THE DRAWING in to TRADE of NORTHERN ALGONQUIAN CARIBOU HUNTERS Toby Morantz Mcgill University

57 "NOT ANNUALL VISITORS" THE DRAWING IN TO TRADE OF NORTHERN ALGONQUIAN CARIBOU HUNTERS Toby Morantz McGill University Introduction This paper investigates the reasons that certain northern Algonquian caribou hunters were indifferent participants in the early fur trade and why this indifference seems to have diminished by the middle of the 19th century. Their marginal relationship to the fur trade stands in contrast to other northern Algonquians whose greater willingness to supply furs enabled the Hudson's Bay Company to maintain, from the late 1600s onward, a flourishing fur trade in their coastal region. From an eth nocentric point of view it also conflicts dramatically with the values of our own consumer-oriented society and with its notion of conspicu ous consumption, as outlined by Thorstein Veblen, and is therefore of comparative interest to us. The geographical area under examination includes the northern part of James Bay and the southeastern portions of Hudson Bay, involving the coastal posts of Fort George, Great Whale River, Little Whale River, and Richmond Fort. Kaniapiskau and Nichikun were two inland posts whose records were also studied. They are located approximately in the centre of the Quebec-Labrador peninsula. The present-day descendants of the people inhabiting this vast re gion are the Cree of James Bay. They were not so named in historic times, nor was there a sense of a cohesive grouping. The journals make reference either to northward or far northward peoples, or to a Whale River tribe, or sometimes to Naskapi. For the purposes of this study, I focus on all the northward peoples who traded at the above-mentioned posts and who had access to the vast barren ground caribou herds of the coastal slopes of Hudson Bay. Some Indians coming to Great Whale River are said to have travelled 300 miles (CMS, Reel A-98, Vincent, Summer, 1867). By their geographical location those trading at the coastal posts are distinguishable, in the later period, from the Naskapi of the interior of Ungava who, in the mid-1800s, took their trade to Fort Chimo and its outposts. They are also distinguishable from the people who lived to the south in the James Bay region, and whose sub- 58 Toby Morantz sistence base was a more general one, living as they did on woodland caribou, beaver, waterfowl, fish and a variety of other small mammals. My past work has focused on these southern peoples. The records consulted for this analysis consist principally of the Hud son' s Bay Company (henceforth HBC) records for the aforementioned posts. In addition, the post records of Eastmain were also studied. At times it was the most northerly functioning post. Although the East- main records begin in 1737, the best information for this more northern region dates back to the early 19th century. These records, along with those of the missionaries, have been consulted only to 1870. Published materials for the area date from the last decade or so of the 19th cen tury. The first European traders to establish themselves on the east coast of James Bay were the HBC, beginning in 1668. The trade did not become firmly established there until the early 1700s due to skirmishes with the French who, for a while, operated posts on James Bay. Interest in the more northerly Hudson Bay coast did not materialize until the 1740s when a post was established for ten years at Richmond Gulf and its outpost at Little Whale River. Fort George was established in 1803 and for many years alternated with posts at one of the Whale Rivers until finally in the last half of the 1890s there were in operation posts at Fort George, Great Whale River, and Little Whale River. Kaniapiskau was an inland post only from 1834 to 1844, while Nichikun, open from 1815 to 1822, was again reopened in 1834 and remained so for the remainder of the period under study. The barren ground caribou, hunted by the Hudson Bay Indians, alternate habitats according to the season. Summers are spent on the tundra, where the strong breezes keep down the number of flies and they are out of reach of the wolves. In autumn they migrate inland and southward in order to pass the winter in the shelter of the forest tundra transition zone, made up of expanses of barren ground broken by stands of spruce forest. The northern edge of the treeline stretches northeastward from slightly north of Richmond Gulf, i.e., from the 56th latitude up to about the 59th latitude, ending at Leaf Bay in Ungava Bay. In the spring the return migration extends northward to the tundra. As Low (1896) and Calef (1981) report, the