In Search of Mr. Bundin: Henley House 1759 Revisited

JOHN S. LONG Timmins, Ontario

INTRODUCTION Following in the footsteps of E. E. Rich (1958-59,1:549-553, 613—4; 1967:107-8) and Marcel Giraud (1986 [1945], 1:141, 307-8), Charles Bishop (1976:36-41) has described and analyzed the events surrounding the 1755 killing of Hudson's Bay Company personnel at Henley House, on the Albany River (see also Thorman 1974). This 1755 incident, on the eve of the Seven Years' War, has been considered noteworthy by ethnohistorians for three reasons: Henley House was the HBC's first inland post, a departure from what critics called a sleep "at the edge of a frozen sea" (Williams 1974:562); the murdered men were traders who had taken Cree women as their country wives without providing reciprocal concessions to their menfolk (cf. Brown 1980:61-62; Van Kirk 1980:43^14; Francis and Morantz 1983:99- 100; Long 1986:59-60; Thistle 1986:51-52; Dickason 1992:146); and the Company's representatives at Fort Albany retaliated by imposing British justice and hanging the offenders, who included a Home Guard captain (Rich 1967:107; Long 1993). Like other well known incidents — at Hannah Bay in 1832 (Francis and Morantz 1983:158-160) and at Frederick House in 1812-13 (Mitchell 1973, 1977) — the Henley House murders are usually referred to as a "massacre", which my dictionary defines as "the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of human beings, as in barbarous warfare or persecution, or for revenge or plunder." It is an unfortunate word which conjures up one culture's image of another as "savages" — although Richard Preston (1990) puts Hannah Bay in context and provides us with an East Cree "view from the other side".1 Bishop (1976:41) briefly reports that Henley House was re-established in 1759 "but within a few weeks was attacked [again] by about forty

1 See Lytwyn (1993:295-9) for other early incidents of Cree-European conflict. 204 JOHN S. LONG

Indians. The manager was killed and the other servants fled at night on foot to Fort Albany." If the first Henley incident is notable to historians for its breach of contract, the one in 1759 is important to the Cree for the opposite reason. IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 205

The survivors reached Fort Albany only because Indians provided them with assistance and sounded the warning. It is a story of Indians who provide critical help to fur traders — described as funny people — and of Indians who are people with power and ability (competence). This paper will compare archival accounts of the 1759 event with Cree oral traditions still preserved more than two centuries later.

HBC ACCOUNTS

By 1759 the Hudson's Bay Company's Albany post was situated on Albany Island, although men were still sent to cut grass for the Company's livestock at the original or "old Factory" (HBCA B.3/a/51, fo. 38) which had been attacked by de Troyes in 1686 (Kenyon and Turnbull 1971).2 Shortly after break-up, on 24 May 1759, the Albany post journal recorded:

George Clark, Wm Ward and thirteen hands in two Boats a Large Canoe wth two of our home Indians all Loaded wth Provisions, Stores, and other necessaries for the [re-]Building of Henley House Set out this morning. (HBCA B.3/a/51, fo. 51)

On June 4th the Chief Factor of Albany post, Robert Temple, wrote that the two Indians and eight of the servants had returned in one of the boats, leaving the other one "for Rafting" and the canoe "for fishing". Henley House II would be rebuilt at the site of the disaster four years earlier:

He has fixed upon the place where the old house stood as the properest that he can find;The y found some of the bones of the Men, they having buried them near the House, and a Musket barrel they bro1 down, most of the Pallasades are [still] Standing. (HBCA B.3/a/51, fo. 51) Meanwhile, Temple learned from his colleague Henry Pollexsen Sr. at Moose Factory that a plot by "old Captain Snuff to attack the English there had been foiled. On June 9th, Pollexsen sent word to Temple by Indian messenger that Snuff — he was nicknamed Snuff the Blanket for his habit of covering his nose in the presence of smelly Europeans (Judd

2 The post was established 1675-79 and re-established in 1692 (Lytwyn 1993:290, 342). It was moved across the south channel of the Albany River to Albany Island after 1721 (Rich 1958-59, 1:502). Some Cree today are unaware that the Albany Island site was not the original post (Goodwin 1994:3). 206 JOHN S. LONG

Map 2: Mouth of Albany River

1984; Dickason 1988; Thorman 1974) — had hanged himself (HBCA B.135/a/31, fo. 27d-29d). On June 25th, a second crew returned from taking more supplies to Henley. Working "from four in the morning till seven at night", Clark's men had already squared 100 logs and prepared 70 planks. Supplies of "Flour, Beef, Pork, and Geese... with Sundry other Articles" had been easily transported upriver from Albany while the water was high. Left with Clark were three "Sawyers" — John Favell, James Ingster [sic] and IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 207

John Spence — and four laborers — John Cromartie, Thomas Clouston, Charles Sinclair and Benjamin Barnet (HBCA B.3/a/51, fo. 34-34d). The Hudson's Bay Company's calendar — or "outfit" — was based on the arrival and departure of the annual supply ship. And so, on September 4th, a crew of Indians returned from Henley with Clark's journal and mess book, and a letter to the London Committee. These were sent to Moose Factory by Indian messenger, in order to reach the HBC supply ship Seahorse (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. I).3 Clark undoubtedly began a new journal which has not survived. On September 22nd, 16 men set out from Albany in two boats "loaded wth Trading Goods, Provisions and Stores for Henly" (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 2d). The next day, Albany residents learned that disaster had befallen the men at Henley, just four months after they had set out to re-establish the inland post:

