having traded here for liquor which they took +to their camp, quarrelled amongst themselves. One jumped on another +and bit his nose off. It was some time before the piece could be +found; but, at last, by tumbling and tossing the straw about, it was +recovered, stuck on, and bandaged, as best the drunken people could, +in hopes it would grow again" (Alexander Henry, jun.). + + * * * * * + +As regards drunkenness, several authors among the early explorers +declared that the French Canadian voyageurs were more disagreeable +when drunk even than the Amerindians, for their quarrels were noisier +and more deadly. "Indeed I had rather have fifty drunken Indians in +the fort than sixty-five drunken Canadians", writes Alexander Henry in +1810. And yet the extracts I have given from his journal show that it +would be hard to beat the Amerindians for disagreeable ferocity when +intoxicated. + +Henry, summing up his experiences before leaving for the Pacific coast +in 1811, writes these remarks in his diary:-- + +"What a different set of people they would be, were there not a drop +of liquor in the country! If a murder is committed among the Saulteurs +(Ojibwés), it is always in a drinking match. We may truly say that +liquor is the root of all evil in the north-west. Great bawling and +lamentation went on, and I was troubled most of the night for liquor +to wash away grief." + +As a rule, the treatment of the Amerindians by the British and French +settlers was good, except the thrusting of alcohol on them. But in +Newfoundland a great crime was perpetrated. Between the middle of the +seventeenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries the British +fishermen and settlers on the coasts of Newfoundland had _destroyed_ +the native population of Beothik Indians. + +Before the English arrived on the coasts of Newfoundland the Beothiks +lived an ideal life for savages. They were well clothed with beasts' +skins, and in the winter these were supplemented by heavy fur robes. +Countless herds of reindeer roamed through the interior, passing from +north to south in the autumn and returning in the spring. Vast flocks +of willow grouse (like ptarmigan) were everywhere to be met with; the +many lakes were covered with geese, swans, and ducks. The woods were +full of pigeons; the salmon swarmed up the rivers to breed; the sea +round the coasts was--except in the wintertime--the richest fishery in +the world. They caught lobsters in the rock pools, and speared or +clubbed seals and great walruses for their flesh and oil. An +occasional whale provided them with oil, blubber, and meat. The Great +Auk--which could not fly--swarmed in millions on the cliffs and +islets. So abundant was this bird, and so fat, that its body was +sometimes used as fuel, or as a lamp. In the summertime their fish and +flesh diet could be varied by the innumerable berries growing +wild--strawberries, raspberries, currants, cranberries, and +whortleberries. The _capillaire_ plant yielded a lusciously sweet, +sugary substance.[15] + +[Footnote 15: This was the Moxie plum or creeping snowberry +(_Chiogenes hispidula_).] + +[Illustration: GREAT AUKS, GANNETS, PUFFINS, AND GUILLEMOTS] + +The Beothiks were a tall, good-looking people, with large black eyes +and a light-coloured skin. The early French and Biscayan seamen, who +resorted to the coasts of Newfoundland for the whale fisheries, +reported these "Red Indians" to be "an ingenious and tractable people, +if well used, who were ready to help the white men with great labour +and patience in the killing, cutting-up, and boiling of whales, and +the making of train oil, without other expectation of reward than a +little bread or some such small hire". + +Yet from the beginning of the seventeenth century the Beothiks--then +about four thousand in number--were ill-treated by the European +fishermen who frequented the Newfoundland coasts. They soon greatly +decreased in numbers, and became very shy of white men. The French, +when they occupied the south coast of Newfoundland, brought over +Mikmak Indians to chase and kill the Beothiks or "Red" Indians. The +Eskimo attacked them from Labrador. Finally, when Newfoundland became +British in the eighteenth century, the English fishermen settlers and +fur hunters attacked and slew the harmless Beothiks with a wanton +ferocity (described by horror-struck officers of the British navy) +which is as bad as anything attributed to the Spaniards in Cuba and +Hispaniola. By about 1830 they were all extinct. As late as 1823 the +following anecdote is recorded of two English settlers whose names are +hidden behind the initials C and A. "When near Badger Bay they fell in +with an Indian man and woman, who approached, apparently soliciting +food. The man was first killed, and the woman, who was afterwards +found to be his daughter, in despair remained calmly to be fired at, +when she was also shot through the chest and immediately expired. This +was told Mr. Cormack by the man who did the deed." Even English women +in the late eighteenth century were celebrated for their skill "in +shooting Red Indians and seals". + +"For a period of nearly two hundred years this barbarity had +continued, and it was considered meritorious to shoot a Red Indian. +'To go to look for Indians' came to be as much a phrase as to look for +partridges (ptarmigan). They were harassed from post to post, from +island to island; their hunting and fishing stations were +unscrupulously seized by the invading English. They were shot down +without the least provocation, or captured to be exposed as +curiosities to the rabble at the fairs of the western towns of +Christian England at twopence a piece."[16] + +[Footnote 16: These are the remarks of an English chaplain in the +island, quoted by the Rev. George Patterson, who contributed a most +interesting article on the vanished Beothiks of Newfoundland to the +Royal Society of Canada in 1891.] + +Too late--when the worry and anxiety of the Napoleonic wars were +over--the British Government sent a commission of naval officers to +enquire into the treatment of the Beothiks by the settlers. One woman +alone remained, as a frightened semi-captive, to be consoled and +soothed. There are Indians in the south of Newfoundland at the present +day, but they are Mikmaks who come over from the adjoining regions of +Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. So tender, indeed, is the modern +government of the island towards these (out of compunction for the +past) that they are allowed to kill the reindeer and other wild +animals without the licence which is exacted from white people, and so +are actually injuring Newfoundland's resources! + +Since the great Dominion of Canada was brought into existence in 1871 +as a unified, responsible government, the treatment of the remaining +Amerindian natives of British North America has been admirable; and +splendid work has been done in reclaiming them to a wholesome +civilization by the Moravian, Roman Catholic, and Church of England +missionaries. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Hudson Bay Explorers and the British Conquest of all Canada + + +In a general way the discovery of the main features of the vast +Canadian Dominion may be thus apportioned amongst the different +European nations. First came the British, led by an Italian pilot. +They discovered Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. +Then came the Portuguese, who discovered the north-east of +Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador, while a French expedition +under an Italian captain reached to Nova Scotia and southern +Newfoundland. A Spanish expedition under a Portuguese leader shortly +afterwards reached the coast of New Brunswick. After that the French +from Brittany, Normandy, and the west coast of France laid bare the +_west_ coast of Newfoundland, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the River St. +Lawrence, and the Great Lakes. + +Sir Francis Drake led the way in the exploration of the north-west +coast of North America. He reached, in 1579, as far north on that side +as the country of Oregon, which he christened New Albion. This action +stirred up the Spaniards, who explored the coast of California, and in +1591-2 sent an Ionian Island pilot, Apostolos Valeriano (commonly +called Juan de Fuca), in charge of an expedition to discover the +imagined Straits of Anian. He gave strength to this idea of a +continuous water route across temperate North America by entering (in +1592) the straits, since called Juan de Fuca, between Vancouver Island +and the modern State of Washington, and passing thence into the +Straits of Georgia, which bear a striking resemblance in their +features to the Straits of Magellan. + +French explorers and adventurers, as we have seen, penetrated from the +basin of the St. Lawrence to the north and west until they touched the +southern extension of Hudson Bay (James's Bay), discovered Lake +Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan Rivers, the upper Missouri and the whole +course of the Mississippi, and finally recorded the existence of the +Rocky Mountains. + +Parallel with these movements the British discovered the broad belt of +sea between Greenland and North America and the whole area of Hudson +Bay. After the French had ceased to reign in North America, the +British were to reveal the great rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, +the coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean, the Yukon River, and the +coasts and islands of British Columbia and Alaska. + +The first Europeans, however, to reach Alaska were Russians led by +Vitus Bering, a great Danish sea captain in the Russian service. +Bering was born in 1680 at Horsens, in the province of Aarhuus, E. +Denmark, and entered the service of Peter the Great, who was desirous +of knowing where Asia terminated and America began. Bering discovered +the straits which bear his name in 1728, and in 1741 was wrecked and +died on Bering's Island. Captain James Cook, the British discoverer of +Australia and of so many Pacific islands, completed the work of Bering +in 1788 in charting the north-west American coast right into the +Arctic Ocean. + +It has already been related in Chapter III how the Hudson's Bay +Chartered Company came to be founded. Soon after their first pioneers +were established, in 1670, at Fort Nelson, on the west coast of Hudson +Bay, near where York Factory now stands, there was born--or brought +out from England as an infant--a little boy named Henry Kellsey, who +as a child took a great fancy to the Amerindians who came to trade at +Fort Nelson. As he played with them, and they returned his affection, +he learnt their language, and--for some inconceivable reason--this +gave great offence to the stupid governor of the fort (indeed, when +Kellsey as a grown man, some years afterwards, compiled a vocabulary +of the Kri language for the use of traders, the Hudson's Bay Company +ordered it to be suppressed). Stupid Governor Geyer not only objected +to Kellsey picking up the Kri language, but punished him most severely +for that and for his boyish tricks and jokes; so much so, that +Kellsey, when he was about ten years old, ran away with the returning +Indians, some of whom had grown very fond of him whilst they stayed at +Fort Nelson. + +Six years afterwards an Indian brought to the governor of the fort a +letter written by Kellsey in charcoal on a piece of white birch bark. +In this he asked the governor's pardon for running away, and his +permission to return to the fort. As a kind reply was sent, Kellsey +appeared not long afterwards grown into a young man, accompanied by an +Indian wife and attended by a party of Indians. He was dressed exactly +like them, but differed from them in the respect which he showed to +his native wife. She attempted to accompany her husband into the +factory or place of business, and the governor stopped her; but +Kellsey at once told him in English that he would not enter himself if +his wife was not suffered to go with him, and so the governor +relented. After this Kellsey (who must then have been about seventeen) +seems to have regularly enrolled himself in 1688 in the service of the +Company, and he was employed as a kind of commercial traveller who +made long journeys to the north-west to beat up a fur trade for the +Company and induce tribes of Indians to make long journeys every +summer to the Company's factory with the skins they had secured +between the autumn and the spring. In this way Kellsey penetrated +into the country of the Assiniboines, and he finally reached a more +distant tribe or nation called by the long name of Néwátamipoet.[1] +Kellsey first of all made for Split Lake, up the Nelson River, and +thence paddled westwards in his canoe for a distance of 71 miles. Here +he abandoned the canoe, and, for what he estimated as 316 miles, he +tramped through a wooded country, first covered with fir and pine +trees, and farther on with poplar and birch. Apparently he then +reached a river flowing into Reindeer Lake. In a general way his steps +must have taken him in the direction of Lake Athapaska. + +[Footnote 1: Spelt in the documents of the Hudson's Bay Company, +Naywatame-poet.] + +On the way he had much trouble with the Assiniboin Indians and Kris, +with whom he had caught up, and with whom he was to travel in the +direction of these mysterious Néwátamipoets. The last-named tribe, who +were probably of the Athapaskan group, had killed, a few months +previously, three of the Kri women, and the Kri Indians who belonged +to Kellsey's party were bent, above all things, on attacking the +Néwátamipoets and punishing them for this outrage. Kellsey only wished +to open up peaceful relations with them and create a great trade in +furs with the Hudson's Bay Company, so he kept pleading with the +Indians not to go to war with the Néwátamipoets. On this journey, +however, one of the Kri Indians fell ill and died. The next day the +body was burnt with much ceremony--first the flesh, and then the +bones--and after this funeral the companions of the dead man began to +reason as to the cause of his death, and suddenly blamed Kellsey. +Kellsey had obstructed them from their purpose of avenging their slain +women, therefore the gods of the tribe were angry and claimed this +victim in the man who had died. Kellsey was very near being sent to +the other world to complete the sacrifice; but he arranged for "a +feast of tobacco"--in other words, a calm deliberation and the smoking +of the pipe of peace. He explained to the angry Indians that his +Company had not supplied him with guns and ammunition with which to go +to war, but to induce them to embark on the fur trade and to kill wild +animals for their skins. If, instead of this, they went to war, or +injured him, they need never again go down to Fort Nelson for any +further trade or supplies. Four days afterwards, however, the +attention of the whole party was concentrated on bison. + +Bison could now be seen in abundance. Kellsey was already acquainted +with the musk ox, which he had seen in the colder regions near to +Hudson Bay; but the bison seemed to him quite different, with horns +growing like those of an English ox, black and short. In the middle of +September he reached the country of the Néwátamipoets, and presented +to their chief, on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company, a present of +clothes, knives, awls, tobacco, and a gun, gunpowder, and shot. On +this journey Kellsey encountered the grizzly bear, a more common +denizen of the western regions of North America. According to his own +account, he and one of the Indians with him were attacked by two +grizzly bears and obliged to climb into the branches of trees. The +bears followed them; but Kellsey fired and killed one, and later on +the other also. For this feat he was greatly reverenced by the +Indians, and received the name of Mistopashish, or "little giant". +Kellsey afterwards rose to be governor of York Fort, on the west coast +of Hudson Bay. + +The next great explorer ranging westward from Hudson Bay was Anthony +Hendry.[2] Anthony Hendry left York factory in 1754, with a company of +Kri Indians, to make a great journey of exploration to the west, and +with the deliberate intention of wintering with the natives and not +returning for that purpose to Hudson Bay. By means of canoe travel and +portages he reached Oxford Lake. From here he gained Moose Lake, and +soon afterwards "the broad waters of the Saskatchewan--the first +Englishman to see this great river of the western plains".[3] +Twenty-two miles upstream from the point where it reached the +Saskatchewan he came to a French fort which had only been standing for +a year, and which represented probably the farthest advance northwards +of the French Canadians. + +[Footnote 2: The young or old reader of this and other books dealing +with the exploration of the Canadian Dominion will be indeed puzzled +between the various Hendrys and Henrys. The last-named was a prolific +stock, from which several notable explorers and servants of the +fur-trading companies were drawn. In this book a careful distinction +must be made between the _Anthony_ Hendrey or Hendey, who commenced +his exploration of the west in 1754; the unrelated _Alexander_ Henry +the Elder, who journeyed between 1761 and 1776; and the nephew of the +last-named, Alexander Henry the Younger, whose pioneering explorations +occurred between 1799 and 1814.] + +[Footnote 3: _The Search for the Western Sea_, by Lawrence J. Burpee.] + +[Illustration: Map of EASTERN CANADA and NEWFOUNDLAND] + +The situation was a rather delicate one, for the Hudson's Bay Company +was a thorn in the side of French Canada. However, in this +year--1754--the two nations were not actually at war, and the two +Frenchmen in charge of the fort received him "in a very genteel +manner", and invited him into their home, where he readily accepted +their hospitality. At first they spoke of detaining him till the +commandant of the fort returned, but abandoned this idea after +reflection, and Hendry continued his journey up the Saskatchewan. He +then left the river and marched on foot over the plains which separate +the North and the South Saskatchewan Rivers. The South Saskatchewan +was found to be a high stream covered with birch, poplar, elder, and +fir. He and his Indian guides were searching for the horse-riding +Blackfeet Indians.[4] All the Amerindians known to the Hudson's Bay +Company hitherto travelled on foot, using snowshoes in the winter; but +vague rumours had reached the Company that in the far south-west there +were great nations of Indians which did all their hunting on +horseback. + +[Footnote 4: See p. 159.] + +Hendry had now found them, and he also met a small tribe of +Assiniboins--the Mekesue or Eagle Indians--who differed from the +surrounding tribes by going about, at any rate in the summertime, +absolutely naked. Here, too, between the two Saskatchewans, they saw +herds of bison on the plains grazing like English cattle. But they +also found elk (moose), wapiti or red deer, hares, grouse, geese, and +ducks. He records in his journal: "I went with the young men +a-buffalo-hunting, all armed with bows and arrows; killed several; +fine sport. We beat them about, lodging twenty arrows in one beast. So +expert were the natives that they will take the arrows out of the +buffalo when they are foaming and raging with pain and tearing up the +ground with their feet and horns until they fall down." The +Amerindians killed far more of these splendid beasts than they could +eat, and from these carcasses they merely took the tongues and a few +choice pieces, leaving the remainder to the wolves and the grizzly +bears. + +At last they arrived at the temporary village of the Blackfeet. Two +hundred tents or _tipis_ were pitched in two parallel rows, and down +this avenue marched Anthony Hendry, gazed at silently by many +Blackfeet Indians until he reached the large house or lodge of their +great chief, at the end of the avenue of tents. This lodge was large +enough to contain fifty persons. The chief received him seated on the +sacred skin of a white buffalo. The pipe of peace was then produced +and passed round in silence, each person taking a ceremonial puff. +Boiled bison beef was then brought to the guests in baskets made of +willow branches. Hendry told the great chief of the Blackfeet that he +had been sent by the great leader of the white men at Hudson Bay to +invite the Blackfeet Indians to come to these eastern waters in the +summertime, and bring with them beaver and wolf skins, for which they +would get, in return, guns, ammunition, cloth, beads, and other trade +goods. But this chief, though he listened patiently, pointed out that +this fort on Hudson Bay was situated at a very great distance, that +his men only knew how to ride horses, and not how to paddle canoes. +Moreover, they could not live without bison beef, and disliked fish. + +After leaving the headquarters of the Blackfeet, Hendry rambled over +the beautiful country of fir woods and pine woods until he must have +got within sight of the Rocky Mountains, though these are not +mentioned in his journal. Then, after passing the winter (which did +not begin as regards cold weather till the 2nd of December, and was +over at the end of March) he returned to the French fort on the +Saskatchewan, where he was received by the Commandant, de La Corne, +with great kindness and hospitality. These Frenchmen, he found, were +able to speak in great perfection several Indian languages; they were +well dressed, and courtly in manners, and led a civilized life in +these distant wilds. They had excellent trade goods and were sincerely +liked by the Indians, but for some reason or other they lacked +Brazilian tobacco, which seems to have been a commodity much in favour +amongst the Indians. With this the Hudson's Bay Company were kept well +supplied, and that alone enabled them in any degree to compete with +the French. But in ten years more this French fort would be abandoned +owing to the cession of Canada to Britain. + +The British, in fact, all through the first half of the eighteenth +century, by their superiority in sea power, were steadily strangling +the French empire in North America. Acadia, or Nova Scotia, and New +Brunswick had been, as we have seen, recognized as British in 1713, +and Newfoundland, also, subject to certain conditions, giving France +the exclusive right to fish on the _western_ and _northern_ coasts of +Newfoundland. The result was that when "New France", or Canada and +Louisiana combined, was at its greatest extent of conquered and +administered territory, France held but a very limited seacoast from +which to approach it--just the mouth of the Mississippi, and a little +bit of Alabama on the south and Cape Breton Island on the east. Cape +Breton Island was commanded by the immensely strong fortress of +Louisburg, and the possession of this place gave the French some +security in entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence through Cabot Straits. +But Louisburg was captured by the British colonists of New England +(United States) in 1745; and although it was given back to France +again, it was reoccupied in 1758, and served as a basis for the +armaments which were directed against Quebec in 1759, and which +resulted at the close of that year in the surrender of that important +city. In 1763 all Canada was ceded to the British, and Louisiana +(which had become the western barrier of the about-to-be-born United +States) was ceded to Spain; the French flag flew no more on the +Continent of North America, save in the two little islands of St. +Pierre and Miquelon adjoining Newfoundland, wherein it still remains +as a reminder of the splendid achievements of Frenchmen in America. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Pioneers from Montreal: Alexander Henry the Elder + + +After 1763, when the two provinces of Canada were definitely ceded to +Great Britain, the exploring energies of the Hudson's Bay Fur-trading +Company revived. But before this rather sluggish organization could +take full advantage of the cessation of French opposition, independent +British pioneers were on their way to explore the vast north-west and +west, soon carrying their marvellous journeys beyond the utmost limits +reached by La Vérendrye and his sons. Eventually these pioneers, who +had Montreal for their base and who wisely associated themselves in +business and exploration with French Canadians, founded in 1784 a +great trading association known as the North-west Trading Company. A +few years later certain Scottish pioneers brought a rival exploration +and trading corporation into existence and called it the "X.Y. +Company". In 1804 these rival Montreal fur-trading associations were +fused into a new North-west Trading Company. Between this and the old +Hudson's Bay Company an intensely bitter rivalry and enmity--almost at +times a state of war--arose, and continued until 1821, when the +North-west Company and that of Hudson's Bay amalgamated. It is +necessary that these dry details should be understood in order that +the reader may comprehend the motives and reasons which prompted the +journeys which are about to be described. + +Jonathan Carver, of Boston, U.S.A., was perhaps the pioneer of all +the British traders into the far west of Canada, beyond Lake Superior, +after Canada had been handed over to the British.[1] In 1766-7 he +reached the Mississippi at its junction with the St. Peter or +Minnesota River, and journeyed up it to the land of the Dakota. Thomas +Currie, of Montreal, in 1770 travelled as far as Cedar Lake,[2] where +there had been established the French post of Fort Bourbon. He was +succeeded the next year by James Finlay, who extended his explorations +to the Saskatchewan, whither he was followed by Alexander Henry the +Elder in 1775. + +[Footnote 1: Carver was not so remarkable for his actual journeys as +for his confident predictions of a feasible transcontinental route +being found to the Pacific coast.] + +[Footnote 2: The white-barked conifer, which gives its name to this +lake, is _Thuja occidentalis_. There are no real "cedars" in America.] + +Alexander Henry (styled The Elder to distinguish him from his famous +nephew of the same name) was a native of New Jersey (U.S.A.), where he +was born in 1739. His parents were well-to-do people of the middle +class who are believed to have emigrated at the beginning of the +eighteenth century from the West of England, and to have been related +to Matthew Henry, the Bible commentator. Their son, Alexander, +received a good education, and after some commercial apprenticeship at +Albany (New York) came to Quebec when Canada was occupied by the +British in 1760; at which period he was about twenty-one years old. He +was in such a hurry to try a trading adventure in the country of the +great lakes that he ventured into central Canada before it was +sufficiently calmed down and reconciled to British rule. The +hostility, curiously enough, manifested itself much more among the +Amerindians than the settlers of French blood. These white men had not +been so well treated by the arrogant French officers and officials as +much to mind the change to the greater freedom of British government. +But the Indian chiefs and people loved the French, largely owing to +the goodness and solicitude of the missionaries. + +"The hostility of the Indians", wrote Henry in his journal, travelling +along the coast of Lake Huron, "was exclusively against the English. +Between them and my Canadian attendants, there appeared the most +cordial goodwill. This circumstance suggested one means of escape, of +which, by the advice of my friend, Campion, I resolved to attempt +availing myself; namely, that of putting on the dress usually worn by +such of the Canadians as pursue the trade into which I had entered, +and assimilating myself, as much as I was able, to their appearance +and manners. To this end I laid aside my English clothes and covered +myself only with a cloth passed about the middle; a shirt, hanging +loose; a 'molton', or blanket coat, and a large, red worsted cap. The +next thing was to smear my face and hands with dirt and grease; and, +this done, I took the place of one of my men, and, when the Indians +approached, used the paddle with as much skill as I possessed. I had +the satisfaction to find, that my disguise enabled me to pass several +canoes without attracting the smallest notice." + +When he reached Fort Michili-makinak[3] he wrote: "At two o'clock in +the afternoon, the Chipeways came to my house, about sixty in number, +and headed by Minaváváná, their chief. They walked in single file, +each with his tomahawk in one hand and scalping knife in the other. +Their bodies were naked from the waist upward, except in a few +examples, where blankets were thrown loosely over the shoulders. Their +faces were painted with charcoal, worked up with grease; their bodies, +with white clay, in patterns of various fancies. Some had feathers +thrust through their noses, and their heads decorated with the +same.... It is unnecessary to dwell on the sensations with which I +beheld the approach of this uncouth, if not frightful assemblage. + +"The chief entered first, and the rest followed without noise. On +receiving a sign from the former, the latter seated themselves on the +floor. + +"Minaváváná appeared to be about fifty years of age. He was six feet +in height, and had, in his countenance, an indescribable mixture of +good and evil.... Looking steadfastly at me, where I sat in ceremony, +with an interpreter on either hand and several Canadians behind me, he +entered at the same time into conversation with Campion, enquiring how +long it was since I left Montreal, and observing that the English, as +it would seem, were brave men, and not afraid of death, since they +dared to come, as I had done, fearlessly among their enemies." + +[Footnote 3: The famous place of call (the name means "Turtle Island") +in the narrow strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and near Lake +Superior. (See p. 230.) But some authorities declare that +Michili-makinak means "Island of the great wounded person".] + +The Indians now gravely smoked their pipes, whilst Henry inwardly +endured tortures of suspense. At length, the pipes being finished, a +long pause of silence followed. Then Minaváváná, taking a few strings +of wampum in his hand, began a long speech, of which it is only +necessary to give a few extracts:-- + +"Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I demand your attention! + +"Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not yet +conquered us! We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods and +mountains, were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, +and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like +the white people, cannot live without bread--and pork--and beef! But, +you ought to know, that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has +provided food for us in these spacious lakes, and on these woody +mountains. + +"Englishman, our father, the King of France, employed our young men to +make war upon your nation. In this warfare many of them have been +killed, and it is our custom to retaliate, until such time as the +spirits of the slain are satisfied. But the spirits of the slain are +to be satisfied in either of two ways. The first is by the spilling of +the blood of the nation by which they fell; the other by covering the +bodies of the dead, and thus allaying the resentment of their +relations. This is done by making presents. + +"Englishman, your king has never sent us any presents, nor entered +into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at war; and, +until he does these things, we must consider that we have no other +father, nor friend, among the white men, than the King of France; but, +for you, we have taken into consideration, that you have ventured your +life among us in the expectation that we should not molest you. You do +not come armed with an intention to make war; you come in peace, to +trade with us, and supply us with necessaries, of which we are in +want. We shall regard you, therefore, as a brother, and you may sleep +tranquilly, without fear of the Chipeways.... As a token of our +friendship, we present you with this pipe to smoke." + +When Minaváváná had finished his harangue, an Indian presented Henry +with a pipe, the which, after he had drawn smoke through it three +times, was carried back to the chief, and after him to every person in +the room. This ceremony ended, the chief arose, and gave the +Englishman his hand, in which he was followed by all the rest. + +At the Sault Ste Marie, on the river connecting Lake Superior and +Huron, Henry spent part of the spring of 1763-4, and engaged with a +few French Canadians and Indians in making maple sugar, the season for +which--April--was now at hand. + +A temporary house for eight persons was built in a convenient part of +the maple woods, distant about three miles from the fort. The men +then gathered the bark of white birch trees, and made out of it +vessels to hold the sap which was to flow from the incisions they cut +in the bark of the maple trees. Into these cuts they introduced wooden +spouts or ducts, and under them were placed the birch-bark vessels. +When these were filled, the sweet liquid was poured into larger +buckets, and the buckets were emptied into bags of elkskin containing +perhaps a hundred gallons. Boilers (probably of metal, introduced by +the French) were next set up in the camp over fires kept burning day +and night, and the maple sap thus boiled became, by concentration, +maple sugar. + +The women attended to all the business of sugar manufacture, while the +men cut wood and went out hunting and fishing to secure food for the +community; though, as a matter of fact, sugar and syrup were their +main sustenance during all this absence from home. "I have known +Indians", wrote Henry, "to live for a time wholly on maple sugar and +syrup and become fat." The sap of the maple had certain medicinal +qualities which were exceedingly good for persons who had previously +been eating little else than meat and fish, so that the three weeks of +sugar-boiling in Canada was, no doubt, a splendid assistance to the +health of the natives. On this particular occasion described by Henry, +the party returned, after three weeks' absence, to the Sault Ste Marie +with 1600 lb. of maple sugar, and 36 gallons of syrup.