The Journey to the Polar Sea Part 18

January 15th, 1821. Observed an apparent meridian alt.i.tude sun lower limb 4 degrees 24 minutes 57 seconds. Sun apparent diameter 31 minutes 5 seconds. For apparent alt.i.tude 4 degrees 24 minutes 57 seconds the mean refraction is 10 minutes 58 seconds (Mackay's Tables) and the true, found as detailed above, is 14 minutes 39 seconds which, increasing in the same ratio as that of the atmosphere at a mean state of temperature, is 43 minutes 57 seconds at the horizon. But the difference of refraction between the upper and lower limbs increasing also in that ratio gives 48 minutes 30 seconds for the horizontal refraction.

Temperature of the air minus 35 degrees, a light air from the westward, very clear.

The extreme coldness of the weather rendered these operations difficult and dangerous; yet I think the observations may be depended upon within 30 seconds, as will appear by their approximate results in calculating the horizontal refraction, for it must be considered that an error of 30 seconds in the refraction in alt.i.tude would make a difference of several minutes in the horizontal refraction. Mr. Hood's Journal.)

The Aurora Borealis appeared with more or less brilliancy on twenty-eight nights of this month and we were also gratified by the resplendent beauty of the moon which for many days together performed its circle round the heavens, shining with undiminished l.u.s.tre and scarcely disappearing below the horizon during the twenty-four hours.

During many nights there was a halo round the moon although the stars shone brightly and the atmosphere appeared otherwise clear. The same phenomenon was observed round the candles even in our bedrooms, the diameter of the halo increasing as the observer receded from the light.

These halos, both round the moon and candles, occasionally exhibited faintly some of the prismatic colours.

As it may be interesting to the reader to know how we pa.s.sed our time at this season of the year I shall mention briefly that a considerable portion of it was occupied in writing up our journals. Some newspapers and magazines that we had received from England with our letters were read again and again and commented upon at our meals; and we often exercised ourselves with conjecturing the changes that might take place in the world before we could hear from it again. The probability of our receiving letters and the period of their arrival were calculated to a nicety. We occasionally paid the woodmen a visit or took a walk for a mile or two on the river.

In the evenings we joined the men in the hall and took part in their games which generally continued to a late hour; in short we never found the time to hang heavy upon our hands; and the peculiar occupations of each of the officers afforded them more employment than might at first be supposed. I recalculated the observations made on our route; Mr. Hood protracted the charts, and made those drawings of birds, plants and fishes, which cannot appear in this work but which have been the admiration of everyone who has seen them. Each of the party sedulously and separately recorded their observations on the Aurora Borealis; and Dr. Richardson contrived to obtain from under the snow specimens of most of the lichens in the neighbourhood, and to make himself acquainted with the mineralogy of the surrounding country.

The Sabbath was always a day of rest with us; the woodmen were required to provide for the exigencies of that day on Sat.u.r.day and the party were dressed in their best attire. Divine service was regularly performed and the Canadians attended and behaved with great decorum although they were all Roman Catholics and but little acquainted with the language in which the prayers were read. I regretted much that we had not a French Prayer-Book but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were always read to them in their own language.

Our diet consisted almost entirely of reindeer meat, varied twice a week by fish and occasionally by a little flour, but we had no vegetables of any description. On the Sunday mornings we drank a cup of chocolate but our greatest luxury was tea (without sugar) of which we regularly partook twice a day. With reindeer's fat and strips of cotton shirts we formed candles; and Hepburn acquired considerable skill in the manufacture of soap from the wood-ashes, fat and salt. The formation of soap was considered as rather a mysterious operation by our Canadians and in their hands was always supposed to fail if a woman approached the kettle in which the ley was boiling. Such are our simple domestic details.

On the 30th two hunters came from the leader to convey ammunition to him as soon as our men should bring it from Fort Providence.

The men at this time coated the walls of the house on the outside with a thin mixture of clay and water which formed a crust of ice that for some days proved impervious to the air; the dryness of the atmosphere however was such that the ice in a short time evaporated and gave admission to the wind as before. It is a general custom at the forts to give this sort of coating to the walls at Christmas time. When it was gone we attempted to remedy its defect by heaping up snow against the walls.

