Read Ebook: Ethnology of the Ungava District Hudson Bay Territory Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1889-1890 Government Printing Office Washington 1894 pages 159-350 by Turner Lucien M Lucien McShan Murdoch John Editor

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 751 lines and 107848 words, and 16 pages

Of the smaller waders, but two species were actually ascertained to breed in the vicinity of Fort Chimo, yet two or three other species were observed under such circumstances as to leave no doubt that they also breed there.

THE NATIVE INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTRY--GENERAL SKETCH.

THE ESKIMO.

The northern portions of the coast of the region under consideration are inhabited by the Eskimo, who designate themselves, as usual, by the term "Innuit," people . That they have been much modified by contact with the whites is not to be doubted, and it is equally certain that their language is constantly undergoing modifications to suit the purposes of the missionary and trader, who, not being able to pronounce the difficult guttural speech of these people, require them to conform to their own pronunciation. The region inhabited by the Innuit is strictly littoral. Their distribution falls properly into three subdivisions, due to the three subtribal distinctions which they maintain among themselves. The first subdivision embraces all the Innuit dwelling on the Labrador coast proper and along the south side of Hudson strait to the mouth of Leaf river, which flows into Ungava bay.

These people apply the term S? hi? n? myut to themselves and are thus known by the other subdivisions. This term is derived from S? hi? n?k, the sun, and the latter part of the word, meaning people ; hence, people of the sun, sunny side, because the sun shines on them first. At the present time these people are confined to the seashore and the adjacent islands, to which they repair for seals and other food. South of Hamilton inlet I could learn of but one of these people.

The Innuit of pure blood do not begin to appear until the missionary station of Hopedale is reached. Here a number of families dwell, although mostly at the instigation of the missionaries. Between this station and Hebron are several other Moravian missionary stations, at each of which dwell a greater or less number of pure Innuit. North of Hebron to Cape Chidley there are but few families, some seven in all, embracing a population of less than 40 souls. On the west side of Cape Chidley, as far as the mouth of George's river, only about eight families live. These with the George's river Innuit comprise less than 50 individuals. There is a stretch of coast bordering Ungava bay, from George's river to the Koksoak river, which is uninhabited.

The Koksoak river people include only four or five families and number less than 30 souls. The next people are those dwelling at the mouth of Leaf river, but they are more properly to be considered under the next subdivision.

The exact number of the S?h?n?myut could not be definitely determined. They are subdivided into a number of small communities, each bearing a name compounded of the name of their home and myut, "the people of."

The inhabitants of Cape Chidley are known as Ki l?n??g myut, from the word ki l?n??k, wounded, cut, incised, lacerated; hence, serrated, on account of the character of the rough rocks and mountains.

The natives of George's river are known as Kan?g?k?lua?luksoagmyut; those of the Koksoak river are known as Koksoagmyut.

The second subdivision includes the Innuit dwelling on the area lying between the mouth of Leaf river, thence northward, and along the south side of Hudson strait. Their western and southern limit extends to about latitude 60?.

These Innuit are known by the other subdivisions as Ta h?g myut. They apply the same term to themselves. The word is derived from T? hak, a shadow; hence people of the shade or shadow as distinguished from the S? h?? n? myut, or people of the light or sunshine. These people are but little influenced by contact with the white traders, who apply to them the term "Northerners." Their habits and customs are primitive, and many appear to be entirely distinct from the customs of their neighbors south and east. The character of the region in which they dwell is very rugged. Huge mountain spurs and short ranges ramify in every direction, forming deep valleys and ravines, along which these people must travel to reach the trading station of Fort Chimo of the Ungava district, or else to Fort George of the Moose district.

The homeward journey is more frequently made along the coast, as there the snow is certain to remain longer upon the ground. It is not infrequent that these travelers experience warm weather, which detains them so long that they do not reach the end of their journey until the middle of the summer or even until the beginning of the next winter. Many of the Innuit who accompany these parties have never seen white men until they arrive at Fort Chimo; women are often of the party. These people are usually tall and of fine physique. The men are larger than the average white man, while the women compare favorably in stature with the women of medium height in other countries.

