Ethnology of the Ungava District, Hudson Bay Territory Part 12

_The wolf_ was a poor woman, who had so many children that she could not find enough for them to eat. They became so gaunt and hungry that they were changed into wolves, constantly roaming over the land seeking food.

The cry of the mother may be heard as she strives to console her hungry children, saying that food in plenty will soon be found.

_Lice_ are supposed to drop from the body of a huge spirit, dwelling in the regions above, who was punished by having these pests constantly torment him. In his rage to free himself the lice dropped down upon the people who condemned him to this punishment.

_Origin of mosquitoes._--A man had a wife who was negligent and failed to sc.r.a.pe his skin clothing properly when he returned from his expeditions. He endeavored to persuade her to mend her ways and do as a wife should do. She was again directed to remove the acc.u.mulated layer of dirt from the man's coat. She petulantly took the garment and cleaned it in such a slovenly way that when the husband discovered the condition of the coat he took some of the dirt from it and flung it after her. The particles changed into mosquitoes, and now (in spring), when the warm days come and the women have the labor of cleaning clothes to perform, the insects gather around them, and the women are thus reminded of the slovenly wife and what befel her.

_Story of the man and his fox wife._--A hunter who lived by himself found when he returned to the place after an absence that it had been visited and everything put in order as a dutiful wife should do. This happened so often with no visible signs of tracks that the man determined to watch and see who would sc.r.a.pe his skin clothing and boots, hang them out to dry, and cook nice hot food ready to be eaten when he returned. One day he went away as though going off on a hunt, but secreted himself so as to observe the entrance of anything into the house. After a while he saw a fox enter. He suspected that the fox was after food. He quietly slipped up to the house and on entering saw a most beautiful woman dressed in skin clothing of wondrous make. Within the house, on a line, hung the skin of a fox. The man inquired if it was she who had done these things. She replied that she was his wife and it was her duty to do them, hoping that she had performed her labor in a manner satisfactory to him.

After they had lived together a short time the husband detected a musky odor about the house and inquired of her what it was. She replied that she emitted the odor and if he was going to find fault with her for it she would leave. She dashed off her clothing and, resuming the skin of the fox, slipped quietly away and has never been disposed to visit a man since that time.

The following is a story obtained from Labrador:

_The rivals._--Between two men there existed keen rivalry. Each a.s.serted himself to be the stronger and endeavored to prove himself superior to the other. One of them declared his ability to form an island where none had hitherto existed. He picked up an immense rock and hurled it into the sea where it became an island. The other, with his foot, pushed it so hard that it landed on the top of another island lying far beyond.

The mark of the footprint is visible to this day, and that place is now known as Tu kik' tok.

_The jealous man._--A man fell in love with two women and was so jealous of them that he would not permit them to look upon others, much less speak to them. The women finally wearied of the restrictions placed upon them and resolved to desert the man. They fled along the coast until they were faint from hunger. At length they came upon the body of a whale cast on the sh.o.r.e. Here they determined to dwell for a time.

The man sought for the women in every possible place with no success.

A conjurer was consulted, and after much deliberation, he told the deserted man to journey to a place where he would find the carca.s.s of a whale and to secrete himself in the vicinity and watch for the women. He started out accordingly and before long had the pleasure of seeing the two women. They detected the man hastening toward them and tried to secrete themselves until he should get by. He seized one of them, however, and bound her with thongs. The other was less disposed to submit, and the man put out her eyes to deprive her of the privilege of looking at any man. They remained about that locality for some time, and various animals of the land came to the carca.s.s to feast upon the remains. The man caught a great number of foxes and other valuable furs and after a time returned to the camp whence he came.