January 1, 1821.

This morning our men a.s.sembled and greeted us with the customary salutation on the commencement of the new year. That they might enjoy a holiday they had yesterday collected double the usual quant.i.ty of firewood and we anxiously expected the return of the men from Fort Providence with some additions to their comforts. We had stronger hope of their arrival before the evening as we knew that every voyager uses his utmost endeavour to reach a post upon or previous to the jour de l'an that he may partake of the wonted festivities. It forms, as Christmas is said to have done among our forefathers, the theme of their conversation for months before and after the period of its arrival. On the present occasion we could only treat them with a little flour and fat; these were both considered as great luxuries but still the feast was defective from the want of rum although we promised them a little when it should arrive.

The early part of January proved mild, the thermometer rose to 20 degrees above zero, and we were surprised by the appearance of a kind of damp fog approaching very nearly to rain. The Indians expressed their astonishment at this circ.u.mstance and declared the present to be one of the warmest winters they had ever experienced. Some of them reported that it had actually rained in the woody parts of the country. In the latter part of the month however the thermometer again descended to minus 49 degrees and the mean temperature for the month proved to be minus 15.6 degrees. Owing to the fogs that obscured the sky the Aurora Borealis was visible only upon eighteen nights in the month.

On the 15th seven of our men arrived from Fort Providence with two kegs of rum, one barrel of powder, sixty pounds of ball, two rolls of tobacco and some clothing. They had been twenty-one days on their march from Slave Lake and the labour they underwent was sufficiently evinced by their sledge-collars having worn out the shoulders of their coats. Their loads weighed from sixty to ninety pounds each, exclusive of their bedding and provisions which at starting must have been at least as much more. We were much rejoiced at their arrival and proceeded forthwith to pierce the spirit cask and issue to each of the household the portion of rum which had been promised on the first day of the year. The spirits which were proof were frozen but, after standing at the fire for some time, they flowed out with the consistency of honey. The temperature of the liquid even in this state was so low as instantly to convert into ice the moisture which condensed on the surface of the dram-gla.s.s. The fingers also adhered to the gla.s.s and would doubtless have been speedily frozen had they been kept in contact with it; yet each of the voyagers swallowed his dram without experiencing the slightest inconvenience or complaining of toothache.

After the men had retired an Indian who had accompanied them from Fort Providence informed me that they had broached the cask on their way up and spent two days in drinking. This instance of breach of trust was excessively distressing to me; I felt for their privations and fatigues and was disposed to seize every opportunity of alleviating them but this, combined with many instances of petty dishonesty with regard to meat, showed how little confidence could be put in a Canadian voyager when food or spirits were in question. We had been indeed made acquainted with their character on these points by the traders; but we thought that when they saw their officers living under equal if not greater privations than themselves they would have been prompted by some degree of generous feeling to abstain from those depredations which under ordinary circ.u.mstances they would scarcely have blushed to be detected in.

As they were pretty well aware that such a circ.u.mstance could not long be concealed from us one of them came the next morning with an artful apology for their conduct. He stated that as they knew it was my intention to treat them with a dram on the commencement of the new year they had helped themselves to a small quant.i.ty on that day, trusting to my goodness for forgiveness and, being unwilling to act harshly at this period, I did forgive them after admonishing them to be very circ.u.mspect in their future conduct.

The ammunition and a small present of rum were sent to Akaitcho.

On the 18th Vaillant the woodman had the misfortune to break his axe.

This would have been a serious evil a few weeks sooner but we had just received some others from Slave Lake.

On the 27th Mr. Wentzel and St. Germain arrived with the two Esquimaux, Attannoeuck and Hoeootoerock (the belly and the ear). The English names which were bestowed upon them at Fort Churchill in commemoration of the months of their arrival there are Augustus and Junius. The former speaks English.

We now learned that Mr. Back proceeded with Beauparlant to Fort Chipewyan on the 24th of December to procure stores, having previously discharged J. Belleau from our service at his own request and according to my directions. I was the more induced to comply with this man's desire of leaving us as he proved to be too weak to perform the duty of bowman which he had undertaken.

