33 



HUDSON'S BAY. 



Hudson's are so extremely vague and limited, that they may al- 

 v _ B *y- most be said to have no ideas at all on that subject. 

 RcTi"ioB~" With regard to the origin of the world, they have a 

 tradition, that the first person on earth was a woman, 

 who, after being some time alone, found an animal like 

 a dog, which followed her to the cave where she lived, 

 and transforming itself during the night-time into the 

 shape of a handsome youth, rendered her the mother 

 of a family. Some time afterwards, a person of such 

 gigantic stature as to reach the clouds with his head, 

 came to level the land, which had been hitherto a con- 

 fused heap, and this he effected merely with the help 

 of his walking stick, marking out, at the same time, 

 the lakes, ponds, and rivers. He then took the dog, 

 and, tearing it in pieces, threw its intestines into the 

 waters, commanding them to become fishes ; dispersed 

 ts flesh over the land, with a similar charge to form 

 the different kinds of beasts ; threw the pieces of its 

 skin in the air, to give origin to the feathered tribes ; 

 commanded the woman and her offspring to kill, eat, 

 and never spare, as he had charged these creatures to 

 multiply for her use ; and then returning to the place 

 whence he came, has never been heard of since. They 

 believe in the existence of several kinds of spirits, whom 

 they suppose to inhabit the different elements, and to 

 whose influence they attribute every change in their 

 lot, whether favourable or adverse. They have no 

 fixed creed, however, in these matters ; but are conti- 

 nually receiving new fables from their conjurors, who 

 profess to receive intimations in dreams from these in- 

 visible beings. They have no practical religious ob- 

 servances whatever, except perhaps speaking with re- 

 verence of certain beasts and birds, in which they ima- 

 gine these spirits to reside. But they restrict the in- 

 fluence of these beings upon their welfare entirely to 

 the present life, and have no idea whatever of a future 

 state. * They have indeed a multitude of superstitious 

 customs, some of which have already been mentioned, 

 respecting success in hunting, fishing, &c. but which 

 seem to partake more of the nature of civil than reli- 

 gious institutions. One of the most remarkable of these 

 is that which they observed after having put to death 

 any of their enemies in war. All those who have shed 

 blood are, for many months afterwards, in a state of 

 nncleanness, and obliged to perform a number of strange 

 ceremonies. They are prohibited from cooking any 

 kind of victuals for themselves or others ; required to 

 paint their faces with red earth before every meal ; 

 restricted to the use of their own pipe and dish ; for- 

 bidden to eat various parts of animals, particularly the 

 head, entrails, and blood ; precluded from having their 

 food prepared in water, so that, if they could not have 

 it broiled on the fire or dried in the sun, they must eat 

 it in a raw state ; and finally denied the privilege of sa- 

 luting any of their wives and children. When the ap- 

 pointed time is expired, they kindle a fire at some dis- 

 tance from the tents, into which they throw all their 

 ornaments, pipe-stems, and dishes ; and then partake 

 of a feast, consisting of all those articles of food which 

 they had been prohibited from using. 



Character. The Northern Indians are an indolent, improvident 

 race; and are frequently in danger of starving from 

 mere want of exertion and foresight, especially in their 



trading excursions to Prince of Wales Fort, the only 

 one of the factories which they frequent. They are 

 seldom guilty of stealing from one another, but are 

 ready to pick up every kind of iron work which falls 

 in their way at the Company's settlements. They excel 

 in all the arts of defrauding and overreaching, and es- 

 pecially in playing the part of feigned want and dis- 

 tress. They are continually pleading poverty even 

 among themselves ; and, at the factory, they may be 

 said to practise begging more then traffic. They are 

 generally of a morose and covetous disposition, and re- 

 markably deficient in gratitude. They are by no 

 means a warlike people, and are not inclined to acts of 

 cruelty, except towards their enemies the Esquimaux. 

 Whatever losses or injuries they may sustain from one 

 another, their revenge rarely extends beyond a wrest- 

 ling match with the offender. Murder is almost un- 

 known among them ; and the perpetrator of such a 

 crime would be treated by universal consent as an out. 

 law from their tribe. At the same time, they testify 

 little humanity to the sufferings of others beyond the 

 circle of their immediate relatives; and are known rather 

 to ridicule, in the most unfeeling manner, the most af- 

 flicting cases of distress. They are not at all addicted 

 to the use of sprituous liquors ; and, though some, who 

 have intercourse with the factory, may learn to take 

 them freely enough, when given gratis, they never 

 think of them as an article of purchase. They are 

 thus always sober, and are guilty of no greater rioting, 

 than what consists in abusive language. They are apt 

 to become insolent and uncomplying when treated with 

 indulgence ; but nevertheless are by far the mildest 

 tribe of Indians to be found on the borders of Hudson's 

 Bay. 



The Esquimaux who inhabit the northern coasts of Esquimaux. 

 Hudson's Bay, * (to whom alone the following parti- 

 culars apply, ) seldom approach the Company's fort at 

 Churchhill River ; but a sloop is regularly sent to trade 

 with them at Knapp's Bay, Navel's Bay, and Whale 

 Cove. It is only since the middle of last century, that 

 the Company's servants could venture to land among 

 them, (partly perhaps because they were considered by 

 the Esquimaux as the allies of their most inveterate 

 enemies, the Northern Indians,) but they have of late 

 become so much civilized, and reconciled to the Euro- 

 peans, as readily to welcome their arrival, and to treat 

 them with every mark of hospitality. They have long 

 l>een persecuted by their more powerful neighbours 

 the Northern Indians with the most savage barbarity. 

 No quarter is ever granted on either side; and the 

 strongest party never fails to massacre every creature 

 of the vanquished, without sparing even the women 

 and children. Of late years, however, the company's 

 servants have extended their protection to the oppress- 

 ed Esquimaux, and have succeeded in establishing a 

 peace between the two nations, so far at least that par- 

 ties and individuals of both tribes can meet each other 

 in a friendly manner, or rather without any disposition 

 to plot each other's destruction. But the more distant 

 Esquimaux, who reside o far to the north as to have 

 no intercourse with the Europeans, are still exposed 

 and often fall a sacrifice to the fury of their enemies. 

 They are tolerably well protected in winter by their 



* The Southern Indians consider the aurora borealis as the assembled spirit* of their departed friends dancing in the clouds ) but 

 the Northern Indians have no belief of this nature, and merely speak of that phenomenon by the name of Deer, in consequence, it is 

 said, of observing, that a hairy deer-skin, when briskly stroked with the hand in the dark, emits electrical sparks like these lights ip 

 the atmosphere. 



t For an account of the other tribes of that people, see Gusrvusn and 



