0^ »l:^% ^ N I a ./\ "q. **^** ^0^ '• '^ ^^ **-^ r. •*^o< ; "^* -^"-v .^'% ?;T» .A .,T' .A *P'rl, > - - • »*» rA > ..^" ^ '<V .<=,'^ *'€SI»Si'- ^^e. ^ ^'^%fA.- >. c'^'^ .0'^ » • « *rt »** V ..^"^ ^ '« "^^ 0^ ' • 4.1- n, v^s"*;* o^ -^ » • *• *^ ,«•..•••>-• •••'a' ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE ^ / / American Museum of Natural History. Vol. IX, Part 1. NOTES ON THE EASTERN CREE AND NORTHERN SAULTEAUX. BY ALANSON SKINNER NEW YORK: Published by Order of the Trustees. 1911. Mofwe:rap»i ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE American Museum of Natural History Vol. IX, Part I. NOTES OX THE EASTERX CREE AXD XORTHERN SAULTEAUX. By Alaxsox Skixxer. CONTEXTS. Page. INTRODUCTION .... 7 I. THE EASTERN CREE S HABITATIONS .... 12 The Conical Lodge 12 Dome-.shaped Lodge 13 The Two-Fire Wigwam . 14 Sweat Lodge .... 14 CLOTHING AND TOILETTES . 14 Men's Clothing 15 Women's Garments 18 Articles Common to both Sexes 20 Mittens 21 Combs ..... 21 Facial Painting 21 Tattooing 23 Facial Scarification 23 Method of Weariiig the Hair 23 Earrings ..... 24 FOODS AND THEIR PREPARATION 24 Hunting ..... 25 Fishing ..... 27 Meats 28 Vegetable Foods 30 Cooking and Utensils 30 Fire Making .... 33 1 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. IX, TANNING .... WEAVING .... GAMES AND AMUSEMENTS The Cup and Pin Game Bows and Slings The Otter Hunting Game The War Game The Dart Game Caribou Hunting Game Goose Hunting Game Square Game . Football . Smoking . DANCES The War Dance The Conjuring Dance The Feasting or Greeting Dance The Deer (Caribou) Dance The Bear Dance Mide Dance . MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION SIGNS AND SIGNALS DIVISIONS OF TIME MISCELLANEOUS Leg-skin Bags Grooved Stone Axes Crooked Knives Stone Knives . ART .... SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Marriage RELIGION . Shamanism Hunting Customs . DOCTORS AND MEDICINES WAR CUSTOMS . MORTUARY CUSTOMS SOME NOTES ON FOLKLORE WiSAGATCAK . Wemishus The Son of Aiqswe TcIgibis, the Hell Diver MisHi Shigak, Big Skunk Why James Bay is Salt The Adventures of Tcikapis (Rupert's House Version) The Adventures of Tcikapis (Albanj' Ver The Virgin Birth .... The Beaver Wife .... 1911. Skinner, The Eastern Cree. Page. The Burning of the World •107 Kanweo and the Cannibals 108 Origin of the Races of Man 112 The Wolf and the Otter . 112 The Legend of Stag Rock 113 The Stars that Married Sisters 113 A "Conjuring Story" 113 The Cannibals .... 114 The Legend of Iroquois Falls 115 IL THE NORTHERN SAULTEAUX 117 HABITATIONS .... 119 The Conical Lodge 119 Sweating Lodge or Sudatory . 120 Conjuring Houses 120 CLOTHING AND TOILETTES 121 Method of Wearing the Hair 124 Personal Ornamentation 124 MANUFACTURES 125 Tanning . 125 Weaving and Sewing 127 Quill Work 129 Dyes and Paints 130 Pottery 130 Use of Birchbark 130 Canoe Making 131 Miscellaneous 132. PREPARATION OF FOOD 133 Hunting and Fishing 134 Wild Rice Culture 137 Preserved Berries 138 Pemmican 138 Fire-Making 138 AMUSEMENTS . 139 Dances and Music 142 Pipes and Smoking 143 TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 144 SIGNS AND SIGNALS 146 MONTHS AND SEASONS 147 DIRECTIONS AND WEATHER CUS TOMS 147 ART .... 148 SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 149 Marriage 1.50 Menstrual Customs 1.52 RELIGION . 152 Doctors and Medicines 160 Hunting Customs 162 WAR .... 164 MORTUARY CUSTOMS 166 Aiilhropolof/ical Papers American Museum of Xatural History. \\o\. XI, Page. NORTHERN SAULTEAUX TALES . 168 Omishus 168 WisEkejack .... 173 BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 176 ILLUSTRATIONS. Plates. i. Doiu('-.slun)ed Lodge, Cree of Rupert's House. Drying Moose Meat, Sandy Lake, Ontaiio. 2. Cree Bark Lodge, Rupert's House. Text Figures. Page. 1. Map showing the Distribution of the Eastern Cree and Saulteau.x 10 2. Hooded Coat of Caribou Skin, front and back 16 3. Coat of Woven Rabbitskins . 17 4 Decorated Coat ..... IS o Design on a Woman's Legging 19 6. Moccasin Types .... 20 7. Types of Face Decoration 22 8. Wooden Spoon 26 9. Net Floats for winter Lse 2S 10. Spoons for eating Fish .... 31 11. Small Wooden Cup .... 31 12. Model of a Tray 32 13. Firedrill and Carrying Bag 32 14. Semilunar Knife for scraping Skins 33 15. Flesher and Beaming Tool 34 16. Pipe from Eastmain River 39 17. Pipe Bowl of Stone .... 40 18. A Drvun ...... 41 19. A Rattle ...... 42 20. Dog Harness 44 21. A Toboggan ...... 44 22. Snowshoes ...... 45 23. Needle for netting Snowshoes 45 24. The Maxilla of a Lynx for untying Snowshoc 45 2.5. A Cradle 46 26. A Miniature Basket 46 27. A decorated Basket made of Birchtjark 46 28. Bag made of Caribou Leg-skins 50 29. Bag made of Caribou Ears 51 30. Needle Case 51 31. A snow Shovel 51 1911. Skinner, The Eastern Cree. Page. 32. A Knife made of Beaver Teeth 52 33. A crooked Knife 52 34. Snow Spectacles 52 35. A Series of painted Designs 54 36. A bear's claw Trophy 69 37. Bears' Skulls with Ceremonial Mar mgs 70 38. A String of Bearskin Charms 72 39. A Ring of Bear Claws . 