principal hunt was con ducted during the fall migration when the caribou, particularly the "Not Annuall Visitors" 59 males, were fat, having not yet mated with the females. Large num bers of hunters congregated at water crossing points where the cari bou, in herds of thousands, were ambushed. Both Low (1896:319) and Turner (1894:112) reported that this type of hunting in the late 19th century was carried out using lances or spears. The season for cross ing the waterways lasted only from ten to fifteen days. Hundreds of animals might be taken in good years. The meat was smoked for win ter use. The spring migration involved fewer animals which were not so easily taken. Weather conditions were an important factor. Deep snow enabled the hunters to drive the caribou into snowbanks. Snaring methods were also used. Where snow conditions were not favourable, caribou were chased and shot. In his article on caribou as a human resource, Burch (1972:344) has pointed out that this animal has a capacity for sustained movement, an adult being able to move as far as 65 km a day. As a result the hunting techniques of those people dependent on the caribou herds were based on the fact that they were unable to follow the herd. Instead, hunting strategies as outlined above were employed. Adding to the difficulty of hunting the caribou is the fact that migration routes or times were not always predictable. In the records (A.12/8:61,1856), it is noted that the caribou are "uncertain in their migrations." Low further points out that some years the caribou did not return to the wooded areas from the tundra, with the result that those Indians depending on them in winter were left in a starved condition. As well, the herd sizes in winter are much reduced in size from those in autumn (Juniper 1979:94) The records of the 19th century report a number of instances of deaths caused by starvation. Throughout the period under study the caribou never permanently disappearead from this area, as they are reported to have done in the 1880s (Elton 1942:356; Batty 1893:135). For instance, in 1864 caribou were said to be numerous inland of Great Whale River (B.372/a/5:43, March 27) and on the coast at Cape Jones (B. 372/a/6:l). Nevertheless, there still were periodic years of scarcity when the caribou were not found or successfully hunted (B.372/b/l:29d, July 1), as in 1860. The caribou provided not only food but also skins that were used for clothing, snow shoes, and shelter, and antlers used for tools, etc. Grenfell (1913:259), writing in 1913, commented that the hides need scarcely any dressing and they make the "most satisfactory clothing to 60 Toby Morantz use in cold climates." He further added that the moccasins made of the hides are the warmest foot gear known, and that stags furnish skins that make "admirable, light, soft, flexible wind-proof over clothes." Moreover, the thongs made from the skins show a remarkable elastic strength. Grenfell had more such praiseworthy things to say about the use of other parts of this animal. Once the HBC established themselves in the region they quickly added caribou skins to their list of goods received in trade. The skins were used for leather at the various posts, for wrapping packs of furs and other commodities, and for trading to Indians to the south in James Bay. As mentioned, both spears and guns were used for the kill. However, Turner (1894:115) comments that the muzzle-loading guns he saw in use at the end of the 19th century were of the cheapest kind. In addition he felt that the people he saw did not take the necessary care in loading their guns, with the result that they often backfired. Writing of this period as well, J.W. Anderson, a trader in James Bay in the early 1900s, comments that the muzzle-loading guns were "little better than a bow and arrow for the hunter had to get quite close to his quarry" (quoted in Elton 1942:365). It was frequently mentioned in the records that on seeing small herds of caribou the post hunters would shoot at them, scaring them off (B.372/a/5:43, March 27,1863) or at other times they could not get close enough even to shoot (B.147/a/l:10d, December 6, 1834). There are also reports to the effect that deer were numerous, as at Cape Jones in 1864 (B.372/a/6:10d, March 27) but few had been killed. Whatever the effectiveness of the old musket, it was obviously a most serviceable item, even though not the only hunting tool available. Whenever necessary items were listed, ammunition was always one of them. Traders noted in their journals that ammunition was necessary for winter hunting (B.372/a/5:69d, December 12, 1863).

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