_Story of the orphan boy._--A small boy, who had neither father, mother, nor any living relatives, was dwelling with some people who maltreated him in every way their fancy could suggest. He was kept in the entry way to the hut, like a dog, and was permitted to eat only of the skin of walrus when they had it to give him. At other times they would throw to him what they themselves would not eat. They forbade him to have a knife with which to cut his food, and he was compelled to gnaw the bones like a dog. A little girl, the daughter of the head of the family with whom he lived, would secretly take to him a knife with which to divide the tough skin of the walrus. She also carried food of better quality to him when she could do so clandestinely. These kind attentions pleased him very much, and made him long for an opportunity to escape. But how was he to better his condition when the hand of everybody was raised against him on account of his treatment at home? The little girl who had so often befriended him could not a.s.sist him to escape from such a life. He endeavored to lay a plan, but it came to naught. There seemed no help for him. One night he abandoned all hope and threw himself on the ground in despair. While there he gazed at the bright moon, and the more intently his gaze was fixed upon it the more he thought he discerned the face of a man in it, and at last he cried to the man to come and help him escape from his miserable life. The man came down from the moon and gave the poor boy a frightful beating, but the more he was beaten the larger he seemed to grow. After a while he became so strong that he could handle a large rock as easily as he had hitherto handled a little stone. A large, round bowlder from the beach was no more to him than a bullet held in the hand of a strong man.

The moon man then told the boy that he was large enough to take care of himself and do as he pleased with the people who had treated him so badly. With this the two parted, and the moon man went to his hole in the sky, while the boy walked along the beach picking up rocks and tossing them along the sh.o.r.e until the character of the water's edge was entirely changed. When the boy arrived at the hut it was daylight, for he had tarried so long on the beach testing his strength that the night had slipped away.

The people were terrified when they saw to what enormous proportions the abused boy had grown. He became frenzied the instant he saw his former persecutors, and seizing first one and then the other in his hands dashed them against the rocks. The blood and brains ran in streams. One of the men, seeing his doom, begged for his life and promised his kaiak, spears, sled, and wife if he should be spared. The enraged boy continued the slaughter until only the little girl who had so often befriended him was left. She became his wife, and in the course of a few hours the man, whose name was Kou je yuk; became of a natural size again and pa.s.sed his life in comfort.

This story was obtained from a man from Labrador. The Eskimo a.s.sert that this occurred near Ohak (often p.r.o.nounced Okak), now a missionary station. They show the rock, which a little imagination gives the appearance of having dried blood and brains still upon it.

_The origin of the sun, moon, and stars._--At a time when darkness covered the earth a girl was nightly visited by some one whose ident.i.ty she could not discover. She determined to find out who it could be. She mixed some soot with oil and painted her breast with it. The next time she discovered, to her horror, that her brother had a black circle of soot around his mouth. She upbraided him and he denied it. The father and mother were very angry and scolded the pair so severely that the son fled from their presence. The daughter seized a brand from the fire and pursued him. He ran to the sky to avoid her but she flew after him. The man changed into the moon and the girl who bore the torch became the sun. The sparks that flew from the brand became the stars. The sun is constantly pursuing the moon, which keeps in the darkness to avoid being discovered. When an eclipse occurs they are supposed to meet.

_Auroras._--Auroras are believed to be the torches held in the hands of spirits seeking the souls of those who have just died, to lead them over the abyss terminating the edge of the world. A narrow pathway leads across it to the land of brightness and plenty, where disease and pain are no more, and where food of all kinds is always ready in abundance.

To this place none but the dead and the raven can go. When the spirits wish to communicate with the people of the earth they make a whistling noise and the earth people answer only in a whispering tone. The Eskimo say that they are able to call the aurora and converse with it. They send messages to the dead through these spirits.

_The sky._--The sky is supposed to be an immense dome, of hard material, reared over the earth, long from east to west and shorter from north to south. The edges of the land and sea are bounded by high, precipitous sides, shelving outward or sloping inward to prevent anything living on the earth from going to the region beyond. There is the source of light and heat. The dome of the sky is very cold, and at times covered with crystals of frost which fall in the form of snow or frost films to the earth, and then the sky becomes clear. The clouds are supposed to be large bags of water, controlled by two old women who run with them across the sky, and as the water escapes from the seams it falls in the form of rain to the earth. The thunder is their voice and the lightning is their torch. If a spark falls from this on anyone he dies and goes to the region above.

_The winds._--At each of the corners of the earth there dwells an immense but invincible spirit, whose head is many times larger than all the remainder of his body. When he breathes the wind blows and his breath is felt. Some breathe violent storms and others gentle zephyrs.