72 40 A Series of hunting Charms . 74 41. Types of Saulteaux Moccasins 123 42. Cree skinning Tool 125 43. A Beaming Tool 126 44. Needle and Thread 127 45. Detail of a Straw Mat . 127 46. A Bag of Cedar Bark 128 47. Basket of unusual Technique 129 48. A Rogan for storing Dried Meat 134 49. A Puzzle of Hoop and Rings 139 50. A Buzzer of Bone . 140 51. A Top .... 141 52. A Drum and Stick 142 53. Stone-headed Pipes 143 54. Two Types of Snowshoes 145 55. A decorated Birchbark Basket 149 56. A bear Pole. Drawn from a Photograph 162 INTRODUCTION. The data presented in the following papers consist of a series of field notes collected by the writer on two trips to Northern Canada. The first of these, in the summer of 1908, was made by canoe, from ^Nlissanabie, a point some sixty miles north of Lake Superior on the Canadian Pacific Railway, down the Missanabie River to James Bay, thence northeast to Eastmain River, the southern boundary line of Ungava. At the various posts of the Hudson's Bay Company which we visited en route, we met most of the members of the Woods Cree bands of the vicinity, who had come from their far-off hunting grounds to barter their winter's catch of furs. In this way, we were able to interview many Indians residing at remote points in the Ungava wilderness, at Lake Nitchequon, and even beyond. The following summer we entered the northern forests at Dinorwic, west of Lake Superior, and first visited the scattered Ojibway camps on Sandy Lake, Lac Seul, Lake St. Joseph and Lake Eabamet and then de- scended the Albany River for its entire length reaching the Cree stationed at Fort Albany on James Bay, where farther research was carried on. The aggregate distance covered during the two trips was some 2400 miles, all of which was traveled by canoe or on foot with two half-breed guides. Owing to the roughness of the country, the exigencies of the weather- the scarcity of food, the lack of good interpreters, and other causes, there is still much to be desired in the fullness and condition of these papers The press of other work has forced their publication in this cmde, unfinished form, rather than to shelve them away to be forgotten. New York, October, 19n. Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. IX, I. THE EASTERN CREE. The habitat of the great Algonkin tribe known as the Cree, or Kniste- naux, extends from Lake Xitchequon, in the interior of Labrador on the northeast, to Lake Athabaska on the northwest. The western hmit of their territory is approximately at the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, while the southern boundary may be drawn from this point, touching the northern end of Lake Winnipeg and passing on to Lake Alistassini. The body politic of the tribe is made up of two great divisions: the Plains Cree of the Manitoba and Saskatchewan prairies ; and the Wood, or Swamp Cree, or Maskegon. These branches are further sub-divided into local groups. The two great divisions differ in their methods of life and material culture but are linguistically related. The Woods Cree, or Maskegon, are now to be found in interior Labrador as far north and east as Lakes Nitchequon and Mistassini. They hold the shores of James Bay, west of York Factory on Hudson's Bay, then inland as far west as the Peace River and its tributary, the Loon River. Their southern boundary is comprised by the northern horizon of the Plains in Saskatchewan and the northwest territories, and by a line drawn from Norway House on the northern end of Lake W innipeg to Lake Mistassini in Quebec. For the purposes of this paper, the name Eastern Cree will be used to designate that portion of the Wood, Swamp, or Maskegon division lying east of York Factory and Norway House, from whom the notes and informa- tion here presented have been gathered. In addition, however, information from the early writers in so far as it is related to the Cree residing in the forested region west of the districts where our field trips were conducted, has been employed, and where possible, the locality has been given. Their neighbors are the Naskapi of Labrador on the northeast; the Eskimo on the eastern shores of James and Hudson's Bays; the Chipewyan on the northwest; the Plains Cree, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot on the southwest; the Saulteaux Ojibway on the south; and the Montagnais on the southeast. Never a warlike race, the Eastern Cree have been almost constantly at peace with their neighbors, perhaps with the exception of the Eskimo. W'ith the latter they have been on terms of enmity until well within the last century, when peace was brought about by the intercession of the Hudson's Bay Company.