HUDSON'S BAY. 



331 



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B.jr. 



species of fine white moss, the contents of their sto- 

 mach is accounted so great a delicacy, that the Indians 

 frequently eat it warm out of the paunch, as soon as 

 the animal is killed. In like manner, they pull out 

 the kidneys of the deer or bufLJo. and eat tfitm warm 

 from the newly slaughtered animals, without any dres- 

 sing. They often drink the blood, as it flows from 

 the wound in the carcase, and account it a most nou- 

 rishing sort of food, as well &i an excellent quencher 

 of thirst. They are remarkably fund of the womb of 

 the bufT.ilo, elk, deer, tec. even when they are some 

 time gone with young ; and are not desirous of clean- 

 sing the bag very completely before boiling it for u-<-. 

 The young calve*, fawns, beavers, &c. taken out of 

 their mothers' bellies, are reckoned most delic:ou> ar- 

 ticles of food ; and all the parts of generation, belonging 

 to any animal which they kill, whether male or female, 

 are carefully eaten by the men and boys, partly as a 

 dish which they reli-.Ii, and partly as a superstitious 

 observance ** hich they consider essential to their suc- 

 cess in the chace. The deer skins also, freed from the 

 hair, and well boiled, are frequently used as food. Even 

 the worms, which infest them alter the rutting season, 

 are squeezed out and eaten alive as great delicacies. 

 When animal food i scarce, the native * boil a kind of 

 hard crumply moss which grows upon the larger stones, 

 and which forms a very palatable gummy preparation, 

 sometimes used to thicken other kinds of broth, ami 

 particularly esteemed when cooked in fiah liquor. All 

 the Indians around Hudson's Bar, Southern, Northern, 

 and Esquimaux, constantly swallow the secretion which 

 comes from the nose ; devour the maggots which are 

 produced by the flesh fly ; and delight in a handful of 

 lice as much as a European epicure u known to relish 

 the mites in a decayed cheese. 



The clothing of the Northern Indians conajsti chief- 

 ly of deer skins, with the hair inwards; but, for sum- 

 mer use, they prepare from these skins a fine soft lea- 

 ther, with which they make their stockings, jackets, &c. 

 To make a complete winter dress fora grown person, re- 

 pal parts of eight or ten deer skins ; and 

 all these r -iblr, be procured in the month of 



August, or beginning of September, when the fur is 

 thickest, ami the ikin leatt injured by worms. Each 

 person is calculated to require annually ten more of these 



kinfurthe lighter parts of rummer clothing, for thongs, 

 liner and other domestic purposes, besides what is 

 needed for tents, bags, flee. The coverings of the tents 

 nre always formed of skins with the hair; and by the 

 Northern Indians are commonly compoted (differently 

 the practice among the Southern tribes) of sepa- 

 rite pieces, containing about five -kin* in eacn. At the 

 commencement of the winter season, they frequently sew 

 a few of the skins of the deer's legs together in the 'shape 

 of Ion? portmanteaus, which they UM as a kind of tempo, 

 rary sledge, till they reach a situation where wood on 

 I" procured. They then construct proper sledges of 

 thin boards of larch fir ; and make them of various si- 

 ze*, according to the tnngth of the persona by whom 

 thev are to be dragged. In general their do not exceed 

 eight or nine feet in length, and twelve or fourteen 

 inches in breadth ; but sometimes they are not less than 

 twelve or fourteen feet long, and fifteen or sixteen inch- 

 es wide. The board*, of which they are made, are on- 

 ly about a quarter of an inch thick, and five or six inch- 

 es) broad. They are sewed together with thongs, of 

 parchment deer skin, and >rvrral cross-bars are fasten- 

 ed on the upper side to strengthen the vehicle, and se- 

 cure the ground lashing. The head or fore part of the 



sledge is turned up, so as to form a semicircle of fifteen ff 

 or twenty inches diameter, to prevent the carriage from _ j j:"' j _. 

 diving into light snow, and enable it to rise over the ""~~~ 

 inequalities of the surface. The trace is a double line 

 or slip of leather fastened to the head of the sledge, and 

 attached to a collar, which is put across the shoulders 

 of the person who hauls it, so as to rest upon the breast. / 

 They are sometimes dragged by dogs, but too common- 

 ly by the women. The snow shoes of the Northern ?now sho. 

 Indians differ from all others in that country, in being 

 made so as to be worn always on the same foot, having 

 a large sweep or curve on the outside, but nearly straight 

 in the inside. The frames are usually made of birch 

 wood, and a netting of thongs from deer skin fastens 

 the toes and heels to the bottom or sole. They are four 

 feet and n half in length, and about thirteen inches broad. 



The canoes of the Northern Indians are smaller and Canoe*, 

 lighter than those of the Southern nations, so as to be 

 carried by a single person on the longest journies ; and 

 are chiefly employed for crossing the rivers and hikes, 

 with which they meet in their progress. These canoe* 

 are flat bottomed, and sharp at eacn end, so as to bear 

 some resemblance to a weaver's shuttle. They seldom 

 exceed twelve or thirteen feet in length ; and are from 

 twenty to twenty four inches broad at the widest part. 

 report is unnecessarily long and narrow, and M 

 all covered over with birch bark, so as to admit of no- 

 thing bring laid into it. The hinder part is much wider, 

 for receiving the baggage, or a second person, who 

 must lie along the bottom, that the vessel may not 

 upset, while the rower sits on his heels in the middle 

 space, impelling the vessel with a single paddle. A '"'> 

 hatchet, a knile, a file, and an awl, are all the tools n *" u - 

 which these Indians employ in making their canoes, 

 snow-show, bows, arrows, and other kinds of wooden 

 work. These few instruments they use with the ut- 

 most dexterity, and execute every thing in the neatest 

 manner. In tanning their leather also, they use a very Tnnin.{, 

 simple, yet efficacious process. The skins are first well 

 soaked in a lather made of the brains, marrow, ami soil 

 fat of the animal ; then dried before the fire, and even 

 hung in the smoke for several days. They are next 

 thoroughly steeped and washed in warm water, till the 

 grain of tn skin is perfectly open and moistened ; after 

 which they are carefully wrung, and dried before a slow 

 fire, being in the meantime repeatedly rubbed and 

 stretched a* long; w any moisture remains. Last of 

 all, they arc scraped smooth with a knife, and are ex- 

 tremely soft and beautiful, almost equal to shamois 

 laathi i . The women of the Northern Indians, as in Wonwsv 

 most other tribes, are more the slaves than the com- 

 panions of the men ; and are held in a stnte of unmiti- 

 gated subjection. They are commonly rather of low 

 stature and a delicate shape ; but being inured to la- 

 bour from their infancy, they are able to sustain all 

 kinds of drudgery, and to carry very heavy loads on 

 their journies. It is nothing unusual to see them bear 

 on their backs a burden of eight or ten stone of four- 

 teen pounds each, or haul in a sledge a much greater 

 weight They are expected aho to dress the deer skins, 

 make the clothing, cook the virtual-', pitch the tents, 

 carry home the game when killed, and perform all the 

 work of splitting, drying, and preserving it for use. 

 When the meal is prepared, thev are not allowed to 

 partake, till all the males, even the servants of their 

 fathers or husbands, have eaten what they think pro- 

 per; and, in times of scarcity, it i* not unfrequently 

 their lot to be left without a single morsel. They pos- 

 sest little beauty even in youth ; and become old and 