The two Henly Boats return'd having met with James Inkster, and John Cromartie who told them that Mr Clark was Shot dead and John Spence wounded in the Thigh, who they had left at a place called the fishing Creek4 about half way to Henly. I immediately dispatched an Indian call'd Chubby to bring him to the Factory. (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 2d)

Temple interviewed Inkster and Cromartie on the 24th, and the following day "Sent an Indian away... with Letters for Moose Fort and Eastmain to acquaint them with the Loss of Henly" (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 2d).5 Chubby returned to Albany on the 26th with "J° Spence, and the two Old Women that took care of him at their Tent" (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 3). On the 28th Chubby and another Indian, "old Capucheen", were sent to Henley by canoe to investigate (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 3). The pair returned October 5th with Clark's body, and Temple wrote: "we found he had been shot in twelve different places, they had Scalped him and left him under the Bank." The post had been burnt to the ground and its contents looted. But if the attackers were looking for a bounty of trade

3 The Seahorse arrived at Fort Albany August 26th and left from Moose Factory on September 11th, returning to London 23 October 1759 (Cooke and Holland 1978:75). 4 This Fishing Creek was the site of a major fish weir on the Albany River (Lytwyn 1993:225; Borron 1884:40); on Map 1 it is identified as Small Weir River. 5 Henry Pollexsen Sr. at Moose recorded in his journal "of Henly's being again attackd, and of Mr Clark's being Murther11 by the Indians there." He later informed Temple that "some of his people had seen some Indians Soulking in the Bush." 208 JOHN S. LONG

goods, "in that they have been disappointed" (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 4). The attackers had struck a week too soon. George Taylor began making a coffin, other servants at Albany dug the grave, and on October 8th Clark was buried: "hoisted the Colours; Read the funeral Service, and fired five Guns over the Grave" (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 4). That was the end of Clark, and also of Henley House — until it was re-established once again seven years later. In the archival records, the Chief Factor at Albany is named Robert Temple. There are dozens of named HBC officers and servants — including now-familiar "Indian" surnames like Spence, Cromartie, Sutherland and Sinclair (HBCA B.3/d/67, B.3/d/68). But there is no Mr. Bundin. These same records reveal the annual cycle of the people of Albany post: repairing guns, splitting and salting geese, packing furs and feath­ ers, setting out buoys and beacons, mowing grass for the cattle, getting wood and lumber, brewing beer, occasionally hearing prayers and a sermon. And, a century after the Company's arrival in James Bay, the building of boats for inland travel; HBC employees were still poor canoemen (Rich 1967:107-8). Then as now, spring break-up meant flooding at the mouth of the Albany River. We are reminded of natural hazards by the case of James Stinson of Albany, who broke through the November ice at the mouth of Fishing Creek6 and perished; his body was not found until nine months later (HBCA B.3/a/51, fo. 6, 40d). Similarly, at Moose Factory, the sloopmaster and two of the post's best hands were lost when their boat upset at the mouth of the Moose River (HBCA B.135/a/31, fo. 27d, 28d). Some Rupert River Indians, on their way to trade at Moose Factory, discovered one of the bodies (HBCA B.135/a/31, fo. 29, 31d, 32).7 We learn the recorded names and nicknames of Cree leaders trading at Albany: Chubby, old Capucheen, Capuneca, Cukemadego, Little Breeches, Macabee, Sooncaupee, Pekecan, Mekis (Bead), Nemekis

6 This is likely the Fishing Creek also known as Old House River (Kenyon 1986) or Yellow Creek. It is shown as Old House River on Map 2. The HBC post at Rupert's House, captured by de Troyes in 1686 and returned to the Company by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, was not rebuilt until 1776 (Rich 1954:345). IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 209

(Trout), Blind Tack, Wachisk, Sasakenham, Nappowish, Acuneap, Pattawistygan and an unspecified "French Captain". The HBC called some of these leaders captain or lieutenant, and provided them with gifts — a coat, brandy, tobacco (HBCA B.3/a/51, B.3/a/52; see also Lytwyn 1993:79, 315). Indians received "trust" (HBCA B.3/a/52, fo. 1; Lytwyn 1993:302) and provided fur, venison and tongues. They were employed as messengers: a trip between Albany and Moose was worth 15 made beaver (Lytwyn 1993:349-351), more than enough to acquire a gun (e.g., Rich 1954:372). The Cree were also starting to provide geese for the Company (Lytwyn 1993:304-310). And they resisted any efforts by the HBC to eliminate the use of brandy as a gift or trade item (Lytwyn 1993:313-4). Those Indians who stopped at Henley as the Company's men built a new post in 1759 received gifts of tobacco and pipes before they continued downstream to Albany. Some of them traded fish at Henley; the traders' nets rarely yielded any. Visitors would have seen the Company men digging sawpits, felling trees, hauling and rafting logs, squaring timbers, sawing planks, brewing, building an oven, repairing the pallisades, digging a foundation and erecting the square house and cabins. All this took place over the summer, while the strangers coped with a "grate many moskittos" (HBCA B.86/a/ll, fo. 3d). This seems to have been a high point for the Albany River Cree, shortly before they suffered from major game depletion and smallpox epidemics (Lytwyn 1993:451).8 They were still making raids on the Inuit (Francis and Morantz 1983:75-77; Lytwyn 1993:150-176). The French inland were offering 30 made beaver for the scalp of an HBC trader (Lytwyn 1993:196).

CREE ORAL TRADITION I was visiting Cree elder Willie Wesley in Kashechewan and he was finishing a cigarette. I had known him since 1986, when he was an employee of the Ministry of Transport (responsible for maintaining the airport), then as a chief, and as the father of my friends Archie and James. This was the first time I had taped him.

