Chapter II (3)

So the Indians had their feast, and when they threw the bones into the water, one of the little Beavers came back to life and went back to his parents. He said to them, “I had a fine time, father. They hung me over the fire, and I danced for them.” Shortly all the Beavers came back, but one of them said, “I’m very sick, father. They didn’t use me right.” This was the Beaver whose bone from his hind foot the hunters had lost. He was very sore and disgusted and showed his father the fresh mark of his foot where the flat bone was lost, when they asked him what was the matter. The Beavers did not like this and they became angry. So nowadays the Indians tell the young boys neither to talk about the Beavers, nor the prospects of a hunt before attacking a beaver colony, lest the Muskrat hear them and tell the Beaver. And also, when the hunting dogs suddenly go off from camp and run over the ice, the hunters say the dogs hear the beavers whistling.

(21) Story of a Hunter.

There were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. On a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. He said he would be back by night. He was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. They waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. The meat was there, but the skin was gone. Looking around they saw a fire not far off. When they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. They thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.

(22) A Timagami Story.

Once there were a man and his wife living in a bark wigwam. The wife grew very fond of another man et voluit copulare cum eo sine cognitione mariti sui. They finally hit upon a plan. She cut a small hole in the bark near her bedding ut ille cum ea nocte copulare posset. She slept near the hole et omne bene factum est, sed maritus tandem invenit quid fieret. So one night he ordered his wife to change places with him when they slept, et cum venisset amator, maritus penem ejus abscidit per orificium positum. Tunc membrum virile cepit, without telling his wife what had happened, and went off on a moose hunt. He killed a moose and took its intestine end [described like an appendix], secuit penem in fragmenta, mixed these with fat, and made a smoked sausage out of the whole. [48] Then he went home and gave it to his wife to eat. When she had eaten it, he said, “Nunc edisti penem amatoris tui.”

(23) Story of a Fast Runner.

Once a hunter was so quick of foot that when he shot his arrow at a beaver plunging into the lake from the shore, he would run down, catch the beaver by the tail before the arrow got to it, and hold it until the arrow struck. He was a fast runner, indeed.

(24) The Hunter and the Seven Deer.

There once was a hunter who lived in a camp. The summer had been very dry and the whole country was on fire. He stayed in his camp, however, although the smoke was so thick that no one could see any distance. One day he saw seven deer walking along, each holding the other’s tail in its mouth. The leader alone could see, and he was guiding the others. So he killed the leader and then took hold of the second deer’s nose, and so lead them all to his camp alive, where he butchered them.

(25) Story of a Conjurer.

There was a conjurer (mi·te′w), [49] whose name was Gitcikwe′we (“buzzing noise”), his wife Pi·dje′ʻkwe [50] and their children, camping at a lake in a wigwam. There was a large lake to the west of where they were camping full of islands. It was a long portage from the wigwam to this lake.

One evening, while Gitcikwe′we was sitting in his wigwam, he became very much frightened. He saw nothing in particular that frightened him, but on account of his mi·te′w feeling he became afraid and knew that something was coming. At dusk he gathered up his blankets and jumped into his canoe with his family, and they floated on the lake beside the camp, all night long. When he went back to the wigwam in the morning, he found that a Windigo [51] had been there and had smashed his wigwam.

Then the family started to take the portage which led across to the big lake containing the islands. When Gitcikwe′we took the portage, he sent his wife and children ahead and told them to hurry on as fast as they could, while he would follow behind with the canoe. He said, “When you hear ‘Meat bird’ (Wiske·djak [52]) flying above you, that means ‘Hurry’, for the Windigo is coming behind to catch you. That will be your warning.” They reached the other end of the portage and got into the canoe and paddled out to one of the islands to a place where the end of the portage, from which they had just come out, was lost to view. They were safe there, as the Windigo, having no canoe, could not cross. After Gitcikwe′we put up his camp, he said to his wife, “I am not yet satisfied. I must beat that Windigo, because he will bother us all winter, and then we will starve, for I cannot hunt while staying at camp all the time, watching out for you and the children.”

Then he made his mi·te′o wigwam with its seven poles and covered it with bark. [53] He went into it and it began to work and move, while a band of spirits could be heard singing inside. [54] Then Windigo came there and Gitcikwe′we said to his wife, “We will clinch him and take him away out west where he came from.” When he clinched him, the conjuring wigwam shook and made a noise like thunder, and the children fainted from fright, for they knew their father was inside. When they recovered consciousness, everything was still in the wigwam, and their father had gone out west, taking his captive with him. A little while after this the wigwam started to move again and Gitcikwe′we was back again from his trip out west. He said to his family, “We will be all right now. I took him back west. He is very sick from his fright but he will stay there now.”

There was another mi·te′ Indian one day’s journey from where Gitcikwe′we was camping. This Indian was so full of mi·te′ also that, while he was asleep, he heard Windigo passing overhead with a great moaning noise as if he were in pain. No other people heard it except this man, because they were not mi·te′.

Next morning Gitcikwe′we awoke and found that it was a fine day with no wind to bother, and the whole family was happy to think of passing another winter. Shortly after they had gotten up, they heard a great noise of shouting in the direction of the end of the portage from where they had come and which was just lost to view. When Gitcikwe′we heard this, he loaded his flint lock gun to shoot Windigo, for he thought he had come back and was making the noise and concluded that that was the only way to get rid of him. He and his wife got into the canoe for this purpose. When they turned the point, they saw a young man standing right in the portage. It was Gitcikwe′we’s wife’s nephew. He had left his canoe at the other end of the portage, as it was so long to carry it, and he was expecting his aunt to take him across in her canoe. So he got into the canoe and the three of them returned to camp. [55]

(26) Legend of Obabika Lake.

Obabika lake is called Ma′nitu Pi·pa′gi·, “Spirit Echo.” On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores.

(27) Iroquois Pictographs.

“The Iroquois used to come here to fight the Ojibwa because the Americans had driven them from their homes in the States and the Iroquois had to seek new countries beyond the settlements in the North. In their excursions, when they got far from home, they cut and painted pictures in the rocks on river or lake shores, so that their friends, if they ever penetrated so far, would know that their own people had been there before them. The characters of these pictures would tell what had happened, so that if the advance party never returned to their people, some record would at least be left behind of their journey.” [56]

The Ojibwa attributed nearly all pictographs to the Iroquois. On Lady Evelyn lake are a number of such figures, showing animals and men in canoes.

(28) An Iroquois Legend.

At that time there were people living, four in number: a woman, a young baby who could hardly walk, and two sons who were grown-up men. Their father had died and the family lived together in a wigwam. It was winter and the sons had two rabbit snares’ trails, one to the east and the other to the north, and they went to different lines on different days. The mother would attend to the snares and leave the baby, wrapped in a rabbit skin blanket, alone in the camp, while the two sons would hunt and look around for game, having only bows and arrows.

When they came home in the evening, they would sometimes bring with them spruce partridge and other kinds of partridge. Their mother used to bring home partridges also, but she had no bow or arrows, and the men wondered how she did it, because she often brought home as many as ten birds. They could not understand how she was able to do better than they, so they asked her, “What did you do it with?” They never went with their mother to where she had her snares, but they were continually asking her how she caught the partridges. She answered, “I cut a pole, put a string there on the end, and catch them by the neck, since I have no bow.” But they didn’t believe her, as they often saw arrow wounds in the partridges’ breasts. They looked at these wounds and said, “Somebody must have shot them for you. Was it not the Iroquois?” “No,” answered the mother, “I caught them with a pole snare and poked them with a stick in order to bloat them with blood, so they will make more bouillon.” But still they didn’t believe her and they said to each other, “Mother doesn’t like to tell us. Some Iroquois, I guess, are going to kill us. We’ll fool our mother and these Iroquois. When we go to bed, we’ll sleep with our baby.”

So that night they said to their mother, “We want to sleep with our brother the baby, on his side of the wigwam.” They dried their moccasins, put them on, and also put on rabbit skin blankets, for they were preparing to run out during the night. They had discovered a place the day before where trees had fallen down and snow had covered them, thus making a tunnel. So that night they rolled their little brother up in a blanket and left early in the night, unknown to their mother. When they left, the Iroquois were getting closer. The mother awoke and cried out, “Madja′wαk they are going!” She did this to help the Iroquois find them. The Iroquois followed them on snowshoes, but the sons made a great number of branch trails in order to deceive them.

The three finally reached their windfall tunnel and there they stayed and waited for the Iroquois. At daylight the Iroquois took up the trail and followed until they finally reached them. The three in the cave could hear the Iroquois talking above them. One of the Iroquois dug a hole in the snow above the tunnel and peeped down to see if the three were there. As one by one the Iroquois looked through the hole, the sons shot them, the arrow falling back through the hole so that they could use it again. They killed nearly all of them, and at last no more Iroquois faces appeared above the hole, but the sons could hear crying. Finally they decided to come out, and one of the sons went out first to look around, but he could see no one. They then started back to the wigwam, following the Iroquois tracks, but they only saw two trails. One of the sons went a little ahead and the other followed behind with the baby.

When they reached their wigwam, they found it smashed to pieces and the poles flattened out. Their mother was killed and the Iroquois had cut off her breasts and made babiche strings [57] of it. These two Iroquois who were left had made a tripod of sticks and had wound the skin all the way around it. Then they had gone and were never seen again. The mother had agreed with the Iroquois that they were not to kill her if she didn’t tell her sons of their whereabouts.

TIMAGAMI FOLK-LORE.

(1)

It is not proper to tell stories in summer, lest one die; but, if stories are told, they must be told for ten successive evenings in order to prevent the evil.

(2)

In order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the first vertebra of a moose or deer may be used. The appearance of one side of this bone resembles a man’s face, while the other resembles a woman’s. The seeker for information may place this bone on top of his head and let it drop to the ground. Whichever face turns upward like a die indicates the sex of the child. This bone is called uta′backo‵k·e “back neck-bone”.

(3)

A little device to bring rain: suck the flat side of a green leaf until it snaps, or slap one hand with the palm of the other, holding the leaf in the fist of the first.

(4)

Northern Lights: Wase′tibik·an, “light of night.”

(5)

Bine·′s·i·wi·mi·′k·‵an, “birds’ path”. This is the Milky Way, which is believed to be the guide to the birds in their spring and autumn migrations.

(6)

Wətα′gwanobi·‵s·an “mist from the water” (?). This is the rainbow, which is thought to be caused by mist generated in the air by waves of some great sea.

(The Matachewan Indians of Montreal river call the rainbow Ani′miki·unujea‵bi “thunder’s legging string”!)

(7)

The whippoorwill (wa′hone·‵s·i) is very rarely heard in Bear island, although the bird frequents some parts of the lake. Its cry is considered an omen of ill fortune or of death. Another idea connected with the whippoorwill’s cry is that it is the signal cry of the Iroquois (Ma′djina‵dowes·i “bad Iroquois,” referring to the tribes of the League as distinct from those of Caughnawaga) and that it indicates the proximity of enemies.

(8)

When robins (gwi·′ckwe) sing noticeably during the day it is a sign of coming rain. The toad’s (omα′k·αki) song in the daytime has the same portent.

(9)

To kill blue-bottle flies will bring rain.

(10)

If anyone finds or sees a live mole it is a sign that some member of the family will die soon. Moles are very rare in the Timagami neighbourhood and quite a stir is raised when one is encountered.

(11)

Hiccoughing is a sign that the victim has been stealing something. If it is true and the victim is accused of it, he will stop hiccoughing from fright.

(12)

If a child is born feet first he is gifted with curing powers for people with sore backs. They let him jump on the patient’s back.

(13)

The method of cooking squirrels (dji·′tɔ′mǫ) has an influence upon the weather forces. Squirrels are usually cooked by splitting the carcass, after it has been skinned, and roasting it in the flames until done. Should the animal, however, be boiled instead, it will bring rain. When rain is needed, squirrels are boiled purposely to bring it.

(14)

To bring on a snowstorm an infant is allowed to make its moccasin print in the snow.

(15)

If an infant warms its hands before the fire, it is a sure sign of cold weather coming.

(16)

A red sunset with red clouds is a sign of wind.

(17)

A whirling buzzer, made by spinning a bone or wooden disk on a string operated by the two hands, will cause the wind to rise.

(18)

A divination device is used before the hunt to foretell what kind of game is going to be killed. It is as follows. The metacarpal bone of a beaver’s hind leg, with its sinew covering, is taken and cut nearly through, so that it will break easily.

This is stuck upright in the ground near the fire and a series of lines radiating from it are traced in the ashes or ground, each line being named for some game animal: moose, beaver, caribou, deer, bear, otter, martin, fisher, etc. Then, as the heat shrinks the sinew, it breaks the bone at the cut and the upper piece points along one of the lines marked. This answers what kind of game is going to be gotten. The lines sometimes also are used to denote the direction to be followed to get the animals designated.

(A variation of this operation was noted from the Mattagami band. Here a stick is used instead of a beaver bone and the base of the stick is burned. When this falls, it denotes the direction to be taken to secure game).

(19) Supernatural Creatures.

Pa·′gαk. This is a personification of a human skeleton without the flesh, which wanders about the country. When he travels, he goes as fast as he thinks. When he wishes himself to be in a place, he is there as soon as he thinks of it. When he is heard by the people, it is a sign that someone will die. It is thought that he is heard occasionally three times in succession, making his peculiar noise, once at the horizon, once at the zenith, and again at the opposite horizon.

Me·′megwe·‵s·i. A species of creature which lives in the high remote ledges. They are small and have hair growing all over their bodies. The Indians think they are like monkeys, judging from specimens of the latter they have seen in the picture-books. These dwarf-like creatures have ugly faces and seek to hide them when they meet with people. A little narrative of a meeting with these creatures is told by some Timagami Indians who had been to Lake Timiskaming. The Indians were passing the high ledge of rock a few miles below Haileybury, where the water was very deep and where they had set their nets. They found that somebody had been stealing fish. They proceeded to watch the nets and soon saw three Me·′megwe·‵s·i come out astride of an old log for a canoe, using sticks for paddles. The Indians pursued them, the fairies meanwhile hiding their faces. Finally the Indians caught one. Then one Indian said, “Look behind!” When the fairy turned quickly they got a glimpse of how ugly he was. The Indians then took a knife from this fairy and the rest disappeared, riding their log through the rock wall to the inside, where they could be heard crying, as this was where they lived. The Indians then threw the knife at the rock and it went right through to the inside to its owner.