[4] + +[Footnote 4: There are at least two species of maple in Canada +yielding sugar from their sap; but the best is _Acer saccharinum_. The +maple leaf is the national emblem of Canada.] + +Henry returned in the summer of 1763 to Fort Michili-makinak. The +place was then held by a British garrison under Major Etherington. +Shortly after Henry's arrival, an Ojibwé chief named Wáwátam came +often to his lodgings, and, taking a great fancy to the Englishman, +asked leave to become his blood brother. He was about forty-five +years of age, and of an excellent character amongst his nation. He +warned Henry that he, Wáwátam, had had bad dreams during the winter, +in which he had been disturbed "by the noises of evil birds", and gave +him other roundabout warnings that the Indians of different tribes +were going to attack the British garrison at Michili-Makinak, and +endeavour to destroy all the English in Upper Canada. Henry did not +pay over much attention to this warning, because "the Indian manner of +speech is so extravagantly figurative". + +The King's birthday was celebrated with, no doubt, somewhat tipsy +rejoicings in the summer of 1763. The Ojibwé Indians outside the fort +pretended they were going to have a great game of La Crosse with the +S[¯a]ki or "Fox" Indians. This game was got up to find a pretext for +entering the fort and taking the British officers and garrison at a +disadvantage. Some of the officers and soldiers, suspecting nothing in +the way of danger, were outside the fort by the waterside. However, +the sport commenced, and suddenly the ball was struck over the pickets +of the fort. At once the Ojibwés, pretending great ardour in their +game, came leaping, struggling and shouting over the defences into the +fort as though "in the unrestrained pursuit of a rude, athletic +exercise". Once inside the fortifications, they attacked the +unsuspicious and unarmed soldiers and officers, of whom they killed +seventy out of ninety. + +Henry had not gone with the others, but had stayed in his room writing +letters. Suddenly he heard the Indian warcry and a noise of general +confusion. Looking out of his window he saw a crowd of Indians inside +the fort furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they +could reach. Meantime, the French Canadian inhabitants of the fort +looked on calmly, neither intervening to stop the Indians, nor +suffering any injury from them. Realizing that all his fellow +countrymen were practically destroyed, Henry endeavoured to hide +himself. He entered the house of his next-door neighbour, a Frenchman, +and found the whole family at the windows gazing at the scene of blood +before them. He implored this Frenchman to put him into some place of +safety until the massacre was over. The latter merely shrugged his +shoulders and intimated that he could do nothing for him; but a Pani +Indian woman, a slave of this Frenchman, beckoned to Henry to follow +her, and hid him in a garret. Then the Indians burst into the house +and asked the Frenchman if he had got any Englishmen concealed, the +latter returned an evasive answer, telling them to search for +themselves. Henry hid himself under a heap of birch-bark vessels, +which were used in maple-sugar manufacture. The door was unlocked, the +four Indians dashed in, their bodies covered with blood, and armed +with tomahawks. The hidden man thought that the throbbing of his heart +must make a noise loud enough to betray him. The Indians searched the +garret, and one of them approached Henry so closely as almost to touch +him; yet he remained undiscovered, possibly owing to the dark colour +of his clothes and the dim light in the room. Then the Indians, after +describing to the Frenchman how many they had killed and scalped, +returned downstairs, and the door was locked behind them. + +But the next day the Indians insisted on a further search, and, +regarding every attempt at concealment as vain, Henry, by a desperate +resolve, rose from his bed and presented himself in full view to the +Indians as they entered the room. They were all in a state of +intoxication and entirely naked. One of them, upwards of six feet in +height, had all his face and body covered with charcoal and grease, +but with a large white ring encircling each of his eyes. This man, +walking up to Henry, seized him with one hand by the collar of his +coat, and in the other held up a large carving knife, making a feint +as if to plunge it into his breast, his eyes meanwhile fixed +steadfastly on those of the Englishman. At length, after some seconds +of the most anxious suspense, he dropped Henry's arm, saying: "I won't +kill you," adding that he had often fought in war with the English and +brought away many scalps, but that on a certain occasion he had lost a +brother whose name was Musinigon, and that he would adopt Henry in his +place. + +One would like the story to have stopped here at this happy turn of +events, but Wenniway (as this saviour of Henry was called) entertained +a very fickle regard for his adopted brother, and, though he once or +twice intervened, subsequently took no great pains to see that his +life was spared. However, for the time being he was reprieved, and +regarded Wenniway as his "master". Nevertheless, he was soon haled out +of the house by another Indian, apparently coming with Wenniway's +authority. This man ordered him to undress, and then took away all his +clothes, giving him such dirty rags or strips of leather as he +possessed himself. He frankly owned that his motive for stripping him +was that, as he wished afterwards to kill him, Henry's clothes might +not be stained with blood! With the intention of assassinating him, in +fact, he dragged Henry along to a region of bushes and sandhills, and +then produced a knife and attempted to execute his purpose. But with +the rage and strength of absolute despair Henry wrenched himself free, +pushed his would-be murderer on one side, and ran for his life towards +the fort. + +Here Wenniway rather indifferently helped him to take refuge in the +house of the Frenchman in which he had formerly hidden, but the same +night he was roused from sleep and ordered to come below, where to his +surprise he found himself in the presence of three of the British +officers who had formerly commanded in this fort, and who were now +prisoners of the Ojibwés. The Indian chiefs for the time being had +handed these men over to the surveillance of the French Canadians, +together with the seventeen surviving English soldiers and traders. +Henry, like the others, was almost without clothes. The French +Canadian in whose house he had taken refuge refused to give him as +much as a blanket, but another Canadian, less indifferent to the +sufferings of a fellow white man, did give him a blanket, but for +which he would certainly have perished from cold. + +The next day he and the other English prisoners were embarked in +canoes and taken away to Lake Michigan. On reaching the mouth of that +lake, at the Beaver Islands, the Ojibwé canoes, on account of the fog, +were obliged to approach the lands of the Ottawa Indians. These last +suddenly seized the canoes as they entered shallow water, and +professed great indignation at the capture of Fort Michili-Makinak and +the slaughter of the Englishmen. They declared their intention of +saving the survivors, and charged the Ojibwés with being about to kill +and eat them. By the Ottawa Indians, therefore, the twenty Englishmen +were carried back again and deposited in Fort Michili-Makinak, which +was now taken possession of by the Ottawas. The English were still +held as prisoners. After hearing all the Ojibwés had to say, and +receiving from them large presents, the Ottawas finally decided to +restore their English prisoners to the Ojibwés, who consequently took +them away with ropes tied round their necks, and put them into an +Indian habitation. Here, as they were starving, they were offered +loaves of bread, but with the horrible accompaniment of seeing the +slices cut with knives still covered with the blood of the murdered +English. The Ojibwés moistened this blood on the knife blades with +their spittle, and rubbed it on the slices of bread, offering this +food then to their prisoners, so that they might force them to eat the +blood of their countrymen. + +The next morning, however, there appeared before Ménéhewéhná, the +great war chief of the Ojibwés, Henry's friend and adopted brother, +Wáwátam. This man made an earnest speech to the council of Ojibwé +chiefs and braves, in which he pleaded hard for the Englishman's life, +at the same time tendering from out of his own goods a considerable +ransom. After much pipe-smoking and an embarrassing silence, the war +chief rose to his feet and accepted the ransom, giving Wáwátam +permission to take away into safety his adopted brother. "Wáwátam led +me to his lodge, which was at the distance of a few yards only from +the prison lodge. My entrance appeared to give joy to the whole +family; food was immediately prepared for me; and I now ate the first +hearty meal which I had made since my capture. I found myself one of +the family; and, but that I had still my fears as to the other +Indians, I felt as happy as the situation could allow." + +The next day seven of the English prisoners were killed by the +Ojibwés, and Henry actually saw their dead bodies being dragged out +into the open. They had been killed in cold blood by an Indian chief +who had just arrived from a hunting expedition, and who, not having +been present at the attack on the fort, now desired to satisfy his +warlike instincts and his agreement with the policy of the Ojibwés by +going into the lodge where the English officers and men were tied up, +and slaughtering seven of them in cold blood. + +Shortly afterwards two of the Ojibwés took the fattest amongst the +dead men, cut off his head, and divided his body into five parts, one +of which was put into each of five kettles hung over as many fires, +which were kindled for this purpose at the door of the house in which +the other prisoners were tied up. They then sent to insist on the +attendance at their cannibal feast of Wáwátam, the adopted brother and +protector of Henry. The invitation was delivered after the Amerindian +fashion. A small cutting of cedar wood about four inches in length +supplies the place of the written or printed invitation to dinner of +European civilization, and the man who bore the slip of cedar wood +gave particulars as to place and time by word of mouth. Guests on +these occasions were expected to bring their own dish and spoon. + +In spite of repugnance, Wáwátam, to save his life and that of Henry, +was obliged to go. He returned after an absence of half an hour, +bringing back in his dish the portion given to him--a human hand and a +large piece of flesh. His objection to eat this gruesome food was +apparently not very deep or persistent. He excused the custom by +saying that amongst all Amerindian nations there existed this practice +of making a war feast from out of the bodies of the slain after a +successful battle. + +Soon after this episode of horror the Ojibwés abandoned Fort +Michili-Makinak, for fear the English should come to attack it. Henry +was hidden by his adopted brother, Wáwátam, in a cave, where he found +himself by the light of the next morning sleeping on a bed of human +bones, which the night before he had taken to be twigs and boughs. The +whole of the cave was, in fact, filled with these human remains. No +one knew or remembered the reason. Henry thought that the cave had +been an ancient receptacle for the bones of persons who had been +sacrificed and devoured at war feasts; for, however contemptuous they +may be of the flesh, the Amerindians paid particular attention +to the bones of human beings--whether friends, relations, or +enemies--preserving them unbroken, and depositing them in some +place kept exclusively for that purpose. + +The great chief of the Ojibwés, however, advised that Henry, who had +rejoined Wáwátam, should be dressed in disguise as an Indian to save +him from any further harm, for the natives all round about were +preparing for what they believed to be an inevitable war with the +English. + +"I could not but consent to the proposal, and the chief was so kind as +to assist my friend and his family in effecting that very day the +desired metamorphosis. My hair was cut off, and my head shaved, with +the exception of a spot on the crown, of about twice the diameter of a +crown piece. My face was painted with three or four different colours; +some parts of it red, and others black. A shirt was provided for me, +painted with vermilion, mixed with grease. A large collar of wampum[5] +was put round my neck, and another suspended on my breast. Both my +arms were decorated with large bands of silver above the elbow, +besides several smaller ones on the wrists; and my legs were covered +with _mitasses_, a kind of hose, made, as is the favourite fashion, of +scarlet cloth. Over all I was to wear a scarlet blanket or mantle, and +on my head a large bunch of feathers. I parted, not without some +regret, with the long hair which was natural to it, and which I +fancied to be ornamental; but the ladies of the family, and of the +village in general, appeared to think my person improved, and now +condescended to call me handsome, even among Indians." + +[Footnote 5: Shell beads.] + +He then went away to live with his protectors, and with them passed a +by no means unhappy autumn, winter, and spring, hunting and fishing. + +Here are some of his adventures at this period. + +"To kill beaver, we used to go several miles up the rivers, before the +approach of night, and after the dusk came on, suffer the canoe to +drift gently down the current, without noise. The beavers, in this +part of the evening, come abroad to procure food, or materials for +repairing their habitations, and as they are not alarmed by the canoe, +they often pass it within gunshot. + +"On entering the River Aux Sables, Wáwátam took a dog, tied its feet +together, and threw it into the stream, uttering, at the same time, a +long prayer, which he addressed to the Great Spirit, supplicating his +blessing on the chase, and his aid in the support of the family, +through the dangers of a long winter. Our 'lodge' was fifteen miles +above the mouth of the stream. The principal animals, which the +country afforded, were red deer (wapiti), the common American deer, +the bear, racoon, beaver, and marten. + +"The beaver feeds in preference on young wood of the birch, aspen, and +poplar tree[6]; but, in defect of these, on any other tree, those of +the pine and fir kinds excepted. These latter it employs only for +building its dams and houses. In wide meadows, where no wood is to be +found, it resorts, for all its purposes, to the roots of the rush and +water lily. It consumes great quantities of food, whether of roots or +wood; and hence often reduces itself to the necessity of removing into +a new quarter. Its house has an arched dome-like roof, of an +elliptical figure, and rises from three to four feet above the surface +of the water. It is always entirely surrounded by water; but, in the +banks adjacent, the animal provides holes or _washes_, of which the +entrance is below the surface, and to which it retreats on the first +alarm. + +"The female beaver usually produces two young at a time, but not +unfrequently more. During the first year, the young remain with their +parents. In the second, they occupy an adjoining apartment, and assist +in building, and in procuring food. At two years old, they part, and +build houses of their own; but often rove about for a considerable +time before they fix upon a spot. There are beavers, called, by the +Indians, _old bachelors_, who live by themselves, build no houses, and +work at no dams, but shelter themselves in holes. The usual method of +taking these is by traps, formed of iron, or logs, and baited with +branches of poplar. + +"According to the Indians, the beaver is much given to jealousy. If a +strange male approaches the cabin, a battle immediately ensues. Of +this the female remains an unconcerned spectator, careless as to which +party the law of conquest may assign her. The Indians add that the +male is as constant as he is jealous, never attaching himself to more +than one female. + +"The most common way of taking the beaver is that of breaking up its +house, which is done with trenching tools, during the winter, when the +ice is strong enough to allow of approaching them; and when, also, the +fur is in its most valuable state. + +"Breaking up the house, however, is only a preparatory step. During +this operation, the family make their escape to one or more of their +_washes_. These are to be discovered by striking the ice along the +bank, and where the holes are, a hollow sound is returned. After +discovering and searching many of these in vain, we often heard the +whole family together in the same wash. I was taught occasionally to +distinguish a full wash from an empty one, by the motion of the water +above its entrance, occasioned by the breathing of the animals +concealed in it. From the washes, they must be taken out with the +hands; and in doing this, the hunter sometimes receives severe wounds +from their teeth. Whilst I was a hunter with the Indians, I thought +beaver flesh was very good; but after that of the ox was again within +my reach, I could not relish it. The tail is accounted a luxurious +morsel. + +"One evening, on my return from hunting, I found the fire put out, and +the opening in the top of the lodge covered over with skins--by this +means excluding, as much as possible, external light. I further +observed that the ashes were removed from the fireplace, and that dry +sand was spread where they had been. Soon after, a fire was made +withoutside the cabin, in the open air, and a kettle hung over it to +boil. + +"I now supposed that a feast was in preparation. I supposed so only, +for it would have been indecorous to enquire into the meaning of what +I saw. No person, among the Indians themselves, would use this +freedom. Good breeding requires that the spectator should patiently +wait the result. + +"As soon as the darkness of night had arrived, the family, including +myself, were invited into the lodge. I was now requested not to speak, +as a feast was about to be given to the dead, whose spirits delight in +uninterrupted silence. + +"As we entered, each was presented with his wooden dish and spoon, +after receiving which we seated ourselves. The door was next shut, and +we remained in perfect darkness. + +"The master of the family was the master of the feast. Still in the +dark, he asked everyone, by turn, for his dish, and put into each two +boiled ears of maize. The whole being served, he began to speak. In +his discourse, which lasted half an hour, he called upon the manes of +his deceased relations and friends, beseeching them to be present, to +assist him in the chase, and to partake of the food which he had +prepared for them. When he had ended, we proceeded to eat our maize, +which we did without other noise than what was occasioned by our +teeth. The maize was not half boiled, and it took me an hour to +consume my share. I was requested not to break the spikes,[7] as this +would be displeasing to the departed spirits of their friends. + +"When all was eaten, Wáwátam made another speech, with which the +ceremony ended. A new fire was kindled, with fresh sparks, from flint +and steel; and the pipes being smoked, the spikes were carefully +buried, in a hole made in the ground for that purpose, within the +lodge. This done, the whole family began a dance, Wáwátam singing, and +beating a drum. The dance continued the greater part of the night, to +the great pleasure of the lodge. The night of the feast was that of +the first day of November." + +[Footnote 6: _Populus nigra_, called by the French Canadians _liard_.] + +[Footnote 7: The grains of maize (Indian corn) grow in compact cells, +round a pithy core.] + +In the month of January, Henry happened to observe that the trunk of a +very large pine tree was much torn by the claws of a bear, made both +in going up and down. On further examination he saw there was a large +opening, in the upper part, near which the smaller branches were +broken. From these marks, and from the additional circumstances that +there were no tracks on the snow, there was reason to believe that a +bear lay concealed in the tree. + +He communicated his discovery to his Indian friends, and it was agreed +that all the family should go together in the morning to cut down the +tree, the girth of which was not less than eighteen feet! This task +occupied them for one and a half days with their poor little axes, +till about two o'clock in the second afternoon the tree fell to the +ground. For a few minutes everything remained quiet, and Henry feared +that all his expectations would be disappointed; but, as he advanced +to the opening, there came out a female bear of extraordinary size, +which he had shot and killed before she had proceeded many yards. + +"The bear being dead, all my assistants approached, and all, but more +particularly my old mother, (as I was won't to call her), took the +bear's head in their hands, stroking and kissing it several times; +begging a thousand pardons for taking away her life; calling her their +relation and grandmother; and requesting her not to lay the fault upon +them, since it was truly an Englishman that had put her to death. + +"This ceremony was not of long duration; and if it was I that killed +their grandmother, they were not themselves behindhand in what +remained to be performed. The skin being taken off, we found the fat +in several places six inches deep. This, being divided into two parts, +loaded two persons; and the flesh parts were as much as four persons +could carry. In all, the carcass must have exceeded five +hundredweight. + +"As soon as we reached the lodge, the bear's head was adorned with all +the trinkets in the possession of the family, such as silver armbands +and wristbands, and belts of wampum; and then laid upon a scaffold, +set up for its reception, within the lodge. Near the nose was placed a +large quantity of tobacco. + +"The next morning no sooner appeared, than preparations were made for +a feast to the manes. The lodge was cleaned and swept; and the head of +the bear lifted up, and a new Stroud blanket, which had never been +used before, spread under it. The pipes were now lit; and Wáwátam blew +tobacco smoke into the nostrils of the bear, telling me to do the +same, and thus appease the anger of the bear, on account of my having +killed her. + +"At length, the feast being ready, Wáwátam commenced a speech, +resembling, in many things, his address to the manes of his relations +and departed companions; but, having this peculiarity, that he here +deplored the necessity under which men laboured, thus to destroy their +_friends_. He represented, however, that the misfortune was +unavoidable, since without doing so, they could by no means subsist. +The speech ended, we all ate heartily of the bear's flesh; and even +the head itself, after remaining three days on the scaffold, was put +into the kettle. The fat of our bear was melted down, and the oil +filled six porcupine-skin bags. A part of the meat was cut into +strips, and fire-dried, after which it was put into the vessels +containing the oil, where it remained in perfect preservation, until +the middle of summer." + +In the spring of 1762 Henry once more returned to Fort +Michili-Makinak, and went sugar-making with his Indian companions. +Whilst engaged in this agreeable task, a child belonging to one of the +party fell into a kettle of boiling syrup. It was instantly snatched +out, but with little hope of its recovery. So long, however, as it +lived, a continual feast was observed; and this was made "to the Great +Spirit and Master of Life", that he might be pleased to save and heal +the child. At this feast Henry was a constant guest; and often found +some difficulty in eating the large quantity of food which, on such +occasions as these, was put upon his dish. + +Several sacrifices were also offered; among which were dogs, killed +and hung upon the tops of poles, with the addition of blankets and +other articles. These, also, were yielded to the Great Spirit, in the +humble hope that he would give efficacy to the medicines employed. But +the child died. To preserve the body from the wolves it was placed +upon a scaffold, and then later carried to the borders of a lake, on +the border of which was the burial ground of the family. + +"On our arrival there, which happened in the beginning of April, I did +not fail to attend the funeral. The grave was made of a large size, +and the whole of the inside lined with birch bark. On the bark was +laid the body of the child, accompanied with an axe, a pair of +snowshoes, a small kettle, several pairs of common shoes, its own +strings of beads, and--because it was a girl--a carrying belt and a +paddle. The kettle was filled with meat. All this was again covered +with bark; and at about two feet nearer the surface logs were laid +across, and these again covered with bark, so that the earth might by +no means fall upon the corpse. + +"The last act before the burial, performed by the mother, crying over +the dead body of her child, was that of taking from it a lock of hair +for a memorial. While she did this, I endeavoured to console her by +offering the usual arguments: that the child was happy in being +released from the miseries of this present life, and that she should +forbear to grieve, because it would be restored to her in another +world, happy and everlasting. She answered that she knew it, and that +by the lock of hair she should discover her daughter; for she would +take it with her. In this she alluded to the day when some pious hand +would place in her own grave, along with the carrying belt and paddle, +this little relic, hallowed by maternal tears." + +After many ups and downs of hope and despair, and many narrow escapes +of being killed and made into broth for warlike Ojibwés, Henry at +length obtained permission to travel with a party of Ojibwé Indians +who were invited to visited Sir William Johnson at Niagara. This +British Governor of Canada was attempting to enter into friendly +relations with the Amerindian tribes, and induce them to accept +quietly the transference of Canada from French to English control. + +[Illustration: SCENE ON CANADIAN RIVER: WILD SWANS FLYING UP DISTURBED +BY BEAR] + +Before starting, however, to interview this great White Governor, the +Ojibwés decided to consult their oracle, the Great Turtle, after which +Fort Michili-Makinak was named.