8 Pugh (1972) believes that the period 1650-1900 was a "culturally optimal period" for the Cree. 210 JOHN S. LONG

Before we turned the tape recorder on, he asked me bluntly (in English), "What do you want me to talk about?" I said I was interested to hear about when the RCMP first started coming around James Bay arresting Indians. I wanted to know about the arrest of a renowned shaman in the 1920s (Long 1993), but didn't want to be that specific. It was an evening in late March and Willie's sick wife, daughter and grandchildren had gone to bed. We were sitting at the kitchen table. Willie said he remembered there was a very good magician when he was a boy. (Thinking he meant the shaman — for some people translate mitEW as 'magician' — I mentioned a name. But I had jumped to the wrong conclusion, for Willie meant "Tiny" Covell, an RCMP officer who was also a professional magician.) He finished his cigarette and we agreed ASHay, 'ready'. I turned on the tape recorder and heard what my friend wanted to tell me, understanding a few words here and there. I learned later it was not what I had asked for — but that was presumptuous anyway. Willie spoke in Cree, and suggested at the end of our session that I bring someone with me next time who understood enough Cree to know when to laugh. By the end of the evening I thought that Willie had helped me solve the mystery of Mr. Bundin (Long 1986:65), a named character in his uncle's oral tradition of the 1759 attack on Henley House. I mentally made a note to write the paper I had intended to present at the 1993 Algonquian Conference, comparing the oral tradition with archival accounts of this incident. Now that I've had Willie's stories translated, however, I can more fully appreciate that evening with my old friend and reflect on what I inadvertently learned from him. After introducing himself, Willie explained (in Cree) what he was going to do:

I will tell about the things I have seen in the past, the things I did while I was a young man. I will tell about the stories I have heard from my father and grandfather. As a child I always liked to listen to these stories. I have no idea why I liked to listen to these stories. I must have been interested in them.

Willie proceeded to talk about his father and mother, his residential IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 211 school days, working down south, returning to James Bay to start a family, retirement - - in short, his life history (the entire session is summarized in the Appendix). Then the narration began to shift from oral history to oral tradition (Cruickshank 1994):

Now I will talk about the things in the past. I heard these stories. I may even tell lies, if my grandparents lied to me. Anyway, I'll tell you the way I heard these stories told. I heard a lot of stories.

Willie proceeded to tell me six stories he had heard from others. The first was a very brief mention of the shaman I was especially interested in. Next an expanded story about the great elder Joseph (Long 1988, Simpkins 1990), who, it turned out, was Willie's grandmother's uncle. Then a story about the powers of Willie's paternal grandfather. Following this, a story about the natuWEwak and Ghost River (Long 1986), and Willie's account of Henley House. Finally, a brief account of an infamous HBC factor (Long 1992) and stories about Revillon Freres.

HENLEY HOUSE Willie's late uncle James Wesley's version describes the attack on Henley and specifies that it was the HBC cook who escaped and found refuge with Indians at Small Weir River 50 miles from Fort Albany (Long 1986; Wesley 1993). In Willie's account, we miss the actual attack and catch up with the characters at a fall fishing camp. One man is wounded in the thigh and finds refuge with Indians. Indians provide a vital service, by delivering news to the post. There may have been three men altogether travelling downriver on foot, and the French were involved. In these respects the archival and Cree stories are similar. The story is attributed to someone who lived before Willie's time. ("And Johnny Kooses also told us a story. I didn't see that old man, I just heard about him. He was Charlie and Simon Kooses' father.") They saw "someone coming along the shoreline" towards their fall camp and "wondered who he might be." When he got closer, they found he was "a whiteman" who was limping. ("He was one of the natuWEwak. It seems there were three men. And this one who came to them ran away from his partners, after they cut his thigh and wounded him.") 212 JOHN S. LONG

The Indians could not converse with the man, but understood that he wanted to hide, and that a canoe was coming. ("So they kept him hidden there, this man who came to them.") At sunset a canoe approached. (The first man had somehow "told them that the boss in the canoe speaks Ojibwe.") The boss came ashore and asked "in Ojibwe if they saw a whiteman here. They understood him and they told him they did not see anyone." Next the men asked how far it was to Fort Albany. ("They said it was far away.") The third question was the name of the trader there. In James's version the name is BUNdin (the "u" pronounced as in manitu). Con­ sonant clusters are unusual in Cree; Willie drops the "n" and says, "The old man told them the trader's name was Mr. Budin." In both versions we note the characteristic number three — three men and three questions — not the pan-Indian four which is often considered "traditional" in the 1990s. The boss who spoke Ojibwe said, "Just call out Mr. Budin and I will see him soon." ("Now they realized who these men were.") The men continued downriver, and "these other old men followed them at a distance, to warn the people at Fort Albany." Willie says the old men caught up with them at a "big rock called matawaSlNii."9 At this time, the narrator reports, Fort Albany was not at Albany Island ("the Fort Albany we moved from") but "at another place". It was "at the island where Anderson lived".10 Willie said there were "two trading posts there at Fort Albany, HBC on one end and the Revillon Freres on another end" (which is a reference to the post at Albany Island in the early 20th century). The old men saw a light (campfire?) where the others were camped and managed to drift by on the other channel, "without being noticed by the enemy". (Note the similarity in both versions with elders' stories today about to how one is supposed to hunt geese — by not making a fire at night.)

