Samuel Hearne

“ It is the general opinion of the Southern Indians, that when any of their tribe has been driven to the necessity of eating human flesh, they become so fond of it, that no person is safe in their company. And though it is well known they are never guilty of making this horrid repast but when driven to it by necessity, yet those who have made it are not only shunned, but so universally detested by all who know them, that no Indians will tent with them, and they are frequently murdered slyly. ”

“ Black beaver, and that of a beautiful gloss, are not uncommon: perhaps they are more plentiful at Churchill than at any other Factory in the Bay; but it is rare to get more than twelve or fifteen of their skins in the course of one year's trade.
Lefranc, as an Indian, must have known better than to have informed Mr. Dobbs that the beaver have from ten to fifteen young at a time; or if he did, he must have deceived him wilfully; for the Indians, by killing them in all stages of gestation, have abundant opportunities of ascertaining the usual number of their offspring. ”

“ The breaking up of the ice in the Spring is annually attended with a great deluge, when, I am told, it is not uncommon to see whole points of land washed away by the inundations; and as the wood grows close to the edge of the banks, vast quantities of it are hurried down the stream by the irresistible force of the water and ice, and conveyed into the great lake already mentioned; on the shores and islands of which, there lies the greatest quantity of drift wood I ever saw. ”

“ Pure train oil is of such a quality that it never freezes solid in the coldest Winters; a happy circumstance for those people, who are condemned to live in the most rigorous climate without the assistance of fire. While these magazines last, they have nothing more to do when hunger assails them, but to open one of the bags, take out a side of venison, a few seals, sea-horse paws, or some half-rotten salmon, and without any preparation, sit down and make a meal; and the lake or river by which they pitch their tent, affords them water, which is their constant drink. ”

“ The frames are generally made of birch-wood, and the netting is composed of thongs of deer-skin; but their mode of filling that compartment where the foot rests, is quite different from that used among the Southern Indians.
Their clothing, which chiefly consists of deer-skins in the hair, makes them very subject to be lousy; but that is so far from being thought a disgrace, that the best among them amuse themselves with catching and eating these vermin; of which they are so fond, that the produce of a lousy head or garment affords them not only pleasing amusement, but a delicious repast. ”

“ The Winter is the only season that so oily a skin as the Bear's can possibly be cleaned and dressed by those people, without greasing the hair, which is very unpleasant to them; for though they eat train-oil, &c. yet they are as careful as possible to keep their clothes from being greased with it. To dress one of those greasy skins in Winter, as soon as taken from the beast, it is stretched out on a smooth patch of snow, and there staked down, where it soon freezes as hard as a board: while in that state, the women scrape off all the fat, till they come to the very roots of the hair. ”

“ Experience has convinced me, that by keeping a Northern Indian at a distance, he may be made serviceable both to himself and the Company; but by giving him the least indulgence at the Factory, he will grow indolent, inactive, and troublesome, and only contrive methods to tax the generosity of an European.
The greatest part of these people never fail to defraud Europeans whenever it is in their power, and take every method to over-reach them in the way of trade. ”

“ Human nature shudders at the bare recital of such brutality, and reason shrinks from the task of accounting for the decrees of Providence on such occasions as this: but they are the strongest assurances of a future state, so infinitely superior to the present, that the enjoyment of every pleasure in this world by the most worthless and abandoned wretch, or the most innocent and virtuous woman perishing by the most excruciating of all deaths, are matters equally indifferent. ”

“ Like most other uncivilized people, they bear bodily pain with great fortitude, though in that respect I cannot think them equal to the Southern Indians.
Old age is the greatest calamity that can befal a Northern Indian; for when he is past labour, he is neglected, and treated with great disrespect, even by his own children. They not only serve him last at meals, but generally give him the coarsest and worst of the victuals: and such of the skins as they do not chuse to wear, are made up in the clumsiest manner into clothing for their aged parents ”

“ As no man is exempt from frailties, it is natural to suppose that as a man he had his share; but the greatest with which I can charge him, is jealousy, and that sometimes carried him beyond the bounds of humanity.
In his early youth he discovered talents equal to the greatest task that could possibly be expected from an Indian. Accordingly Mr. Jacobs, then Governor at Prince of Wales's Fort, engaged him, when but a youth, as an Ambassador and Mediator between the Northern Indians and the Athapuscow Tribe, who till then had always been at war with each other. ”

