96 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap, xxvii. 



CHAPTEE XXVII. 



THE NASQUAPEES, OR THE PEOPLE STANDING UPRIGHT. 



Meaning of the Word NASftXJAPEE — Extent of tlieir Country — 

 Custom of Tattooing — Religion — Nasquapees of Ungava — Horrid 

 Practice of destroying aged People — Means of Subsistence — 

 Dress — Polygamy — Battle between the Nasquapees and Esqui- 

 maux in 1857 — Immense Extent of the Territory of the Nasqua- 

 pees — Cartwi-ight's Description — Pere Arnaud's Description — 

 Their Conjurors — The Evil Deity Atshem — Superstitions — 

 Fondness for European Articles of Dress — Character of the 

 Country they inhabit — Hunger — Famine among the Nasquapees 

 — Habits and Customs — Bows and Arrows — Nets — Hooks — 

 Trout — The Wagumesk — Fishing in Winter — Early Account 

 of the Nasquapees in a.d. 1500 — Tattooing — Pere Durocher's 

 Description in a.d. 1853 — Extent of the Great Cree Nation — 

 Cause of the Decline of the Nasquapees. 



F you ask a Montagnais the meaning of the word 

 Nasquapee, he will tell you — ' One who does not 

 believe,' or ' a heathen.' Pere Arnaud, at my request, 

 asked Otelne and Arkaskhe, and they both said it 

 meant ' people standing upright.' The word is spelt 

 differently by different writers. In the description of the 

 boundaries of the ' king's domain ' by the Intendant Hoc- 

 quart, bearing date 1733, the word is spelt ' ISFaskupis.' 

 Ill Pere Laure's map, dated 1731, they are called 'Les 

 Cuneskapi ; ' and Mr. John McLean, who resided several 

 years at Ungava Bay, calls them Nascopies. I was very 

 particular in obtaining from the mouths of the Nasqua- 

 pees themselves, not only the correct pronurciation, but 



