{xvii} CHAP. IX.
A short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, &c.
An account of the persons and tempers of the Northern Indians—They possess a great deal of art and cunning—Are very guilty of fraud when in their power, and generally exact more for their furs than any other tribe of Indians—Always dissatisfied, yet have their good qualities—The men in general jealous of their wives—Their marriages—Girls always betrothed when children, and their reasons for it—Great care and confinement of young girls from the age of eight or nine years—Divorces common among those people—The women are less prolific than in warmer countries—Remarkable piece of superstition observed by the women at particular periods—Their art in making it an excuse for a temporary separation from their husbands on any little quarrel—Reckoned very unclean on those occasions—The Northern Indians frequently, for the want of firing, are obliged to eat their meat raw—Some through necessity obliged to boil it in vessels made of the rind of the birch-tree—A remarkable dish among those people—The young animals always cut out of their dams, eaten, and accounted a great delicacy—The parts of generation of all animals eat by the men and boys—Manner of passing their time, and method of killing deer in Summer with bows and arrows—Their tents, dogs, sledges, &c.—Snow-shoes—Their partiality to domestic vermin—Utmost extent of the Northern Indian country—Face of the country—Species of fish—A peculiar kind of moss useful for the support of man—Northern Indian method of catching fish, either with hooks or nets—Ceremony observed when two parties of those people meet—Diversions in common use—A singular disorder which attacks some of those people—Their superstition with respect to the death of their friends—Ceremony observed on those occasions—Their ideas of the first inhabitants of the world—No form of religion among them—Remarks on that circumstance—The extreme misery to which old age is exposed—Their opinion of the Aurora Borealis, &c.—Some account of Matonabbee, and his services to his country, as well as to the Hudson's Bay Company
{xviii} CHAP. X.
An Account of the principal Quadrupeds found in the Northern Parts of Hudson's Bay: The Buffalo, Moose, Musk-ox, Deer, and Beaver—A capital Mistake cleared up respecting the We-was-kish.
Animals with Canine Teeth: The Wolf—Foxes of various colours—Lynx, or Wild Cat—Polar, or White Bear—Black Bear—Brown Bear—Wolverene—Otter—Jackash—Wejack—Skunk—Pine Martin—Ermine, or Stote.
Animals with cutting Teeth: The Musk Beaver—Porcupine—Varying Hare—American Hare—Common Squirrel—Ground Squirrel—Mice of various kinds—and the Castor Beaver.
The Pinnated Quadrupeds with finlike Feet, found in Hudson's Bay, are but three in number, viz.: The Walrus, or Sea-Horse—Seal—and Sea-Unicorn.