To Preserve Its Life He Descended To The Office
Of Nurse, So Degrading In The Eyes Of A Chipewyan As Partaking Of The
Duties Of A Woman.
He swaddled it in soft moss, fed it with broth made
from the flesh of the deer and, to still its cries, applied it to his
breast, praying earnestly to the great Master of Life to assist his
endeavours.
The force of the powerful passion by which he was actuated
produced the same effect in his case as it has done in some others which
are recorded: a flow of milk actually took place from his breast. He
succeeded in rearing his child, taught him to be a hunter and, when he
attained the age of manhood, chose him a wife from the tribe. The old man
kept his vow in never taking a second wife himself but he delighted in
tending his son's children and, when his daughter-in-law used to
interfere, saying that it was not the occupation of a man, he was wont to
reply that he had promised to the Great Master of Life, if his child were
spared, never to be proud like the other Indians. He used to mention too,
as a certain proof of the approbation of Providence that, although he was
always obliged to carry his child on his back while hunting, yet that it
never roused a moose by its cries, being always particularly still at
those times. Our informant* added that he had often seen this Indian in
his old age and that his left breast even then retained the unusual size
it had acquired in his occupation of nurse.
(*Footnote. Mr. Wentzel.)
...
We had proof of their sensibility towards their relations in their
declining to pitch their tents where they had been accustomed for many
years, alleging a fear of being reminded of the happy hours they had
formerly spent there in the society of the affectionate relatives whom
the sickness had recently carried off. The change of situation however
had not the effect of relieving them from sorrowful impressions, and they
occasionally indulged in very loud lamentations as they sat in groups
within and without their tents. Unfortunately the spreading of a severe
dysentery amongst them at this time gave occasion for the renewal of
their grief. The medicinal charms of drumming and singing were
plentifully applied and once they had recourse to conjuring over a sick
person. I was informed however that the Northern Indians do not make this
expedient for the cure of a patient so often as the Crees; but when they
do the conjurer is most assiduous and suffers great personal fatigue.
Particular persons only are trained in the mysteries of the art of
conjuring to procure the recovery of the sick or to disclose future
events.
On extraordinary occasions the man remains in his narrow conjuring tents
for days without eating before he can determine the matter to his
satisfaction. When he is consulted about the sick the patient is shut up
with him; but on other occasions he is alone and the poor creature often
works his mind up to a pitch of illusion that can scarcely be imagined by
one who has not witnessed it.
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