The male spirits dwell at the north, northeast, northwest, and west. The females dwell at the remaining points, and each princ.i.p.al spirit has innumerable intermediate and less powerful attendants.

THE NENENOT OR "NASKOPIE."

The Indians of the Ungava district are locally known as Naskopie, a term of reproach applied to them by the mountaineers (the Montagnais of the early Jesuit missionaries) during the earlier days when the former acted falsely in one of their concerted struggles with the Eskimo of the eastern coast.

The name given to themselves is Nenenot, a word meaning true, or ideal red men. To the west of these people dwell a branch of the tribe along the east sh.o.r.e of Hudson bay. To the southeast dwell the mountaineers.

The western people differ greatly in customs and many words of their language from the Nenenots. The mountaineers differ but little in their customs, and only in speech as much as would be expected from the different locality in which they dwell.

These three tribes have distinct boundaries, beyond which they seldom wander. Of late years, however, a gradual influx of the western people has poured into the Ungava district, due to the decrease of the food supply along that portion of the eastern coast of Hudson bay.

The Nenenots appear, from the best information I could obtain on the subject, to have been driven to their present location during the wars waged against them by the Iroquois in times long gone by and remembered only in tradition.

They a.s.sert that their original home was in a country to the west, north of an immense river, and toward the east lay an enormous body of salt water. The former was supposed to be the St. Lawrence river and the latter to be Hudson bay. When they came to their present place they say that they found Eskimo alone, and these only along the coast. They are a branch of the Cree stock, as their language clearly indicates.

Many years ago war was waged upon them by the people whose name is remembered with terror even to this day. Most cruel atrocities were perpetrated, and in despair they fled from the land of their fathers, where they had lived as a numerous people, and were pursued by their merciless foes until but a remnant reached what is now known as the "Height of Land."

Being now driven to a strange land, where they found numerous Eskimo on all sides, only a few years elapsed before they encroached too greatly upon the land which the Eskimo had always held. Contention and struggles arose, culminating in a disposition to fight, and in the course of time desultory warfare, carried on by single combat or organized raids. This lasted for many years, even after the advent of the white men as traders along the coast. Some of the battles were attended with great slaughter on both sides. The Eskimo seldom ventured far from the coast on their raids, but fought bravely when attacked on their own ground. In most instances they outwitted the Indians by decoying them into ambush, and killing great numbers of them. Within the present century they have been more peaceably disposed toward each other. Since the arrival of the white men at various points along the coast these troubles have ceased, and the Indians and Eskimo are now on intimate terms; not that either party have any special regard for the new comers, but they have a mutual fear of each other, and the white man now engages their entire attention.

In the early struggles the Indian found the Eskimo to be a st.u.r.dy opponent, possessed of greater endurance and perseverance than himself.

After the conclusion of the troubles they withdrew to their present haunts, and now wander indiscriminately over the land, although the Eskimo seldom ventures far into the interior unless it be along the valley of some large stream. They even camp alongside of each other, and aged Indian men and women, who have been left behind the parties of young people who are in quest of fur-bearing animals during the winter months, are only too glad to have a camp of jolly Eskimo near at hand.

With them they can live as parasites until their hosts are exhausted of supplies, or until they move to another locality to relieve themselves of the importunities of their unbidden guests.

The Indian is not the physical superior of the Eskimo. It is true they are more expert on snowshoes, because the snowshoes belong to their mode of life. They are used by the Eskimo only when they can be purchased by barter from the Indian. The Eskimo snowshoe is merely a rude imitation of the form used by the neighboring Indians. In the canoe the Indian is at home; so also is the Eskimo in the kaiak, which braves the severest weather and the roughest water, on which the Indian would only gaze in dread and never venture.

Ability to endure fatigue is less in the Indian than the Eskimo, who accomplishes by patient persistence what the Indian desires to do in a hurry. I have not observed Indians carry such heavy loads as those borne on the shoulders of Eskimo, who, with ease, ascended a hill of such abrupt steepness that an unenc.u.mbered person climbed it with difficulty.

