122

NURTHERN INDIAN WOMEN

[1772. were converted into snow-shoes in winter. Birch-rind, with timbers and other wood for canoes, formed also objects of attention; and as Clowey, the place fixed upon for building their canoes, was still many miles distant, all the wood was reduced to its proper size, to make it light for carriage. At this place Matonabbee solaced himself by purchasing from some Northern Indians another wife, who for size and sinews might have shamed a grenadier. "Take them in a body," says Hearne, "and the Indian women are as destitute of real beauty as those of any nation I ever saw, although there are some few of them when young who are tolerable; but the care of a family, added to their constant hard labour, soon make the most beautiful amongst them look old and wrinkled, even before they are thirty, and several of the more ordinary ones at that age are perfect antidotes to the tender passion. Ask a Northern Indian what is beauty? he will answer, a broad flat face, small eyes, high cheek-bones, three or four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead, a large broad chin, a hook nose, and a tawny hide. These beauties are greatly heightened, or at least rendered more valuable, if the possessor is capable of dressing all kinds of skins, and able to carry eight or ten stone in summer, and to haul a far greater weight in winter. Such and similar accomplishments are all that are sought after or expected in an Indian Northern woman. As to their temper, it is of little consequence; for the men have a wonderful facility in making the most stubborn comply with as much alacrity as could be expected from those of the mildest and most obliging turn of mind.”*

Before starting from this station, Matonabbee took the precaution of sending in advance a small party with the

*Hearne's Journey, pp. 89, 90.

1772.1

TREATED WITH CRUELTY.

123

wood and birch-rind; they were directed to press forward to Clowey, a lake near the barren ground, and there build the boat, to be ready upon their arrival. When the journey was about to be resumed, one of the women was taken in labour. The moment the poor creature was delivered, "which," says Hearne, 66 was not till she had suffered a severe labour of fifty-two hours," the signal was made for setting forward; the mother took her infant on her back, and walked with the rest; and though another person had the humanity to haul her sledge for one day only, she was obliged to carry a considerable load in addition to her little one, and was compelled frequently to wade knee-deep in water and wet snow. Amidst all this, her looks, pale and emaciated, and the moans which burst from her, sufficiently proved the intolerable pain she endured, but produced no effect upon the hard hearts of her husband and his companions. When an Indian woman is taken in labour, a small tent is erected for her, at such a distance from the encampment that her cries cannot be heard, and the other women are her attendants, no male except children in arms ever offering to approach; and even in the most critical cases no assistance is ever given— a conduct arising from the opinion that nature is sufficient to perform all that is necessary. When Hearne informed them of the assistance derived by European women from the skill and attention of regular practitioners, their answer was ironical and characteristic: "No doubt," said they, "the many hump-backs, bandy legs, and other deformities so common amongst you English, are owing to the great skill of the persons who assisted in bringing them into the world, and to the extraordinary care of their nurses afterwards."*

*Hearne's Journey, p. 93.

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When all things are prepared, the Indians take their station on some eminence commanding a prospect of this path, and the moment any deer are seen going that way the whole encampment steal under cover of the woods till they get behind them. They then show themselves in the open ground, and drawing up in the form of a crescent advance.-Page 121.

124

ARRIVAL AT CLOWEY.

[1772. In eleven days they travelled a distance of eighty-five miles, and on 3d May arrived at Clowey, where they were joined by some strange Indians, and commenced the important business of building their canoes. The party sent ahead for this purpose arrived only two days before, and had made no progress in joining the timbers they had carried along with them. The whole tools used by an Indian in this operation, in making snow-shoes and all other kinds of wood-work, are a hatchet, a knife, a file, and an awl; but in the use of these they are very dexterous. In shape, their canoes bear some resemblance to a weaver's shuttle, having flat-bottoms, with straight upright sides, and sharp at each end. The stern is the widest part, being constructed for the reception of the baggage; and occasionally it admits a second person, who lies at full length in the bottom of the little vessel, which seldom exceeds twelve or thirteen feet in length, and about twenty inches or two feet in breadth at the widest part. The forepart is unnecessarily long and narrow, and covered with birch-bark, which adds to the weight without contributing to the burden of the canoe. The Indians, for the most part, employ a single paddle; double ones like those of the Esquimaux are seldom used unless by hunters, who lie in ambush for the purpose of killing deer as they cross rivers and narrow lakes. Upon the whole, their vessels, though formed of the same materials as those of the Southern Indians, are much smaller and lighter; and, from the extreme simplicity of build, are the best that could be contrived for the necessities of these poor savages, who are frequently obliged to carry them upon their back a hundred and sometimes one hundred and fifty miles, without having occasion to launch them.

At Clowey the expedition was joined by nearly two hundred Indians from various quarters, most of whom