Four dogs were brought up by this party and proved a great relief to our wood-haulers during the remainder of the season.

By the arrival of Mr. Wentzel who is an excellent musician and a.s.sisted us (con amore) in our attempts to amuse the men we were enabled to gratify the whole establishment with an occasional dance. Of this amus.e.m.e.nt the voyagers were very fond and not the less so as it was now and then accompanied by a dram as long as our rum lasted.

On the 5th of February two Canadians came from Akaitcho for fresh supplies of ammunition. We were mortified to learn that he had received some further unpleasant reports concerning us from Fort Providence and that his faith in our good intentions was somewhat shaken. He expressed himself dissatisfied with the quant.i.ty of ammunition we had sent him, accused us of an intention of endeavouring to degrade him in the eyes of his tribe, and informed us that Mr. Weeks had refused to pay some notes for trifling quant.i.ties of goods and ammunition that had been given to the hunters who accompanied our men to Slave Lake.

Some powder and shot and a keg of diluted spirits were sent to him with the strongest a.s.surances of our regard.

On the 12th another party of six men was sent to Fort Providence to bring up the remaining stores. St. Germain went to Akaitcho for the purpose of sending two of his hunters to join this party on its route.

On comparing the language of our two Esquimaux with a copy of St. John's Gospel printed for the use of the Moravian Missionary Settlements on the Labrador coast it appeared that the Esquimaux who resort to Churchill speak a language essentially the same with those who frequent the Labrador Coast. The Red Knives too recognise the expression Teyma, used by the Esquimaux when they acost strangers in a friendly manner, as similarly p.r.o.nounced by Augustus and those of his race who frequent the mouth of the Copper-Mine River.

The tribe to which Augustus belongs resides generally a little to the northward of Churchill. In the spring before the ice quits the sh.o.r.es they kill seal but during winter they frequent the borders of the large lakes near the coast where they obtain fish, reindeer, and musk-oxen.

There are eighty-four grown men in the tribe only seven of whom are aged.

Six chiefs have each two wives; the rest of the men have only one; so that the number of married people may amount to one hundred and seventy.

He could give me no certain data whereby I might estimate the number of children.

Two great Chiefs or Ackhaiyoot have complete authority in directing the movements of the party and in distributing provisions. The Attoogawnoeuck or lesser chiefs are respected princ.i.p.ally as senior men. The tribe seldom suffers from want of food if the chief moves to the different stations at the proper season. They seem to follow the eastern custom respecting marriage. As soon as a girl is born the young lad who wishes to have her for a wife goes to her father's tent and proffers himself. If accepted a promise is given which is considered binding and the girl is delivered to her betrothed husband at the proper age.

They consider their progenitors to have come from the moon. Augustus has no other idea of a Deity than some confused notions which he has obtained at Churchill.

When any of the tribe are dangerously ill a conjurer is sent for and the bearer of the message carries a suitable present to induce his attendance. Upon his arrival he encloses himself in the tent with the sick man and sings over him for days together without tasting food; but Augustus as well as the rest of the uninitiated are ignorant of the purport of his songs and of the nature of the Being to whom they are addressed. The conjurors practise a good deal of jugglery in swallowing knives, firing bullets through their bodies, etc., but they are at these times generally secluded from view and the bystanders believe their a.s.sertions without requiring to be eye-witnesses of the fact. Sixteen men and three women amongst Augustus' tribe are acquainted with the mysteries of the art. The skill of the latter is exerted only on their own s.e.x.

