The battle of the bears; life in the North land

Introduction

THE irresistible onward march of civilization into the remotest solitudes of the northern regions of this American continent, long vaguely known as the Hudson Bay territories, makes it necessary that what is done to retain a knowledge of the former days and the life lived in those wilderness places, must be done quickly. Soon the shriek of the steamwhistle will be heard where the howling of the wolves and the whoofs of the bears have been for ages almost the only startling sounds, while on many of the lakes and rivers, steamboats and yachts are already taking the place of the graceful canoe and the once indispensable dog train is being crowded still farther north.

In this volume it has been a source of great pleasure to the author to gather up and put on record some of these unique scenes which will soon be of a past generation, and he hopes that they will also be of interest to many readers.

I. The Battle of the Bears

. 11 n.

The Eace foe the Shirts

. 25

TTT.

The Call and Journey to the Norte Land

IV.

Introducing My Dogs .

V.

Dog Travelling in the North Land

VL

The Winter Camp in the Snow .

VII.

VIII.

The Famous Indian Guides .

. 115

IX.

X.

The Old Indian in the Infant Class

XI.

A Dinner of Potatoes Versus Theei Sermons

XII.

Ploughing with Dogs .

. 171

XIII.

. 187

XIV.

My Most Exciting Canoe Trip .

. 201

XV.

. 217

Contents

XVI. Life in the Wigwams .... 229

XVII. Splendid as well as Amusing Progress 243

XVm. The Indian Hunter as a Comrade . 255

XIX. Why I Gave the Marriage Feast . 271

XX. The Sign Language and Pictography 283

XXI. Indian Credulity and Incredulity . 301

XXII. Indian Honesty or the Story of Koos-

TAWIN 319

XXIII. The Indian's Future and the White

Man's Duty 335

ILLUSTRATIONS

Our Eskimo Dogs

. Frontispiece . 68

The Story of the Discovery of the Cached Fish . . .28"^

The Challenge . . . 36'

Feeding the Dogs During the Summer . . . .

A Dog Sled and a Good Road

Running the Rapids of a Northern River

74"

Making Camp for the Night 194 Indian Buffalo Wigwams . i Stories in Pictography . 294

CHAPTER ONE The Battle of the Bears

Canoeing with the Indians. Signs of Bears. Clever fisherman. First sight of our bear. Method of approach. The family of bears. The terrible battle. The death. A new family arrangement.

CHIST ! Oomah ! Look there ! "

Thus whispered Curleyhead in two languages.

My gazing had been in another direction and so before I could see what had excited my Indian canoemen, they had arrested the onward movement of our canoe and had paddled back behind a great rock.

" What is the matter now ? " I asked, for from my lack of alertness or duller vision I had failed to observe anything unusual. But these keeneyed hunters, whose very existence often depended upon their alertness, had caught the one glimpse for which they had been eagerly looking. It was that of a great black bear far ahead of us, sunning himself on the shore.

We had had signs of bear during the last two or three days. Not only were there numerous tracks on the sandy shores of the different lakes and rivers, but at several points where the white-fish, pike, mullets, goldeyes, and other fish are abundant in the waters, we found the flat rocks on which the bears seat themselves and from which with a good deal of skill and cleverness, they succeed in throwing out of the water numbers of the finny tribe.

Bears are very fond of fish, but are more or less fastidious in eating them, according to the quantity they capture. When a bear goes fishing, he does not generally, unless ravenously hungry, at once eat the first fish he captures. If he thinks he has secured a spot where his sharp, keen eyes, even if they are small ones, tell him that fish are plentiful to-day, he patiently continues at his task sometimes for hours, until he has skilfully thrown a goodly number of them out on the shore. His preference among all, is the delicious whitefish. If at one trial he is fortunate enough to catch a number of them, he is so dainty in his tastes that he will bite out and eat only the rich, oily part of the fish, just back of the head. If he has not caught a sufficient number to furnish him with a hearty meal on those favorite parts, he then eats the next best portions.

If, as often happens, his fishing luck has been poor, and he has caught but few, he greedily devours them all, with perhaps the exception of a head or two, and may be some tails and bones.

Thus it is that the Indian hunters, as they find the various places where the bears have been fishing and then dining, can always tell by the remains of the dinner what success they have had in their last fishing at that spot.