[8] Behind Fort Michili-Makinak is an +extraordinary mound or hill of stone supposed to resemble this reptile +exactly, and in fact to be in some way the residence of a supernatural +giant turtle. + +[Footnote 8: Michili, pronounced "Mishili", means "great", and +Makinak, "turtle", in the translation of some Canadian writers. The +turtle in question is, of course, not the turtle of sea waters, but +the Snapping Turtle (_Chelydra serpentina_) found in most Canadian +lakes and the big rivers of North America, east of the Rocky +Mountains.] + +For invoking and consulting the Great Turtle, the first thing to be +done was to build a large house, within which was placed a kind of +tent, for the use of the priest and reception of the spirit. The tent +was formed of moose skins, hung over a framework of wood made out of +five pillars of five different species of timber, about ten feet in +height and eight inches in diameter, set up in a circle of four feet +in diameter, with their bases two feet deep in the soil. At the top +the pillars were bound together by a circular hoop of withies. Over +the whole of this edifice were spread the moose skins, covering it at +top and round the sides, and made fast with thongs of the same, except +that on one side a part was left unfastened, to admit of the entrance +of the priest. + +The ceremonies did not commence till the approach of night. To give +light inside the house several fires were kindled round the tent. +Nearly the whole village assembled in the house, Alexander Henry among +the rest. It was not long before the priest appeared, almost in a +state of nakedness. As he approached the tent the skins were lifted +up, as much as was necessary to allow of his creeping under them on +his hands and knees. His head was scarcely within side when the +edifice, massive as it has been described, began to shake; and the +skins were no sooner let fall than the sounds of numerous voices were +heard beneath them--some yelling, some barking as dogs, some howling +like wolves; and in this horrible concert were mingled screams and +sobs of despair, anguish, and the sharpest pain. Articulate speech was +also uttered, as if from human lips, but in a tongue unknown to any of +the audience. + +After some time these confused and frightful noises were succeeded by +a perfect silence; and now a voice, not heard before, seemed to +manifest the arrival of a new character in the tent. This was low and +feeble, resembling the cry of a young puppy. The sound was no sooner +distinguished than all the Indians clapped their hands for joy, +exclaiming that this was the Chief Spirit, the Turtle, the Spirit that +never lied! Other voices, which they had distinguished from time to +time, they had previously hissed, as recognizing them to belong to +evil and lying spirits, the deceivers of mankind. + +Then came from the tent a succession of songs, in which a diversity +of voices met the ear. From his first entrance, till these songs were +finished, we heard nothing in the proper voice of the priest. But now +he addressed the multitude, declaring the presence of the Great +Turtle, and the spirit's readiness to answer such questions as should +be proposed. The questions were to come from the chief of the village, +who was silent, however, till after he had put a large quantity of +tobacco into the tent, introducing it at the aperture. This was a +sacrifice offered to the spirit; for the spirits were supposed by the +Indians to be as fond of tobacco as themselves. This done, the chief +desired the priest to enquire: Whether or not the English were +preparing to make war upon the Indians? and whether or not there were +at Fort Niagara a large number of English troops? + +The priest was heard to put the questions, and then the tent shook and +rocked so violently that Henry expected to see it levelled with the +ground. But apparently answers were given, after which a terrific cry +announced, with sufficient intelligibility, the departure of the +Turtle. Subsequently the priest interpreted the Great Turtle's +answers, which gave a great deal of information regarding the +disposition and numbers of the English soldiers, and the presents +which Sir William Johnson was preparing for the Ojibwés; and which +finally approved the wisdom of the embassy proceeding on its way. + +Journeying along the shores of Lake Huron, they stopped to avoid a +gale of wind and to rest. Henry, gathering firewood, disturbed a +rattlesnake which manifested hostile intentions. He went back to the +canoe to fetch his gun; but upon telling the Ojibwés that he was about +to kill a rattlesnake they begged him to desist. They then seized +their pipes and tobacco pouches and returned with him to the place +where he had left the rattlesnake, which was still coiled up and +angry. + +"The Indians, on their part, surrounded it, all addressing it by +turns, and calling it their _grandfather_; but yet keeping at some +distance. During this part of the ceremony they filled their pipes; +and now each blew the smoke towards the snake, who, as it appeared to +me, really received it with pleasure. In a word, after remaining +coiled, and receiving incense for the space of half an hour, it +stretched itself along the ground, in visible good humour. Its length +was between four and five feet. Having remained outstretched for some +time, at last it moved slowly away, the Indians following it, and +still addressing it by the title of grandfather, beseeching it to take +care of their families during their absence, and to be pleased to open +the heart of Sir William Johnson, so that he might _show them +charity_, and fill their canoe with rum. + +"One of the chiefs added a petition, that the snake would take no +notice of the insult which had been offered him by the Englishman, who +would even have put him to death, but for the interference of the +Indians, to whom it was hoped he would impute no part of the offence." + +Early the next morning they proceeded on their way, with a serene sky +and very little wind, so that to shorten the journey they determined +to steer across the lake to an island which just appeared on the +horizon. But after hoisting a sail the wind increased, and the +Indians, beginning to be alarmed, frequently called on the rattlesnake +to come to their assistance. By degrees the waves grew high, and at +last it blew a hurricane, Henry and his companions expecting every +moment to be swallowed up. From prayers the Indians now proceeded to +sacrifices, both alike offered to the god-rattlesnake, or +_manito-kinibik_. One of the chiefs took a dog, and, after tying its +fore legs together, threw it overboard, at the same time calling on +the snake to preserve the party from being drowned, and desiring him +to satisfy his hunger with the carcass of the dog. The snake was +unpropitious, and the wind increased. Another chief sacrificed +another dog, with the addition of some tobacco. In the prayer which +accompanied these gifts he besought the snake, as before, not to +avenge upon the Indians the insult which he had received from the +Englishman. "He assured the snake that I was _absolutely_ an +Englishman, and of kin neither to him nor to them." + +"At the conclusion of this speech, an Indian, who sat near me, +observed, that if we were drowned it would be for my fault alone, and +that I ought myself to be sacrificed, to appease the angry manito; nor +was I without apprehensions, that in case of extremity this would be +my fate; but, happily for me, the storm at length abated, and we +reached the island safely." + +The next day they arrived at the shore of Lake Ontario. Here they +remained two days to make canoes out of the bark of the elm tree, in +which they might travel to Niagara. For this purpose the Indians first +cut down a tree, then stripped off the bark in one entire sheet of +about eighteen feet in length, the incision being lengthwise. The +canoe was now complete as to its bottom and sides. Its ends were next +closed, by sewing the bark together; and a few ribs and bars being +introduced, the architecture was finished. In this manner they made +two canoes; of which one carried eight men, and the other nine. + +A few days later Henry was handed over safe and sound to Sir William +Johnson at Niagara. He was then given the command of a corps of Indian +allies which was to accompany the expedition under General Bradstreet +to raise the siege of Detroit, which important place had been long +invested by a great Indian chief, Pontiac, who still carried on the +war on behalf of King Louis XV. This enterprise was successful, and +British control was extended to many places in central Canada. Henry +returned to Fort Michili-Makinak and regained much of the property +which he had lost in the Indian attacks. As some compensation for his +former sufferings he received from the British commandant of +Michili-Makinak the exclusive fur trade of Lake Superior. + +The currency at that period, and long before, in Canadian history, was +in beaver skins, which were approximately valued at the price of two +shillings and sixpence a pound. Otter skins were valued at six +shillings each, and marten skins at one shilling and sixpence, and +others in proportion; but all these things were classed at being worth +so many beaver skins or proportion of beaver skins. Thus, for example, +the native canoemen and porters engaged by Henry for his winter hunts +were paid each at the rate of a hundred pounds weight of beaver +skins.[9] + +[Footnote 9: The smallest change, so to speak, was the skin of a +marten, worth one shilling and sixpence. If you went to a canteen for +a drink you paid your score with a marten skin, unless the value of +your refreshment exceeded the sum of eighteen pence.] + +At various places on the River Ontonagan, which flows into Lake +Superior, Henry was shown the extraordinary deposits of copper, which +presented itself to the eye in masses of various weight. The natives +smelted the copper and beat it into spoons and bracelets. It was so +absolutely pure of any alloy that it required nothing but to be beaten +into shape. In one place Henry saw a mass of copper weighing not less +than five tons, pure and malleable, so that with an axe he was able to +cut off a portion weighing a hundred pounds. He conjectured that this +huge mass of copper had at some time been dislodged from the side of a +lofty hill and thence rolled into the position where he found it. +Farther to the north of Lake Superior he found pieces of virgin copper +remarkable for their form, some resembling leaves of vegetables, and +others the shapes of animals. + +In these journeys he collected some of the native traditions, amongst +others that of the Great Hare, Naniboju, who was represented to him as +the founder or creator of the Amerindian peoples. An island in Lake +Superior was called Naniboju's burial place. Henry landed there, and +"found on the projecting rocks a quantity of tobacco, rotting in the +rain; together with kettles, broken guns, and a variety of other +articles. His spirit is supposed to make this its constant residence; +and here to preside over the lake, and over the Indians, in their +navigation and fishing." + +In the spring of the following year (1768), whilst the snow still lay +many feet thick on the ground, he and his men made sugar from the +maple trees on a mountain, and for nearly three weeks none of them ate +anything but maple sugar, consuming a pound a day, desiring no other +food, and waxing fat and strong on this diet. Then they returned to +the banks of the Ontonagan River, where the wild fowl appeared in such +abundance that one man, with a muzzle-loading gun, could kill in a day +sufficient birds for the sustenance of fifty men. As soon as the ice +and snow had melted, parties of Indians came in from their winter's +hunt, bringing to Henry furs to pay him for all the goods he had +advanced. In this way the whole of his outstanding credit was +satisfied, with the exception of thirty skins, which represented the +contribution due from one Indian who had died. In this case even, the +man's family had sent all the skins they could gather together, and +gradually acquitted themselves of the amount due, in order that the +spirit of the dead man might rest in peace, which it could not do if +his debts were not acquitted. + +In the following autumn he had an experience which showed him how near +famine was to great abundance, and how ready the Amerindians were in +cases of even slight privation to turn cannibal, kill and eat the +weaker members of the party. He was making an excursion to the Sault +de Sainte Marie, and took with him three half-breed Canadians and a +young Indian woman who was journeying in that direction to see her +relations. As the distance was short, and they expected to obtain much +fish by the way, they only took with them as provisions a quart of +maize for each person. On the first night of their journey they +encamped on the island of Naniboju and set their net to catch fish. +But there arose a violent storm, which continued for three days, +during which it was impossible for them to take up the net or to leave +the island. In consequence of this they ate up all their maize. On the +evening of the third day the storm abated, and they rushed to examine +the net. It was gone! It was impossible to return to the point of +their departure, where there would have been plenty of food, on +account of the strong wind against them. They therefore steered for +the Sault de Sainte Marie. But the wind veered round, and for nine +days blew a strong gale against their progress in this direction, +making the waves of the lake so high that they were obliged to take +refuge on the shore. + +Henry went out perpetually to hunt, but all he got during those nine +days were two small snow-buntings. The Canadian half-breeds with him +then calmly proposed to kill and feed upon the young woman. One of +these men, indeed, admitted that he had had recourse to +this expedient for sustaining life when wintering in the north-west +and running out of food. But Henry indignantly repudiated the +suggestion. Though very weak, he searched everywhere desperately for +food, and at last found on a very high rock a thick lichen, called by +the French Canadians _tripe de roche_,[10] looking, in fact, very much +like slices of tripe. Henry fetched the men and the Indian woman, and +they set to work gathering quantities of this lichen. The woman was +well acquainted with the mode of preparing it, which was done by +boiling it into a thick mucilage, looking rather like the white of an +egg. On this they made hearty meals, though it had a bitter and +disagreeable taste. After the ninth day of their sufferings the wind +fell, they continued their journey, and met with kindly Indians, who +supplied them with as many fish as they wanted. Nevertheless, they all +were so ill afterwards that they nearly died, from the effects of the +lichen diet. + +[Footnote 10: See p. 128.] + +Some time after this Henry resolved to search for the marvellous +island of Yellow Sands,[11] an island of Lake Superior which, it is +true, the French had discovered, but about which they kept up a good +deal of mystery. The Indian legend was that the sands of this small +island consisted of gold dust, and the Ojibwé Indians, having +discovered this, and attempting to bring some away, they were +disturbed by a supernatural being of amazing size, sixty feet in +height, which strode into the water and commanded them to deliver back +what they had taken away. Terrified at his gigantic stature, they +complied with his request, since which time no Indian has ever dared +to approach the haunted coast. Henry, however, with his men, finally +discovered this Island of Yellow Sands in 1771, in the north-east part +of Lake Superior. It was much smaller than he had been led to expect, +and very low and studded with small lakes, probably made by the action +of beavers damming up the little streams. He found no supernatural +monster to dispute the island with him, but a number of large +reindeer, so unused to the sight of man that they scarcely got out of +his way, so that he was able to shoot as many as he wanted. The +ancestors of these reindeer may have reached the island either by +floating ice or by swimming. They seem, with the birds, to have been +the island's only inhabitants, and to have increased and multiplied to +a remarkable extent, small portions of the island's surface being +actually formed of immense accumulations of reindeer bones. + +[Footnote 11: The Isle of Yellow Sands, famed in legend for its +terrible serpents and ogre sixty feet high, was subsequently +identified with the Ile de Pont Chartrain, which is distant sixty +miles from the north shore of Lake Superior.] + +Amongst the birds of the island, besides geese and pigeons, were +hawks. No serpents whatever were seen by the party, but Henry remarks +that the hawks nearly made up for them in abundance and ferocity. They +appeared very angry at the intrusion of these strangers on the sacred +island, and hovered round perpetually, swooping at their faces and +even carrying off their caps. + +In 1775 Henry, having been greatly disappointed over an attempt to +work the copper of Lake Superior, entered with vigour into a fur trade +with the north-west. He penetrated from Lake Superior to the Lake of +the Woods and reached the great Lake Winnipeg. Here he encountered the +Kristino,[12] Knistino, or Kri Indians. He found these people very +different in appearance from the other Amerindian tribes farther +south. The men were almost entirely naked in spite of the much colder +climate. Their bodies were painted with an ochre or clay so red that +it was locally known by the French Canadians as vermilion. Every man +and boy had his bow strung and in his hand, with the arrow, ready to +attack in case of need. Their heads were shaved all over except for a +large spot on the crown. Here the hair grew very long, and was rolled +and gathered into a tuft; and this tuft, which was the object of the +greatest care, was covered with a piece of skin. The lobes of their +ears were pierced, and through the opening was inserted the bones of +fish or small beasts. The women wore their hair in great length all +over the head. It was divided by a parting, and on each side was +collected into a roll fastened above the ear and covered with a piece +of painted skin or ornamented with beads. The clothing of the women +was of leather, the dressed skins of buffalo or deer. This cloak was +fastened round the waist by a girdle, and the legs were covered with +leather gaiters. The Kristino men were eager that their women should +marry Europeans, because the half-breed children proved to be bolder +warriors and better hunters than themselves. Henry found that although +the Kris were much addicted to drunkenness they were peaceable when +inebriated, and, moreover, detached two of their number, who refused +ever to touch the liquor under such circumstances, in order that they +might guard the white men, and not allow any drunken Indian to +approach their camp. + +[Footnote 12: See p. 166.] + +Henry and his party, after crossing Lake Winnipeg, ascended the +Saskatchewan (in the autumn of 1775). On their way up this river they +came to a village of Paskwaya Indians, which consisted of thirty +families, who were lodged in tents of a circular form, composed of +dressed bison skins stretched upon poles twelve feet in length. On +their arrival the chief of this village, named Chatik, which name +meant Pelican,[13] called the party rather imperiously into his lodge +or meeting house, and then told them very plainly that his armed men +exceeded theirs in number, and that he would put the whole of the +party to death unless they were very liberal in their presents. To +avoid misunderstanding, he added that he would inform them exactly +what it was that he required: Three casks of gunpowder, four bags of +shot and ball, two bales of tobacco, three kegs of rum, and three +guns, together with knives, flints, and other articles. He went on to +say that he had already seen white men, and knew that they promised +more than they performed. He, personally, was a peaceful man, who +contented himself with moderate views in order to avoid quarrels; +nevertheless, he desired that an immediate answer should be given +before the strangers quitted his lodge. A hurried consultation took +place, and Henry could do nothing but comply with the chief's demands, +for he was powerless to resist. Having, therefore, intimated his +acceptance of these demands, he was invited to smoke the pipe of +peace, and then obtained permission to depart. After this the goods +demanded were handed over, but Chatik managed to snatch more rum from +them before they got safely away. + +[Footnote 13: Elsewhere Henry observes the great numbers of pelicans +to be seen on Lake Winnipeg.] + +In the winter of 1776 Henry, who, together with his party, had +received welcome hospitality from the Hudson's Bay Company's station +at Cumberland House, resolved to reach the western region known as the +Great Plains, or Prairies--that immense tract of country through which +flow the Athabaska, the Saskatchewan, the Red River, and the Missouri. +He and his party, of course, travelled on snowshoes, and their goods +were packed on sledges made of thin boards, and drawn after them by +the men. The cold was intense, so that, besides wearing very warm +woollen clothes, they were obliged to wrap themselves in blankets of +beaver skin and huge bison robes. On these plains there were +occasional knolls covered with trees, which were usually called +"islands". These provided the precious fuel which alone enabled the +travellers to support the intense cold of the nights. + +After fifteen days of very difficult travel, during which it had been +impossible to kill any game, as the beasts were mostly hidden in the +dense woods on these rare hillocks, the situation of his party became +alarming. They were now on the borders of the plains, and the trees +were getting small and scanty. On the twentieth day of their journey +they had finished the last remains of their provisions. But Henry had +taken the precaution of concealing a large cake of chocolate[14] as a +reserve in case of great need. His men had walked till they were +exhausted, and had lost both strength and hope, when Henry informed +them of the treasure which was still in store. They filled the big +kettle with snow. It held two gallons of water, and into this was put +one square of the chocolate. The quantity was scarcely sufficient to +give colour to the water, but each man drank off a gallon of this hot +liquor and felt much refreshed. The next day they marched vigorously +for six hours on another two gallons of chocolate and water. For five +days the chocolate kept them going, though more by faith than by any +actual nourishment that it imparted. They now began to be surrounded +by large herds of wolves, who seemed to be conscious of their dire +extremity and the probability that they would soon fall an easy prey, +yet were cunning enough to keep out of gunshot. At last, however, at +sunset on the fifth day, they discovered on the ice the remains of an +elk's carcass on which the wolves had left a little flesh. From these +elk bones a meal of strong and excellent soup was soon prepared, and +the men's bodies thrilled with new life. + +[Footnote 14: Chocolate from St. Domingue (Haiti) was a favourite form +of portable nutriment among the French Canadians, who also provided a +means of subsistence for long journeys called _praline_. This was made +of roasted Indian corn on which sugar had been sprinkled. It was a +most nourishing food, as well as being an agreeable sweet-meat.] + +"Want had lost his dominion over us. At noon we saw the horns of a red +deer, standing in the snow, on the river. On examination we found that +the whole carcass was with them, the animal having broken through the +ice in the beginning of the winter, in attempting to cross the river, +too early in the season; while his horns, fastening themselves in the +ice, had prevented him from sinking. By cutting away the ice we were +enabled to lay bare a part of the back and shoulders, and thus procure +a stock of food amply sufficient for the rest of our journey. We +accordingly encamped, and employed our kettle to good purpose, forgot +all our misfortunes, and prepared to walk with cheerfulness the twenty +leagues which, as we reckoned, still lay between ourselves and Fort +des Prairies. Though the deer must have been in this situation ever +since the month of November, yet its flesh was perfectly good. Its +horns alone were five feet high or more, and it will therefore not +appear extraordinary that they should be seen above the snow." + +The next day they reached the Fort des Prairies, established by the +Hudson's Bay people, on the verge of the Assiniboin country. The +journey was resumed in company with Messrs. Patterson and Holmes, and +accompanied by a band of natives. They had entered the bison country, +and were regaled by the Indians with bison tongue and beef. + +"Soon after sunrise we descried a herd of oxen (bison) extending a +mile and a half in length, and too numerous to be counted. They +travelled, not one after another, as, in the snow, other animals +usually do, but, in a broad phalanx, slowly, and sometimes stopping to +feed.... Their numbers were so great that we dreaded lest they should +fairly trample down the camp; nor could it have happened otherwise, +but for the dogs, almost as numerous as they, who were able to keep +them in check. The Indians killed several when close upon their tents, +but neither the fire of the Indians nor the noise of the dogs could +soon drive them away." The poor animals were more frightened of the +frightful snowstorm which was raging than of what man or dog might do +to them in the shelter of the woods. + +At last the party reached the residence of the great chief of the +Assiniboins, whose name was "Great Road". These Amerindians received +Henry and his people with the greatest respect, giving them a +bodyguard, armed with bows and spears, who escorted them to the lodge +or tent prepared for their reception. This was of circular form, +covered with leather, and not less than twenty feet in diameter. On +the ground within, bison skins were spread for beds and seats. + +"One-half of the tent was appropriated to our use. Several women +waited upon us, to make a fire and bring water, which latter they +fetched from a neighbouring tent. Shortly after our arrival these +women brought us water, unasked for, saying that it was for washing. +The refreshment was exceedingly acceptable, for on our march we had +become so dirty that our complexions were not very distinguishable +from those of the Indians themselves." + +Invited to feast with the great chief, they proceeded to the tent of +"Great Road", which they found neither more ornamented nor better +furnished than the rest. At their entrance the chief arose from his +seat, saluted them in the Indian manner by shaking hands, and +addressed them in a few words, in which he offered his thanks for the +confidence which they had reposed in him in trusting themselves so far +from their own country. After all were seated, on bearskins spread on +the ground, the pipe, as usual, was introduced, and presented in +succession to each person present. Each took his whiff, and then let +it pass to his neighbour. The stem, which was four feet in length, was +held by an officer attendant on the chief. The bowl was of red marble +or pipe stone. + +When the pipe had gone its round, the chief, without rising from his +seat, delivered a speech of some length, after which several of the +Indians began to weep, and they were soon joined by the whole party. +"Had I not previously been witness" (writes Henry) "to a weeping scene +of this description, I should certainly have been apprehensive of some +disastrous catastrophe; but, as it was, I listened to it with +tranquillity. It lasted for about ten minutes, after which all tears +were dried away, and the honours of the feast were performed by the +attending chiefs." This consisted in giving to every guest a dish +containing a boiled bison's tongue. Henry having enquired why these +people always wept at their feasts, and sometimes at their councils, +he was answered that their tears flowed to the memory of their +deceased relations, who were formerly present on these occasions, and +whom they remembered as soon as they saw the feast or the conference +being got ready.[15] + +[Footnote 15: The Assiniboins (whom Henry calls the Osinipoilles) are +the Issati of older travellers, and have sometimes been called the +Weeper Indians, from their tendency to tears.] + +The chief to whose kindly reception they were so much indebted was +about five feet ten inches high, and of a complexion rather darker +than that of the Indians in general. His appearance was greatly +injured by the condition of his head of hair, and this was the result +of an extraordinary superstition. + +"The Indians universally fix upon a particular object, as sacred to +themselves; as the giver of their prosperity, and as their preserver +from evil. The choice is determined either by a dream, or by some +strong predilection of fancy; and usually falls upon an animal, or +part of an animal, or something else which is to be met with, by land, +or by water; but 'Great Road' had made choice of his _hair_--placing, +like Samson, all his safety in this portion of his proper substance! +His hair was the fountain of all his happiness; it was his strength +and his weapon, his spear and his shield. It preserved him in battle, +directed him in the chase, watched over him on the march, and gave +length of days to his wife and children. Hair, of a quality like this, +was not to be profaned by the touch of human hands. I was assured that +it had never been cut nor combed from his childhood upward, and, that +when any part of it fell from his head, he treasured up that part with +care: meanwhile, it did not escape all care, even while growing on the +head; but was in the special charge of a spirit, who dressed it while +the owner slept. All this might be; but the spirit's style of +hairdressing was at least peculiar; the hair being suffered to remain +very much as if it received no dressing at all, and matted into ropes, +which spread themselves in all directions." + +From this Assiniboin village Henry saw, for the first time, one of +those herds of horses which the Assiniboins possessed in numbers. The +herd was feeding on the skirts of the plain. The horses were provided +with no fodder, but were left to find food for themselves, which they +did in winter by removing the snow with their feet till they reach +the grass. This was everywhere on the ground in plenty. + +Amongst these people they saw the paunch or stomach of a bison +employed as a kettle. This was hung in the smoke of a fire and filled +with snow. As the snow melted, more was added, till the paunch was +full of water. The lower orifice of the organ was used for drawing off +the water, and stopped with a plug and string. + +Henry also noticed amongst the Assiniboins the celebrated lariat. This +is formed of a stone of about two pounds weight, which is sewed up in +leather and made fast to a wooden handle two feet long. In using it +the stone is whirled round the handle by a warrior sitting on +horseback and riding at full speed. Every stroke which takes effect +brings down a man, a horse, or a bison. To prevent the weapon from +slipping out of the hand, a string, which is tied to the handle, is +also passed round the wrist of the wearer. + +Alexander Henry extended his travels in the north-west within four +hundred and fifty miles of Lake Athabaska. He met at this point some +Chipewayan slaves in the possession of the Assiniboins, and heard from +them (1) of the Peace River in the far west which led one through the +Rocky Mountains (he uses that name) to a region descending towards a +great sea (the Pacific Ocean); and (2) of the Slave River which, after +passing through several lakes, also reached a great sea on the north. +This, of course, was an allusion to the Mackenzie River. Here were +given and recorded the chief hints at possible lines of exploration +which afterwards sent Alexander Mackenzie and other explorers on the +journeys that carried British-Canadian enterprise and administration +to the shores of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. + +After 1776 Alexander Henry ceased his notable explorations of the far +west. In that year he paid a visit to England and France, returning to +Canada in 1777. Whilst in France he was received at the French Court +and had the privilege of relating to Queen Marie Antoinette some of +his wonderful adventures and experiences. After two more visits to +England he settled down at Montreal as a merchant (autumn of 1780), +and in 1784 he joined with other great pioneers in founding, at +Montreal, The North-west Trading Company. Eventually he handed over +his share in this enterprise to his nephew, Alexander Henry the +Younger, and established himself completely in a life of ease and +quiet. He died at Montreal in 1824, aged eighty-five years. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Samuel Hearne + + +The first noteworthy explorer of the far north was SAMUEL HEARNE,[1] +who had been mate of a vessel in the employ of the whale fishery of +Hudson Bay. He entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company about +1765, and was selected four years afterwards by the Governor of Prince +of Wales's Fort (a certain Moses Norton, a half-breed) to lead an +expedition of discovery in search of a mighty river flowing +northwards, which was rumoured to exist by the Eskimo. This +"Coppermine" River was said to flow through a region rich in deposits +of copper. From this district the northern tribes of Indians derived +their copper ornaments and axeheads. + +[Footnote 1: Hearne was born in London in 1745. He entered the Royal +Navy as a midshipman at the tender age of eleven, and remained in the +Navy till about 1765, when he went out to Hudson Bay with the rank of +quartermaster. He must have acquired a considerable education, even in +botany and zoology. He not only wrote well, and was a good surveyor +for rough map making, but he had a considerable talent as a +draughtsman.] + +Samuel Hearne started on the 6th of November, 1769, from Prince of +Wales's Fort at the mouth of the Churchill River, on the north-west +coast of Hudson Bay. Presumably he and the two "common white men" who +were with him travelled on snowshoes and hauled small sledges after +them. Travelling westward they passed over bleak hills with very +little vegetation--"the barren grounds, where, in general, we thought +ourselves well off if we could scrape together as many shrubs as would +make a fire; but it was scarcely ever in our power to make any other +defence against the weather than by digging a hole in the snow down to +the moss, wrapping ourselves up in our clothing, and lying down in it, +with our sledges set up edgeways to windward". But the principal +Indian guide that he engaged was so obviously determined to make the +expedition a failure that Hearne returned to his base, Prince of +Wales's Fort, and made a second start on the 23rd of February, 1770, +this time taking care not to be accompanied by any other white men, +and insisting that the Indians who accompanied him should be more +carefully chosen. + +It must be remembered that in all these early expeditions, French and +English, the explorers relied for their food almost entirely on what +could be obtained as they went along, in the way of venison, grouse, +geese, fish, and wild fruits. In the springtime they would probably +get goose eggs and some form of maple sugar through the Indians. From +the summer to the autumn there would be an abundance of wild fruits +and nuts, but for the rest of the year it would be a diet almost +entirely of flesh or fish. As a stand-by there was probably +_pemmican_, made in times of plenty from fish, from bison meat and +fat, or from the dried flesh of deer or musk oxen; but tea, coffee, +bread, biscuits, and such like accessories were absolutely unknown to +them, in fact they lived exactly as the Amerindians did. Their +habitations, of course, were the tents or houses of the natives, or +what they made for themselves. + +In order to pitch an Indian tent in winter it was first necessary to +search for a level piece of dry ground, and this could only be +ascertained by thrusting a stick through the snow, down to the ground, +all over the proposed plot. When a suitable site had been found the +snow was then cleared away down to the very moss, in the shape of a +circle. When a prolonged stay was contemplated, even the moss was cut +up and removed, as it was very liable when dry to catch fire. A +quantity of poles were then procured, proportionate in number and +length to the size of the tent cloth and the number of persons the +tent was intended to contain. Two of the longest poles were tied +together at the top and raised to an angle of about 45 degrees from +the ground, so that the lower ends extended on either side as widely +as the proposed diameter of the tent. The other poles were then +arranged on either side of the first two, so that they formed a +complete circle round the bottom, and their points were tied together +at the top. The tent cloth was usually of thin moose leather, and in +shape resembled the vane of a fan, so that the large outer curve +enclosed the bottom of the poles, and the smaller one fitted round the +apex of the poles at the top, leaving an open space which let out the +smoke and let in air and light. The fire was made on the ground in the +centre of the floor, which floor was covered all over with small +branches of firs and pines serving as seats and beds. Pine foliage and +branches were laid round the bottom of the poles on the outside, and a +quantity of snow was packed all round the exterior of the tent, thus +excluding a great part of the external air, and contributing much to +the warmth within. + +For a month or more Hearne camped in this fashion by the side of a +lake, waiting till the season was sufficiently open for him to +continue his journey by water. He and his party of Indians lived +mainly on fish, but when these became scarce they attempted to snare +grouse or kill deer. In the intervals of rare meals all the party +smoked or slept, unless they were obliged to go out to hunt and fish. +They would delight, after killing deer, in securing as much as +possible of the blood and turning it into broth by boiling it in a +kettle with fat and scraps of meat. This was reckoned a dainty dish. +Their spoons, dishes, and other necessary household furniture were cut +out of birch bark. + +[Illustration: LAKE LOUISE, THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS] + +By the 19th of May, geese, swans, ducks, gulls, and other birds of +passage were so plentiful, flying from south to north, and halting to +rest at the lake, that Hearne felt the time had come to resume his +journey, provisions being now very plentiful and the worst of the thaw +over. The weather was remarkably fine and pleasant as the party +travelled northwards. + +There must have been good patent medicines even in those days. Of +these Hearne possessed "Turlington's Drops" and "Yellow Basilicon", +and with these he not only healed the terrible wounds of a valuable +Indian who had cut his leg most severely (when making birch-bark +dishes, spoons, &c), but also the hand of another Indian, which was +shattered with the bursting of a gun. These medicines soon restored +the use of his hand, so that in a short time he was out of danger, +while the carver of birch-bark spoons was able to walk. Nevertheless, +although they were to the south of the 60th degree of latitude, the +snow was not completely melted until the end of June. + +All at once the weather became exceedingly hot, the sledges had to be +thrown away, and each man had to carry on his back a heavy load. For +instance, Hearne was obliged to carry his quadrant for taking +astronomical observations, and its stand; a trunk containing books and +papers, &c.; a large compass; and a bag containing all his wearing +apparel; also a hatchet, a number of knives, files, &c., and several +small articles intended for presents to the natives--in short, a +weight of _sixty pounds_. Moreover, the barren ground was quite +unsuited to the pitching of the southern type of tent, the poles of +which obviously could not be driven into the bare rock, so that Hearne +was obliged to sleep in the open air in all weathers. Very often he +was unable to make a fire, and was constantly reduced to eating his +meat quite raw. "Notwithstanding these accumulated and complicated +hardships, we continued in perfect health and good spirits." The +average day's walk was twenty miles, sometimes without any other +subsistence than a pipe of tobacco and a drink of water. + +At last they saw three musk oxen grazing by the side of a small lake. +This seemed a splendid piece of fortune, but, to their mortification, +before they could get one of them skinned, a tremendous downpour of +rain ensued, so as to make it out of their power to have a fire, for +their only form of fuel was moss. And the flesh of the musk ox eaten +raw was disgusting; it was coarse and tough, and tasted so strongly of +musk that Hearne could hardly swallow it. "None of our natural wants," +he writes, "except thirst, are so distressing or hard to endure as +hunger.... For want of action, the stomach so far loses its digestive +powers that, after long fasting, it resumes its office with pain and +reluctance." After these prolonged fasts, his stomach was scarcely +able to contain two or three ounces of food without producing the most +agonizing pain. "We fasted many times two whole days and nights, and +twice for three days; once for nearly seven days, during which we +tasted not a mouthful of anything, except a few cranberries, water, +scraps of old leather, and burnt bones." + +At a place 63° north latitude he bought a canoe for a single knife +"the full value of which did not exceed one penny", having been told +that they would soon reach rivers through which they could not wade. +And, moreover, they found an Indian who was willing to carry it. In +July his guide persuaded him to join an encampment of natives--about +six hundred persons living in seventy tents--asserting that, as it was +no use proceeding much farther north in their search for the +Coppermine River that season, it would be well to winter to the west, +and resume their northern journey in the spring. The country, though +quite devoid of trees, and mostly barren rock, was covered with a herb +or shrub called by the Indian name of Wishakapakka,[2] from which the +European servants of the Hudson's Bay Company had long been used to +prepare a kind of tea by steeping it in boiling water. Here there were +multitudes of reindeer feeding on the _Cladina_ lichen and the Indians +with Hearne killed large numbers for the food of the party, and also +for their skins and the marrow in their bones. + +[Footnote 2: This word is said to be a corruption or altered form of +_Wishakagami[¯u]_, a liquid or broth (Kri language). The drink made +from this shrub or herb (_Ledum palustre_) is now known as Labrador +tea. It is a bitter aromatic infusion.] + +The Indian who had volunteered to carry the canoe proved unequal to +his task. But Hearne found another of his carriers who was willing to +take the burden. In order, therefore, to be readier with his gun to +shoot deer, he transferred a portion of his own load to the ex-canoe +carrier. This portion consisted of the invaluable quadrant and its +stand, and a bag of gunpowder. The gunpowder was of such importance to +Hearne and his party that one wonders he made this exchange; for if he +lost this powder he had no means of killing game, and was entirely +dependent for food on the troop of Indians with whom he was +travelling, and whom he knew to be most niggardly and inhospitable. +Judge, therefore, of his horror when, at the end of a day's march, +this weakly Indian porter was missing with his load. All night Hearne +was unable to sleep with anxiety, and the whole of the next day he +spent searching the rocky ground for miles to discover some sign of +the missing man. At that season of the year it was like looking for a +needle in a pottle of hay, for there was no snow, and equally no +herbage, on which a man's foot could leave traces. However, at last, +by some miracle, they discovered the load by the banks of a little +river where a party of Indians had crossed. + +Shortly afterwards, leaving his quadrant on its stand for a few +minutes, whilst he went to eat his dinner, a violent wind arose and +blew the whole thing on to the rocks, so that the quadrant was +smashed and rendered useless. On this account he determined once more +to return to Fort Prince of Wales. The Northern Indians[3] with whom +Hearne travelled backwards towards the fort were most inhospitable, +not to say dangerous. They robbed him of most of his goods, and +refused to allow their women to assist his people to dress the +reindeer skins out of which it would be necessary shortly to make +coverings to protect them from the severe cold of the autumn. In fact +Hearne was in rather a desperate condition by September, 1770, when he +was joined by a party of Indians under a famous leader, whom he calls +Matonabi. + +[Footnote 3: The Indians of the Athapaskan or Déné group were usually +called the _Northern Indians_ by the Hudson Bay people, in comparison +to all the other tribes of the more temperate regions farther south, +who were known as the _Southern Indians_ (Algonkins, &c.).] + +Matonabi, though of Athapaskan stock, had, when a boy, resided several +years at Prince of Wales's Fort, and learnt a little English, and, +above all, was a master of several Algonkin dialects or languages, so +that he could discourse with the Southern Indians. As soon as he heard +of Hearne's distress he furnished him with a good, warm suit of skins, +and had the reindeer skins dressed for the Indian carriers who +accompanied Hearne. In journeying together, Matonabi invited him to +return once more, with himself as guide, to discover the copper mines. + +"He attributed all our misfortunes to the misconduct of my guides, and +the very plan we pursued, by the desire of the Governor, in not taking +any women with us on this journey, was, he said, the principal thing +that occasioned all our wants. 'For,' said he, 'when all the men are +heavy laden, they can neither hunt nor travel to any considerable +distance; and in case they meet with success in hunting, who is to +carry the produce of their labour?' 'Women,' added he, 'were made for +labour; one of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. +They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at +night; and, in fact, there is no such thing as travelling any +considerable distance, or for any length of time, in this country, +without their assistance.' 'Women,' said he again, 'though they do +everything, are maintained at a trifling expense; for as they always +stand cook, the very licking of their fingers in scarce times is +sufficient for their subsistence.' + +"This," added Hearne, "however odd it may appear, is but too true a +description of the situation of women in this country: it is at least +so in appearance; for the women always carry the provisions, though it +is more than probable they help themselves when the men are not +present." + +On the 7th of December, 1770, Samuel Hearne started again +from Prince of Wales's Fort, Hudsons Bay, but under very much happier +circumstances, Matonabi being practically in charge of the expedition. + +Unfortunately, on reaching the Egg River, where Matonabi's people had +made a _cache_ or hiding place in which they had stored a quantity of +provisions and implements, they found that other Indians had +discovered this hiding place and robbed it of nearly every article. +This was a great disappointment to Matonabi's people; but Hearne +remarks the fortitude with which they bore this, nor did one of them +ever speak of revenge. But the expedition's scarcity of food obliged +them to push on from morning till night, day after day; yet the road +being very bad, and their sledges heavy, they were seldom able to do +more than eighteen miles a day. Hearne himself writes that he never +spent so dull a Christmas. For the last three days he had not tasted a +morsel of anything, except a pipe of tobacco and a drink of snow +water, yet he had to walk daily from morning till night heavily laden. +However, at the end of December they reached Island Lake, where they +entered a camp of Matonabi's people, and here they found a little +food in the way of fish and dried venison. From Island Lake they made +their way in a zigzag fashion, stopping often to drive reindeer into +pounds to secure large supplies of venison and of skins, till, in the +month of April, 1771, they reached a small lake with an almost +unpronounceable name, which meant "Little Fish Hill", from a high hill +which stood at the west end of this sheet of water. + +On an island in this lake they pitched their tents, as deer were very +numerous. During this time also they were busily employed in preparing +staves of birch wood, about seven or eight feet long, to serve as tent +poles in the summer, and in the winter to be converted into snowshoe +frames. Here also Chief Matonabi purchased another wife. He had now +with him no less than seven, most of whom would for size have made +good grenadiers. He prided himself much on the height and strength of +his wives, and would frequently say few women could carry off heavier +loads. In fact in this country wives were very seldom selected for +their beauty, but rather for their strength. + +"Ask a Northern Indian," wrote Hearne, "'What is beauty?' He will +answer: 'A broad, flat face, small eyes, high cheekbones, three or +four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead, a broad +chin, a clumsy hook nose, and a tawny hide.'" + +But the model woman amongst these Indians was one who was capable of +dressing all kinds of skins and making them into clothing, and who was +strong enough to carry a load of about a hundred pounds in weight in +summer, and to haul perhaps double that weight on a sledge in winter. +"As to their temper, it is of little consequence; for the men have a +wonderful facility in making the most stubborn comply with as much +alacrity as could possibly be expected." When the men kill any large +beast the women are always sent to bring it to the tent. When it is +brought there, every operation it undergoes, such as splitting, +drying, pounding, is performed by the women. When anything is prepared +for eating it is the women who cook it; and when it is done, not even +the wives and daughters of the greatest chiefs in the country are +served until all the males--even the male slaves--have eaten what they +think proper. In times of scarcity it was frequently the lot of the +women to be left without a single mouthful; though, no doubt, they +took good care to help themselves in secret. + +[Illustration: SAMUEL HEARNE; ALEXANDER MACKENZIE] + +Hearne mentions that in this country among the Northern Indians the +names of the boys were various and generally derived from some place, +or season of the year, or animal; whilst the names of the girls were +chiefly taken from some part or property of a marten,[4] such as the +white marten, the black marten, the summer marten, the marten's head, +foot, heart, or tail. + +[Footnote 4: A fur-bearing animal (_Mustela americana_), very like the +British pine marten.] + +From the Lake of Little Fish Hill the party moved on to Lake Clowey, +and here the Northern Indians set to work to build their canoes in the +warm and dry weather, which was about to come in at the end of May. +These canoes were very slight and simple in construction and +wonderfully light, which was necessary, for some of the northern +portages might be a hundred to one hundred and fifty miles in length, +over which the canoes would have to be carried by the Indians. All the +tools employed in those days, in building such canoes and making +snowshoes and all the other furniture and utensils of Indian life, +consisted of a _hatchet_, a _knife_, a _file_, and an _awl_ obtained +from the stores of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the use of these tools +they were so dexterous that everything they manufactured was done with +a neatness which could not be excelled by the most expert mechanic. +These northern canoes were flat-bottomed, with straight, upright +sides, and sharp prow and peak. The stern part of the canoe was wider +than the rest in order to receive the baggage. The average length of +the canoe would be from twelve to thirteen feet, and the breadth in +the widest part about two feet. Generally but a single paddle was +used, and that rather attenuated. When transporting the canoes from +one river to another, a strong band of bark or fibre would be fastened +round the thwarts of the canoe, and then slung over the breast and +shoulders of the Indian that was carrying it. + +From Lake Clowey the northern progress was made on foot, steady and +fatiguing walking over the barren grounds. The wooded region had been +left behind to the south; but for a distance of about twenty miles +outside the living woods there was a belt of dry stumps more or less +ancient. According to Hearne, these vestiges of trees to the north of +the present forest limit were an indication that the climate had grown +colder during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, because, +according to the traditions of the Indians and the remembrances of +their old people, the forest had formerly extended much farther to the +north. + +Whilst they were staying for the canoe building at Lake Clowey, Hearne +was a great deal bothered by the domestic troubles of his Indian +friend Matonabi. This man had been constantly trying to add to his +stock of wives as he passed up country, and at Clowey he had met the +former husband of one of these women whom he had carried off by force. +The man ventured to reproach him, whereupon Matonabi went into his +tent, opened one of his wives' bundles, and with the greatest +composure took out a new, long, box-handled knife; then proceeded to +the tent of the man who had complained, and without any parley +whatever took him by the collar and attempted to stab him to death. +The man had already received three bad knife wounds in the back before +other people, rushing in to his assistance, prevented Matonabi from +finishing him. After this, Matonabi returned to his tent as though +nothing had happened, called for water, washed the blood off his hands +and knife, and smoked his pipe as usual, asking Hearne if he did not +think he had done quite right! + +"It has ever been the custom among those people for the men to wrestle +for any woman to whom they are attached; and of course the strongest +party always carries off the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good +hunter and well beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a +stronger man thinks worth his notice; for at any time when the wives +of those strong wrestlers are heavy laden either with furs or +provisions, they make no scruple of tearing any other man's wife from +his bosom and making her bear a part of his luggage. This custom +prevails throughout all their tribes, and causes a great spirit of +emulation among their youth, who are upon all occasions, from their +childhood, trying their strength and skill in wrestling. This enables +them to protect their property, and particularly their wives, from the +hands of those powerful ravishers, some of whom make almost a +livelihood by taking what they please from the weaker parties without +making them any return. Indeed it is represented as an act of great +generosity if they condescend to make an unequal exchange, as, in +general, abuse and insult are the only return for the loss which is +sustained. + +"The way in which they tear the women and other property from one +another, though it has the appearance of the greatest brutality, can +scarcely be called fighting. I never knew any of them receive the +least hurt in these _rencontres_; the whole business consists in +hauling each other about by the hair of the head; they are seldom +known either to strike or kick one another. It is not uncommon for one +of them to cut off his hair and to grease his ears immediately before +the contest begins. This, however, is done privately; and it is +sometimes truly laughable to see one of the parties strutting about +with an air of great importance, and calling out: 'Where is he? Why +does he not come out?' when the other will bolt out with a clean-shorn +head and greased ears, rush on his antagonist, seize him by the hair, +and, though perhaps a much weaker man, soon drag him to the ground, +while the stronger is not able to lay hold of him. It is very frequent +on those occasions for each party to have spies, to watch the other's +motions, which puts them more on a footing of equality. For want of +hair to pull, they seize each other about the waist, with legs wide +extended, and try their strength by endeavouring to vie who can first +throw the other down." + +"Early in the morning of the twenty-ninth 'Captain' Keelshies (an +Indian) joined us. He delivered to me a packet of letters and a +two-quart keg of French brandy, but assured me that the powder, shot, +tobacco, knives, &c, which he received at the fort for me, were all +expended. He endeavoured to make some apology for this by saying that +some of his relations died in the winter, and that he had, according +to native custom, thrown all his own things away; after which he was +obliged to have recourse to my ammunition and other goods to support +himself and a numerous family. The very affecting manner in which he +related this story, often crying like a child, was a great proof of +his extreme sorrow, which he wished to persuade me arose from the +recollection of his having embezzled so much of my property; but I was +of a different opinion, and attributed his grief to arise from the +remembrance of his deceased relations. However, as a small recompense +for my loss, he presented me with four ready-dressed moose skins, +which was, he said, the only retribution he could then make. The moose +skins, though not the twentieth part of the value of the goods which +he had embezzled, were in reality more acceptable to me than the +ammunition and the other articles would have been, on account of their +great use as shoe leather, which at that time was a very scarce +article with us, whereas we had plenty of powder and shot." + +During Hearne's stay at Lake Clowey a great number of Indians entered +into a combination with those of his party to travel together to the +Coppermine River, with no other intent than to murder the Eskimo who +frequented that river in considerable numbers. Before leaving Lake +Clowey all the Northern Indians who had assembled there prepared their +arms for the encounter, and did not forget to make shields before they +left the woods of Clowey. These shields were composed of thin boards +about three-quarters of an inch thick, two feet broad, and three feet +long, and were intended to ward off the arrows of the Eskimo. + +When the now large expedition reached a river with the fearful name of +Congecathawhachaga, they found a portion of the tribe known as Copper +Indians,[5] and these had never before seen a white man. They gave a +very friendly reception to Hearne on account of Matonabi. + +[Footnote 5: Or "Tantsawh[¯u]ts". Like the "Dog-rib" Indians, +mentioned farther on, they belonged to the "Northern", Tinné, +Athabaskan type.] + +"They expressed as much desire to examine me from top to toe as a +European naturalist would a nondescript animal. They, however, found +and pronounced me to be a perfect human being, except in the colour of +my hair and eyes; the former, they said, was like the stained hair of +a buffalo's tail, and the latter, being light, were like those of a +gull. The whiteness of my skin also was, in their opinion, no +ornament, as they said it resembled meat which had been sodden in +water till all the blood was extracted. On the whole I was viewed as +so great a curiosity in this part of the world that during my stay +there, whenever I combed my head, some or other of them never failed +to ask for the hairs that came off, which they carefully wrapped up, +saying: 'When I see you again, you shall again see your hair'." + +The Copper Indians sent a detachment of their men in the double +capacity of guides and warriors, and the whole party now turned +towards the north-west, and after some days' walking reached the Stony +Mountains. "Surely no part of the world better deserves that name", +wrote, Hearne. They appeared to be a confused heap of stones quite +inaccessible to the foot of man. Nevertheless, with the Copper Indians +as guides, they got over this range, though not without being obliged +frequently to crawl on hands and knees. This range, however, had been +so often crossed by Indians coming to and fro that there was a very +visible path the whole way, the rocks, even in the most difficult +places, being worn quite smooth. By the side of the path there were +several large, flat stones covered with thousands of small pebbles. +These marks had been gradually built up by passengers going to and fro +from the copper mines in the far north. The weather all this time, +although the month was July, was very bad--constant snow, sleet, and +rain. Hearne seldom had a dry garment of any kind, and in the caves +where they lodged at night the water was constantly dropping from the +roof. Their food all this time was raw venison. One snowstorm which +fell on them was heavier than was customary even in the winter, but at +last the weather cleared up and sunshine made the journey far more +tolerable. + +As they descended the northern side of the Stony Mountains they +crossed a large lake, passing over its unmelted ice, and called it +Musk-ox Lake, from the number of these creatures which they found +grazing on the margin of it. + +This was not the first time that Hearne had seen the musk ox. These +animals were wont to come down as far south as the shores of Hudson +Bay. + +On the northern side of the Stony Mountains Hearne was taken by the +Indians to see a place which he called Grizzly-bear Hill, which took +its name from the numbers of those animals (presumably what we call +grizzly bears) which resorted here for the purpose of bringing forth +their young in a cave in this hill. On the east side of the adjoining +marsh Hearne was amazed at the sight of the many hills and dry ridges, +which were turned over like ploughed land by the long claws of these +bears in searching for the ground squirrels and mice which constitute +a favourite part of their food. It was surprising to see the enormous +stones rolled out of their beds by the bears on these occasions. + +As they neared the Coppermine River the weather became very warm, and +the country had a good supply of firewood. Reindeer were abundant, +and, the Indians having killed some of these, Hearne sat down to the +most comfortable meal he had had for some months. + +It was a kind of haggis, called by the Amerindians "biati", made with +the blood of the reindeer, a good quantity of fat shredded small, some +of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the heart and lungs, cut, +or more commonly torn, into small slivers--all which would be put into +the stomach, and roasted by being suspended before the fire by a +string. Care