Part 7 (1/2)
The pike is also plentiful and, being readily caught in the wintertime with the hook, is so much prized on that account by the natives as to receive from them the name of eithinyoocannooshoeoo, or Indian fish. The common trout, or nammoecous, grows here to an enormous size, being caught in particular lakes, weighing upwards of sixty pounds; thirty pounds is no uncommon size at Beaver Lake, from whence c.u.mberland House is supplied. The Hioden clodalis, oweepeetcheesees, or gold-eye, is a beautiful small fish which resembles the trout in its habits.
One of the largest fish is the mathemegh, cat-fish, or barbue. It belongs to the genus silurus. It is rare but is highly prized as food.
The sturgeon (Accipenser ruthenus) is also taken in the Saskatchewan and lakes communicating with it and furnishes an excellent but rather rich article of food.
CHAPTER 4.
LEAVE c.u.mBERLAND HOUSE.
MODE OF TRAVELLING IN WINTER.
ARRIVAL AT CARLTON HOUSE.
STONE INDIANS.
VISIT TO A BUFFALO POUND.
GOITRES.
DEPARTURE FROM CARLTON HOUSE.
ISLE A LA CROSSE.
ARRIVAL AT FORT CHIPEWYAN.
LEAVE c.u.mBERLAND HOUSE.
January 18, 1820.
This day we set out from c.u.mberland House for Carlton House but, previously to detailing the events of the journey, it may be proper to describe the necessary equipments of a winter traveller in this region which I cannot do better than by extracting the following brief but accurate account of it from Mr. Hood's journal:
MODE OF TRAVELLING IN WINTER.
A snowshoe is made of two light bars of wood fastened together at their extremities and projected into curves by transverse bars. The side bars have been so shaped by a frame and dried before a fire that the front part of the shoe turns up like the prow of a boat and the part behind terminates in an acute angle; the s.p.a.ces between the bars are filled up with a fine netting of leathern thongs except that part behind the main bar which is occupied by the feet; the netting is there close and strong, and the foot is attached to the main bar by straps pa.s.sing round the heel but only fixing the toes so that the heel rises after each step, and the tail of the shoe is dragged on the snow. Between the main bar and another in front of it a small s.p.a.ce is left, permitting the toes to descend a little in the act of raising the heel to make the step forward, which prevents their extremities from chafing. The length of a snowshoe is from four to six feet and the breadth one foot and a half, or one and three-quarters, being adapted to the size of the wearer. The motion of walking in them is perfectly natural for one shoe is level with the snow when the edge of the other is pa.s.sing over it. It is not easy to use them among bushes without frequent overthrows, nor to rise afterwards without help. Each shoe weighs about two pounds when unclogged with snow. The northern Indian snowshoes differ a little from those of the southern Indians, having a greater curvature on the outside of each shoe, one advantage of which is that when the foot rises the over-balanced side descends and throws off the snow. All the superiority of European art has been unable to improve the native contrivance of this useful machine.
Sledges are made of two or three flat boards curving upwards in front and fastened together by transverse pieces of wood above. They are so thin that, if heavily laden, they bend with the inequalities of the surface over which they pa.s.s. The ordinary dog-sledges are eight or ten feet long and very narrow, but the lading is secured to a lacing round the edges.
The cariole used by the traders is merely a covering of leather for the lower part of the body, affixed to the common sledge which is painted and ornamented according to the taste of the proprietor. Besides snowshoes each individual carries his blanket, hatchet, steel, flint, and tinder, and generally firearms.
The general dress of the winter traveller is a capot, having a hood to put up under the fur cap in windy weather or in the woods to keep the snow from his neck, leathern trousers and Indian stockings which are closed at the ankles round the upper part of his moccasins or Indian shoes to prevent the snow from getting into them. Over these he wears a blanket or leathern coat which is secured by a belt round his waist to which his fire-bag, knife, and hatchet are suspended.
Mr. Back and I were accompanied by the seaman John Hepburn; we were provided with two carioles and two sledges, their drivers and dogs being furnished in equal proportions by the two Companies. Fifteen days'
provision so completely filled the sledges that it was with difficulty we found room for a small s.e.xtant, one suit of clothes, and three changes of linen, together with our bedding. Notwithstanding we thus restricted ourselves and even loaded the carioles with part of the luggage instead of embarking in them ourselves we did not set out without considerable grumbling from the voyagers of both Companies respecting the overlading of their dogs. However we left the matter to be settled by our friends at the fort who were more conversant with winter travelling than ourselves.
Indeed the loads appeared to us so great that we should have been inclined to listen to the complaints of the drivers. The weight usually placed upon a sledge drawn by three dogs cannot at the commencement of a journey be estimated at less than three hundred pounds, which however suffers a daily diminution from the consumption of provisions. The sledge itself weighs about thirty pounds. When the snow is hard frozen or the track well trodden the rate of travelling is about two miles and a half an hour, including rests, or about fifteen miles a day. If the snow be loose the speed is necessarily much less and the fatigue greater.
At eight in the morning of the 18th we quitted the fort and took leave of our hospitable friend Governor Williams whose kindness and attention I shall ever remember with grat.i.tude. Dr. Richardson, Mr. Hood, and Mr.
Connolly accompanied us along the Saskatchewan until the snow became too deep for their walking without snowshoes. We then parted from our a.s.sociates with sincere regret at the prospect of a long separation.
Being accompanied by Mr. Mackenzie of the Hudson's Bay Company who was going to Isle a la Crosse with four sledges under his charge we formed quite a procession, keeping in an Indian file on the track of the man who preceded the foremost dogs; but as the snow was deep we proceeded slowly on the surface of the river, which is about three hundred and fifty yards wide, for the distance of six miles which we went this day. Its alluvial banks and islands are clothed with willows. At the place of our encampment we could scarcely find sufficient pine branches to floor the hut, as the Orkney men term the place where travellers rest. Its preparation however consists only in clearing away the snow to the ground and covering that s.p.a.ce with pine branches, over which the party spread their blankets and coats and sleep in warmth and comfort by keeping a good fire at their feet without any other canopy than the heaven, even though the thermometer should be far below zero.
The arrival at the place of encampment gives immediate occupation to every one of the party; and it is not until the sleeping-place has been arranged and a sufficiency of wood collected as fuel for the night that the fire is allowed to be kindled. The dogs alone remain inactive during this busy scene, being kept harnessed to their burdens until the men have leisure to unstow the sledges and hang upon the trees every species of provision out of their reach. We had ample experience before morning of the necessity of this precaution as they contrived to steal a considerable part of our stores almost from underneath Hepburn's head, notwithstanding their having been well fed at supper.
This evening we found the mercury of our thermometer had sunk into the bulb and was frozen. It rose again into the tube on being held to the fire but quickly redescended into the bulb on being removed into the air; we could not therefore ascertain by it the temperature of the atmosphere either then or during our journey. The weather was perfectly clear.