Ethnology of the Ungava District, Hudson Bay Territory Part 5

The Eskimo acquire an extended knowledge of the country by early accompanying their parents on hunting trips, and as they have to rely upon memory alone, they must be observant and carefully mark the surroundings from all the views afforded. The faculty of memory is thus cultivated to an astonishing degree, and seldom fails, even in the most severe weather, to insure safety for the individual. I knew a native stick his ramrod in the ground among scattered stalks of gra.s.s which attained the height of the rod, yet after several hours he found the spot again without the least hesitation. Every rise of land, every curve of a stream, every cove in the seash.o.r.e, has a name descriptive of something connected with it, and these names are known to all who have occasion to visit the place. Though the aspect of the land is entirely changed by the mantle of snow which covers all the smaller objects, a hunter will go straight to the place where the carca.s.s of a single deer was cached many months before on the open beach. The Eskimo are faithful guides, and when confidence is shown to be reposed in them they take a pride in leading the party by the best route. In traveling by night they use the north star for the guide. Experience teaches them to foretell the weather, and some reliance may be placed on their predictions.

Their knowledge of the seasons is also wonderful. The year begins when the sun has reached its lowest point, that is, at the winter solstice, and summer begins with the summer solstice. They recognize the arrival of the solstices by the bearing of the sun with reference to certain fixed landmarks.

The seasons have distinctive names, and these are again subdivided into a great number, of which there are more during the warmer weather than during the winter. The reason for this is obvious: so many changes are going on during the summer and so few during the winter. The princ.i.p.al events are the return of the sun, always a signal of joy to the people; the lengthening of the day; the warm weather in March when the sun has attained sufficient height to make his rays less slanting and thus be more fervent; the melting of the snow; the breaking up of the ice; the open water; the time of birth of various seals; the advent of exotic birds; the nesting of gulls, eiders, and other native birds; the arrival of white whales and the whaling season; salmon fishing; the ripening of salmonberries and other species of edibles; the time of reindeer crossing the river; the trapping of fur-bearing animals and hunting on land and water for food. Each of these periods has a special name applied to it, although several may overlap each other. The appearance of mosquitoes, sand-flies, and horseflies are marked by dates antic.i.p.ated with considerable apprehension of annoyance.

In order to sketch the annual routine of life, I will begin with the breaking up of the ice in spring. The Koksoak river breaks its ice about the last of May. This period, however, may vary as much as ten days earlier and twenty days later than the date specified. The ice in Ungava bay, into which that river flows, must be free from the greater portion of the sh.o.r.e ice before the river ice can push its way out to sea. The winds alone influence the bay ice, and the character of the weather toward the head waters of the river determines its time of breaking.

The Eskimo has naturally a keen perception of the signs in the sky and is often able to predict with certainty the effects of the preceding weather. When the season has sufficiently advanced all the belongings of each family are put together and transported down the river on sleds to where the ice has not yet gone from the mouth of the river. It is very seldom that the river ice extends down so far. To the edge of the ice the tent and dogs, with the umiak, kaiak, and other personal property, are taken and then stored on sh.o.r.e until the outside ice is free.

The men wander along the beach or inland hunting for reindeer, ptarmigan, hares, and other land game. The edge of the water is searched for waterfowl of various kinds which appear earliest. Some venturesome seals appear. In the course of a few days the ice in the river breaks up and the sh.o.r.e ice of the bay is free; and if there is a favorable wind it soon permits the umiak to be put into the water, where, by easy stages, depending on the weather, the quant.i.ty of floating ice, and the food supply, the hunters creep alongsh.o.r.e to the objective point, be it either east or west of the Koksoak. Sometimes the party divide, some going in one direction and others in another.

The men seek for seals, hunting in the kaiak, the women and children searching the islets and coves for anything edible. As soon as the season arrives for the various gulls, eiders, and other sea birds to nest the women and children are in high glee. Every spot is carefully examined, and every accessible nest of a bird is robbed of its contents.

By the 25th of June the people have exhausted the supply of eggs from the last situations visited and now think of returning, as the birds have again deposited eggs and the seals are becoming scarcer.

The Eskimo arrange to a.s.sist the company to drive white whales when the season arrives. This is as soon as they appear in the river at a sufficient distance up to warrant that the measures pursued will not drive them out of the fresh water, for if they left they would not soon return. The date usually fixed upon is about the 12th of July. The natives are summoned, and a large sailboat or the small steam launch is sent along the coast to the place where the people were expected to arrive the 5th of the month. The natives are brought to the whaling station, where they encamp, to await the setting of the nets forming the sides of the inclosure into which the whales are to be driven.

The natives spear the whales in the pound, drag them ash.o.r.e, skin them, and help take the oil and skins to the post, some eight miles farther up the river.