“ In fact, the only bait used by those people is in their opinion a composition of charms, inclosed within a bit of fish skin, so as in some measure to resemble a small fish. The things used by way of charm, are bits of beavers tails and fat, otter's vents and teeth, musk-rat's guts and tails, loon's vents, squirrel's testicles, the cruddled milk taken out of the stomach of sucking fawns and calves, human hair, and numberless other articles equally absurd. ”

“ In the fall of the year, and as the Winter advances, those people sew the skins of the deer's legs together in the shape of long portmanteaus, which, when hauled on the snow as the hair lies, are as slippery as an otter, and serve them as temporary sledges while on the barren ground; but when they arrive at any woods, they then make proper sledges, with thin boards of the larch-tree, generally known in Hudson's Bay by the name of Juniper. ”

“ I have seen several Indians who have been so far West as to cross the top of that immense chain of mountains which run from North to South of the continent of America. Beyond those mountains all rivers run to the Westward. I must here observe, that all the Indians I ever heard relate their excursions in that country, had invariably got so far to the South, that they did not experience any Winter, nor the least appearance of either frost or snow, though sometimes they have been absent eighteen months, or two years. ”

“ They never frequent the woods or willows, but brave the severest cold on the open plains. They always feed on the buds and tops of the dwarf birch, and after this repast, generally sit on the high ridges of snow, with their heads to windward. They are never caught in nets, like the Willow Partridge; for when in want of gravel, their bills are of such an amazing strength, that they pick a sufficient quantity out of the rocks. Beside, being so much inferior in size to the former species, their flesh is by no means so good, being black, hard, and bitter. ”

“ As such favourable opportunities of indulging the appetite happen but seldom, it is a general {144} rule with the Indians, which we did not neglect, to exert every art in dressing our food which the most refined skill in Indian cookery has been able to invent, and which consists chiefly in boiling, broiling, and roasting: but of all the dishes cooked by those people, a beeatee, as it is called in their language, is certainly the most delicious, at least for a change, that can be prepared from a deer only, without any other ingredient. ”

“ Indeed most of the Indians who actually accompanied me the whole way to the Factory had some little ammunition remaining, which enabled them to travel in times of real scarcity better than those whom we left behind; and though {295} we assisted many of them, yet several of their women died for want. It is a melancholy truth, and a disgrace to the little humanity of which those people are possessed, to think, that in times of want the poor women always come off short; and when real distress approaches, many of them are permitted to starve, when the males are amply provided for. ”

“ I never saw a set of people that possessed so little humanity, or that could view the distresses of their fellow-creatures with so little feeling and unconcern; for though they seem to have a great affection for their wives and children, yet they will laugh at and ridicule the distress of every other person who is not immediately related to them. ”

“ To snare those birds in their nests requires a considerable degree of art, and, as the natives say, a great deal of cleanliness; for they have observed, that when snares have been set by those whose hands were not clean, the birds would not go into the nest.
Even the goose, though so simple a bird, is notoriously known to forsake her eggs, if they are breathed on by the Indians.
The smaller species of birds which make their nest in the ground, are by no means so delicate, of course less care is necessary to snare them. ”

“ Though they occasionally eat fish and other animal food, yet in general they feed very clean, and when fat are good eating, particularly when nicely singed, scalded, and boiled. They are easily tamed, and soon grow fond; are very cleanly and playful, and smell exceedingly pleasant of musk; but their resemblance to a Rat is so great that few are partial to them. Indeed the only difference between them and a common Rat, exclusive of their superior size, is, that their hind-feet are large and webbed, and the tail, instead of being round, is flat and scaly. ”

“ The real wants [123] of these people are few, and easily supplied; a hatchet, an ice-chissel, a file, and a knife, are all that is required to enable them, with a little industry, to procure a comfortable livelihood; and those who endeavour to possess more, are always the most unhappy, and may, in fact, be said to be only slaves and carriers to the rest, whose ambition never leads them to any thing beyond the means of procuring food {82} and clothing. It is true, the carriers pride themselves much on the respect which is shewn to them at the Factory ”