As I have mentioned, the watchful, experienced eyes of my Indians had detected several of these fishing rocks and dining-rooms of the bear, during our canoeing of the previous days, and so this early morning they were on the alert for the sight of the clever bears themselves. And now, sure enough, here was one of them, and a fine, handsome fellow he was, as, noiselessly gliding round the shoulder of the big rock, we surveyed him at our leisure. My telescope, which made my vision about equal to that of the Indians with their naked eyes, enabled me to see him perfectly, as, after his night's rest, he rolled himself about lazily in the sand, at that earl^^^ morning hour, like a great black Newfoundland dog. He was evidently in^'good humor and not hungry, and my men said, as they watched him, that he must surely be the bear whose fishing rock we had found the previous evening not many miles in our rear. As a matter of precaution, bears do not generally sleep near where they have been fishing even if they have left there some fish that they could not devour at one meal.

They prefer their fish fresh, in the season, and have found out, too, that other fish-loving animals, unable to supply their own wants, are apt to scent their prey. So, having satisfied themselves, and preferring peace to provision for future need, they generally go some distance away before they find a cozy spot Vv^here they cuddle down like a dog.

Contrary as it may seem to the impression of many, the black bear is naturally a peaceful animal, and does not generally begin a quarrel, unless he has some good reason for it. He is timid and alert and harder to approach than a deer. Meet him unexpectedly on a trail in the forest and he is as frightened as you are, and unless he is provoked by your wounding him, for he is very quick tempered, or encouraged by a great display of cowardice on your part, you will find him delighted with any reasonable excuse for retiring from your presence with all the alertness possible consistent with his ideas of safety.

For some time we watched the bear's antics, as he rolled himself about in the warm sand and then by way of variation sat u]) on his haunches, and with his fore paws struck at the deer-flies and similar pests, that worried him. Lest we should be discovered, or our presence even suspected by him, we again drew back behind the rock. There my men discussed the best means for his capture. I mildly protested against the delay, saying that a half day at least would be lost, and urging the fact that game more agreeable to our taste than bear's meat had been so abundant that our canoe was well filled with the choicest of meat. I added that even if they did succeed in killing him, his skin would not be nearly so valuable now as it would be some months hence in the colder weather.

When my words and requests were emphatic, they were always listened to by my Indians, and promptly carried out. But to-day they seemed to lack the snap which always brought prompt compliance and these men, quick to read me, said, with the merest twinkle of the eye:

" Ookemou (master), wish to go on, or see a bear hunt?" When there is a disposition to surrender, we are easily conquered. I capitulated and said, " Well, show me a first-class one, and be quick about it."

The first thing they did was to withdraw the charges of duck shot from their guns and reload them with bullets. Their flint guns will throw a ball about a hundred yards, as well as an ordinary rifle. My Martini-Henry rifle was charged with a fresh cartridge, while my men gave a quick glance at their sheath knives to see that they were in perfect condition, for in a bear fight no one knows what may happen.

The next thing now was to get near that bear. This was no easy matter. Such was the nature of the muskegs, or swamp, behind him that there was no possibility of getting at him, in the rear. There was, however, a small rocky island not more than sixty or seventy yards from the sandy beach on which he was now resting. The Indians, knowing the restless nature of bears, said that it was hardly likely he would remain here very long, but they would try, anyway, a scheme that might possibly work. We began at once to carry it out.

We paddled back a little farther up the river and then quietly landed on the shore, on the opposite side of the river. From the place where we landed we made a portage, by carrying our canoe and its contents along in the forest, parallel to the river, but well out of sight and scent of the bear. When directly opposite that little island, which was now between us and him, we noiselessly launched and loaded our canoe, and quietly paddled across the river.

Hardly had we landed and secured our canoe and taken possession of our guns, before we heard the angry "Woof! Woof!" of the bear. Thinking that in some way or other, he had got knowledge of us, we crouched flat on the ground. My Indians were surprised and perplexed. The wind was dead in our faces, so he had not got any scent of us, and they were sure they had made no noise that could have been heard. We lay low and waited. But we had not long to wait. The "Woof! Woofs!" were repeated again and again, so Curleyhead, our most experienced bear hunter, quietly crawled forward to see what was the matter.