Several Eskimo men ascended this hill, each with a barrel of flour on his shoulders.

The Indian is able to withstand the effect of cold as well as the Eskimo. The clothing of the latter is certainly better adapted to protect against cold. In times of scarcity of food the Eskimo is able to go without food for a number of days and yet perform a considerable amount of physical labor, while the Indian would require food on the second or third day, and refuse to move until it had been furnished.

In comparison with a white man under the same conditions the natives of either cla.s.s would soon show signs of inferiority, and under prolonged exertion but few, even of the Eskimo, would endure the strain. The princ.i.p.al strength of these people is shown in their success in the chase.

The children are obedient to their parents, who seldom ever chastise them. Disrespect to parents is unknown, and in their intercourse with each other there are no clashings during youth. Not until the jealousies awakened under the stimulus of their s.e.xual instincts arouse their pa.s.sions do they begin to show enmity and hatred toward each other.

The males evidently exhibit jealousy to a less degree than the opposite s.e.x. The men, after a protracted absence from each other, often embrace and shed tears of joy at meeting. The women are less demonstrative.

The number of children born exceeds the number of deaths. Mortality appeared to be low for the two years I was near these people. The prevailing diseases are of the lungs and bowels. The lung diseases are induced by constant exposure to extremes of wet and cold and the inhalation of foul air laden with terebinthine odors, arising from the resinous woods used for fuel. Changes of the wind blowing in at the door cause the interior to become filled with smoke, which is endured rather than admit the cold air from without.

Abstinence from fresh food for a long time, with dry meat only to subsist upon, is often broken by the sudden capture of deer. This affords an opportunity for gorging until the digestive organs are weakened and serious complications arise. It is quite probable that gluttony directly produces half of the illnesses that occur among these people. The insufficiency of clothing does not apparently influence health, as they seem utterly regardless of exposure, and long continued dwelling in the tents probably induces nearly, if not quite, all the other ills afflicting them. Indolent ulcers and scrofulous complications are frequent, but only in few instances are of such character as to prevent their following their usual occupations. During illness they are stolid, and appear to suffer intense pain without the twitching of a muscle. When death approaches it has but little terror, and is awaited with indifference.

The remedies employed are only those afforded by the beating of the drum and the mumblings of the shaman, who claims to have control of the spirit which causes all disease and death. They are, however, firm believers in the efficacy of potions compounded by the white trader, who is fully as ignorant of the disease as the subject himself is. Often a harmless mixture of red ink, red pepper, ginger, or other pungent substance is given, with a multiplicity of confusing directions, bewildering the messenger dispatched for relief, who, in repeating them, often makes mistakes and advises that the whole quant.i.ty be swallowed.

The effect is sometimes magical, and the patient recovers. Powders are rubbed over the seat of pain and liniments swallowed with avidity.

Strange as it may seem, they often report good effects, and rarely fail to ask for more of the same kind. Both s.e.xes attain a great age--in some instances certainly living over seventy years. Some a.s.sert that they were well advanced in years before the white men came in 1827.

The marriage ceremony is simply a consent to live together, obtained by request if possible, and by force, if necessary. The man takes a wife as soon as he considers himself able to support one. When the ceremony is to be undertaken the consent of the girl's parents or nearest relatives is sought, and by holding out tempting inducements in the form of presents, the suitor wins them to his favor. The consent of the girl, if she has not yet been married is, of course, granted, if she desires to comply with the wishes of her relatives. If not, the prospective husband is informed that they can do nothing to turn her heart. The matter is understood, and in a short time she is taken forcibly to his or his father's tent. The tie binding the couple is very loose, and on the least provocation may be dissolved by either party. Continence on the part of either wife or husband is unusual, and only notorious incontinence is sufficient to cause the offender to be put away. Their s.e.xual relations are very loose among themselves, but their immorality is confined to their own people. To take a second, a third, or even a fourth wife, is not uncommon, but the additional wives are taken princ.i.p.ally for the purpose of performing labor imposed by the energy of a successful hunter. It is only the wealthy men who can afford a plurality of wives. The several wives often dwell in the same tent, but as jealousies frequently arise they resort to fighting among themselves to settle their differences. The husband looks on calmly until matters go too far. When he interferes the women are sure of being soundly thrashed. A woman, however, often a.s.sails her husband, and in some instances gives him an unmerciful pounding, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of the bystanders, who encourage her to do her best. The man is a subject for ridicule for weeks afterwards. Either s.e.x can endure being beaten, but not being laughed at. They rarely forgive a white man who laughs at their discomfiture. An amusing incident occurred within a stone's throw of Fort Chimo. An Indian had his clothing stripped from him by his enraged wife. She then tore the tent from the poles, leaving him naked.

