onta nais arta eurs rom e en Islan s . Kno a e M g p g f S v d b L k , 5 n i M K nz i in ente f ront row une 22 19 3 ra c s c e e c r o . J , . ( F f ) THE FRIEND LY M ON TAGN AI S AN D THEIR NEIGHBORS IN THE UN GAV A PENINSULA The Frien d ly M on tagn ais an d Their N eighbors in the FRANCIS HARPER U N I V E R S I T Y O F K A N S A S L A W R E N C E K A N S A S UNIVERSITY or KAN S AS MUSEUM OF NATUR AL HIST OR Y EEHHI NR: EL IUYYLQOQU) PDKLL. 7 1-12 2 . 0 0 lat es Miscella neous Publication No . 3 , pp , p Published A ril 20 1964 p , Biological investigations in this region in 1953 were supported by the Arctic Institute of N orth America ( through contractual ar rangements with the Office of N aval Re search ) and by the Research and Develop ment iv sion O ice of The ur eon Gen D i , ff S g eral e artment f , D p o the Army . The results are b eing prepared for publication under a n n i n n n gra t from the Natio al S c e ce Fou datio . Reproduction in whole or in part is per mitted for any purpose of the United States o ernmen G v t. N 9“I T; 0 I N T HE ALLEN P RE SS n Lawre ce, Kans as 1 964 THE FRIENDLY MONTAGNAIS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS IN THE UNGAVA PENINSULA C O N T E N T S Introduction Differentiation between Montagnais , Naskapi , and Cree Geographical and ecological distribution of Ind ian tribes in the Tribal characteristics The Eastern Cree The Naskapi W Davis Inlet band Northwest River band The Montagnais Montagn ais friends Some contr ibutors to the ethnology of the Ungava Peninsula _ Acknowledgments - u Literature cited Index INTR ODUCTI ON One would wish the Eskimos and Ind ians Of Ungava and N orthern L abrador to join th at select academy of uncrushable small p eoples th at inclu des as dis tin uished mem ers the L a s the aroes e the eo le of T ristan d a un a g b pp , F , p p C h , some r awa s and a s and the exican Indians . A k Dy k , M El on 2 3 . ( t , 194 z36 ) ’ A brief summer s experience ( in 1953 ) with certain members Of the Seven Islands or Moisie band Of Montagn ais Indians has left me with a distinct impression that friendlin ess is one Of their outstanding - characteristics . ( Self possession , I might add , is another . ) Evi d ently Couper had a similar feeling in regard to the Mingan band 95 - some years ago , and Tanner in regard to the Montagnais Naskapi in u r if Of Davis Inlet and Northwest River q ite recent yea s , we may judge by the quotations from their works that are presented on sub sequent pages . ’ How, then , are we to interpret the subtitle of Professor Speck s volume of 1935 : Nas kapi: S avage Hunters of the Labrad or Penin “ sula ? Here he used the term Naskapi to include the Montagnais l Of the North Shore of the Gu f of St . Lawrence as well as the true ka as i . N p of the northern interior In fact, my late friend and neighbor made no very sharp distinction between the two tr ibes and frequently “ - gave them the joint designation of Montagnais Naskapi . Perhaps “ we shall have a better understan ding Of the word savage in the ’ n book s subtitle if we i terpret it as primitive or untutored , rather than as fierce or barbarous . ’ — in the l 600 s— In much earlier times , however say there was no i doubt at all as to the savage nature Of the Montagna s . One who reads ’ Parkm an s The J esuits in North America in the S eventeenth Century is likely to gain from that volume a shuddering impression of the unspeakable tortures practiced by this tribe on their native enemies and on some of the Jesuit fathers as well . Of in Hand Works on Indians North America general ( for example , book o N ort Am r an n ia . h e ic I d ns 1 2 1907 1910 . f , Parts and , and ; E S 1907- 1930 1929 1939 1940 Curtis , ; Palmer , ; Kroeber , ; Wissler, ; Swan 1952 1957 in ton, ; Driver and Massey, ) or of Canada particular 1955 ( for example , Jenness , ; Leechman , give comparatively little ( or even no )space to the Indians of the Ungava Penin sula . In order, therefore , to prepare a compendium no more ambitious than the present one on the characteristics and distribution of the several r inf r t ibes ( or subtribes ), it has been necessary to assemble the o mation from many sources , most of them dealing with merely a seg ment of the Indian population of the entire peninsula . IF E E IATI E WEE AI S A I AND CREE D F R NT ON B T N MONTAGN S , NA K P , “ asko ies R The N p , Mountaineers [ Montagnais ] , and Moose iver i Ind ans are sprung from the same stock, the Cree, extending over the f centre of Britis h North America . They are not sufficiently di fer entiated to be classed as dialectically distinct; although the linguistic differences between the Naskopies and Moose River Indians are greater than between the N askopies and the Mountaineers . “ l Nasko ie to e Physical y, the p appears be b tween the two ; the i a Moose River ( or East Ma n )Indian is the t ller, somewhat stouter, - t two . n darker skinned , and the be ter man of the The Mou taineers are ” of il 1 r l o . 888 smaller statu e, wel bu t and als of dark color ( Turner, “ The number [ of Naskapi words] obtained is sufficient to prove that the people of this region [ Fort Chimo] belong t o the Cree n n an d a i branch . The Mou tai eers Little Wh le R ver Indians belong to and n the same stock, the difference in their la guage is due wholly ” 1894 zl 84 . to . environment ( Turner, ) “ The western people [ Eastern Cree along James and Hudson bays] differ greatly in customs and man y words Of their language from the nen t Ne o s [Naskapi] . The mountaineers differ but little in their cus and n in ul toms , o ly speech as much as wo d be expected from the i l 1 94 2 . 8 z 67 different locality in wh ch they dwel ( Turner, ) — Low ( 1896z44 45) distin guishes no less than four Indian groups in the Ungava Peninsul a : “ ri a The principal t bes of Labrador are the Montagn is , the eastern Nascau ees n . and western p , and the coastal India s of Hudson Bay The Montagnais inhabit the countr y extendin g south of a line drawn f i to o . westward from Ham lton Inlet, the headwaters the St Maurice ascau ees River . The N p inhabit the interior country north of this line, or I from the bottom of James Bay eastward to Hamilton nlet . The of Koksoak northern limit their territory is marked by the River, from t to a its mou h the Stillwater Branch [L rch River] , and by this stream t s i di westward o Richmond Gulf on Hud on Bay . This l ne vides the of and n l Indian territory from that the Eskimo , the bou dary is wel n to t of observed , the latter keepi g far the nor h it, when hunting deer n the i r t r . i land, and Ind ans ra ely crossing it from the sou hwa d “ The coastal Indian s of Hudson Bay are confined to a narrow mar n of to gin extendi g from the bottom James Bay Little Whale River, ” th Low did i tr al along e east coast . ( While not here g ve a ib name to t as v m a his l t group, he e idently had in ind what others have v riously 4 I L AT I . IVE P UB S . M US . N . UN RS TY OF KANSAS , H ST i - or called the Eastern Cree , Swampy Cree , Mistass ni Cree , James Bay Cree . ) “ f The M ontagnais o Lake St . John speak a somewhat different of Bersirnis of dialect from that , and it again differs from the dialects i r i of M ngan o Northwest River . These d fferences dialect in the same tribe are slight, and are mostly in the slang and interjections . The to of Nascau ee same differences apply the dialects the p , Mistassini ‘ Nichicun i i Fort ChimO of and , d ffer ng from that of , and all from that ? [Great ] Whale River and Rupert House . But these differences are all so small that the Montagnais canoemen conversed readily with i Nichicun the natives at Mistassin , , Fort Chimo and Northwest River , o l on of and were nly slight y puzzled the coast Hudson Bay, where the f L 4 O . ow 1896 z 6. number Ojibway words is greater ( , ) to According natives Of Rupert House and East Main , the Mistas sini band is not specifically differentiated in any way from the groups whose tradin g quarters are at Rupert House and at East Main River Culturally and lin guistically there is the closest similarity t not for be ween them , and were it the separate habitat, the separate r i o headquarters , the sepa ate ch eftaincies , t gether with a certain consciousness Of independence Of each other, there would be little t d f r o o h .