Part 22 (2/2)
The custom of fantastic names for the Indians was long continued. More than one instance occur of the impropriety with which the French-Canadians named the Indians. They called one tribe Gros Ventres, or Big Bellies, and that without any known reason; they being as comely and well-made as any other tribe. ”They are very far,” says one trader, ”from being remarkable for their corpulency.” This tribe also came to be known as the Fall Indians.
[Sidenote: Indian country.]
Jeremie observed that the Ouinebigonnolinis inhabited the sea-coast.
The Poaourinagou country was inhabited by the Miskogonhirines or Savannah, who made war with the Hakouchirmions. Twelve leagues above York Factory was situated the River Oujuragatchousibi, while far beyond dwelt the Nakonkirhirinons.
One might readily suspect one commandant of drawing upon his imagination when he speaks of such nations as the Unighkillyiakow, Is.h.i.+sageck Roanu, the Twightwis Roanu, the Oskiakikis, Oyachtownuck Roanu, Kighetawkigh Roanu, and the Kirhawguagh Roanu.
[Ill.u.s.tration: AN a.s.sINIBOINE INDIAN.]
In the seventeenth century, the districts about the Great Lakes were rather thickly populated. Certain regions which at the opening of the eighteenth century were but thinly sprinkled by inhabitants, once had boasted numerous tribes. For when the first missionaries visited the south of Lake Superior in 1668, they found the country full of inhabitants. They relate that, about this time, a band of Nepisingues, converts to the Jesuitical teaching, emigrated to the Nepigon country.
By 1785 few of their descendants were said to exist, and not a trace amongst them of the religion espoused by their ancestors.
As to the Lake of the Woods district, before the smallpox, in 1781, ravaged this country and completed what the Nodwayes by their warfare had gone far to accomplish, this part of the country was very densely inhabited.
One of the Company's factors reported, in 1736, that a tribe lived beyond the range of mountains, who had never known the use of fire-arms, for which reason they were made slaves of by the a.s.siniboines and Crees. He declared he had beheld several of this tribe ”who all wanted a joynt of their little finger, which was cut off soon after birth.”
”The Migichihilinons, that is the Eagle Ey'd Indians,” reported Middleton, one of the Company's captains, ”are at two hundred Leagues Distance; the a.s.sinibouels inhabit the West and North; they are reputed to be the same Nation because of the great affinity of their language. The name signifies Men of the Rock. They use the Calumet and live at two hundred and fifty Leagues Distance. They paint their Bodies, are grave and have much Phlegm, like _Flemings_.” He also enumerates the Michinipic Poets, or Men of Stone, of the Great Lake; but I am inclined to think these two are of the same tribe.
[Ill.u.s.tration: INDIAN WITH TOMAHAWK.]
[Sidenote: The Crees.]
The Crees, or Christineaux, were the earliest as well as the most numerous tribe which had dealings with the Company. They sprang from the same stock as the Ojibways, Chippewas or Saulteurs, who with the a.s.siniboines inhabited the vast interior of the country to the west of the Bay. Their language, according to one of the early traders, was less copious and expressive than their mother tongue. They were deficient in many direct terms for things, often expressing themselves in approximate phrases, whereas the Ojibways would have an exactly corresponding term ready at command. The Crees appear not to have possessed the custom of totems, so that it was often difficult for members of the tribe to trace their ancestry back for more than two or three generations.
[Sidenote: Their mode of living.]
In their ideas of creation the Crees and the Saulteurs resembled, and the early traders and bushrangers learnt gradually that both nations owned a mythology of no mean proportions. Nain au Bouchaw, the G.o.d of the Saulteurs, was known as ”Wee-sue-ha-jouch,” amongst the Crees; but the tales they told concerning him were by no means clear and distinct, nor in such general currency. The Crees were divided into two groups: those inhabiting the plains, and the denizens of the woods; the latter being far the most enterprising and useful to the trade of the Company. The tents of the Crees, like those of the other tribes in Rupert's Land, were of dressed leather, erected by means of poles, seventeen of which latter were required for the purpose, two being tied together about three feet from the top. The whole formed nearly a circle which was then covered with buffalo, moose, or red deer skins, well sewn together, nicely cut to fit the conical figure of the poles. An opening was then arranged above to let out the smoke, and admit the light. Such tents were of good size, commonly measuring twenty feet in diameter. A fire was kindled in the centre, around which a range of stones was placed to keep the fire compact. The Crees were fond of self-adornment, and were much addicted to false hair.
Their morals at first greatly shocked the servants of the Company, and in the early reports sent home from York Factory much stress was laid upon the need for enlightenment in this regard amongst the savages.
Polygamy was common, but not universal. The first wife was considered as mistress of the tent, ruling all the others, often with a rod of iron, and obliging them to perform all the drudgery.
The names of the children were always given to them by their parents, or some near relative. Those of the boys were various, and generally derived from some place, season or animal. The names of the female children, amongst the northern Indians, were chiefly taken from some part or property of a marten, such as the White Marten, the Black Marten, the Summer Marten, the Marten's Head, the Marten's Foot, the Marten's Heart, the Marten's Tail, etc.[53]
The exact number of Crees at the time of the Company's advent, is difficult to compute. Even at that time they were dispersed over a vast extent of country, mixing with the a.s.siniboines and other nations with whom they were on terms of peace. In 1709 appeared an estimate that there were not less than a million members of the Cree Nation.
From what source was derived this striking conclusion is not given.
It may be laid down as a general rule that all contemporary estimates as to the population of the Indian tribes which were necessarily founded upon hearsay prior to actual penetration into their country are fanciful and totally unreliable. Perhaps the most significant fact which Parkman brought home to the ma.s.ses of his readers, was the astounding discrepancy between current conception of the numbers of the various tribes, particularly the Iroquois, and that attested and corroborated by the acute research of scholars, and by the testimony of contemporaries. In 1749 the Company thought the number of the Crees to be about 100,000, men, women and children. A half century later they had diminished to about 14,000, although, in 1810, Henry can find only about 300 tents full of Crees capable of furnis.h.i.+ng less than 1,000 men. In this calculation, however, he did not include the Crees who lived north of Beaver River. The Crees were, for the most part, quiet and inoffensive, and their personal appearance not entirely prepossessing; and although compared with the wilder and more valiant tribes to the south and east, their carriage and deportment was inferior, still they were gifted with activity, and prominent, wiry figures and intelligent countenances.
[Sidenote: The a.s.siniboines.]
The next numerous tribe was the a.s.siniboine, or Stone Indians, who it is believed originated with the Sioux or Nodwayes. But owing to some misunderstanding between the bands they separated, and some half century before the first fort was built by the Company they were in possession of a vast extent of prairie country near the Red River, and thence running westward. The region they inhabited may be said to commence at the Hare Hills, near Red River, and running along the a.s.siniboine to the junction of the north and south branches of the Saskatchewan. They were generally of a moderate stature, slender and active. In complexion they were of a lighter copper colour than the Crees, with more regular features. Moreover they were readily distinguished from the latter by a different head-dress.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ESQUIMAU WITH DOGS.]
Other tribes trading with the Company were the Sioux, Blackfeet, Blood, Slave and Crow Indians. There were also the Esquimaux, with whom a traffic in the north was carried on chiefly for whalebone, ivory and oil.
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