As the ominous sounds continued we waited with some impatience for his return. The gleam of the hunter was in his eye, when noiseless, like a snake, he crawled between us and reported what he had seen. His story was that the bear was still about where he had first observed him on the sand, and that coming slowly towards him was a family of black bears, consisting of the father and mother and a couple of cubs, about four or five months old. It was evident by the way the two male bears were snarling at each other that they were enemies, perhaps had been rivals, and anyway a big fight would doubtless soon take place. He added, from his experience of bears' battles, that as they were now so wild at each other they would not be so alert in watching against other enemies.

" We can carefully get higher up among the rocks and see the battle, and then fire when we think best. But," he added, " be very careful, for that old mother bear may act as sentinel and discover us, if we give her a chance."

Strange, is it not, how some things excite us ! Do what I would, I could not keep m}^ heart from loud thumping or my breath from coming fast and hard. Christian or heathen, what is it in us, that at the prospect of such a fight, throws us into such agitation ! It was not any idea of danger, for here on this island, heavily armed, we were absolutely safe. If those bears got one sight or scent of us, they would rush away as speedily as the most timid deer. Yet here I was, strung up with this almost uncontrollable excitement, as, holding on to my rifle, I carefully crawled along under cover of the rocks ahead. We reached our points of observation before the battle began.

It was evident, Curleyhead whispered to me, that they were old fighters who had met before, as, like experienced gladiators, each seemed to wait for an unguarded moment on the part of the other.

In the meantime the mother bear had settled down on her haunches on the sand, in utter indifference to the fight. When either of her cubs, as they frolicked and wrestled with each other, happened to come near her, she seemed to delight to give it a cuff that tumbled it over in the sand.

Warily moving around on their hind legs, the two great bears kept up their growlings, evidently getting more angry and exasperated with each other, but each loth to begin the conflict. Curleyhead, as we called him, but whose right name was Mache-que-quo-nape, was crouched close beside me, and a quiet laugh from him almost startled me, while he whispered :

" Those old bears are just jawing each other. They both wanted the same wife. They had a big fight once before about her, and as one bear, in the fight, got a bad bite that made him lame, the other fellow ran off with her. We Indians," added Curleyhead, " say that the bear, because his paw is so like the hand, has a little human in him, and so there those two bears are scrapping just like two men about a woman." And again he chuckled quietly to himself, for he had had his own troubles.

I know not how much more of this quaint Indian lore I should have heard if it had not been abruptly brought to a close, for now the two bears suddenly sprang at each other, and were locked in the terrible embraces of their great muscular arms. It was an awful struggle and even my seasoned Indians could not keep from being intensely excited. Standing on their hind feet, and wary, the bears struggled in the greatest wrestling match imaginable. The grip they had on each other was what the boys call a " back hold," and of equal advantage, as each bear had one fore arm under, and the other over his opponent. As they put forth their enormous strength, it did not seem to us that their efforts were so much directed to the attempt to down each other as to try to squeeze out the very life. The power of the hug of a bear has enlivened and electrified many a yarn, and has, in reality, to many a poor hunter been his death or nearly so. And now to watch two great muscular, fullgrown bears, full of jealous hate, practicing these hugs on each other, — well it was a sight but seldom seen.

Strange to say, up to this time they had not used their teeth much. Both seemed to hope that the hug trick would do its work. But as, carefully balancing themselves on their hind feet which they kept wide apart, they continued the desperate struggle, both seemed to realize that some other method of fighting was necessary, and in addition they were horribly enraged. So in a short time they began vigorously to tear with their teeth at each other's head and neck, as well as they could without for a moment letting go their grip.

Tough as bearskin is, it could not stand this very long, and so the end came suddenly. All at once we noticed that the great fore arms of the father bear fell limp by his sides and then he quickly sank on the sands. The other bear, loosening his grip, watchfully stood over him as though suspecting a trick, but as there was no movement beyond some convulsive jerkings he drew back a yard or two and watched him to his death. Then he moved away to the female bear and her cubs. A little conversation, and some mutual explanation, doubtless took place, and then they began moving away.

My Indians wanted to fire at them, but I positively forbade them. " Fire your guns to hurry them off, but do not hit them," I said, and raising my own rifle I started the music by sending my bullet close enough to make the sand fly near them. The Indians also fired, and away sped a newly organized or reorganized bear family.

We hurried back to our canoe, and when we reached the dead bear we found that his opponent with his sharp teeth had cut through his jugular vein. So he had bled until exhausted, and thus fell on the sand as we saw him.

