In Ntesinan Across the Labrador Plateau Words by Stephen Loring Images by Dave Brown Ntesinan Is the Innu Word for the Land, the Country

Winter 2017 Vol. 44 No. 4 Quarterly Journal of the Wilderness Canoe Association Paddlers survey the Kogaluk canyon for a decent route. In Ntesinan Across the Labrador Plateau Words by Stephen Loring Images by Dave Brown Ntesinan is the Innu word for the land, the country. The the federal and provincial governments. During the fall Innu (as the Naskapi refer to themselves) have for cen - of 1979, a small party set out from the Quebec North turies lived and hunted in what is now called Labrador. Shore & Labrador Rail Road landing at Astray Lake, Recently they have begun land claim negotiations with bound for the coast of Labrador. The party consisted of The trip was, in part, a means to fa - barren Labrador plateau, hopping It did not seem strange or un - cilitate archaeological and ethnohis - from pond to pond, to reach the val - natural torical research, in that it sought to ley of the Kogaluk River, which was to be setting out as I was on document evidence of previous descended to the sea. Upon reaching such an errand. Indian land use. But there were other the Labrador coast they paddled to Rather there came a sense of reasons for traveling not so clearly Zoar Bay and a mid-October ren - unspeakable relief definable. The party worked through dezvous with Inuit hunters from in thus slipping away into the the series of lakes east of Schefer- Nain. Following is excerpted from wilderness. ville, portaged across the divide into Stephen Loring’s journal. the Ungava watershed, and located Mina Benson Hubbard the headwaters of the De Pas River, 15 August. The North Coast of the St. which they followed until it joined Laurence the George at Indian House Lake. The Cote Nord is rich with birds. It Stephen Loring, a graduate student in From there they followed a route that is a cool misty land, lush in its own anthropology at the University of had been pioneered by William way, bejeweled with forests and flow - Massachusetts, his younger brother Brooks Cabot between 1903 and ers. Each night’s fire consumes Erie, and the then-not-yet-venerable 1910, that entailed a long portage to bridges. The aspen and birch burns Maine Guide Thomas Hallenbeck. Lake Mistinibi and then across the and creates a circle, a warmth and Calm weather provides ideal conditions for a crossing of Lake Mistinibi. 2 NASTAWGAN WINTER 2017 light that keeps back the mist of the an illogical sense of relief. Still, I sciousness this morning as well as sea. Each night’s fire is a milestone would be at a loss to try and name now, when after dark, by firelight, I that marks more than the day’s accu - my pursuer. If only I could, I might write these words. After trying to mulation of miles. My distances are then know something of the nature of load all our stuff AND Eric into the measured in different units. On the this headlong rush. There is such a canoe, we still managed to take ferry, we crossed the Saguenay, con - power in names, the Inuit know this. twenty-eight miles and stuff it into a tinuing east through the fog. I know it now in that I cannot face kit bag of memories. The boat is Cormorants preceded the boat and this sense of uncertainty because I heavily loaded and will require atten - lured us from the shore to the deeper, cannot define it. It has no name, or tion and care in the days ahead. darker waters. Another river crossing else, and this may be closer to the The woods are full of cloudberries, – it seems that I am always trying to truth, it has my name. the lake air is full of terns, and our put distances between myself and stomachs are full of Tom’s amazing others. The river forms a tangible 18 August. Camp at the North End of pemmican stew. Life is just royally barrier. I look back over my shoulder Petitsikapau Lake grand for the three of us, satiated as once the ferry pulls clear of the Altogether an extraordinarily fine we are. shore, looking back fearfully as if ex - day, as all should be when bracketed In 1975, when Tom and I paddled pecting pursuit. When the river fog by the calls of loons. Theirs was the down the shores of Lake Mistassini, obscures the abandoned shore, I feel first sound that lured me into con - we reveled in the open expanses and The barren, rocky landscape in the vicinity of Hawk Lake is typical for the plateau. NASTAWGAN WINTER 2017 3 the big-sky sense afforded by lake’s watersheds. We portaged the kit from tic feature of this river’s shores, immensity. These Labrador lakes are lake to pond then on to another lake. which I haven’t noticed on other wonders, too. Fleets of broad cumu - They were relatively short portages rivers, is this ice-rafted wall of boul - lus wind a parallel course through but the loads, as Eric will arrest, ders that forms a nearly continuous the sky matching our own excursions were heavy ones. We were quick to natural levee above the river banks. on the water. Storms come and go. load up and be under way as these All the river’s rocks are scoured and We watch the curtains of rain that waters flow north. The headwaters streaked from the same tremendous hang on the horizon grow nearer and are a succession of narrow lakes con - force of the spring ice-out. eventually descend on us. Waves lash nected by tumbling brook-like sec - the boat. Nervously we point toward tions. If we didn’t know the nature of 28 August. De Pas River land, then the cloudburst has passed rivers, there would be little to suggest Awoke once again to an incredibly us by and the sky is a showplace for that such inauspicious beginnings fine morning. Where do these days cloudy creations. The wonder of lake would ever be transformed to the come from? One for a summer would travel is in its openness, especially on stark immensity of the George River seem a fair share yet today. we are big lakes where there are no bound - at Ungava Bay. again blessed with a cloudless blue aries to contain one’s thoughts and A family of bald eagles sat in a dead sky and a bright sun. We worked the horizons are layers of blue. I get spruce at the mouth of the river downriver past an old abandoned and to feeling at the center of things. where it entered Frederickson Lake. sorry-looking fish camp, The river A squall pushed us ashore on toward Two mature birds and a single imma - turned into a narrow canyon and evening. We poked about through the ture who stayed on the nest while the quite quickly her whole character vegetation of alder that masks the parents circled above. I made my way changed. Bare rocky hills rose above forests behind the shore. Into the through the alders to the base of the both shores. The waters of the river woods and one forgets the quest that nest tree. The ground was splattered became more and more contained sought a camping spot as the thick with guano from above. It looked as and consequently less ruly, quicker, carpet of moss on the ground is though a light snow had fallen. There and more powerful. The country on strewn with cloudberries, and they were several discarded eagle feath - the eastern shore was burned, so are sought and consumed reverently, ers; I carried two back to Eric. there was an added element of deso - one by one. Later, Tom makes bread lation to the scene. The canyon be - and pemmican stew. The bread was 27 August, De Pas River came more and more pronounced, served with peach jam that my The river matures with every mile. and the river seemed to run through mother had made, and the stew in - What started out as a shallow brawl - a maze of huge boulders. Always, cluded the dried morels that I had ing brook has gathered waters, like with each little distance made, the watched grow on the old elm stump years, and a much more stately char - speed of the current increased as the in front of Tina’s house in South acter, so that the continuous shoal angle of the river’s descent sharp - Woodbury. I love this sort of min - water and gravelly rapids have been ened. We had to maneuver into the gling of different times and different left behind us. We find ourselves center of the river to find a clear places. paddling broad, straight sections be - course through. Once there, we could It had been an amazingly fine day tween sets of bouldery rapids. not get back to the security of a route too! Damn close to being perfect, I The morning was cold with more or near one of the banks as boulders suspect. I can almost not bear to have less constant rain, but it warmed up completely barred the way. Loaded it end, and yet I am tired, bone tired. and cleared off by late afternoon. The as it is, the boat develops a forward This friendly little fire and the few caribou are constantly about us. We trajectory that is difficult to direct. faint flickerings of northern light will chased a merganser up a small brook Maneuvers must be anticipated with not keep me here long.

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