had to be taken that it did not get too much heat at +first, as the bag would thereby be liable to be burnt and the contents +be let out. When it was sufficiently done it emitted steam, "which", +writes Hearne, "is as much as to say: 'Come, eat me now'; and if it be +taken in time, before the blood and other contents are too much done, +it is certainly a most delicious morsel, even without pepper, salt, or +any other seasoning." + +It was now almost impossible to sleep at night for the mosquitoes, +which swarmed in myriads as soon as the warmth of the sun melted the +ice and snow. When Hearne actually reached the banks of the Coppermine +River he was a little disappointed at its appearance, as it seemed to +be only one hundred and eighty yards wide, shallow, and full of +shoals. The Chipewayan Amerindians with him now sent out their spies +to try and locate the Eskimo. Presently they found that there were +five tents of them on the west side of the river. + +"When the Indians received this intelligence no further attendance or +attention was paid to my survey, but their whole thoughts were +immediately engaged in planning the best method of attack, and how +they might steal on the poor Eskimo the ensuing night and kill them +all when asleep. To accomplish this bloody design more effectually the +Indians thought it necessary to cross the river as soon as possible; +and, by the account of the spies, it appeared that no part was more +convenient for the purpose than that where we had met them, it being +there very smooth, and at a considerable distance from any fall. +Accordingly, after the Indians had put all their guns, spears, +shields, &c, in good order, we crossed the river.... + +"When we arrived on the west side of the river, each painted the front +of his shield; some with the figure of the sun, others with that of +the moon, several with different kinds of birds and beasts of prey, +and many with the images of imaginary beings, which, according to +their silly notions, are the inhabitants of the different elements, +Earth, Sea, Air, &c. On enquiring the reason of their doing so, I +learned that each man painted his shield with the image of that being +on which he relied most for success in the intended engagement. Some +were content with a single representation; while others, doubtful, as +I suppose, of the quality and power of any single being, had their +shields covered to the very margin with a group of hieroglyphics quite +unintelligible to everyone except the painter. Indeed, from the hurry +in which this business was necessarily done, the want of every colour +but red and black, and the deficiency of skill in the artist, most of +those paintings had more the appearance of a number of accidental +blotches, than 'of anything that is on the earth, or in the water +under the earth'.... + +"After this piece of superstition was completed, we began to advance +towards the Eskimo tents; but were very careful to avoid crossing any +hills, or talking loud, for fear of being seen or overheard by the +inhabitants." + +When the attacking party was within two hundred yards of the Eskimo +tents, they lay in ambush for some time, watching the motions of their +intended victims; and here the Indians wanted Hearne (for whom they +had a sincere affection) to stay till the fight was over; but to this +he would not consent, lest, when the Eskimo came to be surprised, they +should try every way to escape, and, finding him alone, kill him in +their desperation. + +While they lay in ambush the Northern Indians performed the last +ceremonies which were thought necessary before the engagement. These +chiefly consisted in painting their faces: some all black, some all +red, and others with a mixture of the two; and to prevent their hair +from blowing into their eyes, it was either tied before or behind, and +on both sides, or else cut short all round. The next thing they +considered was to make themselves as light as possible for running, +which they did by pulling off their stockings, and either cutting off +the sleeves of their jackets, or rolling them up close to their +armpits; and though the mosquitoes at that time "were so numerous as +to surpass all credibility", yet some of the Indians actually pulled +off their jackets and entered the lists nearly or quite naked. Hearne, +fearing he might have occasion to run with the rest, thought it also +advisable to pull off his stockings and cap, and to tie his hair as +close up as possible. + +By the time the Indians had made themselves thus "completely +frightful", it was nearly one in the morning. Then, finding all the +Eskimo quiet in their tents, they rushed forth from their ambuscade, +and fell on the poor, unsuspecting creatures, unperceived till they +were close to the very eaves of the tents. A horrible massacre +forthwith took place, while Hearne stood neutral in the rear. + +"The scene was shocking beyond description. The poor unhappy victims +were surprised in the midst of their sleep, and had neither time nor +power to make any resistance; men, women, and children, in all upward +of twenty, ran out of their tents stark naked, and endeavoured to make +their escape; but the Indians having possession of all the landside, +to no place could they fly for shelter. One alternative only remained, +that of jumping into the river; but, as none of them attempted it, +they all fell a sacrifice to Indian barbarity! + +"The shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were truly +dreadful; and my horror was much increased at seeing a young girl, +seemingly about eighteen years of age, killed so near me, that when +the first spear was stuck into her side she fell down at my feet, and +twisted round my legs, so that it was with difficulty that I could +disengage myself from her dying grasp. As two Indian men pursued this +unfortunate victim, I solicited very hard for her life; but the +murderers made no reply till they had stuck both their spears through +her body, and transfixed her to the ground. They then looked me +sternly in the face, and began to ridicule me by asking if I wanted an +Eskimo wife; and paid not the smallest regard to the shrieks and agony +of the poor wretch, who was twining round their spears like an eel!" + +On his requesting that they would at least put the woman out of her +misery, one of the Indians hastily drew his spear from the place where +it was first lodged, and pierced it through her breast near the heart. +The love of life, however, even in this most miserable state, was so +predominant, that "though this might justly be called the most +merciful act that could be done for the poor creature, it seemed to be +unwelcome, for, though much exhausted by pain and loss of blood, she +made several efforts to ward off the friendly blow."... "My own +situation and the terror of my mind at beholding this butchery, +cannot easily be conceived, much less described; though I summed up +all the fortitude I was master of on the occasion, it was with +difficulty that I could refrain from tears; and I am confident that my +features must have feelingly expressed how sincerely I was affected at +the barbarous scene I then witnessed; even at this hour I cannot +reflect on the transactions of that horrid day without shedding +tears." + +There were other Eskimo on the opposite shore of the river. Though +they took up their arms to defend themselves, they did not attempt to +abandon their tents, for they were utterly unacquainted with the +nature of firearms; so much so that when the bullets struck the +ground, they ran in crowds to see what was sent them, and seemed +anxious to examine all the pieces of lead which they found flattened +against the rocks. At length one of the Eskimo men was shot in the +calf of his leg, which put them in great confusion. They all +immediately embarked in their little canoes, and paddled to a shoal in +the middle of the river, which being somewhat more than a gunshot from +any part of the shore, put them out of the reach of our barbarians. + +"When the savages discovered that the surviving Eskimo had gained the +shore above-mentioned, the Northern Indians began to plunder the +tents of the deceased of all the copper utensils they could find; such +as hatchets, bayonets, knives, &c, after which they assembled on the +top of an adjacent hill, and, standing all in a cluster, so as to form +a solid circle, with their spears erect in the air, gave many shouts +of victory, constantly clashing their spears against each other, and +frequently calling out _tima! tima!_[6] by way of derision to the poor +surviving Eskimo, who were standing on the shoal almost knee deep in +water." + +[Footnote 6: "_Tima_ in the Eskimo language is a friendly word similar +to _what cheer_?"--Hearne.] + +"It ought to have been mentioned in its proper place," writes Hearne, +after describing further atrocities, "that in making our retreat up +the river, after killing the Eskimo on the west side, we saw an old +woman sitting by the side of the water killing salmon, which lay at +the foot of the fall as thick as a shoal of herrings. Whether from the +noise of the fall, or a natural defect in the old woman's hearing, it +is hard to determine, but certain it is, she had no knowledge of the +tragical scene which had been so lately transacted at the tents, +though she was not more than two hundred yards from the place. When we +first perceived her she seemed perfectly at ease, and was entirely +surrounded with the produce of her labour. From her manner of +behaviour, and the appearance of her eyes, which were as red as blood, +it is more than probable that her sight was not very good; for she +scarcely discerned that the Indians were enemies, till they were +within twice the length of their spears of her. It was in vain that +she attempted to fly, for the wretches of my crew transfixed her to +the ground in a few seconds, and butchered her in the most savage +manner. There was scarcely a man among them who had not a thrust at +her with his spear; and many in doing this aimed at torture rather +than immediate death, as they not only poked out her eyes, but stabbed +her in many parts very remote from those which are vital. + +"It may appear strange that a person supposed to be almost blind +should be employed in the business of fishing, and particularly with +any degree of success; but when the multitude of the fish is taken +into the account, the wonder will cease. Indeed they were so numerous +at the foot of the fall, that when a light pole, armed with a few +spikes, which was the instrument the old woman used, was put under +water, and hauled up with a jerk, it was scarcely possible to miss +them. Some of my Indians tried the method, for curiosity, with the old +woman's staff, and seldom got less than two at a jerk, sometimes +three or four. Those fish, though very fine, and beautifully red, are +but small, seldom weighing more (as near as I could judge) than six or +seven pounds, and in general much less. Their numbers at this place +were almost incredible, perhaps equal to anything that is related of +the salmon in Kamschatka, or any other part of the world." + +Hearne seems to have been so intent on geographical discovery that he +did not allow his feelings to influence him very long against the +society of his Amerindian companions, who apparently sat down and ate +a dish of salmon with him an hour or so after they had killed this +last old woman! The Indians now told him that they were ready again to +assist him in making an end of his survey, and apparently on foot, for +the Coppermine River was not navigable here, even for a boat. + +Thus, first of all white men coming overland, he reached the sea coast +of the Arctic Ocean. The tide was then out, and a good deal of the sea +surface was covered with ice, on which he observed many seals lying +about. Along the sea coast and river banks were many birds; gulls, +divers or loons, golden plovers, green plovers, curlews, geese, and +swans. The country a little way inland was obviously inhabited by +numbers of musk oxen, reindeer, bears, wolves, gluttons, foxes, polar +hares, snowy owls, ravens, ptarmigans, gopher ground-squirrels, stoats +(ermines), and mice. In this region also he saw a bird which the +Copper Indians called the Alarm Bird. He tells us that in size and +colour it resembles a "Cobadekoock"; but as none of us know what that +is, we can only go on to imagine that the Alarm Bird was a kind of +owl, as Hearne says it was "of the owl genus". When it perceived +people or beasts it directed its way towards them immediately, and, +after hovering over them for some time, flew over them in circles or +went away with them in the same direction as they walked. All this +time the bird made a loud screaming noise like the cry of a child. +These owls were sometimes accustomed to follow the Indians for a whole +day, and the Copper Indians believed that they would in some way +conduct them to herds of deer and musk oxen, which without the birds' +assistance might never be found. They also warned Indians of the +arrival of strangers. The Eskimo, according to Hearne, paid no heed to +these birds, and it was thus that they allowed themselves to be +surprised and massacred, for if they had looked out from the direction +in which the Chipewayans were lying in ambush, they would have seen a +large flock of these owls continually flying about and making +sufficient noise to awaken any man out of the soundest sleep. + +The country on either side of the estuary of the Coppermine River was +not without vegetation. There were stunted pines and tufts of dwarf +willows, and the ground was covered with a lichen or herb, which the +English of the Hudson's Bay Company knew by the name of +Wishakapaka,[7] and which they dried and used instead of tea. There +were also cranberry and heathberry bushes, but without fruit. The +scrub grew gradually thinner and smaller as one approached the sea, +and at the mouth of the river there was nothing but barren hills and +marsh. + +[Footnote 7: _Ledum palustre_.] + +The unfortunate Eskimo of this region, judging by the examples seen by +Hearne, were of low stature, with broad thickset bodies. Their +complexion was a dirty copper colour, but some of the women were +almost fair and ruddy. Their dress, their arms and fishing tackle were +precisely similar to those of the Greenland Eskimo. Their tents were +made of deerskins, and were pitched in a circular form. But these were +only their summer habitations, those for the winter being partly +underground, with a roof framework of poles, over which skins were +stretched; and of course Nature did the rest, covering the roof with +several feet of snow. Owing to being almost entirely surrounded by +snow, these winter houses were very warm. Their household furniture +consisted of stone kettles and wooden troughs of various sizes, also +dishes, scoops, and spoons made of musk-ox horns. The stone kettles +(which some people think they borrowed from the Norse discoverers of +America in the eleventh century) were as large as to be capable of +containing five or six gallons. They were, of course, carved out of +solid blocks of stone, every one of them being ornamented with neat +moulding round the rims, and some of the large ones with fluted work +at each corner. In shape they were oblong, wider at the top than the +bottom, and strong handles of solid stone were left at each end to +lift them up. + +The Eskimo hatchets were made of a thick lump of copper about five or +six inches long, and one and a half to two inches broad. They were +bevelled away at one end like a chisel. This piece of copper was +lashed into the end of a piece of wood about twelve or fourteen inches +long. The men's daggers and the women's knives were also made of +copper. The former were in shape like the ace of spades, and the +handle was made of reindeer antler. + +With the Eskimo was a fine breed of dogs, with erect ears, sharp +noses, bushy tails. They were all tethered to stones to prevent them +from eating the flesh that was spread all over the rocks to dry. +Apparently, these beautiful dogs were left behind still tethered by +the wicked Amerindians, after the massacre of their owners. Hearne, +however, noticed with these Coppermine River Eskimo that the men were +entirely bald, having all their head hair pulled out by the roots. The +women wore their hair at the usual length. + +Before leaving this region to return southwards, Hearne was led by the +Indians to one of the copper mines about thirty miles south-east of +the river mouth. It was no more than a jumble of rocks and gravel, +which had been rent in many ways, apparently by an earthquake shock. +This mine was at the time of Hearne's visit very poor in copper, much +of the metal having already been removed. + +The Copper Indians set a great value on this native metal even at the +present day, and prefer it to iron for almost every use except that of +a hatchet, a knife, and an awl. "For these three necessary +implements", writes Hearne, "copper makes but a very poor substitute." + +On the return journey, in the course of which the Great Slave +Lake--which Hearne calls "Lake Athapuscow"--was discovered and crossed +on the ice, the party travelled so hard and stayed so seldom to rest +that Hearne suffered terribly with his legs and feet. "I had so little +power to direct my feet when walking, that I frequently knocked them +against the stones with such force, as not only to jar and disorder +them, but my legs also; and the nails of my toes were bruised to such +a degree, that several of them festered and dropped off. To add to +this mishap, the skin was entirely chafed off from the tops of both my +feet, and between every toe; so that the sand and gravel, which I +could by no means exclude, irritated the raw parts so much, that for a +whole day before we arrived at the women's tents, I left the print of +my feet in blood almost at every step I took. Several of the Indians +began to complain that their feet also were sore; but, on examination, +not one of them was the twentieth part in so bad a state as mine. This +being the first time I had been in such a situation, or seen anybody +foot-foundered, I was much alarmed, and under great apprehensions for +the consequences. Though I was but little fatigued in body, yet the +excruciating pain I suffered when walking had such an effect on my +spirits, that if the Indians had continued to travel two or three days +longer at that unmerciful rate, I must unavoidably have been left +behind; for my feet were in many places quite honeycombed by the dirt +and gravel eating into the raw flesh." + +"Among the various superstitious customs of those people, it is worth +remarking, and ought to have been mentioned in its proper place, that +immediately after my companions had killed the Eskimo at the Copper +River, they considered themselves in a state of uncleanness, which +induced them to practise some very curious unusual ceremonies. In the +first place, all who were absolutely concerned in the murder were +prohibited from cooking any kind of victuals, either for themselves or +others. As luckily there were two in company who had not shed blood, +they were employed always as cooks till we joined the women. This +circumstance was exceedingly favourable on my side; for had there been +no persons of the above description in company, that task, I was told, +would have fallen on me; which would have been no less fatiguing and +troublesome, than humiliating and vexatious. + +"When the victuals were cooked, all the murderers took a kind of red +earth, or ochre, and painted all the space between the nose and chin, +as well as the greater part of their cheeks, almost to the ears, +before they would taste a bit, and would not drink out of any other +dish, or smoke out of any other pipe, but their own; and none of the +others seemed willing to drink or smoke out of theirs." + +He goes on to relate that they practised the custom of painting the +mouth and part of the cheeks before each meal, and drinking and +smoking out of their own utensils, till the winter began to set in, +and during the whole of that time they would never kiss any of their +wives or children. They refrained also from eating many parts of the +deer and other animals, particularly the head, entrails, and blood; +and during their "uncleanness" their food was never cooked in water, +but dried in the sun, eaten quite raw, or broiled. When the time +arrived that was to put an end to these ceremonies, the men, without a +female being present, made a fire at some distance from the tents, +into which they threw all their ornaments, pipe stems, and dishes, +which were soon consumed to ashes; after which a feast was prepared, +consisting of such articles as they had long been prohibited from +eating, and when all was over each man was at liberty to eat, drink, +and smoke as he pleased, "and also to kiss his wives and children at +discretion, which they seemed to do with more raptures than I had ever +known them to do it either before or since". + +On the 11th of January, as some of Hearne's companions were hunting, +they saw the track of a strange snowshoe, which they followed, and at +a considerable distance came to a little hut, where they discovered a +young woman sitting alone. As they found that she understood their +language, they brought her with them to the tents. On examination she +proved to be one of the Western Dog-rib Indians, who had been taken +prisoner by the Athapaska Indians in the summer of 1770. From these, +in the following summer, she had escaped, with the intention of +returning to her own country, but the distance being so great, and the +way being unknown to her, she forgot the track, so she built the hut +in which they found her, to protect her from the weather during the +winter, and here she had resided from the first setting in of the cold +weather. For seven months she had seen no human face. During all this +time she had supported herself in comparative comfort by snaring +grouse, rabbits, and squirrels; she had also killed two or three +beaver, and some porcupines. That she did not seem to have been in +want was evident, as she had a small stock of provisions by her when +she was discovered, and was in good health and condition; and Hearne +thought her "one of the finest women", of the real Indian type, that +he had seen in any part of North America. + +"The methods practised by this poor creature to procure a livelihood +were truly admirable, and are great proofs that necessity is the real +mother of invention. When the few deer sinews that she had an +opportunity of taking with her were all expended in making snares and +sewing her clothing, she had nothing to supply their place but the +sinews of the rabbits' [he means hares'] legs and feet; these she +twisted together for that purpose with great dexterity and success. +The rabbits, &c, which she caught in those snares, not only furnished +her with a comfortable subsistence, but of the skins she made a suit +of neat and warm clothing for the winter. It is scarcely possible to +conceive that a person in her forlorn situation could be so composed +as to be capable of contriving or executing anything that was not +absolutely necessary to her existence; but there were sufficient +proofs that she had extended her care much farther, as all her +clothing, beside being calculated for real service, showed great taste +and exhibited no little variety of ornament. The materials, though +rude, were very curiously wrought and so judiciously placed as to make +the whole of her garb have a very pleasing, though rather romantic, +appearance. + +"Her leisure hours from hunting had been employed in twisting the +inner rind or bark of willows into small lines, like net twine, of +which she had some hundred fathoms by her; with this she intended to +make a fishing net as soon as the spring advanced. It is of the inner +bark of willows, twisted in this manner, that the Dog-rib Indians make +their fishing nets, and they are much preferable to those made by the +Northern Indians. + +"Five or six inches of an iron hoop, made into a knife, and the shank +of an arrowhead of iron, which served her as an awl, were all the +metals this poor woman had with her when she eloped, and with these +implements she had made herself complete snowshoes, and several other +useful articles. + +"Her method of making a fire was equally singular and curious, having +no other materials for that purpose than two hard sulphurous stones. +These, by long friction and hard knocking, produced a few sparks, +which at length communicated to some touchwood (a species of fungus +which grew on decayed poplars); but as this method was attended with +great trouble, and not always with success, she did not suffer her +fire to go out all the winter...." + +Hearne regained Prince of Wales's Fort on Hudson Bay in June, 1772. +Subsequently he was dispatched, in the year 1774, to found the first +great inland trading station and fort of the Hudson's Bay Company +which was established at any considerable distance westward of Hudson +Bay--the first step, in fact, which led to this chartered company +becoming in time the ruler and colonizing agent of Alberta and British +Columbia. Hearne chose for his station of "Cumberland House" a site at +the entrance to Pine Island Lake on the lower Saskatchewan River. + +In 1775 he became Governor of his old starting-point on Hudson +Bay--Fort Prince of Wales. During the American war with France, the +French admiral, La Pérouse, made a daring excursion into Hudson Bay +(1782), and summoned Hearne to surrender his fort. This he felt +obliged to do, not deeming his small garrison strong enough to resist +the French force. + +Samuel Hearne returned to England in 1787, and died (probably in +London) in 1792. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Alexander Mackenzie's Journeys + + +It has been already mentioned that the conquest of Canada by the +British led to a great increase in travel for the development of the +fur trade. Previously, under the French, permission was only granted +to a few persons to penetrate into the interior to trade with the +natives, commerce being regarded as a special privilege or monopoly to +be sold or granted by the Crown. But after the British had completely +assumed control, nothing was done to bar access to the interior. So +long as the Catholic missionaries had been practically placed in +charge of the Amerindians, and had served as buffers between them and +unscrupulous traders, they--the Amerindians--had been saved from two +scourges, smallpox and strong drink.