They have quite different customs from those of their present neighbors. Their language is dialectically distinct; about as much so as the Malimyut differ from the Kaviagmyut of Norton Sound, Alaska. The Tahagmyut have a rather harsh tone; their gutturals are deeper and the vowels usually rather more prolonged. They are much given to amusement and still retain many of the old games, which the S?h??n?myut have forgotten or no longer engage in. Their dead are treated with no ceremony. They simply lash the limbs of the deceased to the body and expose the corpse to the elements, removing it, however, from immediate sight of the camp. Old and infirm people are treated with severity, and when dependent upon others for their food they are summarily disposed of by strangulation or left to perish when the camp is moved.

Women are held in little respect, although the men are very jealous of the favors of their wives, and incontinence on the part of the latter is certain to be more or less severely punished. The male offender, if notoriously persistent in his efforts to obtain forbidden favors, is usually killed by the injured lover or husband.

Gambling is carried on to such a degree among both sexes that even their own lives are staked upon the issue of a game. The winner often obtains the wife of his opponent, and holds her until some tempting offer is made for her return. The only article they possess is frequently wagered, and when they lose they are greeted with derision. The women, especially, stake their only garment rather than be without opportunity to play. The usual game is played with a number of flattened pieces of walrus ivory. On one side are a number of dots forming various crude designs, which have received names from their fancied resemblance to other objects. These must be matched. The game somewhat resembles dominoes, and whether it is original with these Innuit I was unable to conclude. They stoutly maintain that it originated with themselves. I suspect, however, it had its origin in the imitation of some one who had observed the playing of dominoes on board of some of the whaling vessels visiting these waters.

For other amusements these Innuit indulge in a number of tests of personal strength, such as wrestling and leaping.

Feasts are held at stated times in huge structures built of snow blocks. The exact signification of these feasts was not learned, owing to the limited stay these people made each year at Fort Chimo. Their dress consists of the skins of seals and reindeer. The sealskins are worn during rainy weather and by those who are in the canoe or kaiak. The skirts of their garments are ornamented with an edging of ivory pieces cut into a pear-shape, having a small hole pierced through the smaller end.

These pieces of ivory, often to the number of many scores, give a peculiar rattle as the wearer walks along. Their boots are noticeably different from those made by the Koksoak river people, inasmuch as the soles are often made with strips of sealskin thongs sewed on a false sole, which is attached to the under surface of the sole proper. The strips of thong are tacked on by a stout stitch, then a short loop is taken up, and another stitch sews a portion of the remainder of the strip. This is continued until the entire under surface consists of a series of short loops, which, when in contact with the smooth ice, prevents the foot from slipping. This sort of footgear is not made in any other portion of the district.

The third subdivision comprises the Innuit dwelling on the eastern shore of Hudson bay, between latitudes 53? and 58?.

The number of these Innuit could not be definitely ascertained, as they trade, for the most part, at Fort George, belonging to the Moose district. Each year, however, a party of less than a dozen individuals journey to Fort Chimo for the purpose of bartering furs and other valuables. Those who come to Fort Chimo are usually the same each year. In language they differ greatly from the Koksoak Innuit, inasmuch as their speech is very rapid and much harsher. Many of the words are quite dissimilar, and even where the word has the same sound it is not unusual that it has a meaning more or less different from that used by the Koksoak Innuit. As these people have been long under the advice and teachings of the missionary society of London, it is to be expected that they, especially those nearer the trading station, are more or less influenced by its teachings. Their customs differ somewhat from the other Innuit, though this is due in a great measure to the impossibility of procuring the necessary food, and skins for garments, unless they are constantly scouring the plains and hills for reindeer or the shore for seals and other marine creatures.

These people are called by their neighbors and themselves I?tivi? myut, Iti?v?k signifies the other, farther, distant side ; hence, the word Itivimyut means people of the other side. The northern Itivimyut are probably the most superstitious of all the Innuit dwelling in the region under consideration.

Although the missionaries have devoted considerable energy to the work of converting these people, and though many of them profess Christianity, these professions prove on examination to be merely nominal. As soon as the converts are beyond the teacher's influence, they return to the shaman for guidance.