9 See Thorman (1969) concerning this formation. 10 The original post was across from Anderson Island (Kenyon 1986:12), although the French attack by de Troyes likely came from Anderson Island. Anderson Island is named after a 20th-century Scotsman who settled there; Bill Anderson is featured in the National Film Board's "Fiddlers of James Bay". IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 213

They travelled through the night to Fort Albany to "tell the news about these men who were coming down to kill them." Then the people lay in wait. Two men waited upstairs by the window in the manager's house, watching for the enemy. Then at night they heard someone knock on the' door and call out, "Mr. Budin. We want to see Mr. Budin." One of the enemy was killed by a shot from above, and at least one escaped. ("They didn't know which one was killed, the boss or the other one.") There are different accounts; some say there were two men, while some say three. ("Charlie Kooses saw them; he said there were only two men.") A light (from a match) was seen across the river. There was this blacksmith working at Fort Albany, a whiteman. The blacksmith shot at the light. In the morning, it is found that he had "hit the man right in the middle of his forehead." ("The old man laughed and said, 'How come the blacksmith is a good shot, even when it was so dark? He killed the man, hitting him in the middle of his forehead.'") There was no sign of the third man. ("That was how this story was told.")

ANALYSIS Kashechewan Cree oral tradition differs from the archival accounts on several points. Both Cree stories (tiPAchimowina, Ellis 1989) agree that it was the French who attacked Henley. Willie calls the French natuWEwuk and the wounded man runs from his partners, for they are the ones who injured him. The name of the trader in charge at Albany is Mr. Bundin or Budin, and none of the other characters are mentioned by name. There is a subsequent attack on Fort Albany and one of the enemy is miraculously shot by an HBC employee who is a crack shot (humorous). These differences are not, of course, of much significance to Cree listeners; it is only problematic if we make it so, and insist on resolving the differences. For those of us who wish to resolve the differences, the archives agree that HBC men were poor goose hunters (Lytwyn 1993: 318-9) — so such a remarkable feat of marksmanship would have been a very funny thought. And it looks — to us non-Cree — as if the Henley story has been merged with an attack on Albany some thirty years earlier; 214 JOHN S. LONG

in 1729 sentries killed an Iroquois scout and opened fire on 10 or 12 others (Lytwyn 1993:196). The ambiguous Cree word natuWEwak, which Willie takes to mean the French, is usually applied to the Iroquois — although they were often accompanied by the French. Indeed, Rich says that the attack on Henley was made from Michilimackinac by a party of 20 French and just three Indians (1967:108); Bishop maintains it was a party of 20 Indians (1994:285). The Indians in the Cree stories are hospitable to fur traders, wise and more proficient than either the wounded man or his attackers.11 They understand him, even though he doesn't speak their language, and they also understand Ojibwe. They are stealthy enough to sneak by a predator who foolishly makes known his presence at night. Other stories which Willie told me that night emphasize his ancestors' ability to overpower shamans. His grandfather's uncle defeated someone who was conjuring against him, as well as a strange animal, by removing his tunic and rubbing charcoal over himself. His paternal grandfather defeated someone who was bothering them by cursing him in English. Other Indians were able to ambush the natuWEwak at Sturgeon River when a great shaman "saw" them killing others some distance away. One of Willie's stories is a poignant account of the last time he saw his dying mother. She gave her little son a rare stick of gum. And, talking about the Revillon Freres Company which competed with the HBC early in the 20th century, Willie talked about the big pieces of sugar and the pilot biscuits which they gave to trappers. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Orkney Islands with two Cree friends. We found "Indian bannock" for sale in the bakery, and Orcadians said their "clutey (cloth) dumpling" sounded a lot like the "Indian pudding" served in the James Bay communities today. Indian pudding is similar to bannock — made from flour, lard, water, rai­ sins or currants — but is steamed and contains spices and burned sugar (Greta Gunner, personal communication); it should be served with custard.

11 This was not an isolated incident of Indian hospitality at Henley House. In 1782 Thomas Hutchins of Albany reported that Henley, "the most unfortunate place in the Country", was burned. Three European servants — John "Luitet", James Rowland and Robert Cromartie — died in the fire,whil e master [John?] McNab and two others "escaped naked to an Indian Tent but were terribly froze" (Williams 1975:87n). IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 215

For those who are not familiar with Indian pudding, this dessert causes flatulence, which makes it a humorous subject. It can be referred to as "ammunition". It can "keep you warm at night", and it can "help you on your journey". Pudding is often pronounced by older Cree speakers as Budin, which may have been a Cree nickname for Chief Factor Robert Temple of Fort Albany in 1759.

APPENDIX Willie Wesley's Narratives, 28 March 1994 translated by Daisy Turner summarized by John S. Long

Willie began by talking about his father, who was a soldier in World War I and returned home to marry the oldest daughter of Frank Rickard, an aKAmaskii Indian, in 1924.12 He told how his mother became sick when he was quite young, while the family was trapping that winter at Pike [kiNOJii] River. She was taken away on a sled to the hospital, after giving each child a rare stick of gum. The family travelled down to the James Bay coast next spring, heard gun shots announcing that the Albany River was open, and learned that his mother had died. The year 1939 is remembered as the year when the people heard the church bells ringing, and thought the minister's house was on fire. But the minister had learned of the outbreak of World War II on his radio, and sounded the alarm. That same year, Willie reports he was "taken away from Fort Albany to Moose Factory" where his grandparents were living.13 (He also states, "My father thought it will be better for me to stay in school. So I would get my meals, as we had a tough time that year.") Willie spent four years in the Anglican residential school, and describes his poor education, unfair treatment, punishment and suffering there. Also how he bullied another boy. ("Now today that man

12 Akimiski Island, "the land across". Frank Rickard was one of John M. Cooper's informants. 13 Willie didn't use his parents' firstnames , Joel and Christiana. Joel's father WM Moses Wesley (1870-1936), who married Barbara or Margaret Stephen (1876-1963). Moses' father was John Wesley Jr., a signatory to Treaty No. 9 who married Mary Sutherland John's parents were Wapunwetum (c.1819-1889) and Skweshish (c.1823- 1873) who were baptized by the Wesleyan Methodist George Barnley as John and Suzannah Wesley in 1842. Barbara Stephen's parents were Charles Stephen, a signatory to Treaty No. 9, and Charlotte (Hardisty). 216 JOHN S. LONG must be about 400 pounds. Maybe he would do the same to me today, he is such a big man.") In 1942, at the age of 16, Willie decides to look for a job. But he leams he has tuberculosis, and is sent by the Indian Agent to the Hamilton sanitarium for 11 months. For a time, he lives with his grandmother, and recalls that travel by canoe required the right wind or tide. In 1944 he finds work in an Acton tannery; the leather was used for the war effort. ("I worked there for five years and I have no idea why I had to go home, since I had a good job. And I also saw a lot of good-looking white women. Anyway, I made up my mind to go home.") Willie returns home and goes hunting and trapping with his father. ("He taught me how to survive and provide for myself") A year later, he started a family of his own. ("I married this old woman I am still sitting with. It will be 45 years this summer since I kept her.")14 They had five girls and five boys, although two of the daughters died. Until government assistance was provided, they had difficult times. They trapped with another large family. Most of their children were bom in the bush, and breast­ fed. In 1957, the Anglicans began to occupy the Kashechewan reserve.15 Now Willie's children are grown, and most are working. He is occasionally sick, and his wife is dying — although he doesn't say that. ("I think God has his plans for us all.") After a lifetime living in tents, Willie has lived in a house since 1969. ("And now today I feel like a king, sitting here at the table while this whiteman is taping my stories. Also looking at me holding a cigarette in my hand, which I never did in the past.") His house has modern conveniences: electric stove, lights and flush toilet. In years past, he could not afford to buy lamps and used seal oil and skunk oil for light. And there were no rubber boots; they wore sealskin ("husky") boots.16 In his youth, Willie vividly recalls that in the spring the wavies (snow and blue geese) would fly steadily for three days, although the Canada geese were scarce. ("It looked as if they were lines floatingaroun d in the sky. My, my, they were so many. Especially when they turned against the wind.") Willie talks with respect about the role of women in the past. ("The women

14 Willie married Beatrice Wynne, who died in September 1994. She was born in 1933 to John Wynne Jr. and his wife Elizabeth (Solomon). 15 The Fort Albany band split along denominational lines and left "Old Post" on Albany Island. The Roman Catholics went to the Oblate site at Lac Ste. Anne, which is present day Fort Albany. 16 In Cree, an Inuk is an eshKllmew. IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 217 in those days were very careful about handling the food, and how to do things. There was nothing wasted. Everything was used — the head, wings, feet, all the insides of the geese, hearts, gizzards, etc. The feathers were also used; it's only the quills I saw that were thrown away. They were very careful with their things. They kept their camp and tents clean and tidy while they were hunting. Also teaching the young couples how to live at the camps.") He recalls how effectively people protected themselves from the cold. Travelling in the bush, he pulled a load on a toboggan and sometimes slept in the open. But rabbitskin blankets, down-filled comforters and mattresses kept people warm. ("The ones they make now, they look so nice and fancy. They are not as warm as the blankets we used outside.") Willie says he is satisfied with his life today. ("Today things are going so good for us where we live. I have nothing at all to complain about. The government is good to us just now... I worked for a long time, and this is how I am doing now. I am walking around with my hands in my pockets since I am retired from work now. I finished my job now. I get a pension for my work. The amount I get is enough for me a month. I cannot complain because I have known what it was like to be poor.") In the past, the government did not provide the help that was needed. When there was no medical help, many people died, but now medevac helicopters are available. ("And yet some people are complaining and mad. These young people saying they are not getting enough welfare if it is not $100. I have no complaints.") The government broke its promise and took people's treaty money during the war. Although Willie is an Anglican, he acknowledges the importance of the Oblate mission to everyone at the old post before the band separated. ("Maybe we would have starved if it wasn't for the R.C. Mission. They were the ones who helped us during the second war. The food was rationed. Also the government took from us the four dollars a year. We used to get the money for our land. He took that money for four years. We did not get it. They used it for the armed forces. They just threw us aside, just as if we were good for nothing. That is what they did to us.") Willie's father had told him about a certain man — Willie remembered seeing him — and also "some of the other elders who had their way of devotions" too. Willie had witnessed conjuring (miTEwin) and the shaking tent (koSApatchikan). ("We children would run over there and watch, but the elders always sent us home.") Without further comment on this man, Willie provided a general comment on shamanism: 218 JOHN S. LONG

It must have been dangerous, because the conjurors would use it to put a curse on each other. Lots of people starved from that. Some also got killed on account of that. Some were strong, and knew how to conjure. I expect it was no good for some, and good for those who knew what to do. That was how the people were.

Willie then recounted a story heard from his grandfather, about his grandfather's uncle, who was renowned as "a real conjuror" but one who Willie felt did not use "his tricks for anything bad or mean". Willie explained that "elders were very good at knowing many things." KiSHE Joseph had many visions, and was able to see anyone who put a curse on him. Because of these visions, he always won such contests. ("He knew the thunder, and also the young thunder birds.") He dreamed that he was so large, the sky was too low for him to stand upright and his feet were larger than the world they were standing on. Next Willie gave further evidence of Joseph's powers, as told by his grandmother:

Three families were travelling in the spring, near Polar Bear Creek, when suddenly five mallards flew around them — although there was "still a lot of snow on the ground". When kiSHE Joseph, the leader, reached for his gun [which he thought was unloaded, tied on top of the load on the toboggan], he wounded himself in the thigh. This was recognized as "a curse on him by another conjuror" and when he looked again the ducks were gone.

This elder "got very mad" and thought he should "use the thunder to get even", but his son talked him out of it. The party proceeded to their camp at Pike River, where they had a kind of tent (on a big snowdrift?) called mitalo. ("It was a MIIKwam11 made on top of the snow. In those days, that is what they lived in. I lived in those kind of MUKwams too, until I started living in a MAkii.")1* At night, they heard "a lot of noise, just like the thunder" and as it got closer and louder they were afraid and began to cry. The elder removed his WAApahon ("his top. We had no shirts in those days. If there were any shirts, they could not afford to pay for one") and used some burnt wood to rub charcoal over himself.

17 Conical tent with bark or hide for walls. 18 MAkii is borrowed from the British word marquee, and refers to the canvas prospector style of tent (Long 1985: 102). IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 219

Their tent began to shake, and the old man went outside. The noise stopped, and the others inside could hear "someone squealing very loud"; it seemed "far away" and "very dangerous". When the elder returned he said, "My goodness. I almost got beat." He reported that the animal which "was sent to him" had ears the size of their blankets [an elephant? a mammoth?]. KiSHE Joseph had killed this animal, and also the person who sent it. ("This was the story that was told.") Next, a story about a "funny thing" that happened to Willie's paternal grandfather Moses, "a relative of John Wesley" [in fact, his son]. Willie firstexplained , "I don't think my grandfather took to conjuring. I always saw him going to church." Moses went spring hunting with his uncle to a place where Willie himself once trapped. They sensed that someone was "bothering them" and heard "some noise outside". Moses could speak English. (This is a source of both mystery — "I don't know where he was from, or where he learned the language. I suppose he was a Metis, why he could speak English" — and humour — "They laughed when they told about this.") As they were paddling, the noise was heard again. ("It was the conjuror bothering them again.") The old man was afraid, the noise got closer, and then stopped. That night, as they prepared to sleep at their camp, the sound was heard again. John Wesley said, "He will surely kill us now" but Moses said nothing. He just lay down and listened. The old man said, "Now. Now it's getting closer." Moses went outside and the old man said, "We could hear him cursing away in English, as much as he could." (Willie laughed after he said this.) Then the noise stopped, and when they heard it again it was "so far we could hardly hear anything." When Moses returned one elder said, "The conjuror was very scared of the whiteman." ("They thought he was a whiteman, because this Indian was cursing in the English language.") Willie said, "I always remember they laughed when they told this story." (And then he laughed himself.) We paused now, as Willie said: This will be all for this story, John. Stop the tape for a while. I'll tell another story after I have a smoke. [And then he laughed again at the funny story of his grandfather Moses.]

When we started again, Willie introduced the next story: 220 JOHN S. LONG

Now I will tell another story. NatuWEwak was what they called the Frenchmen. This is the story I heard my late grandparents talk about. I also heard some other people tell this story. I heard Simon Kooses and Charlie Kooses also tell this story of what happened in the past.

"A long time ago", he explained, "the Frenchmen came to destroy Hudson's Bay Company and the Revillon Company. They would kill the managers and people." The story began at maMATawa, "a village with a lot of people living there" which Willie had recently visited.19 A man went paddling up a creek one morning, with his wife and children, and was gone all day. ("He had heard about these Frenchmen they call the natuWEwak" and he "had heard about the things they did to people. That is how he knew about them.") That evening, as they returned, he heard "a lot of noise, and people crying in agony." He carefully investigated and saw "a lot of people" and "a lot of birchbark canoes". Someone was "moaning and crying". It was "the work of the natuWEwak", who "had killed the manager and his servants." The natuWEwak "were tormenting one man who was still alive." ("They cut all around his rectum and pulled his insides out. The men moved around in a circle, each man holding on to his guts. This is the man that was making all the noise.") The man who had seen the natuWEwak went with his family as far as a lake known as kachiikastikoyak, knowing he must warn the people at Sturgeon River — known afterwards as Ghost River20 — "about the men that were coming down to kill them." ("They camped halfway, because he had nothing.") [It is not clear whether he arrived there, and it seems he was not needed anyway. Perhaps he just communicated spiritually with an elder there.] The people at Sturgeon River had among them "a great conjuror" who "told them that a lot of men were coming from maMATawa. He saw them killing people. Now this great old conjuror made plans how to surprise them."

19 As with the discrepancy over Albany's location, this seems an understandable departure from what non-Natives call the historical record. Henley House was established near the Albany Forks, "the great meeting place of our trading Indian[s,] called in Indian Keesha Matawan" in 1743 to intercept trade with the French. After it was attacked in 1755, it was ordered burned. It was re-established in 1759 but destroyed again within three months. In 1766 it was rebuilt as a transit post, but destroyed by fire in 1782. It was rebuilt in 1784, using Philip Tumor's plans, as a storehouse for Gloucester House. In 1794 Martins Falls was to take its place. From 1796 to 1819 it was closed and operated at Mammattawa (HBCA n.d.); see also Lytwyn 1993: 98, 195n, 259; Rich 1954). 20 CHllpay Sllpii (Ghost River); naMEW siipii (Sturgeon River). Willie calls it Ghost River throughout the story, which listeners today would understand. See also Lytwyn 1993: 228. IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 221

Ihe natuWEwak had "picked up some women on the way, keeping them as their common-law wives." At Sturgeon River, men and women lay in ambush, with guns and axes respectively, and the natuWEwak ("ten canoes, and ten people in each canoe") were all killed. (Willie laughs at this.) Next spring "when the old man went there again, he said he saw all the dry white bones of the natuWEwak, where the bodies were after they killed them." (Hence the name Ghost River.) Next, Willie narrated the Henley House story as reported above. We were getting to the end of the stories for that night, and Willie proceeded to tell the last one:

Here is another short story. This story is about the past. Maybe you have already heard this story, as told by my uncle [James]. They told different stories when I heard them.

Willie began the story: "There was this manager, his name was Mr. McDonald. He was very mean and strict. They talked a lot about him." But then he switched to another story about Revillon Freres, the company that competed with the Hudson's Bay Company early in this century. The story of McDonald involves cattle, so Willie talked about the cows and bulls and oxen which were kept by Revillon Freres during his father's time. He told a funny story about a bull ox that was lazy and "just sat down... even if they hit him with a stick." Solomon Lazarus was able to get this ox to move by lighting a fire to some "brush and twigs under the bull's tail, close to his rectum." Then the bull jumped around so much that Willie Louttit "had to had to jump off the sled." ("He was laughing about that. This is what they did when they were young men.") Willie's grandfather Moses also worked for Revillon Freres. "The traders would try to beat each other getting the fur from the trappers. They hired men [like Moses] to go by dogteam, taking food to the trappers for fur." Competition was good for the trappers. ("When they bought fur, they would bid on paper how much they would pay. The highest bidder got the black fox fur. They also did that with the other furs.") Revillon Freres, unlike the HBC, "usually gave the trappers supplies when they went out trapping." ("Many a time the trappers said to the Hudson's Bay Company that they trade with them, the Revillon Company, because he never gave them any supplies when they went out trapping. They would take their furs to Revillon Freres because they always got supplies from them when they went to their camps.") 222 JOHN S. LONG

Willie remembered seeing the sugar and other supplies that were provided to trappers. ("I saw the big chunks of sugar they had. They had to break it up when they used it. I also saw one inch square cubes, and also the pilot biscuits. These are some of the things that were taken out to the trappers' camps. Also, tea, flour,etc . That is what they did.")

(Now back to McDonald:)

During the summer, the HBC allowed its cattle to graze on an island. One fall, "This boss Mr. McDonald gave orders to kill the fattest calf, and to skin and cook the head for him to eat." ("When he ate at 5:00, it must have been a small head because it fit right on his plate.") During the meal, McDonald bit down on a piece of lead shot. McDonald, said Willie, "was a very mean and quick tempered man." ("The Indian woman who was a cook said he got up and ran outside, saying 'So this is what they do to my cattle, shooting them while they graze.' He was cursing as he ran outside.") He even hit an old man. ("I don't know how it happened that an old man happened to be walking by. All at once he saw the boss coming toward him. The boss gave him a good punch in the eye (laughs). That's what the boss did. James Wesley said the boss was Mr. McDonald.") Willie then told about a big rock, out in James Bay, called shiiBANakak, where HBC servants "used to get drunk while getting hay for the winter food for the cattle."21 He said there are "a lot of stories about this boss." Willie had listened to his uncle James's stories on tape, and explicitly told me that McDonald was conjured. ("He [James] would laugh whenever he told the stories about this boss, up until he [McDonald] fell and killed himself at Moose Factory when someone from the south put a curse or conjured him. That is what happened to him.") And then, it was the end of our evening of storytelling:

This will be my [last] story. I have more stories I could tell, but I am sleepy now. Maybe some other time, when John comes again. Good night, John. Miigwetch.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could never have written this paper if it had not been for the contributions of the narrators and translators who introduced me to

See also Lytwyn (1993:306-315). IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 223

Henley House: the late James Wesley and his nephew Willie Wesley Sr. of Kashechewan, and Norman F. Wesley and Daisy Turner of Moose Factory. I also wish to acknowledge the contributions of some of my fellow Algonquianists: Jennifer S. H. Brown, friend and mentor, who (as external examiner of my dissertation) suggested that I try and identify Mr. Bundin and then provided warm hospitality when I spent some time in the HBC archives a few years later; Victor Lytwyn, whose authoritative dissertation on the lowland Cree has made my task much easier; Richard J. Preston, friend, mentor and elder, who in the early 1970s received a brief historical account which I had written on another topic and wrote me back a short note hinting that I should examine Cree narratives and look for the personal meanings of those events (see Preston 1975); and Toby Morantz, who issued a similar invitation at another Algonquian conference (1984), and provided a model of excellence in her own writings on the East Cree.

REFERENCES Bishop, Charles A. 1976. The Henley House massacres. The Beaver 307(2):36-41. . 1994. Northern Algonquians, 1550-1760. Aboriginal Ontario: historical perspectives on the First Nations, ed. by Edward S. Rogers and Donald B. Smith (Toronto: Dundurn Press), 275-288. Borron, E. B. 1884. Report... on that part of the basin of Hudson's Bay belonging to the province of Ontario. Toronto: "Grip" Printing & Publishing Co. Brown, Jennifer S. H. 1980. Strangers in blood: fur trade company families in Indian country. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Cook, Alan, and Clive Holland. 1978. The exploration of northern Canada, 500 to 1920: a chronology. Toronto: Arctic History Press. Cruikshank, Julie. 1994. Oral tradition and oral history: reviewing some issues. Canadian Historical Review 75:403^-18. Dickason, Olive Patricia. 1988. Three worlds, one focus: Europeans meet Inuit and Amerindians in the far north. Rupert's Land: a cultural tapestry, ed. by Richard C. Davis (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press), 51-78. . 1992. Canada's First Nations: a history offounding peoples from earliest times. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. Ellis C Douglas. 1989. "Now then, still another story —" literature of the western James Bay Cree: content and structure. Winnipeg: Voices of Rupert's Land. Francis Daniel and Toby Morantz. 1983. Partners in furs: a history of the fur trade in eastern James Bay 1600-1870. Kingston, Ont., & Montreal: McGill-Queen s University Press. Giraud Marcel. 1986. The Metis in the Canadian West, translated by George Woodcock. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. Translation of Le metis canadien (Paris, 1945). Goodwin Philip 1994. Looking back, volume 1: pictures from the James Bay coast. Stories collected by Philip Goodwin. Kashechewan, Ont.: Hishkoonikun Education Authority. 224 JOHN S. LONG

Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA). n.d. Post histories: Henley House (Sh'mat'ta'way Whis'ki'heg'gan'ish). . B.3/a/51. Albany post journal, 1758-59. . B.3/a/52. Albany post journal, 1759-60. . B.3/d/67. Albany account book, 1758-59. . B.3/d/68. Albany account book, 1759-60. . B.86/a/ll. Henley House post journal, 1759. . B.135/a/31. Moose journal, 1758-59. Judd, Carol M. 1984. Sakie, Esquawenoe, and the foundation of a dual-native tradition at Moose Factory. The subarctic fur trade: Native social and economic adaptations, ed. by Shepard Krech III (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press), 81-97. Kenyon, Walter A. 1986. The history of James Bay 1610-1686: a study in historical archaeology. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum. Kenyon, Walter A., and J. R. Turnbull. 1971. The battle for James Bay. Toronto: Macmillan. Long, John S. 1985. Rev. Edwin Watkins, missionary to the Cree, 1852-1857. Papers of the 16th Algonquian Conference, ed. by William Cowan (Ottawa: Carleton University), 91-117. . 1986. Shaganash: early protestant missionaries and the adoption of Christianity by the western James Bay Cree, 1840-1893. Ed.D. thesis, University of Toronto. . 1988. Narratives of early encounters between Europeans and the Cree of western James Bay. Ontario History 80:227-245. . 1992. Coping with powerful people: Alexander Macdonald and the Albany River Indians. Native Studies Review 8(1): 1—21. . 1993. "That justice which should come from their own hands": the imposition of Euro-Canadian "law and order" on the Western James Bay Cree. Paper presented at the 25th Algonquian Conference, Montreal. Lytwyn, Victor. 1993. The Hudson Bay Lowland Cree in the fur trade to 1821: a study in historical geography. Ph.D. thesis, University of Manitoba. Mitchell, Elaine Allan. 1973. Frederick House massacre. The Beaver 303 (4): 30-33. . 1977. Fort Timiskaming and the fur trade. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Morantz, Toby. 1984. Oral and recorded history in James Bay. Papers of the 15th Algonquian Conference, ed. by William Cowan (Ottawa: Carleton University), 171-191. Preston, Richard J. 1975. Cree narrative: expressing the personal meaning of events. National Museum of Man Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 30. . 1990. The view from the other side of the frontier: East Cree historical notions. Papers of the 21st Algonquian Conference, ed. by William Cowan (Ottawa: Carleton University), 313-328. Pugh, Donald. 1972. Cultural optimality: a study of the rise and decline of the Cree culture of north-eastern Ontario. M.A. thesis, Carleton University. Rich, E. E. 1958-59. The history of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670-1870. London: Hudson's Bay Record Society. Reprinted Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1960. . 1967. The fur trade and the Northwest to 1857. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. Rich, Edwin E., ed. 1954. Moose Fort journals 1783-85. London: Hudson's Bay Record Society. Simpkins, Maureen. 1990. Memories of contact. Broadcast transcript, Ideas program (CBC Radio), hosted by Lister Sinclair, 15 and 22 March. Thistle, Paul. 1986. Indian-European trade relations in the lower Saskatchewan River region to 1840. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. Thorman, George E. 1969. The Mamatowassini. The Beaver 300(1 ):60-62. IN SEARCH OF MR. BUNDIN 225

• »974. Wappiss (Woodbee, Woudby). Dictionary of Canadian Biography 3:654- 655. Van Kirk, Sylvia. 1980 "Many tender ties": women injur trade society, 1670-1870. Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer. Wallace, W. S., ed. 1932. John McLean's notes of a twenty-five years' service in the Hudson's Bay Territory. Toronto: Champlain Society. Wesley, James. 1993. Stories from the James Bay coast, translated by Norman Wesley and Andy Faries. Cobalt: Highway Book Shop. Wesley, Willie. 1994. Narrative taped 28 March 1990, translated by Daisy Turner. Tape deposited at the Ojibway-Cree Cultural Centre, Timmins, Ont.; syllabic version available from JSL. Williams, Glyndwr. 1974. Joseph Robson. Dictionary of Canadian biography 3:561— 562. Williams, Glyndwr, ed. 1975. Hudson's Bay miscellany 1670-1870. Winnipeg: Hudson's Bay Record Society.