In intelligence and susceptibility of civilization the Esquimaux are far superior to the neighboring Indians. They have such a good idea of the hydrography and bearings of the sea-coasts which they frequent as to draw accurate charts of them. Thus Parry, in his second voyage, was guided in his operations by the sketches of the talented Iligliuk; and while Beechey was at Kotzebue Sound, the natives constructed a chart of the coast upon the sand, first marking out the coast-line with a stick, and regulating the distance by the day’s journey. The hills and ranges of mountains were next shown by elevations of sand or stone, and the islands represented by heaps of pebbles, their proportions being duly attended to. When the mountains and islands were erected, the villages and fishing-stations were marked by a number of sticks placed upright, in imitation of those which are put up on the coast wherever these people fix their abode. In this manner a complete hydrographical plan was drawn from Cape Derby to Cape Krusenstern.
The Esquimaux have a decided predilection for commercial pursuits, and undertake long voyages for the purposes of trade. Thus on the continental line of coast west of the Mackenzie, the Point Barrow Esquimaux proceed every summer, with sledges laden with whale or seal oil, whalebone, walrus-tusks, thongs of walrus hide, and seal-skins, to the Colville River, where they meet the Esquimaux from Kotzebue Sound, who offer them in exchange articles procured from the Tchuktchi in the previous summer, such as iron and copper kettles, knives, tobacco, beads, and tin for making pipes. About ten days are spent in bartering, dancing, and revelry, on the flat ground between the tents of each party, pitched a bow-shot apart. The time is one of pleasant excitement, and is passed nearly without sleep. About July 20 this friendly meeting is at an end: the Kotzebue Sound Esquimaux ascend the Colville on their way homeward, while those from Point Barrow descend to the sea, to pursue their voyage eastward to Barter Reef, where they obtain in traffic from the eastern Esquimaux various skins, stone lamps, English knives, small white beads, and, lately, guns and ammunition, which in the year following they exchange for the Kotzebue Sound articles at the Colville, along with the produce of their own sea-hunts.
In this manner, articles of Russian manufacture, originally purchased at the fair of Ostrownoje by the Tchuktchi, or from the factors of the Russian Fur Company on Sledge Island, in Bering’s Straits, find their way from tribe to tribe along the American coast as far as Repulse Bay, and compete among the tribes of the Mackenzie with articles from Sheffield or Birmingham.
A hunter’s life is always precarious—a constant alternation between abundance and want; and though the Esquimaux strikes many a seal, white-fish, or walrus in the course of the year, yet these animals do not abound at all seasons, and there are other causes, besides improvidence, which soon exhaust the stores laid by in times of abundance. Active exercise and constant exposure to cold are remarkable promoters of atomic change in the human body, and a very large supply of food is absolutely necessary to counterbalance the effects of a rapid organic combustion. As a matter of curiosity, Parry once tried how much an Esquimaux lad would, if freely supplied, consume in the course of a day. The following articles were weighed before being given to him: he was twenty hours in getting through them, and certainly did not consider the quantity extraordinary.
lbs. oz. Sea-horse flesh, hard frozen 4 4 ” ” boiled 4 4 Bread and bread-dust 1 12 Total of solids 10 4 The fluids were in fair proportion, viz., rich gravy soup, 1¼ pint; raw spirits, 3 wine-glasses; strong grog, 1 tumbler; water, 1 gallon 1 pint.[15]
| lbs. | oz. | |
| Sea-horse flesh, hard frozen | 4 | 4 |
| ” ” boiled | 4 | 4 |
| Bread and bread-dust | 1 | 12 |
| Total of solids | 10 | 4 |
Kane averages the Esquimaux ration in a season of plenty at eight or ten pounds a day, with soup and water to the extent of half a gallon, and finds in this excessive consumption—which is rather a necessity of their peculiar life and organization than the result of gluttony—the true explanation of the scarcity from which they frequently suffer. In times of abundance they hunt indomitably without the loss of a day, and stow away large quantities of meat. An excavation is made either on the mainland—or, what is preferred, on an island inaccessible to foxes—and the flesh is stacked inside and covered with heavy stones. One such cache which Kane met on a small island contained the flesh of ten walruses, and he knew of others equally large. But by their ancient custom, all share with all; and as they migrate in numbers as their necessities prompt, the tax on each particular settlement is not seldom so excessive that even considerable stores are unable to withstand the drain, and soon make way for pinching hunger, and even famine.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE FUR-TRADE OF THE HUDSON’S BAY TERRITORIES.
The Coureur des Bois.—The Voyageur.—The Birch-bark Canoe.—The Canadian Fur-trade in the last Century.—The Hudson’s Bay Company.—Bloody Feuds between the North-west Company of Canada and the Hudson’s Bay Company.—Their Amalgamation into a new Company in 1821.—Reconstruction of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1863.—Forts or Houses.—The Attihawmeg.—Influence of the Company on its savage Dependents.—The Black Bear, or Baribal.—The Brown Bear.—The Grizzly Bear.—The Raccoon.—The American Glutton.—The Pine Marten.—The Pekan, or Woodshock.—The Chinga.—The Mink.—The Canadian Fish-otter.—The Crossed Fox.—The Black or Silvery Fox.—The Canadian Lynx, or Pishu.—The Ice-hare.—The Beaver.—The Musquash.