In the spring of 1883 a party of these people visited Fort Chimo. A great number of the Koksoak people were ill, some 30 miles above the station. The visitors had among them a shaman renowned throughout the land. He, with the connivance of two or three of the people with whom he stopped, began some of the most astonishing intrigues to dispel the evil spirit afflicting the people. Several men were parted from their wives, and these were compelled to dwell with other men who were at the bottom of the conspiracy. Other couples had to flee from that place to prevent being divorced, at least temporarily. After a time the visitors descended to Fort Chimo, and while the bartering was going on the shaman announced his conversion to Christianity, and vowed never again to return to practicing shamanism. On the return of the harried fugitives they passed the camp of the Koksoak river people, where they had a few days before been the guests, and stole their supplies of reindeer meat and other valuable property, even attempting to purloin a kaiak; and they had proceeded many miles thence before they were overtaken and compelled to relinquish the stolen property. They were seen some months after by some Tahagmyut, to whom they stated their fear of returning among the Koksoak people. A more plausible scamp does not dwell in those regions than this shaman, whose name is S?pa. His power over the spirit controlling the reindeer is widely believed in and invoked by the other shamans, who feel incapable of turning the heads of the deer and thus compelling them to wander in the desired direction.

Among these people only have I heard of a son who took his mother as a wife, and when the sentiment of the community compelled him to discard her he took two other women, who were so persecuted by the mother that they believed themselves to be wholly under her influence. She even caused them to believe they were ill, and when they actually did become so they both died.

In former years the Innuit extended entirely around the shore of Hudson bay. Now there is a very wide gap, extending from the vicinity of Fort George, on the eastern coast, to the vicinity of Fort Churchill, on the western coast. At the present time the Innuit occupy the areas designated in these remarks. That they formerly extended along the Atlantic coast far to the south of their present limit is attested by an abundance of facts.

The Innuit of the eastern shore of Hudson bay, the Itivimyut, informed me that the Innuit dwelling on the islands of Hudson bay, more or less remote from the mainland to the east, are termed Ki?g?ktag?myut, or island people. They relate that those islanders have quite different customs from the mainland people, inasmuch as their clothing consists of the skins of seals and dogs, rarely of reindeer skins, as the latter are procurable only when one of their number comes to the shore to trade for such articles as can not be obtained on his locality. The spear, kaiak, bow and arrow are used, and they have but little knowledge of firearms. These people are represented as often being driven to greatest extremity for food. It is said that their language differs considerably from that of their neighbors.

The Innuit, as a rule, are peaceful and mild-tempered, except when aroused by jealousy. They are, however, quick enough to resent an insult or avenge an injury. They form a permanent attachment for the white man who deals honestly and truthfully with them, but if he attempts any deception or trickery they are certain to be ever suspicious of him, and it is difficult to regain their favor.

Their courage and ability are not to be doubted, and when they are given a due amount of encouragement they will perform the most arduous tasks without complaint.

THE INDIANS.

The Indian inhabitants of this region may be divided into three groups, differing but slightly in speech, and even less in habits.

The Mountaineers, "Montagnais" of the early Jesuit missionaries, roam over the areas south of the Hamilton inlet and as far as the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their western limits are imperfectly known. They trade at all the stations along the accessible coast. Many of them barter at Rigolet and Northwest river.

In customs they differ little from the Indians to the north of them. Their means of subsistence are the flesh of reindeer, porcupines, and various birds, such as geese, ducks, ptarmigan, and grouse.

The habits of the reindeer in this portion of the country are very erratic. They are often absent from large tracts for several years, and appearing in abundance when little expected. The scarcity of the reindeer renders the food supply quite precarious; hence, the Indians rely much upon the flesh of the porcupine, hare and birds for their principal food.

It was impossible to obtain a satisfactory estimate of the numbers of the Mountaineers. My stay in their vicinity was too short to learn as much about them as was desired.

The Indians dwelling to the southwest of the Ungava district differ rather more than the Mountaineers, in their speech, from the Indians of the Ungava district. They average, for both sexes, slightly taller than the Naskopies. The men are spare, and have small limbs and extremities. The cheek bones are also more prominent, although this is partly due to the thin visage. The women are disposed to be stout, and in the older women there is a decided tendency to corpulence. The complexion, too, is considerably darker. The men wear long hair, usually cut so as to fall just upon the shoulders. The hair of the women is quite heavy, and is worn either in braids or done up in folds upon the side of the head.