She took their property to the canoe, which she paddled several miles up the stream. He followed along the bank until she relented, whereupon their former relations were resumed, as though nothing had disturbed the harmony of their life. The man was so severely plagued by his comrades that for many days he scarcely showed his head out of the tent. Rivalry for the favor of a woman or man is occasionally the source of serious affrays. An instance was related to me where two men sought the hand of a woman, and to settle which should have her, they determined to go in their canoes to the lake near by and fight with their deer spears. One of the men was killed and the other thereupon obtained the woman, who is now living.

The s.e.xes have their special labors. Women perform the drudgery and bring home the food slain by their husbands, fetching wood and water, tanning the skins, and making them into clothing. The labor of erecting the tents and hauling the sleds when on their journey during the winter falls upon them, and, in fact, they perform the greater part of the manual labor. They are considered inferior to the men, and in their social life they soon show the effects of the hardships they undergo.

The females arrive at p.u.b.erty at the age of 14 or 15, and are taken as wives at even an earlier age. So early are they taken in marriage that before they are 30 years of age they often appear as though they were 50. Some of them are hideously ugly, and are so begrimed with smoke from the resinous wood used for fuel and with filth that it is purely guesswork to even approximate their age. The women appear to be exempted from the curse of Eve, and deliver their children with as little concern as is exhibited among the brutes. The child is not allowed to receive nourishment until the third day, and no water must touch its body. The infant is swaddled in wrappings of skins and cloths. Sphagnum moss is used next the body and changed every other day. They begin to walk at an early age, and this is, doubtless, the princ.i.p.al cause of the bowing of the legs so often observed. The girls are neglected and the boys given every advantage. The latter soon discover their importance and rarely fail to show their domineering ways to the other s.e.x.

It is quite rare that twins are born. It is not usual for a mother to have more than four children, although as many as six or eight may be born. As the paternal origin is often obscure, the person having that woman as wife at the time of the child's birth is supposed to be its father.

The mortuary customs of the Naskopie were but imperfectly learned, for when a death occurred at the trading station the body was buried like a white man's. A shallow grave was dug in a sandy soil, as this offered less trouble in digging, and the body placed in a rudely constructed coffin and covered with dirt. A small branch from a tree was placed at the head of the grave, but with what signification I could not satisfactorily determine. I received the reply that the white men put something at the head of their graves, and so do the Indians.

Away from the post the Indians suspend their dead from the branches of trees, if the ground be frozen too hard to excavate, and endeavor to return in the following summer and inter the body. A person who has distinguished himself among the people is often buried where the fire has been long continued within the tent and thawed the ground to a sufficient depth to cover the body. The tent is then removed to another location. The Indians have not that dread of a corpse which is shown so plainly among the Eskimo. The former have been known to strip the clothing from recently deceased Eskimo, and it is not infrequent for them to appropriate the gun or other implement placed by the side of a dead Innuit.

In response to my inquiry how they disposed of their dead in former ages, I obtained evidence that scaffold burial and suspension from trees were formerly practiced and that subterranean burials were introduced by the missionaries.

The dead are mourned for according to the position they occupied in life, a favorite child often causing an alarming grief in the mother who mourns for many days, constantly bemoaning her loss and reminding the listeners of the traits in the child's nature so well remembered. The body is taken to the place of final rest by the friends, the relations seldom accompanying it.

The life of these people is a constant struggle to obtain food and raiment. Nothing, however unimportant, is done without much delibation and repeated consultation with friends.