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For sewing the canoe, they took roots of Fir of the thickness of
the little finger, and even smaller; they were very long.l They split these roots into
three or four parts, that is the largest ones. These split more easily than
the Osiers used in making baskets. They made these into packages, which they
placed in the water for fear lest they might dry up. There were also
necessary two sticks of the length of the canoe, entirely round, and of the
thickness of a large cane, and four other shorter sticks of Beech. All these
things being ready, they took their bark and bent and fixed it in the form the
canoe should have; then they placed the two long pieces all along and sewed
them to the rim inside with these roots.
To sew they
pierced the bark with a punch of pointed bone and passed through the hole an
end of the wicker, drawing and tightening the stick as closely as they could
against the bark, and always enwrapping the stick with the wicker so that they
were in contact with one another. The sticks being well sewed on all along,
they placed also the smaller pieces of beech crosswise, one in the middle,
entering at its two ends into holes made in the pieces with which the canoe
is rimmed, and three others in front of it, distant a half fathom from one
another, which lessened in length with the shape of the canoe. Three others
also
were placed
backward at the same distances. All these pieces entered also at their ends
into holes which were made in the pieces sewed all along the canoe, to which
they were so firmly attached on both sides that the canoe could neither
enlarge nor narrow.
Then are
placed in position those big slats with which they lined all the interior of
the canoe from top to bottom, and they were all made to touch one another. To
hold them in place, they put over them those half-circles, the ends of which
were brought to join on both sides below those pieces which were sewn all
around on the top. They drove these in with force, and they lined all the
canoe with them from one end to the other. This made the canoe stiff to such a
degree that it did not yield at any point.
There were
seams in it, for in order to narrow it at the two ends, they split the bark
from above downwards; they then overlapped the two edges one over the other,
and sewed them. But to prevent the seams from admitting water, the women and
girls chewed the gum of the Fir every day until it became a salve which they
applied by aid of fire all along the seams, and this tightened them better
than pitch.
1. These were roots of the black spruce,
used by the Indians
to this day.
All this being done, the canoe was finished, and it was so light that a
single man could carry it on his head.
The paddles were of Beech, the blade of an arm's length and of the breadth of
half a foot or thereabouts; the handle is a little longer than the blade, and
both are in one piece. Three, four, and five persons, both men and women,
rowed together, (so that) it went extremely swiftly. They also went with a
sail, which was formerly of bark but oftener of a well-dressed skin of a young
Moose. Had they a favourable wind they went as swiftly as the throw of a
stone. One canoe carried as many as eight or ten persons.
The work of the women was to go fetch the animal after it was killed, to skin
it, and cut it into pieces for cooking. To accomplish this they made the
rocks red hot, placed them in and took them out of the kettle, collected all
the bones of the Moose, pounded them with rocks upon another of larger
size, (and) reduced them to a powder; then they placed them in their kettle,
and made them boil well. This brought out a grease which rose to the top of
the water, and they collected it with a wooden spoon. They kept the bones
boiling until they yielded nothing more, and with such success that from the
bones of one Moose, without counting the marrow, they obtained five to six
pounds of grease as white as snow, and firm as wax. It was this which they
used as their entire provision for living when they went hunting. We call it
Moose butter; and they Cacamo.
They made their dishes, large and small, of bark. They sewed them with the Fir
roots so well that they held water. They ornamented some of them with quills
of porcupine. They made bags of flattened rushes, which they plaited one
within another. They went to the woods to fetch dry fuel, which did not
smoke, for warming and for burning in the wigwam. Any other
kind of wood was good for the kettle, since that was always outside the
wigwam. They fetched the water, dressed the skins, made the robes, the
sleeves, the stockings, and the moccasins, corded the snowshoes, put up and
took down the wigwams. They went to fetch Fir with which they lined all the
inside of the wigwam to four fingers' depth, with the exception of the middle,
where the fire was made, which was not so lined. They arranged it so well that
it could be raised all as one piece. It served them also as mattress and as
pillow for sleeping.
The coverlet was a skin of Bear or of young Moose, of which
the hair is very long and thick. When they went to bed they unfastened their
robes which served them as blank
kets. They all had
their feet to the fire, which never died out; they kept it
always going, throwing on it wood of which the stock was at the door.