The same natives who engaged in the whaling are employed to attend the nets for salmon, which arrive at variable dates from the 25th of July to the 1st of September. Two or more adult male Eskimo, with their relatives, occupy a certain locality, generally known by the name of the person in charge of that season's work. The place is occupied until the runs of the fish are over, when it is time for the natives to be up the river to spear reindeer which cross the river.

This hunting lasts until the deer have begun to rut and the males have lost the fat from the small of the back. The season is now so far advanced that the ice is already forming along the sh.o.r.e, and unless the hunter intends to remain in that locality he would better begin to descend the river to a place nearer the sea. The river may freeze in a single night and the umiak be unable to withstand the constant strain of the sharp-edged cakes of floating ice.

The head of the family decides where the winter is to be pa.s.sed and moves thither with his party at once. Here he has a few weeks of rest from the season's labors, or spends the time constructing a sled for the winter journeys he may have in view. The snow has now fallen so that a snow house may be constructed and winter quarters taken up. A number of steel traps are procured to be set for foxes and other fur-bearing animals. The ptarmigans arrive in large flocks and are eagerly hunted for their flesh and feathers. The birds are either consumed for food or sold to the company, which pays 6 cents for four, and purchases the body feathers of the birds at the rate of 4 pounds of the feathers for 25 cents.

The Eskimo soon consume the amount of deer meat they brought with them on their return and subsist on the flesh of the ptarmigan until the ice is firm enough to allow the sleds to be used to transport to the present camp meat of animals slain in the fall.

The traps are visited and the furs are sold to the company in exchange for flour, tea, sugar, mola.s.ses, biscuit, clothing, and ammunition.

Hunting excursions are made to various localities for stray bands of deer that have become separated from the larger herds.

The white men employes of the company have been engaged in cutting wood for the next year's fuel, and the Eskimo with their dog teams are hired to haul it to the bank, where it may be floated down in rafts when the river opens.

Thus pa.s.ses the year in the life of the Eskimo of the immediate vicinity of Fort Chimo. Some of the Koksoagmyut do not engage in these occupations. Some go to another locality to live by themselves; others do not work or hunt, because it is not their nature to do so.

In all undertakings for themselves they deliberate long, with much hesitation and apparent reluctance, before they decide upon the line of action. They consult each other and weigh the advantages of this over that locality for game, and speculate on whether they will be afflicted with illness of themselves or family. When the resolution is finally made to journey to a certain place, only the most serious obstacles can thwart their purpose.

At all seasons of the year the women have their allotted duties, which they perform without hesitation. They bring the wood and the water, and the food from the field, if it is not too distant, in which case the men go after it with the dog teams. The women also fashion the skins into clothing and other articles, and do the cooking. After a hunt of several days' duration the husband's appearance is anxiously awaited, as is indicated by the family scanning the direction whence he is expected.

The load is taken from the sled or boat and the incidents of the chase recited to the ever ready listeners.

In the early spring the women are busily engaged in making boots for summer wear. The skins of the seals have been prepared the fall before and stored away until wanted. The method of tanning the skins is the same for each species, differing only in its size and weight.

Certain large vessels made of wood or metal, chiefly the latter, as they are easily procured from the traders, are used to hold a liquid, which is from time to time added to. When a sufficient amount is collected it is allowed to ferment. During the interval the skin of the seal is cleansed from fat and flesh. The hair has been removed by shaving it off or by pulling it out. The skin is then dressed with an instrument designed for that purpose, made of ivory, deerhorn, stone, or even a piece of tin set in the end of a stout stick several inches long. The skin is held in the hand and the chisel-shaped implement is repeatedly pushed from the person and against a portion of the skin until that part becomes pliable and soft enough to work. It is further softened by rubbing between the hands with a motion similar to that of the washerwoman rubbing clothing of the wash. Any portion of the skin which will not readily yield to this manipulation is chewed with the front teeth until it is reduced to the required pliability. After this operation has been completed the skin is soaked in the liquid, which has now ripened to a sufficient degree to be effective. In this it is laid for a period lasting from several hours to two or three days. The skin is now taken out and dried. The subsequent operation of softening is similar to that just described, and is final. It is now ready to be cut into the required shape for the various articles for which it is intended. If it is designed for boots for a man, the measure of the height of the leg is taken. The length and width of the sole is measured by the hand, stretching so far and then bending down the long or middle finger until the length is measured. The width of one, two, or more fingers is sometimes used in addition to the span. The length is thus marked and the skin folded over so as to have it doubled. The knife used in cutting is shaped like the round knife used by the harness-maker or shoemaker.

There is in our collection a wooden model of this form of knife (No. 3022), which nowadays always has a blade of metal. Formerly slate, flint, or ivory was used for these blades.

The instrument is always pushed by the person using it. The eye alone guides the knife, except on work for a white man, and then greater care is exercised and marks employed indicating the required size. This round knife is called ulo.

Another important duty of the women is taking care of the family boots.

When a pair of boots has been worn for some time, during a few hours in warm weather they absorb moisture and become nearly half an inch thick on the soles. When taken off they must be turned inside out and dried, then chewed and sc.r.a.ped by some old woman, who is only too glad to have the work for the two or three biscuit she may receive as pay. Any leak or hole is st.i.tched, and when the sole has holes worn through it, it is patched by sewing a piece on the under side. The thread used in sewing the boots is selected from the best strips of sinew from the reindeer or seal.

Some women excel in boot-making, and at some seasons do nothing but make boots, while the others in return prepare the other garments. When the time comes in spring for making sealskin clothes, the women must not sew on any piece of deerskin which has not yet been sewed, lest the seals take offense and desert the locality which has been selected for the spring seal hunt, to which all the people look forward with longing, that they may obtain a supply of food different from that which they have had during the long winter months. As there can be no harm in killing a deer at this season, the flesh may be used, but the skin must be cast away.

As before stated, the entire family accompany the expeditions; and as the females are often the more numerous portion of the population, they row the umiak at their leisure, now and then stopping to have a few hours' run on sh.o.r.e and again embarking. While thus journeying they are at times a sleepy crowd, until something ahead attracts attention; then all become animated, pursuing the object, if it be a half-fledged bird, until it is captured. Great amus.e.m.e.nt is thus afforded for the time, after which they relapse until some excitement again arouses them from their apparent lethargy. At the camp the men go in quest of larger game, leaving the women and children, who search the sh.o.r.e for any living creature they may find, destroying all that comes in their way. Smoking, eating, and sleeping occupy them until they arrive at a locality where food is abundant. There they earnestly strive to slay all that comes within reach, and thus often obtain much more than they require, and the remainder is left to putrefy on the rocks. The women do the skinning of the seals and birds obtained on this trip. The skins of birds are removed in a peculiar manner. The wings are cut off at the body, and through the incision all the flesh and bones are taken out. The skin is then turned inside out. The grease is removed by sc.r.a.ping and chewing.

The skin is dried and preserved for wear on the feet or for the purpose of cleansing the hands, which have become soiled with blood or other offal in skinning large game.

When the season arrives for hunting the reindeer for their skins, with which to make clothing for winter, the women help to prepare the flesh and bring the wood and water for the camp, while the men are ever on the alert for the herds of deer on the land or crossing the water. The women hang the skins over poles until the greater portion of the animal matter is dry, when they roll them up and store them away until the party is ready to return to the permanent camp for the winter. Here the skins collected are carefully examined and suitable ones selected for winter garments.

The skins are moistened with water and the adherent fleshy particles are removed with a knife. They are then roughly sc.r.a.ped and again wetted, this time with urine, which is supposed to render them more pliable. The operation is practically the same as that of tanning sealskins. The hair is, of course, left on the skin. When the skins are finally dry and worked to the required pliability, they are cut into shape for the various articles of apparel. The thread used in sewing is simply a strip of sinew of the proper size. The fibers are separated by splitting off a sufficient amount, and with the finger nail the strip is freed from all knots or smaller strands which would prevent drawing through the needle holes. The thread for this purpose is never twisted or plaited. The needle is one procured from the trader. Small bone needles, imitations of these, are sometimes used. In former years the bone needle was the only means of carrying the thread, but this has now, except in the rarest instances, been entirely superseded by one of metal.

The thimble is simply a piece of stiff sealskin sewed into a ring half an inch wide to slip on the first finger, and has the same name as that member. In sewing of all kinds the needle is pointed toward the operator. The knife used in cutting skins is the same as that previously described. Scissors are not adapted to cutting a skin which retains the fur. So far as my observations goes, scissors are used only for cutting textile fabrics procured from the store.

In the use of a knife women acquire a wondrous dexterity, guiding it to the desired curve with much skill, or using the heel of the blade to remove strips which may need tr.i.m.m.i.n.g off.

TATTOOING.

In former years the women were fancifully tattooed with curved lines and rows of dots on the face, neck, and arms, and on the legs up to mid-thigh. This custom, however, fell into disuse because some shaman declared that a prevailing misfortune was the result of the tattooing.