Upon the map being spread before Augustus he soon comprehended it and recognised Chesterfield Inlet to be the opening into which salt-waters enter at spring tides and which receives a river at its upper end. He termed it Kannoeuck Kleenoeuck. He has never been farther north himself than Marble Island, which he distinguishes as being the spot where the large ships were wrecked, alluding to the disastrous termination of Barlow and Knight's Voyage of Discovery.* He says however that Esquimaux of three different tribes have traded with his countrymen and that they described themselves as having come across land from a northern sea. One tribe who named themselves Ahwhacknanhelett he supposes may come from Repulse Bay; another designated Ootkooseekkalingmoeoot or Stone-Kettle Esquimaux reside more to the westward; and the third the Kangorrmoeoot or White Goose Esquimaux describe themselves as coming from a great distance and mentioned that a party of Indians had killed several of their tribe in the summer preceding their visit. Upon comparing the dates of this murder with that of the last ma.s.sacre which the Copper Indians have perpetrated on these harmless and defenceless people they appear to differ two years; but the lapse of time is so inaccurately recorded that this difference in their accounts is not sufficient to destroy their ident.i.ty; besides, the Chipewyans, the only other Indians who could possibly have committed the deed, have long since ceased to go to war. If this ma.s.sacre should be the one mentioned by the Copper Indians the Kangorrmoeoot must reside near the mouth of the Anatessy, or River of Strangers.

(Footnote. See Introduction to Hearne's Journey page 24.)

The winter habitations of Esquimaux who visit Churchill are built of snow and, judging from one constructed by Augustus today, they are very comfortable dwellings. Having selected a spot on the river where the snow was about two feet deep and sufficiently compact he commenced by tracing out a circle twelve feet in diameter. The snow in the interior of the circle was next divided with a broad knife having a long handle into slabs three feet long, six inches thick, and two feet deep, being the thickness of the layer of snow. These slabs were tenacious enough to admit of being moved about without breaking or even losing the sharpness of their angles and they had a slight degree of curvature corresponding with that of the circle from which they were cut. They were piled upon each other exactly like courses of hewn stone around the circle which was traced out and care was taken to smooth the beds of the different courses with the knife, and to cut them so as to give the wall a slight inclination inwards, by which contrivance the building acquired the properties of a dome. The dome was closed somewhat suddenly and flatly by cutting the upper slabs in a wedge-form instead of the more rectangular shape of those below. The roof was about eight feet high, and the last aperture was shut up by a small conical piece. The whole was built from within and each slab was cut so that it retained its position without requiring support until another was placed beside it, the lightness of the slabs greatly facilitating the operation. When the building was covered in a little loose snow was thrown over it to close up every c.h.i.n.k and a low door was cut through the walls with a knife. A bed-place was next formed and neatly faced up with slabs of snow, which was then covered with a thin layer of pine branches to prevent them from melting by the heat of the body. At each end of the bed a pillar of snow was erected to place a lamp upon, and lastly a porch was built before the door and a piece of clear ice was placed in an aperture cut in the wall for a window.

The purity of the material of which the house was framed, the elegance of its construction, and the translucency of its walls which transmitted a very pleasant light, gave it an appearance far superior to a marble building and one might survey it with feelings somewhat akin to those produced by the contemplation of a Grecian temple reared by Phidias; both are triumphs of art, inimitable in their kinds.

Annexed there is a plan of a complete Esquimaux snow-house and kitchen and other apartments copied from a sketch made by Augustus with the names of the different places affixed. The only fireplace is in the kitchen, the heat of the lamps sufficing to keep the other apartments warm. (Not included in this ebook.)

REFERENCES TO THE PLAN.

A. Ablokeyt, steps.

B. Pahloeuk, porch.

C. Wadl-leek, pa.s.sage.

D. Haddnoeweek, for the reception of the sweepings of the house.

E. G. Tokheuook, antechamber, or pa.s.sage.

F. Annarroeartoweek.

H. Eegah, cooking-house.

I. Eegah-natkah, pa.s.sage.

K. Keidgewack, for piling wood upon.

L. Keek kloweyt, cooking side.

M. Keek loot, fireplace built of stone.

N. Eegloo, house.

O. Kattack, door.

P. Nattoeuck, clear s.p.a.ce in the apartment.

a. d. Eekput, a kind of shelf where the candle stands; and b. c. a pit where they throw their bones and other offal of their provision.

Q. Eegl-luck, bed-place.

R. Eegleeteoet, bedside or sitting-place.

S. Bed-place, as on the other side.

T. Kie'gn-nok, small pantry.

U. h.o.e.rgloack, storehouse for provisions.