In their personal habits they are much more tidy than their eastern relations. Their dress differs but little from that of their neighbors. The women dress in cloth made of material procured from the traders, and some of these appear respectable enough when so dressed. They have been so long in contact with the white people at Moose Factory, some of whom had brought their wives from home with them, that the women have imitated the dress of the latter. Certain of these women are skillful in working fancy articles. The men occupy their time in hunting and fishing. The reindeer have in recent years become so scarce in the vicinity of Fort George that many of the Indians have left that locality and journeyed to the eastward, dwelling in proximity to the Naskopies, or even with them.

Both sexes are mild and sedate, although the women are exceedingly garrulous when well acquainted.

These Indians are often employed to assist in the capture of the white whale, which ascends the lower portions of the larger streams of that district. They are the only Indians whom I have seen eating the flesh and blubber of these whales. The Naskopies will not touch it, declaring it to be too fat. The fins and tail are portions highly prized while they are helping render out the blubber of these whales at Fort Chimo.

A point of great dissimilarity between the Naskopies and the Little Whale river Indians is that the birch-bark canoe of the latter is much more turned up at each end, producing a craft well adapted to the swift currents of the rivers. The occupants are skillful boatmen, and will fearlessly face wind and wave that would appall the heart of the Naskopie. Sails are sometimes erected in a single canoe. At times two canoes are lashed together and a sail spread from a single mast. This double boat is very convenient for the traveler. These people are strongly addicted to the practice of polygamy; and while they are Christians externally, they are so only as long as they are within the reach of the missionary.

Among those who had come to dwell in the Ungava district were several who had, because of the opportunity, taken two wives. The missionary, E. J. Peck, suddenly appeared among them as he was on his way to London. On learning of the conduct of the people he gave them a sound rating and besought them to relinquish the practice. They assented, and sent the second wives away until the missionary was out of the country, and then they took them back.

Girls are often taken as wives before they attain puberty, and for this reason they seldom have large families. Two, three, or four children form the usual number for each family. They are satisfied if the first child is a male; and to the mother who delivers only female children a term of contempt is often applied. The women appear to be well treated, and occasional laxity of morals is not noticed among them so long as it is not notorious.

Their beliefs and traditions were not learned by me, on account of the presence of these people at Fort Chimo when other labors occupied my entire time.

Their purchases are made with furs of the same kinds as those procured in the Ungava district. The black bear is procured in great numbers by these Indians. They preserve the under lip, dressed and ornamented with beads and strips of cloth, as a trophy of their prowess.

The harpoon used in striking the white whale of their rivers is an implement doubtless peculiar to those people, and much resembles that of the Innuit.

The third division of Indians includes those dwelling for the most part in the Ungava district. The total number of these Indians is about 350. They apply the term Ne n? not--true, ideal men--to themselves, although known by the epithet Naskopie, which was applied to them by the Mountaineers of the southeastern portion of the region.

They differ slightly in customs from their neighbors, but their speech is somewhat different, being very rapidly uttered and with most singular inflections of the voice. A conversation may be begun in the usual tone, and in a moment changed to that of a whining or petulant child. It is impossible for the white man to imitate this abrupt inflection, which appears to be more common among the males than the females. During ordinary conversation one would erroneously suppose, from the vehemence of gesture, that the speaker was angry. They are much more demonstrative than their neighbors, often shouting at the full strength of their voices when an ordinary tone would apparently suffice. That their voice is penetrating may be inferred from the fact that during quiet days it is not unusual for parties to converse from opposite sides of the Koksoak river, at Fort Chimo, where the river is nearly a mile and a half wide.

As certain words are spoken in a voice scarcely louder than a whisper, I did not believe it possible that they could understand each other at so great a distance, until I saw the people on the opposite shore doing what they were bidden by those with me.

When the women get together it is amusing to observe the eagerness of the old crones endeavoring to make their voices heard above the rest. The clerk, while trading with them, often teases them until the entire number turn their voices on him, and the only relief he has is to expel them all from the store and admit one or two at a time, while the remainder throng the windows and shout at the top of their voices.

During the spring, when flocks of Canada geese are winging their way northward, the Indians will imitate their notes so closely that the birds do not discover the source until too late. Some of the party make one note, while the others imitate the other note. It seldom fails to beguile the geese to the spot.

Owing to the impossibility of getting a reliable person to teach me the language of these people I was able to procure but few words. The number obtained, however, is sufficient to prove that the people of this region, excluding the Innuit and whites, belong to the Cree branch. The Mountaineers and Little Whale river Indians belong to the same stock, and the difference in their language is due wholly to environment.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet