Of snares,
except for rabbits and partridges, they depend entirely on the Europeans
for the means of gaining subsistence as they require guns and a constant
supply of powder and shot; so that these Indians are probably more
completely under the power of the trader than any of the other tribes. As
I only saw a few straggling parties of them during short intervals, and
under unfavourable circumstances of sickness and famine, I am unable to
give from personal observation any detail of their manners and customs;
and must refer the reader to Dr. Richardson's account of them in the
following chapter. That gentleman during his longer residence at the post
had many opportunities of seeing them and acquiring their language.
January 17.
This morning the sporting part of our society had rather a novel
diversion: intelligence having been brought that a wolf had borne away a
steel trap in which he had been caught, a party went in search of the
marauder and took two English bulldogs and a terrier which had been
brought into the country this season. On the first sight of the animal
the dogs became alarmed and stood barking at a distance, and probably
would not have ventured to advance had they not seen the wolf fall by a
shot from one of the gentlemen; they then however went up and behaved
courageously, and were enraged by the bites they received. The wolf soon
died of its wounds and the body was brought to the house where a drawing
of it was taken by Mr. Hood and the skin preserved by Dr. Richardson. Its
general features bore a strong resemblance to many of the dogs about the
fort, but it was larger and had a more ferocious aspect. Mr. Back and I
were too much occupied in preparing for our departure on the following
day to join this excursion.
The position of Cumberland House by our observations is latitude 53
degrees 56 minutes 40 seconds North; longitude 102 degrees 16 minutes 41
seconds West by the chronometers; variations 17 degrees 17 minutes 29
seconds East; dip of the needle 83 degrees 12 minutes 50 seconds. The
whole of the travelling distance between York Factory and Cumberland
House is about six hundred and ninety miles.
CHAPTER 3.
DR. RICHARDSON'S RESIDENCE AT CUMBERLAND HOUSE.
HIS ACCOUNT OF THE CREE INDIANS.
DR. RICHARDSON'S RESIDENCE AT CUMBERLAND HOUSE.
January 19, 1820.
From the departure of Messrs. Franklin and Back on the 19th of January
for Chipewyan until the opening of the navigation in the spring the
occurrences connected with the Expedition were so much in the ordinary
routine of a winter's residence at Fort Cumberland that they may be
perhaps appropriately blended with the following general but brief
account of that district and its inhabitants.
Cumberland House was originally built by Hearne, a year or two after his
return from the Copper-Mine River, and has ever since been considered by
the Hudson's Bay Company as a post of considerable importance. Previous
to that time the natives carried their furs down to the shores of
Hudson's Bay or disposed of them nearer home to the French Canadian
traders who visited this part of the country as early as the year 1697.
The Cumberland House district, extending about one hundred and fifty
miles from east to west along the banks of the Saskatchewan, and about as
far from north to south, comprehends, on a rough calculation, upwards of
twenty thousand square miles, and is frequented at present by about one
hundred and twenty Indian hunters. Of these a few have several wives but
the majority only one; and as some are unmarried we shall not err greatly
in considering the number of married women as only slightly exceeding
that of the hunters. The women marry very young, have a custom of
suckling their children for several years, and are besides exposed
constantly to fatigue and often to famine; hence they are not prolific,
bearing upon an average not more than four children, of whom two may
attain the age of puberty. Upon these data the amount of each family may
be stated at five, and the whole Indian population in the district at
five hundred.
This is but a small population for such an extent of country, yet their
mode of life occasionally subjects them to great privations. The winter
of our residence at Cumberland House proved extremely severe to the
Indians. The whooping-cough made its appearance amongst them in the
autumn, and was followed by the measles which, in the course of the
winter, spread through the tribe. Many died and most of the survivors
were so enfeebled as to be unable to pursue the necessary avocations of
hunting and fishing. Even those who experienced only a slight attack, or
escaped the sickness altogether, dispirited by the scenes of misery which
environed them, were rendered incapable of affording relief to their
distressed relations and spent their time in conjuring and drumming to
avert the pestilence. Those who were able came to the fort and received
relief, but many who had retired with their families to distant corners
to pursue their winter hunts experienced all the horrors of famine. One
evening early in the month of January a poor Indian entered the
North-West Company's House, carrying his only child in his arms and
followed by his starving wife. They had been hunting apart from the other
bands, had been unsuccessful and, whilst in want, were seized with the
epidemical disease. An Indian is accustomed to starve and it is not easy
to elicit from him an account of his sufferings. This poor man's story
was very brief; as soon as the fever abated he set out with his wife for
Cumberland House, having been previously reduced to feed on the bits of
skin and offal which remained about their encampment.