At present the tattooing is confined to a few single dots on the body and face. When a girl arrives at p.u.b.erty she is taken to a secluded locality by some old woman versed in the art and stripped of her clothing. A small quant.i.ty of half-charred lamp wick of moss is mixed with oil from the lamp. A needle is used to p.r.i.c.k the skin, and the pasty substance is smeared over the wound. The blood mixes with it, and in a day or two a dark-bluish spot alone is left. The operation continues four days. When the girl returns to the tent it is known that she has begun to menstruate. A menstruating woman must not wear the lower garments she does at other times. The hind flap of her coat must be turned up and st.i.tched to the back of the garment. Her right hand must be half-gloved, or, in other words, the first two joints of each finger of that hand must be uncovered. The left hand also remains uncovered. She must not touch certain skins and food which at that particular season are in use.

CLOTHING.

Like most Eskimo, the Koksoagmyut are clothed almost entirely in the skins of animals, though the men now wear breeches of moleskin, duck, jeans, or denim procured from the trading store. Reindeerskin is the favorite material for clothing, though skins of the different seals are also used. The usual garments are a hooded frock, of different shapes for the s.e.xes, with breeches and boots. The latter are of various shapes for different weather, and there are many patterns of mittens. Rain frocks of seal entrail are also worn over the furs in stormy weather.

Some of the people are very tidy and keep their clothing in a respectable condition. Others are careless and often present a most filthy sight. The aged and orphans, unless the latter be adopted by some well-to-do person, must often be content with the cast-off apparel of their more fortunate fellow-beings.

The hair of the skins wears off in those places most liable to be in contact with other objects. The elbows, wrists, and knees often are without a vestige of hair on the clothing. The skin wears through and then is patched with any kind of a piece, which often presents a ludicrous appearance.

The young boys and girls are dressed alike, and the females do not wear the garments of the adults until they arrive at p.u.b.erty. It is a ludicrous sight to witness some of the little ones scarcely able to walk dressed in heavy deerskin clothing, which makes them appear as thick as they are tall. They exhibit about the same amount of pride of their new suits as the civilized boy does. They are now able to go out into the severest weather, and seem to delight in rolling around in the snow.

Infants at the breast, so small as to be carried in the mother's hood, are often dressed in skins of the reindeer fawns. The garment for these is a kind of "combination," the trousers and body sewed together and cut down the back to enable the infant to get them on. A cap of calico or other cloth and a pair of skin stockings completes the suit.

Both men and women wear, as an additional protection for their feet in cold weather, a pair or two of short stockings, locally known as "duffles," from the name of the material of which they are made. These "duffles" are cut into the form of a slipper and incase the stockings of the feet. Over these are worn the moccasins, made of tanned and smoked deerskin. The Eskimo women are not adepts in making moccasins; a few only can form a well-fitting pair. They often employ the Indian women to make them, and, in return, give a pair of sealskin boots, which the Indian is unable to make, but highly prizes for summer wear in the swamps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 29. Eskimo birdskin cap.]

The Koksoagmyut do not wear caps, the hood of the frocks being the only head covering. There is, however, in my collection a cap obtained from one of the so-called "Northerners," who came to Fort Chimo to trade.

This cap (No. 3242, Fig. 29) was evidently copied from some white man's cap. The front and crown of the cap are made of guillemot and sea-pigeon skins, and the sealskin neckpiece also is lined with these skins, so that when it is turned up the whole cap seems to be made of bird skins.

We may now proceed to the description of the different garments in detail.

The coat worn by the men and boys, and by the girls until they arrive at womanhood, has the form of a loose shirt, seldom reaching more than 2 or 3 inches below the hips, and often barely covering the hips. The neck hole is large enough to admit the head into the hood, which may be thrown back or worn over the head in place of a cap.

The Innuit of the southern sh.o.r.e of the western end of Hudson Strait often cut the coat open in front as far up as the breast (Figs. 30 and 31, No. 3224). The favorite material for these coats is the skin of the reindeer, three good-sized skins being required to make a full-sized coat for a man. Coats made of light summer skins are used as underclothing in winter and for the only body clothing in summer.

The skin of the harp seal (_Phoca grnlandica_) is also used for coats, but only when the supply of reindeerskin runs short, or when a man can afford to have an extra coat to wear in wet weather. It is not a very good material for clothing, as the skin is roughly tanned, and no amount of working will render it more than moderately pliable. Figs. 32 and 33 represent a sealskin coat. These coats are often trimmed round the edges with fringes of deerskin 2 or 3 inches wide, or little pendants of ivory.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 30. Eskimo man's deerskin coat (front).]

The collection contains eleven of these coats, Nos. 3221, 3498-3500, and 3558 of deerskin, and Nos. 3228, 3533-3537 of sealskin.

The peculiar shape of the woman's coat is best understood by reference to the accompanying figures (Figs. 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38). The enormous hood is used for carrying the infant. When sitting, the female usually disposes the front flap so that it will lie spread upon the thighs, or else pushes it between her legs, while the hind flap is either thrown aside or sat upon.