[1] But now, unhappily, all +restrictions about trade in alcohol were removed. In their eagerness +to obtain ardent spirits and "high" wine, the Indians eagerly welcomed +British traders and French Canadians in their midst. The fur trade +developed fast. The Hudson's Bay Company had established its trading +stations only in the vicinity or on the coasts of that inland sea, far +away from the two Canadas, from the Middle West and the vast North +West. After a little reluctance and suspicion, most of the northern +Amerindian tribes were persuaded to deflect their caravans from the +routes leading to Hudson Bay, and to meet the British, the New +Englander ("Bostonian"), and the French Canadian traders at various +rendezvous on Lake Winnipeg and its tributary lakes and rivers. The +principal depot and starting-point for the north-west traders was +_Grand Portage_, on the north-west coast of Lake Superior, whence +canoes and goods were transferred by a nine-mile portage to the waters +flowing to Rainy Lake, and so onwards to the Winnipeg River and the +vast system of the Saskatchewan, the Red River, and the Assiniboine. + +[Footnote 1: See Sir Alexander Mackenzie's _Travels_, p. 5.] + +Amongst the pioneers in this new development of the fur trade, who +became also the great explorers of northernmost America, was Alexander +Henry (already described), THOMAS CURRIE, JAMES FINLAY, PETER POND,[2] +JOSEPH and BENJAMIN FROBISHER, and SIMON M'TAVISH. These and some of +their supporting merchants in Montreal resolved to form a great +fur-trading association, the celebrated North-west Trading Company, +and did so in 1784. + +[Footnote 2: Peter Pond was a native of Connecticut, and in the +opinion of his trading associates rather a ruffian. He was strongly +suspected of having murdered an amiable Swiss fur trader named Wadin, +and at a later date he actually did kill his trading partner, Ross.] + +Two of the Montreal merchant firms participating in this confederation +(Gregory and M'Leod) were inclined to play a somewhat independent +part, and called themselves the New North-west Trading Company. They +had the foresight to engage as their principal agents in the +north-west (Sir) ALEXANDER MACKENZIE and his cousin RODERICK +MACKENZIE. Both these young men were Highlanders, probably of Norse +origin. Alexander Mackenzie was born at Stornoway, in the Island of +Lewis (Hebrides), in 1763. He was only sixteen when he started for +Canada to take up a position as clerk in the partnership concern of +Gregory & M'Leod at Montreal. + +It may be said here briefly that this "New North-west Company" went at +first by the nickname of "The Little Company" or "The Potties", this +last being an Amerindian corruption of the French _Les Petits_. Later +it developed into the "X.Y. Company", or "Sir Alexander Mackenzie & +Co.". Although much in rivalry with the original "Nor'-westers", the +rivalry never degenerated into the actual warfare, the indefensible +deeds of violence and treachery, which later on were perpetrated by +the Hudson's Bay Company on the agents of the North-west, and returned +with interest by the latter. Often the New North-west agents and the +original Nor'-westers would camp or build side by side, and share +equably in the fur trade with the natives; their canoemen and +French-Canadian _voyageurs_ would sing their boating songs in chorus +as they paddled side by side across the lakes and down the rivers, or +marched with their heavy loads over the portages and along the trails. +Eventually, in 1804, the X.Y. Company and the North-west fused into +the North-west Trading Company, which until 1821 fought a hard fight +against the encroachments and jealousy of the Hudson's Bay Company. + +During the period, however, from 1785 to 1812 the men of the +north-west, of Montreal, and Grand Portage (as contrasted with those +of Hudson Bay) effected a revolution in Canadian geography. They +played the rôle of imperial pioneers with a stubborn heroism, with +little thought of personal gain, and in most cases with full +foreknowledge and appreciation of what would accrue to the British +Empire through their success. It is impossible to relate the +adventures of all of them within the space of any one book, or even of +several volumes. Moreover, this has been done already, not only in +their own published journals and books, but in the admirable works of +Elliot Coues, Dr. George Bryce, Dr. S.J. Dawson, Alexander Ross, and +others. I must confine myself here to a description of the adventures +of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, with a glance at incidents recorded by +Simon Fraser and by Alexander Henry the Younger. + +Mackenzie, having been appointed at the age of twenty-two a partner in +the New North-west Company, proceeded to Grand Portage in 1785, and +by the year 1788 (after founding Fort Chipewayan on Lake Athabaska) +conceived the idea of following the mysterious Slave River to its +ultimate outlet into the Arctic or the Pacific Ocean. He left Fort +Chipewayan on June 3, 1789, accompanied by four French-Canadian +_voyageurs_, two French-Canadian women (wives of two _voyageurs_), a +young German named John Steinbruck, and an Amerindian guide known as +"English Chief". This last was a follower and pupil of the Matonabi +who had guided Hearne to the Coppermine River and the eastern end of +the Great Slave Lake. The party of eight whites packed themselves and +their goods into one birch-bark canoe. English Chief and his two +wives, together with an additional Amerindian guide and a hunter, +travelled in a second and smaller canoe. The expedition, moreover, was +accompanied as far as Slave River by LE ROUX, a celebrated +French-Canadian exploring trader who worked for the X.Y. Company. The +journey down the Slave River was rendered difficult and dangerous by +the rapids. Several times the canoes and their loads had to be lugged +past these falls by an overland portage. Mosquitoes tortured the whole +party almost past bearance. The leaders of the expedition and their +Indian hunter had to be busily engaged (the Indian women also) in +hunting and fishing in order to get food for the support of the party, +who seemed to have had little reserve provisions with them. Pemmican +was made of fish dried in the sun and rubbed to powder. Swans, geese, +cranes, and ducks fell to the guns; an occasional beaver was also +added to the pot. When they reached the Great Slave Lake they found +its islands--notwithstanding their barren appearance--covered with +bushes producing a great variety of palatable fruits--cranberries, +juniper berries, raspberries, partridge berries, gooseberries, and the +"pathogomenan", a fruit like a raspberry. + +Slave Lake, however, was still, in mid-June, under the spell of +winter, its surface obstructed with drifting ice. In attempting to +cross the lake the frail birch-bark canoes ran a great risk of being +crushed between the ice floes. However, at length, after halting at +several islands and leaving Le Roux to go to the trading station he +had founded on the shores of Slave Lake, Mackenzie and his two canoes +found their way to the river outlet of Slave Lake, that river which +was henceforth to be called by his name. Great mountains approached +near to the west of their course. They appeared to be sprinkled with +white stones, called by the natives "spirit stones"--indeed over a +great part of North America the Rocky Mountains were called "the +Mountains of Bright Stones"--yet these brilliant patches were nothing +more wonderful than unmelted snow. + +A few days later the party encountered Amerindians of the Slave and +Dog-rib tribes, who were so aloof from even "Indian" civilization that +they did not know the use of tobacco, and were still in the Stone Age +as regards their weapons and implements. These people, though they +furnished a guide, foretold disaster and famine to the expedition, and +greatly exaggerated the obstacles which would be met with--rapids near +the entrance of the tributary from Great Bear Lake--before the salt +water was reached. + +The canoes of these Slave and Dog-rib tribes of the Athapaskan (Tinné) +group were covered, not with birch bark, but with the bark of the +spruce fir. + +The lodges of the Slave Indians were of very simple structure: a few +poles supported by a fork and forming a semicircle at the bottom, with +some branches or a piece of bark as a covering. They built two of +these huts facing each other, and made a fire between them. The +furniture consisted of a few dishes of wood, bark, or horn. The +vessels in which they cooked their victuals were in the shape of a +gourd, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and made of _wátápé_. + +This was the name given to the divided roots of the spruce fir, which +the natives wove into a degree of compactness that rendered it capable +of containing a fluid. Wátápé fibre was also used to sew together +different parts of the bark canoes. They also made fibre or thread +from willow bark. Their cooking vessels made of this wátápé not only +contained water, but water which was made to boil by putting a +succession of hot stones into it. It would, of course, be impossible +to place these vessels of fibre on a fire, and apparently none of the +Amerindians of temperate North America knew anything about pottery. +Those that were in some degree in touch with the Eskimo used kettles +or cauldrons of stone. Elsewhere the vessels for boiling water and +cooking were made of bark or fibre, and the water therein was made to +boil by the dropping in of red-hot stones. The arrows of these Slave +Indians were two and a half feet long, and the barb was made of bone, +horn, flint, or copper. Iron had been quite lately introduced, +indirectly obtained from the Russians in Alaska. Their spears were +pointed with barbed bone, and their daggers were made of horn or bone. +Their great club, the _pógamagán_, was made of a reindeer's antler. +Axes were manufactured out of a piece of brown or grey stone, six to +eight inches long and two inches thick. They kindled fire by striking +together a piece of iron pyrites and touchwood, and never travelled +without a small bag containing such materials. + +The Amerindians along the lower Mackenzie had heard vague and terrible +legends about the Russians, far, far away on the coast of Alaska; they +were represented as beings of gigantic stature, and adorned with +wings; which, however, they never employed in flying (possibly the +sails of their ships). They fed on large birds, and killed them with +the greatest ease. They also possessed the extraordinary power of +killing with their eyes (no doubt putting up a gun to aim), and they +travelled in canoes of very large dimensions. + +[Illustration: BIG-HORNED SHEEP OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS] + +"I engaged one of these Indians," writes Mackenzie, "by a bribe of +some beads, to describe the surrounding country upon the sand. This +singular map he immediately undertook to delineate, and accordingly +traced out a very long point of land between the rivers ... which he +represented as running into the great lake, at the extremity of which +he had been told by Indians of other nations there was a white man's +fort." The same people described plainly the Yukon River westward of +the mountains, and told Mackenzie it was a far greater stream than the +one he was exploring. This was the first "hint" of the existence of +the great Alaskan river which was ever recorded. They also spoke to +Mackenzie of "small white buffaloes" (?the mountain goat), which they +found in the mountains west of the Mackenzie. + +Whenever and wherever Mackenzie's party met these northernmost tribes +of Athapascan Indians they were always ready to dance in between short +spells of talking. This dancing and jumping was their only amusement, +and in it old and young, male and female, went to such exertions that +their strength was exhausted. As they jumped up and down they imitated +the various noises produced by the reindeer, the bear, and the wolf. + +In descending the Mackenzie River, and again on the return journey +upstream, Mackenzie notices the abundance of berries on the banks of +the river, especially the kind which was called "pears" by the French +Canadians. These were of a purple hue, rather bigger than a pea, and +of a luscious taste. There were also gooseberries and a few +strawberries. Quantities of berries were collected and dried, but +while on the lower Mackenzie the expedition fed mainly on fat geese. +On the beach of the great river they found an abundance of a sweet +fragrant root which Mackenzie calls "liquorice". + +Mackenzie seemed to think that along the lower Mackenzie River, near +the sea, there were not only reindeer, bears, wolverines, martens, +foxes, and hares, but a species of white buffalo or white musk ox, +which may have been the mountain goat above referred to. He noted, in +the cliffs or banks of the lower Mackenzie, pieces of "petroleum" +which bore a resemblance to yellow wax but was more friable. His +Indian guide informed him that rocks of a similar kind were scattered +about the country at the back of the Slave Lake, near where the +Chipewayans collected copper. If so, there may be a great oilfield yet +to be discovered in Arctic Canada. + +On the river coming out of the Bear Lake Mackenzie discovered coal; +the whole beach was strewn with it. He was attracted towards it by +seeing smoke and noticing a strong sulphurous smell. The whole bank of +the river was on fire for a considerable distance, and he thought this +was due to the natives having camped there and set fire to the coal in +the bank from their hearths. But subsequent travellers have also found +this lignite coal burning to waste, and imagine that, being full of +gas, it catches fire spontaneously if any landslip or other accident +exposes it to moist air. In 1906 it was still burning! + +According to Mackenzie, the ground in the regions about the lower +reaches of the Mackenzie River is always frozen at least five inches +down from the surface, yet he found small spruce trees growing in +patches near the delta of this river, besides pale-yellow raspberries +of an agreeable flavour, and a great variety of other plants and +herbs. + +As the expedition drew near to the estuary of the great Mackenzie +River a range of lofty snowy mountains rose into sight on the west. +These mountains were said by the natives to swarm with large +bears--probably of the huge chocolate-coloured Alaska type; and again +a mention was made of "small white buffaloes", which were in all +probability the large white mountain goat (_Oreamnus_). The +Amerindians along the river greatly magnified the dangers, predicting +impassable rapids between the confluence of the Great Bear River and +the sea. But these stories were greatly exaggerated. Every now and +then the river would narrow and flow between white precipitous +limestone walls of rock, but there was no obstacle to navigation, +though it was very deep and the current fast. + +The travellers now began to get within touch of the Eskimo and to hear +of their occasional raids up the river from the sea. They were said to +use slings, from which they flung stones with such dexterity as to +prove formidable in their fights with the Amerindians, who regarded +them with great respect, the more so because of their intercourse with +the mysterious white people (Russians) from whom they obtained iron. + +Mackenzie just managed to reach within sight of the sea, beyond the +delta of the river, his most northern point being about 69° 14" north +latitude. Hence he gazed out northwards over a vast expanse of +piled-up ice in which several small islands were embedded. In the +spaces of open water whales were visible (the small white whale, +_Beluga_). The water in between the islands was affected by the tide. +The travellers had, in fact, reached the Arctic ocean. But, owing to +the fickleness of their guides, and the danger of being detained by +some obstacle in these northern latitudes without proper supplies for +the winter, Mackenzie was afraid to stay for further investigations, +and on July 16, 1789, turned his back on the sea and commenced his +return journey up the stream of the great river which was henceforth +to bear his name. + +The strength of the current made the homeward travel much more +lengthy and tedious. The Indians of the party were troublesome, and +the principal guide, English Chief, was sulky and disobedient. This +man had insisted on being accompanied by two of his wives, of whom he +was so morbidly jealous that he could scarcely bring himself to leave +them for an hour in order to go hunting or to prospect the country; +consequently he did little or nothing in the killing of game, and this +kept the expedition on very small rations. Mackenzie got wroth with +him, and so gave him a sound rating. This irritated English Chief to a +high degree, and after a long and vehement harangue he burst into +tears and loud and bitter lamentations. Thereat his friends and wives +commenced crying and wailing vociferously, though they declared that +their tears were shed, not for any trouble between the white man and +English Chief, but because they suddenly recollected all the friends +and relations they had lost within the last few years! "I did not +interrupt their grief for two hours, but as I could not well do +without them, I was at length obliged to sooth it and induce the chief +to change his resolution (to leave me), which he did with great +apparent reluctance." + +Later on English Chief told Mackenzie that he feared he might have to +go to war, because it was a custom amongst the Athapaskan chiefs to +make war after they had given way to the disgrace attached to such a +feminine weakness as shedding tears. Therefore he would undertake a +warlike expedition in the following spring, but in the meantime he +would continue with Mackenzie as long as he wanted him. + +Mackenzie, rejoining Le Roux at the Slave Lake, safely reached his +station at Fort Chipewayan on September 12, 1789, just as the approach +of winter was making travel in these northern regions dangerous to +those who relied on unfrozen water as a means of transit. + +Mackenzie seems to have been a little disappointed with the results +of his northward journey; perhaps he had thought that the outlet of +Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River would be into the Pacific, the _Mer +de l'Ouest_ of his Canadian _voyageurs_. Yet he must have realized +that he had discovered something very wonderful after all: the +beginning of Alaska, the approach to a region which, though lying +within the Arctic circle, has climatic conditions permitting the +existence of trees, abundant vegetation, and large, strange beasts, +and which, moreover, is highly mineralized. His work in this +direction, however (and that of Hearne), was to be completed in the +next century by SIR JOHN FRANKLIN, SIR GEORGE BACK, SIR JOHN +RICHARDSON, and SIR JOHN ROSS--all knighthoods earned by magnificent +services in geographical exploration--and by THOMAS SIMPSON, Dr. John +Rae,[3] WARREN DEASE, JOHN M'LEOD, ROBERT CAMPBELL, and other servants +of the Hudson's Bay Company. + +[Footnote 3: See p. 125.] + +In October, 1792, Mackenzie had determined to make a great attempt to +reach the Pacific Ocean. By this time he and his colleagues had +explored the Peace River (the main tributary of Slave Lake), and had +realized that they could travel up it into the heart of the Rocky +Mountains. He wintered and traded at a place which he called "New +Establishment", on the banks of the Peace River, near the foothills of +the Rocky Mountains. He left this station on May 9, 1793, accompanied +by ALEXANDER MACKAY,[4] six French Canadians, and two Indian guides. +They travelled up the Peace River in a twenty-five-foot canoe, and at +first passed through scenery the most beautiful Mackenzie had ever +beheld. He describes it as follows:-- + +"The ground rises at intervals to a considerable height, and +stretching inwards to a considerable distance: at every interval or +pause in the rise, there is a very gently ascending space or lawn, +which is alternate with abrupt precipices to the summit of the whole, +or at least as far as the eye could distinguish. This magnificent +theatre of nature has all the decorations which the trees and animals +of the country can afford it: groves of poplars in every shape vary +the scene; and their intervals are enlivened with vast herds of elks +and buffaloes: the former choosing the steeps and uplands and the +latter preferring the plains. At this time the buffaloes were attended +with their young ones, who were striking about them; and it appeared +that the elks would soon exhibit the same enlivening circumstance. The +whole country displayed an exuberant verdure; the trees that bear a +blossom were advancing fast to that delightful appearance, and the +velvet rind of their branches reflecting the oblique rays of a rising +or setting sun, added a splendid gaiety to the scene which no +expressions of mine are qualified to describe." + +[Footnote 4: Alexander Mackay long afterwards left the service of the +North-west Company, and was killed by savages on the Alaska coast, +near Nutka Sound.] + +Of course, as they neared the Rocky Mountains the navigation of the +Peace River became more and more difficult. At last they left the +river to find their way across the mountains till they should reach +the headwaters of a stream flowing towards the Pacific Ocean. +Sometimes they only accomplished three miles a day, having to carry +all their goods and their canoe. The mountainous country was covered +with splendid forests of spruce, pine, cypress, poplar, birch, willow, +and many other kinds of trees, with an undergrowth of gooseberries, +currants, and briar roses. The travellers generally followed paths +made by the elk,[5] just as in the dense forests of Africa the way +sometimes is cleared for human travellers by the elephant. Every now +and again they resumed their journey on the river between the falls +and cascades. The mountains seemed to be a solid mass of limestone, in +some places without any covering of foliage. + +[Footnote 5: For the word "elk" Mackenzie uses "moose deer". "Elk" in +the Canadian Dominion is misapplied to the great Wapiti red deer.] + +"In no part of the north-west", writes Mackenzie, "did I see so much +beaver work" (along the eastern branch of the Peace River). In some +places the beavers had cut down acres of large poplars, and were +busily at work on their labours of dam-making during the night, +between the setting and the rising sun. + +Gnats and mosquitoes came with the intense heat of June to make life +almost unbearable. As they got close to the Rocky Mountains they +encountered Amerindians who had never seen a white man before, and who +at first received them with demonstrations of great hostility and +fright. But owing to the diplomatic skill of Mackenzie they gradually +yielded to a more friendly attitude, and here he decided to camp until +the natives had become familiarized with him and his party, and could +give them information as to his route. But they could only tell that, +away to the west beyond the mountains, a month's travel, there was a +vast "lake of stinking water", to which came, for purposes of trade, +other white men with vessels as big as islands. + +These Rocky Mountain Indians made their canoes from spruce bark[6] in +the following manner: The bark is taken off the spruce fir to the +whole length of the intended canoe, only about eighteen feet, and is +sewed with _wátápé_ at both ends. Two laths are then laid across the +end of the gunwale. In these are fixed the bars, and against them the +ribs or timbers, that are cut to the length to which the bark can be +stretched; and to give additional strength, strips of wood are laid +between them. To make the whole water-tight, gum is abundantly +employed. + +[Footnote 6: See p. 281.] + +Obtaining a guide from these people, Mackenzie continued his journey +along the Parsnip, or southern branch of the upper Peace River, +partly by water, partly by land till he reached its source,[7] a lake, +on the banks of which he saw innumerable swans, geese, and ducks. Wild +parsnips grew here in abundance, and were a grateful addition to the +diet of the travellers. As to birds, they not only saw blue jays and +yellow birds, but the first humming bird which Mackenzie had ever +beheld in the north-west.[8] + +[Footnote 7: Mr. Burpee points out that this was really the +southernmost source of the mighty congeries of streams which flowed +northwards to form the Mackenzie River system. Having traced the +Mackenzie to the sea, its discoverer now stood four years afterwards +at its most remote source, 2420 miles from its mouth at which he had +seen the ice floes and the whales.] + +[Footnote 8: Humming birds arrive annually in British Columbia between +April and May, and stay there till the autumn. They winter in the +warmer parts of California.] + +From this tiny lake he made his way over lofty mountains to another +lake at no great distance, and from this a small stream called the Bad +River flowed southwards to join a still bigger stream, which Mackenzie +thought might prove to be one of the branches of the mighty Columbia +River that flows out into the Pacific through the State of Oregon. It +really was the Fraser River, and of the upper waters of the Fraser +Mackenzie was the discoverer.[9] + +[Footnote 9: The great surveyor and map maker, David Thompson, was the +first white man to reach the upper waters of the _Columbia_ River. The +Fraser River was afterwards followed to its outlet in the Straits of +Georgia (opposite Vancouver Island) by Simon Fraser.] + +[Illustration: THE UPPER WATERS OF THE FRASER RIVER] + +Their experiences down the little mountain stream which was to take +them into the Fraser nearly ended in complete disaster. "The violence +of the current being so great as to drive the canoe sideways down the +river, and break her by the first bar, I instantly jumped into the +water and the men followed my example; but before we could set her +straight, or stop her, we came to deeper water, so that we were +obliged to re-embark with the utmost precipitation.... We had hardly +regained our situations when we drove against a rock which shattered +the stern of the canoe in such a manner, that it held only by the +gunwales, so that the steersman could no longer keep his place. The +violence of this stroke drove us to the opposite side of the river, +which is but narrow, when the bow met with the same fate as the +stern.... In a few moments, we came across a cascade which broke +several large holes in the bottom of the canoe, and started all the +bars.... The wreck becoming flat on the water, we all jumped out ... +and held fast to the wreck; to which fortunate resolution we owed our +safety, as we should otherwise have been dashed against the rocks by +the force of the water, or driven over the cascades.... At length we +most fortunately arrived in shallow water, and at a small eddy, where +we were enabled to make a stand, from the weight of the canoe resting +on the stones, rather than from any exertions of our exhausted +strength.... The Indians, when they saw our deplorable situation, +instead of making the least effort to help us, sat down and gave vent +to their tears." + +Nobody, however, had been killed, though much of the luggage was lost, +and what remained had to be spread out to dry. Many of Mackenzie's +people, however, when they took stock of their misfortunes, were +rather pleased than otherwise, as they thought the disaster would stop +him from any further attempt to reach the Western Sea. He wisely +listened to their observations without replying, till their panic was +dispelled, and they had got themselves warm and comfortable with a +hearty meal and a glass of rum; though a little later only by their +indifferent carelessness they nearly exploded the whole of the +expedition's stock of gunpowder. + +Fortunately the weather was fine. Mackenzie and his fellow +countryman, Mackay, allowed nothing to dismay them or damp their +spirits. Bark was obtained from the forest, the canoe was repaired, +and they heard from their guide that this violent little stream +would before long join a great and much smoother river. But they +were tormented with sandflies and mosquitoes, and a day or two +afterwards the guide bolted, while the expedition had to cross +morasses in which they were nearly engulfed, and the water journey +was constantly obstructed by driftwood. Nevertheless, at last they +had "the inexpressible satisfaction of finding themselves on the +bank of a navigable river on the western side of the first great +range of mountains". Here they re-embarked, and were cheerful in +spite of heavy rain. + +As they paddled down this great stream, more than two hundred yards +wide, snow-capped mountains rose immediately above the river. The +current was strong, but perfectly safe. Flocks of ducks, entirely +white, except the bill and a part of the wing, rose before them. Smoke +ascending in columns from many parts of the woods showed that the +country was well inhabited, and the air was fragrant with the strong +odour of the gum of cypress and spruce fir. + +Then came a series of cascades and falls and a most arduous portage +of the heavy canoe. These labours were somewhat lightened by the +discovery of quantities of wild onions growing on the banks; but +these, when mixed with the pemmican, on which the party was +subsisting, stimulated their appetites to an inconvenient degree, +seeing that they were on short commons. Meeting with strange Indians +they found no one to interpret, and had to use signs. But on the banks +of the Fraser they were lucky enough to find the "real red deer", the +great wapiti stag, which is absent from the far north-west, beyond the +region of the Saskatchewan. The canoe was loaded with venison. The +banks of the Fraser River sank to a moderate height and were covered +with poplars and cypresses, birch trees, junipers, alders, and +willows. The deserted house or lodge of some Amerindian tribe was +visited on the banks. It was a finer structure than anything that +Mackenzie had seen since he left Fort Michili-Makinak in upper +Canada. It had been constructed for three families. There were three +fireplaces and three beds and a kind of larder for the purpose of +keeping fish. The whole "lodge" was twenty feet long by three wide, +and had three doors. The walls were formed of straight spruce timbers +with some skill of carpentry. The roof was covered with bark, and +large rods were fixed across the upper part of the building, where +fish might hang and dry. + +As they continued to descend the Fraser River, with here and there a +rapid which nearly swamped the canoe, and lofty cliffs of red and +white clay like the ruins of ancient castles (stopping on their way to +bury supplies of pemmican against their return, and to light a fire on +the top of the burial place so as to mislead bears or other animals +that might dig it up), they were more or less compelled to seek +intercourse with the new tribes of Amerindians, whose presence on the +river banks was obvious. As usual, Mackenzie had to exercise great +bravery, tact, and guile to get into peaceful conversation with these +half-frightened, half-angry people. The peacemaking generally +concluded with the distribution of trinkets amongst the men and women, +and presents of sugar to the children. Talking with these folk, +however, through such interpreters as there were amongst the Indians +of his crew, he learnt that lower down on the Fraser River there was a +peculiarly fierce, malignant race, living in vast caves or +subterranean dwellings, who would certainly massacre the Europeans if +they attempted to pass through their country on their way to the sea. +He therefore stopped and set some of his men to work to make a new +canoe. He noticed, by the by, that these Amerindians of the Fraser had +small pointed canoes, "made after the fashion of the Eskimo". + +Renewing their voyage, they reached a house the roof of which just +appeared above the ground. It was deserted by its inhabitants, who had +been alarmed at the approach of the white men, but in the +neighbourhood appeared gesticulating warriors with bows and arrows. +Yet these people of underground houses turned out to be friendly and +very ready to give information, partly because they were in +communication with the Amerindian tribes to the east of the Rocky +Mountains. From the elderly men of this tribe Mackenzie ascertained +that the Fraser River flowed south by east, was often obstructed by +rapids, and, though it would finally bring them to a salt lake or +inlet, and then to the sea, it would cause them to travel for a great +distance to the south. He noticed the complete difference in the +language of these Atna or Carrier Indians[10] and that of the Nagailer +or Chin Indians of the Athapaskan group on the eastern side of the +Rocky Mountains. + +[Footnote 10: Apparently these were of the Sikanni tribe, and only +another branch of the great Tinné (Athapaskan) stock.] + +He, however, learnt from these Atna Indians that although the Fraser +was out of the question as a quick route to the sea, if he retraced +his journey a little up this river he would find another stream +entering it from the west, and along this they could travel upstream. +And then the route to the water "which was unfit to drink", and the +region to which came people with large ships, would be of no great +length. Accordingly, after having had a tree engraved with Mackenzie's +name and the date, by the bank of the Fraser River, the expedition +returned to the subterranean house which they had seen the day before. + +"We were in our canoe by four this morning, and passed by the Indian +hut, which appeared in a state of perfect tranquillity. We soon came +in sight of the point where we first saw the natives, and at eight +were much surprised and disappointed at seeing Mr. Mackay and our two +Indians coming alone from the ruins of a house that had been partly +carried away by the ice and water, at a short distance below the place +where we had appointed to meet. Nor was our surprise and apprehension +diminished by the alarm which was painted in their countenances.... +They informed me they had taken refuge in that place, with the +determination to sell their lives ... as dear as possible. In a very +short time after we had separated, they met a party of the Indians, +whom we had known at this place, and were probably those whom we had +seen landing from their canoe. These Indians appeared to be in a state +of extreme rage, and had their bows bent, with their arrows across +them. The guide stopped to ask them some questions, which our people +did not understand, and then set off with his utmost speed. Mr. +Mackay, however, followed, and did not leave him till they were both +exhausted with running.... The guide then said that some treacherous +design was meditated against them, ... and conducted them through very +bad ways as fast as they could run. When he was desired to slacken his +pace, he answered that they might follow him in any manner they +pleased, but that he was impatient to get to his family, in order to +prepare shoes and other necessaries for his journey. They did not, +however, think it prudent to quit him, and he would not stop till ten +at night. On passing a track that was but lately made, they began to +be seriously alarmed, and on enquiring of the guide where they were, +he pretended not to understand. Then they all laid down, exhausted +with fatigue, and without any kind of covering; they were cold, wet, +and hungry, but dared not light a fire, from the apprehension of an +enemy. This comfortless spot they left at the dawn of day, and, on +their arrival at the lodges, found them deserted; the property of the +Indians being scattered about, as if abandoned for