Remaining for the use of the men who
might travel from the post during the summer and that, five years
preceding, there had been thirty thousand pounds in store under similar
circumstances. He ascribed this amazing difference more to the indolent
habits which the Indians had acquired since the commercial struggle
commenced than to their recent sickness, mentioning in confirmation of
his opinion that they could now, by the produce of little exertion,
obtain whatever they demanded from either establishment.
At the opening of the water in spring the Indians resort to the
establishments to settle their accounts with the traders and to procure
the necessaries they require for the summer. This meeting is generally a
scene of much riot and confusion as the hunters receive such quantities
of spirits as to keep them in a state of intoxication for several days.
This spring however, owing to the great deficiency of spirits, we had the
gratification of seeing them generally sober. They belong to the great
family of the Chipewyan or Northern Indians, dialects of their language
being spoken in the Peace and Mackenzie's Rivers and by the populous
tribes in New Caledonia, as ascertained by Sir Alexander Mackenzie in his
journey to the Pacific. They style themselves generally Dinneh men or
Indians, but each tribe or horde adds some distinctive epithet taken from
the name of the river or lake on which they hunt, or the district from
which they last migrated. Those who come to Fort Chipewyan term
themselves Saweessawdinneh (Indians from the rising sun or Eastern
Indians) their original hunting grounds being between the Athabasca and
Great Slave Lakes and Churchill River. This district, more particularly
termed the Chipewyan lands or barren country, is frequented by numerous
herds of reindeer which furnish easy subsistence and clothing to the
Indians, but the traders endeavour to keep them in the parts to the
westward where the beavers resort. There are about one hundred and sixty
hunters who carry their furs to the Great Slave Lake, forty to Hay River,
and two hundred and forty to Fort Chipewyan. A few Northern Indians also
resort to the posts at the bottom of the Lake of the Hills, on Red Deer
Lake, and to Churchill. The distance however of the latter post from
their hunting grounds and the sufferings to which they are exposed in
going thither from want of food have induced those who were formerly
accustomed to visit it to convey their furs to some nearer station.
These people are so minutely described by Hearne and Mackenzie that
little can be added by a passing stranger whose observations were made
during short interviews and when they were at the forts, where they lay
aside many of their distinguishing characteristics and strive to imitate
the manners of the voyagers and traders.
The Chipewyans are by no means prepossessing in appearance: they have
broad faces, projecting cheek-bones and wide nostrils; but they have
generally good teeth and fine eyes. When at the fort they imitate the
dress of the Canadians except that instead of trousers they prefer the
Indian stockings, which only reach from the thigh to the ankle, and in
place of the waistband they have a piece of cloth round the middle which
hangs down loosely before and behind. Their hunting dress consists of a
leathern shirt and stockings over which a blanket is thrown, the head
being covered with a fur cap or band. Their manner is reserved and their
habits are selfish; they beg with unceasing importunity for everything
they see. I never saw men who either received or bestowed a gift with
such bad grace; they almost snatch the thing from you in the one instance
and throw it at you in the other. It could not be expected that such men
should display in their tents the amiable hospitality which prevails
generally amongst the Indians of this country. A stranger may go away
hungry from their lodges unless he possess sufficient impudence to thrust
uninvited his knife into the kettle and help himself. The owner indeed
never deigns to take any notice of such an act of rudeness except by a
frown, it being beneath the dignity of a hunter to make disturbance about
a piece of meat.
As some relief to the darker shades of their character it should be
stated that instances of theft are extremely rare amongst them. They
profess strong affection for their children and some regard for their
relations who are often numerous, as they trace very far the ties of
consanguinity. A curious instance of the former was mentioned to us and
so well authenticated that I shall venture to give it in the words of Dr.
Richardson's Journal:
A young Chipewyan had separated from the rest of his band for the purpose
of trenching beaver when his wife, who was his sole companion and in her
first pregnancy, was seized with the pains of labour. She died on the
third day after she had given birth to a boy. The husband was
inconsolable and vowed in his anguish never to take another woman to
wife, but his grief was soon in some degree absorbed in anxiety for the
fate of his infant son. 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:
