Out; or in a journey suspended on the mother's back by a band
which crosses the forehead so as to leave her hands perfectly free. It is
one of the neatest articles of furniture they possess, being generally
ornamented with beads and bits of scarlet cloth, but it bears a very
strong resemblance in its form to a mummy case.
The sphagnum in which the child is laid forms a soft elastic bed which
absorbs moisture very readily and affords such a protection from the cold
of a rigorous winter that its place would be ill supplied by cloth.
The mothers are careful to collect a sufficient quantity in autumn for
winter use; but when through accident their stock fails they have
recourse to the soft down of the typha, or reed mace, the dust of rotten
wood, or even feathers, although none of these articles are so cleanly or
so easily changed as the sphagnum.
The above is a brief sketch of such parts of the manners, character and
customs of the Crees as we could collect from personal observation or
from the information of the most intelligent half-breeds we met with; and
we shall merely add a few remarks on the manner in which the trade is
conducted at the different inland posts of the Fur Companies.
The standard of Exchange in all mercantile transactions with the natives
is a beaver skin, the relative value of which as originally established
by the traders differs considerably from the present worth of the
articles it represents; but the Indians are averse to change. Three
marten, eight muskrat, or a single lynx or wolverine skin, are equivalent
to one beaver; a silver fox, white fox, or otter, are reckoned two
beavers, and a black fox or large black bear are equal to four; a mode of
reckoning which has very little connection with the real value of these
different furs in the European market. Neither has any attention been
paid to the original cost of European articles in fixing the tariff by
which they are sold to the Indians. A coarse butcher's knife is one skin,
a woollen blanket or a fathom of coarse cloth eight, and a fowling-piece
fifteen. The Indians receive their principal outfit of clothing and
ammunition on credit in the autumn to be repaid by their winter hunts;
the amount entrusted to each of the hunters varying with their
reputations for industry and skill from twenty to one hundred and fifty
skins. The Indians are generally anxious to pay off the debt thus
incurred but their good intentions are often frustrated by the arts of
the rival traders. Each of the Companies keeps men constantly employed
travelling over the country during the winter to collect the furs from
the different bands of hunters as fast as they are procured.