ever. The guide +then made two or three trips into the woods, calling aloud, and +bellowing like a madman. At length he set off in the same direction as +they had come, and had not since appeared. To heighten their misery, +as they did not find us at the place appointed, they concluded that +we were all destroyed, and had already formed their plan to take to +the woods, and cross in as direct a line as they could proceed, to the +waters of the Peace River, a scheme which could only be suggested by +despair. They intended to have waited for us till noon, and if we did +not appear by that time, to have entered without further delay on +their desperate expedition." + +Making preparations for warfare, if necessary, yet neglecting no +chance of re-entering into friendly relations with the natives, +Mackenzie set to work to repair the wretched canoe, which was +constantly having holes knocked through her. He dealt tactfully with +the almost open mutiny of his French Canadians and Indians. At last +everyone settled down to the making of a new canoe, on an island in +the river where there were plenty of spruce firs to provide the +necessary bark. Even here they were plagued with thunderstorms. +Nevertheless, the men set to work, and as they worked Mackenzie +addressed them with simple fervour, saying he knew of their plans to +desert him, but, come what might, _he_ was resolved to travel on to +the westwards until he reached the waters of the Pacific. + +This calmed down the mutineers, and, to the great relief of all +concerned, that very afternoon the runaway guide of the Atna people +returned and apologized for having deserted them. He then offered once +again to conduct them to the seacoast. Nevertheless, again he fled, +and Mackenzie was obliged to guide the expedition, according to the +information he had gathered from the natives, up the small western +affluent of the upper Fraser, which he called the West Road River (now +known as the Blackwater). + +His perseverance was rewarded, for after proceeding up this river for +some distance he saw two canoes coming towards them containing the +runaway guide and six of his relations. The guide was dressed in a +painted beaver robe, and looked so splendid that they scarcely knew +him again. Once more he declared it really was his intention not to +disappoint them. Soon afterwards they landed, buried their property +and provisions, and placed their canoe on a stage, shaded by a +covering of small trees and branches from the sun. Each man carried on +his back four bags and a half of pemmican, of an average weight of +eighty-five pounds, or other loads (instruments, goods for presents, +ammunition, &c.) of ninety pounds in weight. Moreover, each of the +Canadians carried a gun. The Amerindian servants of the expedition +were only asked to carry loads of forty-five pounds in weight. +Mackenzie's pack, and that of his companion, Mackay, amounted to about +seventy pounds. Loaded like this they had to scramble up the wooded +mountains, first soaked in perspiration from the heat and then +drenched with heavy rain. Nevertheless they walked for about thirteen +miles the first day. Now they began to meet natives who were closely +in touch with the seacoast, which lay to the west at a distance of +about six days' journey. + +"We had no sooner laid ourselves down to rest last night than the +natives began to sing, in a manner very different from what I had been +accustomed to hear among savages. It was not accompanied either with +dancing, drum, or rattle; but consisted of soft, plaintive tones, and +a modulation that was rather agreeable: it had somewhat the air of +church music." The country through which they travelled abounded in +beavers. It was the month of July, however, and they were harassed +with thunderstorms, some of which were followed by hailstones as big +as musket balls. After one such storm the ground was whitened for two +miles with these balls of ice. + +In order not to be deserted by all of their new guides, Mackenzie was +obliged to insist on one of them sharing his hut. This young +Amerindian was dressed in beaver garments which were a nest of +vermin. His hair was greased with fish oil, and his body smeared with +red earth, so that at first Mackenzie thought he would never be able +to sleep; but such was his fatigue that he passed a night of profound +repose, and found the guide still there in the morning. In this region +he notes that the balsam fir of Canada was abundant, the tree which +provided the gum that cured Cartier's expedition of scurvy. Some of +the natives with whom they now came into contact were remarkable for +their grey eyes, a feature often observed amongst the Amerindians of +the North Pacific coast. + +"On observing some people before us, our guides hastened to meet them, +and, on their approach, one of them stepped forward with an axe in his +hand. This party consisted only of a man, two women, and the same +number of children. The eldest of the women, who probably was the +man's mother, was engaged, when we joined them, in clearing a circular +spot, of about five feet in diameter, of the weeds that infested it; +nor did our arrival interrupt her employment, which was sacred to the +memory of the dead. The spot to which her pious care was devoted +contained the grave of a husband and a son, and whenever she passed +this way she always stopped to pay this tribute of affection." + +By this time, exposure to wind and sun, the attacks of mosquitoes and +flies, the difficulty of washing or of changing their clothes, had +made all the Europeans of the party as dark in skin colour as the +Amerindians, so that such natives as they met who had the courage to +examine them, did so with the intention of discovering whether they +had any white skin left. The natives whom they now encountered +(belonging to the maritime tribes) were comely in appearance, and far +more cleanly than the tribes of the north-west. As already mentioned, +they had grey eyes, sometimes tinged with hazel. Their stature was +noble, one man measuring at least six feet four inches. They were +clothed in leather, and their hair was nicely combed and dressed with +beads. One of a travelling band of these Indians, finding that +Mackenzie's party was on short rations and very hungry, offered to +boil them a kettle of fish roes. + +"He took the roes out of a bag, and having bruised them between two +stones, put them in water to soak. His wife then took an handful of +dry grass in her hand, with which she squeezed them through her +fingers. In the meantime her husband was employed in gathering wood to +make a fire, for the purpose of heating stones. When she had finished +her operation, she filled a _wátápé_ kettle nearly full of water, and +poured the roes into it. When the stones were sufficiently heated, +some of them were put into the kettle, and others were thrown in from +time to time, till the water was in a state of boiling. The woman also +continued stirring the contents of the kettle, till they were brought +to a thick consistency; the stones were then taken out, and the whole +was seasoned with about a pint of strong rancid oil. The smell of this +curious dish was sufficient to sicken me without tasting it, but the +hunger of my people surmounted the nauseous meal. When unadulterated +by the stinking oil these boiled roes are not unpalatable food." + +Farther on their journey their hunger was alleviated by wild parsnips, +also roots which appeared, when pulled up, like a bunch of white peas, +with the colour and taste of a potato. On their way they were obliged +to cross snow mountains, where the snow was so compact that their feet +hardly made any perceptible impression. "Before us appeared a +stupendous mountain, whose snow-clad summit was lost in the clouds." +These mountains, according to the Indians, abounded in white +goats.[11] Emerging from the mountains on to the lower ground, sloping +towards the sea, at nightfall they came upon a native village in the +thickness of the woods. Desperate with his fatigue, and risking any +danger to obtain rest, Mackenzie walked straight into one of the +houses, where people were busily employed in cooking fish, threw down +his burden, shook hands with the people, and sat down. + +[Footnote 1: _Oreamnus_.] + +"They received me without the least appearance of surprise, but soon +made signs for me to go up to the large house, which was erected, on +upright posts, at some distance from the ground. A broad piece of +timber with steps cut in it led to the scaffolding even with the +floor, and by this curious kind of ladder I entered the house at one +end; and having passed three fires, at equal distances in the middle +of the building, I was received by several people, sitting upon a very +wide board, at the upper end of it. I shook hands with them, and +seated myself beside a man, the dignity of whose countenance induced +me to give him that preference...." + +Later on, this man, seeing Mackenzie's people arriving tired and +hungry, rose and fetched from behind a plank, four feet wide, a +quantity of roasted salmon. A whole salmon was offered to Mackenzie, +and another to Mackay; half a salmon was given to each of the French +Canadian _voyageurs_. Their host further invited them to sleep in the +house, but, Mackenzie thinking it preferable to camp outside, a fire +was lit to warm the weary travellers, and each was lent a thick board +on which to sleep, so that he might not lie on the bare ground. + +"We had not long been seated round the fire when we received a dish of +salmon roes, pounded fine and beat up with water so as to have the +appearance of a cream. Nor was it without some kind of seasoning that +gave it a bitter taste. Another dish soon followed, the principal +article of which was also salmon roes, with a large proportion of +gooseberries, and an herb that appeared to be sorrel. Its acidity +rendered it more agreeable to my taste than the former preparation. +Having been regaled with these delicacies, for such they were +considered by that hospitable spirit which provided them, we laid +ourselves down to rest with no other canopy than the sky. But I never +enjoyed a more sound and refreshing rest, though I had a board for my +bed and a billet for my pillow." + +The gooseberries, wortleberries, and raspberries which Mackenzie ate +at this hospitable village were the finest he ever saw or tasted of +their respective kinds. They were generally eaten together with the +dry roes of salmon. Salmon was the staple food of the country, and +very abundant in the river which Mackenzie was following down to the +Pacific shore. The fish were usually caught in weirs, and also by +dipping nets. The natives were so superstitious about the salmon, that +they believed they would give offence to the spirits if they ate any +other animal food, especially meat. They would scarcely allow +Mackenzie to carry venison in his canoe, in case the salmon should +smell it and abandon the river. + +After this welcome rest they embarked in two canoes on the stream +which Mackenzie calls the Salmon River. The stream was rapid, and they +proceeded at a great rate, stopping every now and then to get out and +walk round salmon weirs. Nevertheless, although other Indians ran +before them announcing their approach towards a village, the noise of +which was apparent in the distance, they were received at this place +in a very hostile way, the men rapidly arming themselves with bows and +arrows, spears, and axes. But Mackenzie walked on alone to greet them, +and shook hands with the nearest man. Thereupon an elderly man broke +from the crowd and took Mackenzie in his arms. Another then came and +paid him the same compliment. One man to whom he presented his hand +broke the string of a handsome robe of sea-otter skin and threw it +over Mackenzie. + +The chief made signs to the white men to follow him to his house, +which Mackenzie found to be of larger dimensions and better materials +than any he had yet seen. "Very clean mats" were spread in this house +for the chief, his counsellors, and the two white men. A small roasted +salmon was then placed before each person. + +"When we had satisfied ourselves with the fish, one of the people who +came with us from the last village approached, with a kind of ladle in +one hand, containing oil, and in the other something that resembled +the inner rind of the cocoanut, but of a lighter colour. This he +dipped in the oil, and, having eaten it, indicated by his gestures how +palatable he thought it. He then presented me with a small piece of +it, which I chose to taste in its dry state, though the oil was free +from any unpleasant smell. A square cake of this was next produced, +when a man took it to the water near the house, and having thoroughly +soaked it, he returned, and, after he had pulled it to pieces like +oakum, put it into a well-made trough, about three feet long, nine +inches wide, and five deep. He then plentifully sprinkled it with +salmon oil, and manifested by his own example that we were to eat of +it. I just tasted it, and found the oil perfectly sweet, without which +the other ingredient would have been very insipid. The chief partook +of it with great avidity after it had received an additional quantity +of oil. This dish is considered by these people as a great delicacy; +and on examination, I discovered it to consist of the inner rind of +the hemlock pine tree, taken off early in summer, and put into a +frame, which shapes it into cakes of fifteen inches long, ten broad, +and half an inch thick; and in this form I should suppose it may be +preserved for a great length of time. This discovery satisfied me +respecting the many hemlock trees which I had observed stripped of +their bark." + +Mackenzie found some of the older men here with long beards, and to +one of them he presented a pair of scissors for clipping his beard. + +After describing some remarkable oblong "tables" (as they might be +called) of cedar wood--twenty feet long by eight feet broad--made of +thick cedar boards joined together with the utmost neatness, and +painted with hieroglyphics and the figures of animals; and his visit +to a kind of temple in the village, into the architecture of which +strangely carved and painted figures were interwoven; Mackenzie +goes on to relate an episode giving one a very vivid idea of the +helplessness of "native" medicine in many diseases. + +He was taken to see a son of the chief, who was suffering from a +terrible ulcer in the small of his back, round which the flesh was +gangrened, one of his knees being afflicted in the same way. The poor +fellow was reduced to a skeleton, and apparently drawing very near to +death. + +"I found the native physicians busy in practising their skill and art +on the patient. They blew on him, and then whistled; at times they +pressed their extended fingers with all their strength on his stomach; +they also put their forefingers doubled into his mouth, and spouted +water from their own with great violence into his face. To support +these operations the wretched sufferer was held up in a sitting +posture, and when they were concluded he was laid down and covered +with a new robe made of the skin of a lynx. I had observed that his +belly and breast were covered with scars, and I understood that they +were caused by a custom prevalent among them of applying pieces of +lighted touchwood to their flesh, in order to relieve pain or +demonstrate their courage. He was now placed on a broad plank, and +carried by six men into the woods, where I was invited to accompany +them. I could not conjecture what would be the end of this ceremony, +particularly as I saw one man carry fire, another an axe, and a third +dry wood. I was, indeed, disposed to suspect that, as it was their +custom to burn the dead, they intended to relieve the poor man from +his pain, and perform the last sad duty of surviving affection. When +they had advanced a short distance into the wood, they laid him upon a +clear spot, and kindled a fire against his back, when the physician +began to scarify the ulcer with a very blunt instrument, the cruel +pain of which operation the patient bore with incredible resolution. +The scene afflicted me, and I left it." + +The chief of this village had probably met Captain Cook about ten +years before. He had been down in a large canoe[12] with forty of his +people to the seacoast, where he saw two large vessels. + +[Footnote 12: Mackenzie thus describes one of the large sea-going +canoes of the coast natives: "This canoe was built of cedar, +forty-five feet long, four feet broad, and three and a half in depth. +It was painted black and decorated with white figures of different +kinds. The gunwale fore and aft was inlaid with the teeth of the sea +otter." He adds that "these coast tribes (north of Vancouver Island +and of Queen Charlotte Sound) had been in indirect contact with the +Spaniards since the middle of the sixteenth century, and with the +Russians from the middle of the eighteenth century. Therefore, from +these two directions they had learnt the use of metal, and had +obtained copper, brass, and iron. They may possibly have had copper +earlier still from the Northern Indians on the other side of the Rocky +Mountains; but brass and iron they could, of course, only have +obtained from Europeans. They had already become very deft at dealing +with these metals, and twisted the iron into collars which weighed +upwards of twelve pounds, also beating it into plates for their +daggers and knives."] + +Farther down the river the natives, instead of regaling them with +fish, placed before them a long, clean, and well-made trough full of +berries, most of them resembling blackberries, though white in colour, +and others similar to huckleberries. In this region the women were +employed in beating and preparing the inner rind of the juniper bark, +to which they gave the appearance of flax, and others were spinning +with a distaff; again, others were weaving robes of this fibrous +thread, intermixed with strips of sea-otter skin. The men were fishing +on the river with drag nets between two canoes, thus intercepting the +salmon coming up the river. + +At last, on Saturday, the 20th of July, 1793, they emerged from the +Salmon River into an arm of the sea (probably near King Island). The +tide was out, and had left a large space covered with seaweed. The +surrounding hills were involved in fog.... The bay appeared to be some +three miles in breadth, and on the coast the travellers saw a great +number of sea otters.[13] At two in the afternoon the swell was so +high, and the wind, which was against them, so boisterous, that they +could not proceed along the seacoast in their leaky canoe. A young +chief who had come with them as one of their guides, and who had been +allowed to leave when the seacoast was reached, returned bearing a +large porcupine on his back. He first cut the animal open and threw +its entrails into the sea, then singed the skin and boiled it in +separate pieces; nor did he go to rest till, with the assistance of +two others who happened to be awake, every morsel of it had been +devoured. This was fortunate, because their stock of provisions was +reduced to twenty pounds' weight of pemmican, sixteen pounds of rice, +and six pounds of flour amongst ten men, "in a leaky vessel, and on a +barbarous coast". + +[Footnote 13: These _may_ have been small seals, but the sea otter +(_Enhydris lutris_), now nearly extinct, was at one time found in +numbers along the north-west American coast, from the Aleutian Islands +and Alaska to Oregon. Owing to persecution it now leads an almost +entirely aquatic life, resting at times on the masses of floating +seaweed.] + +The rise and fall of the tide here was noted at fifteen feet in +height. Mr. Mackay collected a quantity of small mussels, which were +boiled and eaten by the two Scotchmen, but not by the Canadians, who +were quite unacquainted with sea shellfish. + +Near Point Menzies, which had already been reached and named by +Captain VANCOUVER in the spring of 1793 on his great voyage of +discovery up the North American coast,[14] Alexander Mackenzie met a +party of Amerindians, amongst whom was a man of insolent aspect, who, +by means of signs and exclamations, made him understand that he and +his friends had been fired at by a white man named Makuba (Vancouver), +and that another white man, called "Bensins", had struck him on the +back with the flat of his sword. This man more or less compelled +Mackenzie to accompany him in the direction of his village, and on the +way explained that "Makuba" had come there with his "big boat". +Indeed, Mackenzie's party perceived the remains of sheds or buildings +on the shore where Europeans had probably made a camp, and here they +established themselves, taking up a position of defence, because the +attitude of the natives was rather threatening. + +[Footnote 14: GEORGE VANCOUVER (born about 1758, and probably +descended from Dutch or Flemish ancestors) was one of the great +pioneers of the British Empire. His name is commemorated in +Vancouver's Island, an important portion of British Columbia. +Vancouver entered the navy when only thirteen, sailed with Captain +Cook, and eventually was appointed to command a naval expedition sent +out in 1791 to survey and take over from the Spaniards the north-west +American coast north of Oregon. It is remarkable that he should only +have missed Mackenzie's arrival at Point Menzies by about two months. +With what amazed rejoicing would these two heroic explorers have +greeted one another had they met on this remote point of the Pacific +coast, the one coming overland (so to speak) from Quebec and the +Atlantic, and the other all the way by sea from Falmouth via the Cape +of Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii.] + +At this camp there was a rock, and on this Alexander Mackenzie, mixing +up some vermilion or red clay in melted grease, inscribed in large +characters the following words: "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by +land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and +ninety-three". He then shifted his camp to a place three miles to the +north-east, below a precipice from which issued streams of fine water +as cold as ice. And here he took careful observations with his +astronomical and surveying instruments, in order to fix his position. +Fortunately the day was one of bright sunshine. Otherwise, had there +been a long persistence of cloud, he might have been obliged to leave +the Pacific coast without being able to fix precisely the place where +he had reached the sea. + +Then he yielded to the passionate desire of his people to withdraw +inland from the possibly dangerous inhabitants of the coast, and +returned with them to the encampment where the porcupine had been +eaten. Here the guide made off into the woods. Mackenzie followed him, +and thus reached a village from which two men issued armed with +daggers and intending to attack him. While stopping to defend himself, +many other people assembled, and amongst them he recognized the +irritating person who incessantly repeated the names "Makuba" and +"Benzins". However, this threatened danger was narrowly averted, and +eventually they left the village with a supply of food; but also in a +state of considerable irritation with--fleas! For some of the houses +of these Pacific coast villages swarmed with fleas to such an extent +that Mackenzie and his men were obliged to take to the water to rid +themselves of these vermin, which swarmed also on the ground that was +bare of grass. + +The return journey up the Salmon River was a series of bewildering +vicissitudes. Sometimes Mackenzie and his party were received in the +most threatening way by persons who had been warm friends on their +downward journey, then seemingly inevitable war was transformed into +peace, but guides deserted, or the Amerindians from across the Rocky +Mountains attempted to mutiny. However, they struggled through all +their difficulties, till at last they reached the place known as the +Friendly Village, and were here fortunately received with great +kindness, being once more entertained "with the most respectful +hospitality". "In short, the chief behaved to us with so much +attention and kindness that I did not withhold anything in my power to +give which might afford him satisfaction.... I presented him with two +yards of blue cloth, an axe, knives, and various other articles. He +gave me in return a large shell which resembled the under shell of a +Guernsey oyster, but was somewhat larger. Where they procure them I +could not discover, but they cut and polish them for bracelets, +ear-rings, and other personal ornaments...." + +The women of this place were employed in boiling sorrel and different +kinds of berries in large square kettles made of cedar wood. This +pottage, when it had attained a certain consistency, they took out +with ladles, and poured it into frames about twelve inches square. +These were then exposed to the sun, until their contents became so +many dried cakes. This was their principal article of food, and +probably of traffic. These people had also made portable chests of +cedar, in which they packed these cakes, as well as their salmon, both +dried and roasted. The only flesh they ate in addition to the salmon +was that of the sea otter and the seal; except that one instance +already mentioned of the young Indian who feasted on the flesh of the +porcupine. + +"Their faces are round, with high cheekbones, and their complexion +between olive and copper. They have small grey eyes with a tinge of +red,... their hair is of a dark-brown colour." The men wore their hair +long, and either kept it well combed and hanging loose over the +shoulders, or plaited it and bedaubed it with brown earth so as to +make it quite impervious to the comb. Those who adopted this fashion +had to carry a bone bodkin about with them to ease the frequent +irritation which arose from the excessive abundance of vermin in their +hair. + +The women, on the other hand, usually wore their hair short. Mackenzie +noticed that the infants had their heads enclosed with boards covered +with leather, to press the skull into the shape of a wedge. The women +wore a fringed apron, and over that a long robe made of skins or +leather, either loose or tied round the middle with a girdle. Over +these in wet weather was worn a cap in the shape of an inverted bowl +or dish. The men also wore this cap, and in cold weather used the +robe, but in warm weather went about in no clothing at all, except +that their feet were protected with shoes made of dressed elks' skins. +In wet weather, over their robe they wore a circular mat with an +opening in the middle sufficiently large to admit the head. This, +spreading over the shoulders, threw off the wet. As compared with the +Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the great plains, the men and boys +were very cleanly, being constantly in the water. The women, however, +were dirty. + +At the end of July, 1793, Mackenzie left what he calls the Friendly +Village, and prepared to return to the east across the Rocky +Mountains, having distributed to each man about twenty pounds weight +of smoked salmon, flour, and pemmican. The fatigue of ascending the +precipices of the mountains was past description. When they arrived at +a spot where water could be obtained, and a camp made, they were in +such an extremity of weariness they could hardly crawl about to gather +wood for the purpose of making a fire; but two hours afterwards the +Amerindians of their party arrived and came to their assistance. Then +when they were sitting round a blazing fire, and some of their fatigue +had lessened, they could sit and talk of past dangers, and indulge in +the delightful reflection that they were thus far advanced on their +homeward journey. "Nor was it possible to be in this situation without +contemplating the wonders of it. Such was the depth of the precipices +below, and the height of the mountains above, with the rude and wild +magnificence of the scenery around, that I shall not attempt to +describe such an astonishing and awful combination of objects.... Even +at this place, which is only, as it were, the first step towards +gaining the summit of the mountains, the climate was very sensibly +changed. The air that fanned the village which we left at noon, was +mild and cheering; the grass was verdant, and the wild fruits ripe +around it. But here the snow was not yet dissolved, the ground was +still bound by the frost, the herbage had scarce begun to spring, and +the crowberry bushes were just beginning to blossom." + +Eventually they found their canoe, and the property which they had +left behind, in perfect safety. At this camp, where the canoe had been +left behind, many natives arrived both from the upper and lower parts +of the river, all of them dressed in beaver robes, which they were +ready enough to sell for large knives. It struck Alexander Mackenzie +as being very extraordinary that these people, who had left absolutely +untouched the property stored at this place--when anyone passing by +could have stolen it and never have been detected--should now be so +ready to pilfer articles and utensils from the camp. So many small +things had been picked up and taken away by them, when coming to sell +their beaver robes, that he was obliged to take some action. So, +before all these beaver-clad Amerindians had departed on their +westward journey, he told the rearguard that he had noticed the +thefts, and scarcely thought their relations who were guilty of +stealing realized the awful mischief that would result from this +dishonesty; that they were on their way now to the sea to procure +large quantities of salmon from the rivers, but the salmon, which was +absolutely necessary to their existence, came from the sea which +belonged to the white men, and it only needed a message from the white +men to the powers of nature to prevent the fish coming up from the sea +into the rivers; and if this word were spoken they and their children +might starve. He consequently advised them to hurry after their +friends, and see that all the stolen articles were sent back. This +plan succeeded. The stolen articles were restored, and then Mackenzie +purchased from these people several large salmon, and his party +enjoyed a delicious meal. + +Mackenzie declared that there were no bison to be found on the west +side of the Rocky Mountains[15] (British Columbia), and no wolves. + +[Footnote 15: He was not quite accurate: there were a few "wood" bison +in the north and east of British Columbia.] + +Resuming their journey up the Fraser River, they passed through the +narrow gut between mountainous rocks, which on the outward journey had +been a passage of some risk. But now the state of the water was such +that, they got up without difficulty, and had more time to examine +these extraordinary rocks, which were as perpendicular as a wall, and +gave the traveller the idea of a succession of enormous Gothic +cathedrals. With little difficulty they transported their canoe across +the water parting to the Peace River. + +As they began to glide down this stream, homeward bound, they noticed +at the entrance of a small tributary an object which proved to be four +beaver skins hung up to attract their attention. These were the skins +which had been given to Mackenzie as a present by a native as he +travelled westwards. Not wishing to add to his loads, he had left the +skins behind, saying he would call for them on his return. Mackenzie +imagined, therefore, that, being under the necessity of leaving the +river, this Indian had hung up the skins in the hope that they would +attract the attention of the travellers on their return. "To reward +his honesty, I left three times the value of the skins in trade goods +in their place." As the Peace River carried them away from the great +mountains, and the plains extended before their sight, they stopped to +repair the canoe and to get in supplies of food from the herds of game +that were visible. They began with a hearty meal of bison beef. "Every +fear of future want was removed." Soon afterwards they killed an elk, +the carcass of which weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds. "As we +had taken a very hearty meal at one o'clock, it might naturally be +supposed that we should not be very voracious at supper; nevertheless, +a kettleful of elk flesh was boiled and eaten, and that vessel +replenished with more meat and put on the fire. All that remained of +the bones, &c, were placed after the Indian fashion round the fire to +roast, and at ten the next morning the whole was consumed by ten +persons and a large dog, who was allowed his share of the banquet. Nor +did any inconvenience result from what may be considered as an +inordinate indulgence." + +On the 24th of August, 1793, Mackenzie was back again at Fort +Chipewayan, after an absence of eleven months, having been the first +white man to cross the broad continent of North America from the +Atlantic to the Pacific, north of Mexico. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Mackenzie's Successors + + +The Spaniards of California had been aware in the middle of the +eighteenth century that there was a big river entering the sea to the +north of the savage country known as Oregon. The estuary of this river +was reached in May, 1792, by an American sea captain of a whaling +ship--ROBERT GRAY, of Boston. He crossed the bar, and named the great +stream after his own ship, the _Columbia_. Five months afterwards +(October, 1792) Lieutenant BROUGHTON, of the Vancouver expedition, +entered the Columbia from the sea, explored it upstream for a hundred +miles, and formally took possession of it for the King of Great +Britain. The news of this discovery reached Alexander Mackenzie (no +doubt after his return from his overland journey to the Pacific +coast), and he at once jumped to the conclusion that the powerful +stream he had discovered in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and had +partially followed on its way to the Pacific, must be the Columbia. As +a matter of fact it was the river afterwards called Fraser. + +If you look at the map of British North America, and then at the map +of Russian Asia--Siberia--you will notice a marked difference in the +arrangement of the waterways. Those of the Canadian Dominion, on the +whole, flow more eastwards and westwards, or at any rate radiate in +all directions, so as to constitute the most wonderful system of +natural canals possessed by any country or continent. On the contrary, +the rivers of Siberia flow usually in somewhat parallel lines from +south to north. Siberia also is far less well provided than British +North America with an abundance of navigable rivers, streams, and +great lakes. Therefore the traveller in pre-railway days wishing to +cross Siberia from west to east or east to west was obliged to have +recourse to wheeled traffic, to ride, or to walk. Consequently, until +the beginning of the twentieth century, the "exploitation" (or turning +to useful account) of Siberia was a far more difficult process than +the development of North America, once the question of British +_versus_ French or Spanish was settled. Siberia at one time was almost +as rich in fur-bearing animals as British North America; yet so +difficult was transport (and so severe were the rigours of the +climate) that the Russians, once they reached the shores of the +Pacific at the beginning of the eighteenth century, began to stretch +out their influence to the opposite peninsula of Alaska mainly on +account of the fur trade. For it was easier and less expensive to +bring furs from Alaska round Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope, to +Europe than to convey them overland from eastern Siberia. Then, also, +the Chinese market was becoming of importance to the fur trade. +Already Mackenzie, at the end of the eighteenth century, is found +considering whether a sea trade between China and a British port on +the North Pacific coast could not be arranged so as to develop a +profitable market among the mandarins and grandees of the Celestial +Empire for a good proportion of the North-west Company's skins. + +[Illustration: Map of Part of the Coast Region of BRITISH COLUMBIA] + +Peter Pond, already referred to on p. 278, is said to have expressed +his intention (in 1788) of going to treat with the Empress Catherine +II for a Russian occupation of the Alaskan and Columbian coasts. For +this reason, or the mere desire to have a proportion of this +fur-producing country, the Emperor Paul, in 1799, created a Russian +Chartered Company to occupy the Alaska and north Columbian coasts. +Great Britain offered no objection--in spite of having acquired some +rights here by an agreement with Spain--and that is why, when you look +at the map of the vast Canadian Dominion, you find with surprise that +it has been robbed (one might almost say) of at least half of its +legitimate Pacific seaboard. The Russian Company was allowed to claim +the north Columbian coast between Alaska proper and Queen Charlotte +Islands. + +In 1867 the Russian Government sold all Alaska and the north Columbian +coast to the United States, partly to annoy Great Britain, whom it had +not forgiven for the Crimean War. + +You will have noticed that quite a number of United States citizens +(mostly born British subjects in New England) had taken part in the +north-west fur trade immediately after the British conquest of Canada +disposed of French monopolies. There were Jonathan Carver and Peter +Pond, for example; and a much more worthy person than the last +named--Daniel W. Harmon, a New Englander, who entered the service of +the North-west Company in 1800, and followed in Mackenzie's footsteps +to the upper Fraser River and the vicinity of the Skeena. Simon Fraser +also, whose tracing of the Fraser River from its upper waters to the +Pacific coast we shall presently deal with, was a native of Vermont, +though his father came from Scotland. The furs which began to +penetrate into the United States by way of Detroit and Niagara, the +rising scale of luxury in dress in the towns of the eastern seaboard +of the United States, the voyages of American whalers up the west +coast of North America (including the discovery of the Columbia River +in 1792 by Captain Robert Gray), the purchase of Louisiana from the +Emperor Napoleon in 1804--with the vague claim it gave to the coast +line of Oregon on the Pacific: all these circumstances inspired +far-sighted persons in the United States at the beginning of the +nineteenth century with a wish to secure for their Government and +commerce a share in the fur trade and in these wonderful new lands of +the Pacific watershed. American ships (whaling ships) had already +become accustomed to sail round Cape Horn and to visit the Oregon and +Alaskan coasts. The American Government therefore, immediately after +the Louisiana purchase, dispatched an American expedition under +Captains Meriwether Lewis and Jonathan Clarke to travel up the +Missouri River and so across the mountains to the coast of Oregon, a +wonderful expedition, which they carried out with great success in two +years (1804-6), reaching the lower Columbia River and following it +down to the sea. + +Consequently, with all this in the air, it is not very surprising that +the far-sighted John Jacob Astor, a wealthy German merchant of New +York, should have conceived the idea of founding a great American +fur-trading company and of establishing it at the mouth of the +Columbia River. + +At the beginning of the nineteenth century he had entered into +arrangements with an Anglo-Canadian Company (the Mackinaw), which +worked the southernmost part of Canada, to fuse its enterprise with +his, and thus founded the _South-west Company_, the name of which (at +any rate in current speech) was afterwards changed into the Pacific +Fur-trading Company. After attempting in vain to come to a working +arrangement with the great North-west Company, he decided to act quite +independently and to establish the headquarters of his new concern at +the mouth of the Columbia River. Accordingly, the expedition was sent +out in duplicate to the mouth of the Columbia River, one-half going a +six-months' voyage round Cape Horn in a sailing ship, the _Tonquin_, +and the other marching overland or canoeing on lakes and rivers in +eighteen months from Montreal via the Mississippi and Missouri. These +two parties together founded "Astoria", at the mouth of the Columbia. +But most of Astor's employees were British subjects derived from men +of the North-west and Mackinaw Companies; and when, in 1812, war +broke out between the United States and Great Britain, a British war +vessel came up the Pacific coast to Astoria and promptly turned it +into "Fort George". Forthwith the North-west Company bought up the +derelict property of Mr. Astor's Company from his not very honest +British employees, and the few Americans in the concern retreated +inland, and, after almost incredible sufferings from the attacks of +unfriendly Indians, succeeded in reaching the Mississippi. + + +[Illustration: THE KOOTENAY OR HEAD STREAM OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER] + +This Columbia River had in reality been discovered at its sources, and +traced down to the sea, between 1807 and 1811 by DAVID THOMPSON (once +a Blue-coat boy in London; from 1784 to 1792 in the service of the +Hudson's Bay Company, and after that one of the most famous of the +Nor'-westers). The upper course of this river and its northern +affluents were annexed as British by David Thompson; the lower course +did not at once become the political property of the United States, +but was considered vaguely to be the joint property of both nations, +till the Oregon settlement of 1846. By the treaty of 1792, the +southern boundary of central Canada was agreed upon as being the 49th +degree of north latitude, but only between the Lake of the Woods and +the Rocky Mountains. The agreement of 1846 continued the 49th degree +boundary to the shore of the Pacific opposite Vancouver Island. + +Prominent among the agents of the North-western Company who followed +Sir Alexander Mackenzie as a pioneer towards the Pacific shores was +ALEXANDER HENRY THE YOUNGER,[1] regarding whose journeys some extracts +may be given. + +[Footnote 1: The nephew of the Alexander Henry already mentioned as an +explorer between 1761 and 1775.] + +The first entry in his diary of 1799 is not particularly romantic, but +shows some of the unexpected dangers attending the life of an +adventurer in the far north-west. He had been riding through the +Assiniboin country in the autumn of 1799, probably after one of the +very indigestible meals which he describes here and there in his +pages. Alone, and crossing an open plain swarming with wolves, he was +seized suddenly with a violent colic, the pain of which was so +terrible that he could not remain in the saddle. He dismounted, +hobbled his horse, and threw himself on the grass, where he lay in +agony for two hours, expecting every moment would be his last, till, +quite exhausted, he fell asleep. He was awakened, however, by the +howling of the wolves advancing to tear him to pieces; yet he was so +weak that he was scarcely able to mount his horse, and then could only +proceed at a slow walk, with the wolves snapping at his horse's heels. + +Near the site of the present city of Winnipeg, in the late summer of +1800, he and his expedition were much troubled by swarms of water +snakes. They were harmless but not pleasant in their familiarity, for +they entered the tents and took refuge in the explorers' beds; and as +they apparently came from their breeding places in Amerindian graves +which covered the remains of people who had died of smallpox in a +recent epidemic, they were additionally loathsome. + +Smallpox indeed played a very important part in the historical +development of western North America. Prior to 1780 the Amerindian +tribes between the upper Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, and +between the Saskatchewans and the Missouri, were numerous and warlike. +At first, about 1765, they received in very friendly fashion the +pioneer British traders and French Canadians who attempted to resume +the fur trade where it had been dropped by the French monopolists in +1760. But fifteen years afterwards, enraged at the violence and +wrongdoing of the British and Canadian traders, and maddened by strong +drink, they were planning a universal massacre of the whites, when +suddenly smallpox (introduced by the Spaniards into New Mexico) came +on them as a scourge, which destroyed whole tribes, and depopulated +much of western North America. + +Alexander Henry had many adventures with the bison of the plains. Here +is one of them. + +"Just as I came up to him at full speed and prepared to fire, my horse +suddenly stopped. The bull had turned about to face my horse, which +was naturally afraid of buffaloes, and startled at such a frightful +object; he leaped to one side to avoid the bull. As I was not prepared +for this I was pitched over his head, and fell within a few yards of +the bull's nose; but fortunately for me he paid no more attention to +my horse than to me. The grass was long, and I lay quiet until a +favourable opportunity offered as he presented his placotte. I +discharged both barrels of my double gun at him; he turned and made +one plunge toward me, but had not time to repeat it before he fell, +with his nose not more than three paces off.... I had to return on +foot as my horse had bolted." + +At this place--near the Red River (the season September)--the country +swarmed with big game such as North America will never see any more: +enormous numbers of bison, of wapiti or Canadian red deer, moose or +elk, prong-buck, and of grizzly bears and black bears who followed the +herds to attack them. The rivers swarmed with otters and beavers. The +ground along the banks of the river was worn into a smooth, hard +pavement by the hoofs of the thousands of buffaloes. Racoons, red +foxes, wolves, and pumas frequented the bush country and the chumps of +forest. A large white wolf, prowling rather imprudently, came within a +few yards of Henry, and was shot dead. "We observed on the opposite +beach no fewer than seven bears drinking all at the same time. Red +deer were whistling in every direction, but our minds were not +sufficiently at ease to enjoy our situation." Large flocks of swans +(_Cygnus columbianus_) rose out of the Red River apparently in a state +of alarm and confusion, possibly caused by the many herds of buffaloes +rushing down to the river to drink. At night everything was quiet +except the bellowing of buffaloes and the whistling of red deer. "I +climbed up a tall oak at the entrance of the plain, from the top of +which I had an extensive view of the country. Buffalo and red deer +were everywhere in sight passing to and fro." + +But the prairie had its nuisances as well as its wonders of animal +life. From the end of April to the end of July the woods and grass +swarmed with ticks (_Ixodes_), which covered the clothes of the +Europeans and entered their ears and there caused serious +inflammations. They would in time get such a firm hold by the +insertion of their heads into the skin that they could not be removed +without pulling the body from the head, which caused a terrible +itching lasting for months. If left alone they adhered to the flesh +until they swelled to the size of a musket ball, when they fell off of +themselves. In the summertime gadflies were exasperating in their +attacks on men and cattle. Mosquitoes were a veritable plague, and +midges also, between June and the end of September. + +Not the least of the terrors of life in the far north-west in those +days was the vermin that collected in the houses or huts built for a +winter sojourn. It is frequently mentioned, in the records of the +pioneers, how the lodges or tents of the Amerindians swarmed with +fleas and lice. Henry notes on the 19th of April, 1803: "The men began +to demolish our dwelling houses, which were built of bad wood, and to +build new ones of oak. The nests of mice we found, and the swarms of +fleas hopping in every direction, were astonishing." + +Henry reached the Pacific coast in 1814, by way of the Kootenay, +Spokane, and Columbia River route, which had been discovered by David +Thompson. He describes well the forests of remarkable trees on this +portion of the Pacific coast, opposite the south end of Vancouver +Island: the crooked oaks loaded with mistletoe, the tall wild cherry +trees, the hazels with trunks thicker than a man's thigh, the +evergreen arbutus, the bracken fern, blackberries, and black +raspberries; and the game in these glades of trees and fern: small +Columbian _Mazama_ deer, large lynxes, bears, gluttons, wolves, foxes, +racoons, and squirrels. Overhead soared huge Californian condors +(_Pseudogryphus_). + +Henry was drowned in 1812 in the estuary of the Columbia River, +through the capsizing of a boat. + +The question of the identity of the great river flowing to the Pacific +from near the headwaters of the Peace--the river which Mackenzie had +discovered and been forced to leave--was finally decided by SIMON +FRASER, one of the most celebrated among the North-west Company's +pioneers. Like Mackenzie, he believed this stream to be the upper +Columbia. + +Accompanied by John Stuart and Jules Quesnel, he left the Fraser River +at its junction with the Nechaco on May 22, 1807, and, keeping as near +as he could to the course of the river, found himself in the country +of the Atna tribe, Amerindians of a diminutive size but active +appearance, from whom he obtained an invaluable guide and faithful +interpreter, Little Fellow, but for whose bravery, wise advice, and +clever diplomacy the journey must have ended in disaster or +disappointment--a remark which might be made about nearly all the +Amerindian guides of the pioneers. + +The Atna Indians were dressed in skins with the hair outside, and were +armed with bows and arrows. They besmeared their bodies with fish oil +and red earth, and painted their faces in different colours. Bison +were quite unknown to them, being very seldom found in those latitudes +on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. The country of the Atna +Indians on the upper Fraser abounded in elk, wapiti, reindeer, bighorn +sheep, mountain goats,[2] and beaver. + +[Footnote 2: This remarkable beast (_Oreamnus_) they called "Aspai", +and wove from its white wool an excellent cloth for their clothing.] + +Here is a description by Fraser of some of the rapids in the upper +part of the river named after him. + +"The channel contracts to about forty yards, and is enclosed by two +precipices of immense height, which bending towards each other make it +narrower above than below. The water which rolls down this +extraordinary passage in tumultuous waves and with great velocity has +a frightful appearance. However, it being impossible to carry canoes +by land, all hands without hesitation embarked, as it were, _à corps +perdu_ upon the mercy of this awful tide. Once engaged, the die was +cast. Our great difficulty consisted in keeping the canoes in the +middle of the stream, that is, clear of the precipice on the one side, +and of the gulfs formed by the waves on the other. Thus, skimming +along as fast as lightning, the crews, cool and determined, followed +each other in awful silence, and when we arrived at the end we stood +gazing at each other in silent gratification at our narrow escape from +total destruction.... I scarcely ever saw anything so dreary and +dangerous in any country (such precipices, mountains, and rapids), and +I still seem to see, whichever way I turn my eyes, mountains upon +mountains whose summits are covered with eternal snow." + +[Illustration: A HUNTER'S "SHACK" IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: AFTER A +SUCCESSFUL SHOOT OF BLUE GROUSE] + +They had to take to these same mountains, the river being unnavigable. +The Asketti Indians brought them different kinds of roots, especially +wild onions boiled into a syrup, excellent dried salmon, and some +berries. These Indians had visited the seacoast, and had seen ships of +war come there with white men, "very well dressed, and very proud, +for," continued the chief, getting up and clapping his two hands upon +his hips, and then striding about the place with an air of +importance, "this is the way they go". In this country of the Hakamaw +and Asketti Indians, dogs were much in use for carrying purposes, and +could draw from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds. They were +considered by the French Canadians very good eating, though only the +smaller kinds were eaten, the large dogs being of another race and +having a rank taste. They also shaved these dogs in the summer time, +and wove rugs from their hair. These rugs were striped in different +colours, crossing at right angles, and resembling at a distance a +Highland plaid. + +The tombs of the Indian villages on this western side of the Rocky +Mountains were superior to anything that Fraser had ever seen amongst +savages. They were about fifteen feet long, and of the form of a chest +of drawers. Upon the boards and posts, beasts and birds were carved in +a curious but crude manner, and pretty well proportioned. Returning to +the river, when the worst of the rapids were passed, they descended it +rapidly, helped by a strong current, and at length entered a lake +where they saw seals, which showed that they had got near to the +Pacific Ocean. They also beheld a round mountain, the now celebrated +Mount Baker, which is visible from so much of the surrounding country +of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. The trees were splendid, +junipers thirty feet in circumference in their trunks and two or three +hundred feet high. Mosquitoes, however, were in clouds. Nearer to the +coast the Indians often appeared in the distance like white men, for +the very literal reason that they had covered their skins with white +paint. Their houses were built of cedar planks, and were six hundred +and forty feet long by sixty feet broad, all under one roof, but of +course separated into a great number of partitions for different +families. On the outside the boards (as Mackenzie had noticed) were +carved with figures of men, beasts, and birds as large as life. Simon +Fraser, however, when he reached sea water, near the site of New +Westminster, was greatly disappointed that any view of the main ocean +should be obstructed by distant lands. He had believed all along that +he was tracing the far-famed Columbia River to its entrance into the +Pacific Ocean; and now that, instead of this, he had discovered an +entirely new river, henceforth to be called after him but without so +long a course as the Columbia, his vanity was hurt. + +The Amerindians of the sea coast, opposite Vancouver Island, showed +hostility to Fraser's party, as they had done farther north to +Mackenzie. The Canadian _voyageurs_ got alarmed, and told Fraser's +assistant, John Stuart, that they had made up their minds to return by +land across the Rocky Mountains. Fraser and the other officers of the +expedition joined in arguing with them and recalling them to their +senses. Finally each member of the party swore a solemn oath before +Almighty God that they would sooner perish than forsake in distress +any of the crew in the present voyage. After this ceremony was over +all hands dressed in their best apparel, and each took charge of his +own bundle. They therefore returned as much as possible by the Fraser +River, and only took to the mountains when obliged by the rapids. They +had to pass many difficult rocks, defiles, precipices, in which there +was a beaten path made by the natives, and made possible by means of +scaffolds, bridges, and ladders, so peculiarly constructed that it +required no small degree of necessity, dexterity, and courage in +strangers to undertake them. For instance, they had to ascend +precipices by means of ladders composed of two long poles placed +upright, with sticks tied crosswise with twigs; upon the end of these +others were placed, and so on to any height; add to this that the +ladders were often so slack that the smallest breeze put them in +motion, swinging them against the rocks, while the steps leading from +scaffold to scaffold were so narrow and irregular that they could +scarcely be traced by the feet without the greatest care and +circumspection; but the most perilous part was when another rock +projected over the one they were clearing. + +The Hakamaw Indians certainly deserved Fraser's grateful remembrance +for their able assistance throughout these alarming situations. The +descents were, if possible, still more difficult; in these places the +white men were under the necessity of trusting their property to the +Indians, even the precious guns were handed from one Indian to +another; yet they thought nothing of it, they went up and down these +wild places with the same agility as sailors do on a ship. After +escaping innumerable perils in the course of the day, the party +encamped about sunset, being supplied by the natives with plenty of +dried fish. + +Thus the main lines of the exploration of the great Canadian Dominion +were completed. Alexander Mackenzie went to England in 1799 and +received a knighthood for his remarkable achievements. On his return +he first definitely created the New North-west or "X.Y." Company, and +then brought about its fusion (after several years of bitter rivalry) +with the old North-west Company; and it was this united and +strengthened organization which, between 1804 and 1819, sent out so +many bold pioneers to fill in the details of the map between the +Columbia and Missouri on the south, and the Great Slave Lake and Liard +River on the north. But during these years the energies of the +Hudson's Bay Company were reviving under a strange personality--THOMAS +DOUGLAS, EARL OF SELKIRK. Lord Selkirk conceived the idea of putting +new life into the Hudson's Bay Company, reviving the monopolies of +trading granted in its old charter, and turning its vague rights to +land into the absolute ownership of the enormous area of North +America north and west of the Canadian provinces. No regard of course +was paid to any rights of the natives, who as a matter of fact were +dying out rapidly from the effects of bad alcohol and epidemic +diseases. + +His motive was to establish large colonies of stalwart Highlanders as +the tenants of a Chartered Company. Alexander Mackenzie had already +called the north-west country "New Caledonia". Lord Selkirk wished to +make it so in its population. + +Already he had been instrumental in establishing a Scottish colony on +Prince Edward's Island,[3] which, after some difficulties at the +beginning, had soon begun to prosper. Two or three years later he came +to Montreal, and there collected all the information he could obtain +from the partners in the North-west Company regarding the prospects of +trade and colonization in the far west. In the year 1811 he had +managed to acquire the greater part of the shares in the Hudson's Bay +Company, and, placing himself at its head, he sent out his first +hundred Highlanders and Irish to form a feudatory colony in the Red +River district (the modern Manitoba). He also dispatched an official +to govern what might be called the Middle West on behalf of the +Hudson's Bay Company. This person, acting under instructions, claimed +the whole region beyond the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada as the +private property of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the strength of their +antiquated charter issued by Charles II. The agents of the North-west +Company were warned (as also the two or three thousand French +Canadians and half-breeds in their pay) that henceforth they must not +cut wood, fish or hunt, build or cultivate, save by the permission and +as the tenants of the Hudson's Bay Company. + +[Footnote 3: Prince Edward's Island is off the north coast of New +Brunswick. It was named after Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of +Kent.] + +It is not surprising that such an outrageous demand, when it was +followed up by the use of armed force, soon provoked bloodshed and a +state of civil war throughout the North-west Territories. Lord Selkirk +himself took command on the Red River, with a small army of +disciplined soldiers. At length, in 1817, the British Government +intervened through the Governor-General of Canada, and in 1818 Lord +Selkirk left North America disgusted, and two years afterwards died at +Pau, in France, from an illness brought on by grief at the failure of +his projects. + +Sir Alexander Mackenzie also died suddenly in 1820, in Scotland. For +twelve years he had been member of parliament for Huntingdon, and +since 1812 had been the determined opponent in England of Lord +Selkirk's plans of forcible colonization. After his death, however, in +1821, a sudden movement for reconciliation took place between the two +Companies. Thenceforth the Hudson's Bay Company ruled over the vast +regions of British North America, beyond Newfoundland, New Brunswick, +Nova Scotia, and the two Canadian provinces. Under their government +the work of geographical exploration went on apace. In 1834 one of +their officers, J. M'Leod, discovered the Stikine River in northern +British Columbia, and by 1848 J. Bell and Robert Campbell had revealed +the Porcupine and Yukon Rivers. By the time Thomas Simpson, Warren +Dease, and Dr. John Rae, on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company; and +Franklin, Back, Parry, Richardson, and M'Clintock, for the Imperial +Government, had completed the explorations mentioned in Chapter VI, +all the main features of Canadian geography were made known. The next +series of pioneers were to be those of the mining industry--it was the +discovery of gold in 1856 which created British Columbia; of +agriculture--the wheat-growers of the Red River region made the +province of Manitoba; of the steamboat; and above all the railway. +Developments of science scarcely yet dreamt of will demand in further +time their pioneers, and these will not come from abroad, but will +assuredly be found in this splendid Canadian people, the descendants +of the men or of the types of men I have attempted to describe. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13003 *** |