When they changed their
location in order to camp in another place, the women carried everything. Their daughters big and little
carried also according to their strength. They were thereby accustomed at a
young age to work, as well as to everything they had to do, even to masticating
the Fir gum. In consequence they never had toothache, and their teeth were well
kept and white as snow. If the ladies of France would make use of this gum,
I do not question they would obtain from it the same advantages. For it is well to note here that the
men who lived on the same diet nevertheless had not teeth so fine as those of
the women, who were obliged to chew the Fir gum for caulking their canoes.
The work of the men was to make the frame of the snow-shoes, bend them, polish them, place the two bars
across them, and make them all ready to be corded. They made their bows, their arrows, and the wooden
handles to receive the big bones with which they killed the Moose, the Beavers, and everything which they speared.
They made also the boards on which the women placed their children, and all other articles of wood.
They made also their pipes for holding their tobacco. They made them of wood, with a claw of Lobster,
which is properly a Sea-crayfish. They made them also of a certain green stone,
and of another which is red, with the stem, the whole in one piece.
To hollow and pierce the stem, they made use of their bone, of which the point was
a little flattened and sharpened; by dint of turning back and forth they
hollowed the stone and pierced the stem. In the same way, and by virtue of time,
they came to the end of it. All of their work was never very pressing, and all
that they did of this sort was only for their amusement.
As to their other kinds of pipes, they were of two pieces. The stems were made of a certain wood
which our sailors call pipe (calumet)wood1. They made the
stems of them of a foot or a foot and a half in length. In order to pierce them
they made a ring at an inch from one end, from which they removed the wood all
around as far as the middle, which they left as large as the wick of a candle;
this seems like the pith, but it has none of it, or so
1. This was no doubt some species of willow, for not only is this probable in the nature of the case, but
Rand in his Micmac Reader (58), gives an Indian name for "Pipe-stem wood
(a species of willow).
little that it seems like none. They took this wick in their teeth which they shut tightly,
and (took) all the rest of the stick in their hands, which they turned little by little and very carefully.
This wick twisted so well that it detached itself inside the stick, being loosened from one end to the other of its proper thickness. It was then drawn
out very carefully with a constant turning of the stick which in this manner became pierced. Then they polished it, and reduced it to the thickness necessary
to make it enter the hole of the pipe. This was sometimes of hard-wood, sometimes of Moose
bone, or the claw of Lobster, or Sea-crayfish, and of other material according
to the fancy of him who took it upon himself to make it.
The Hunting
of Moose, of Bears, of Beavers, of Lynxes, and
other animals according to their
seasons.
The Hunting
by the Indians in old times was easy for
them. They
killed animals only in proportion as they had need of
them. When they were tired of eating one sort, they
killed some
of another. If they did not wish longer to eat
meat, they
caught some fish. They never made an accumulation of
skins of Moose, Beaver, Otter, or others, but only
as far as they needed them for personal use. They left the
remainder
where the animals had been killed, not taking the trouble to
bring them to their camps.
The hunting
of the Moose in summer took place by
surprising
them. The Indians knew approximately the places where they
could be found. In those localities they beat the woods,
going from one part to another to find their tracks.
Having found one they followed it, and they knew by the track,
and even from the dung, whether it was male or female,
and whether it was young or old. By its track they knew
also whether they were near the beast; then they considered
whether there was any thicket or meadow near by where the
beast would be likely to be, judging from the direction it
was taking. They were rarely mistaken. They made a circle
around the place where it was, in order to get below the
wind so as not to be discovered by the Moose. They
approached it very softly, fearful of making noise enough to reveal themselves
to it. Having discovered it, if they were not
near enough they approached closer until within
arrow-shot, which is from forty-five to fifty places. Then they launched
their blow against the beast, which rarely fell to a single
arrow. Then it was necessary to follow its track. Sometimes the
beast would stop, hearing no more noise. Knowing this from
its pace, they went slowly and tried to approach it yet
a-gain, and gave it still another arrow-shot. If this did
not make it drop, they had again to follow it, even to
evening, when they camped near the beast, and in the morning went
again to take up the track. The animal being sluggish in
rising because of the blood it had lost, they gave it a third shot, and made it
drop, (thus) accomplishing the killing.
They then broke off some branches to mark the place, in
order to send their wives to find it.
But after
having delivered the two first blows, they endeavored
to get in front of it to make it turn towards the camp,
following it and making it approach until it fell dead from
lack of strength. Often they worked it up very close to the
camp. They always found several together, but in summer
they can never follow more than one.
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