CHAPTER TWO The Race for the Shirts

Securing supplies with dogs. Three heavy trains given three days' start. A stern chase and a long one. Pictographic signs. Clever and shrewd Indians. Thievish wolves. Eapid travelling. The smoke signal. The signs on the rock. A close race. New shirts for all.

II

ONE winter, having a large number of dogs and being very short of food in our northern home, I took with me five trains of dogs and went into what was then known as the Red River Settlement for supplies. When the loads were secured, I sent on ahead the three sleds that were most heavily loaded and remained behind to attend to some business matters keeping with me the two swiftest dog trains and much lighter loads.

In sending on ahead the three Indian dog drivers with their heavy loads, we told them that we would travel very rapidly and hoped to overtake them before they reached home. We gave them orders to leave plenty of pictographic signs of their progress, especially to let us know if the weather kept fine and of their location each day at midday. These signs, when discovered by my men, as we rapidly followed, would be of interest to us, as they would tell us how much we were gaining on the trains ahead. At the camps made each night they were to leave fuller pictographic signs, giving us any information needed. These, however, we did not always see, as we travelled so much faster than they did. At the end of our second day, having gained one day on them, we reached the camp where they had spent their third night. Here we found an elaborate account made in pictography on a birch tree (as shown in drawing I) telling us that their supply of fish, which had been cached here on the down trip, had been discovered and devoured by wolves or wolverines. To their regret they had been obliged to feed the dogs out of the meat supplies which were being carried out for the mission.

As their camp had not been spoiled by any storm or blizzard we at once took possession of it. All we had to do was to cut a fresh supply of wood and kindle up the camp-fire, feed our dogs, prepare our own suppers, say our prayers and roll ourselves up in camp-beds and go to sleep. These things we promptly attended to, for we knew that now, with their sleds so much lightened by what the dogs, as well as the men themselves, were eating, th<^y would travel the more rapidly and so be the more difficult to catch. If the sailor's proverb that a stern chase is a long chase, is true on sea, it is equally so on a four hundred miles' race on the ice, in the cold and bitter winter.

That night as we sat round the fire while my

(Drawing I) The Story of the Discovery of the Cached Fish men were having their last pipe, one of the Indians said in his quiet way : —

'' I think surely the men ahead of us will now try hard to get their new flannel shirts."

" What do you mean ? " I asked, feigning ignorance, for I had tried to keep from these two Indians with me, the fact of a promise quietly made to the drivers of the dog sleds ahead, that if they could reach our home first, they would each be thus rewarded.

With a quick searching look in my face, for it came out later that he was only feeling his ground, he said : —

" O not much, Ookemou. But the night before they started when we were all sleeping or trying to, in that one big room, I heard one of them who talks in his sleep, say : — ' Shirts, fine new shirts, one new shirt apiece, ho ! ho ! ' Then he went asleep and said no more. Then I began thinking. What does he mean? So I remember when Jack was nearly drowned when he broke through the thin ice in the lake and the water turned so soon to ice, Ookemou said, * A good new flannel shirt to the man first to the woods to build a fire to save Jack ! ' and I got that shirt.

" So as I lay there thinking it over, that man in his sleep saying, * new flannel shirt,' it comes to me that our Ookemou to make those men hurry up and go fast, has made some promise to them."

Then his eyes, with a quick glance, searched me again as though he would read me to find out if this surmise were correct.

I confess that I have not the powers of an Indian to wear the mask of self-control as he can, and so, with a laugh, I had to admit that he had guessed the truth, that to encourage those men ahead of us to push on as rapidly as possible, they would be thus rewarded if they succeeded in reaching home before us.

" But what about us? " he asked.

" A good new shirt apiece for j^ou both if you will catch them before we reach home," was my impulsive reply.

" Ookemou ! " they both came as near shouting as Indians can. " We will get those shirts."

The dogs were called up and each given an extra half of a whitefish. This, with the two already given, was a fine supper indeed.

Then by the light of our blazing camp-fire the Indians secured the wood needed for the early breakfast which would be prepared and eaten long before daylight. The dog harness was all carefully looked over and even the place where each dog was now sleeping, was noted.

I was quickly tucked away under my blankets and robes with Jack, my great St. Bernard, at my back, and Cuffy, a thoroughbred Newfoundland, at my feet. As the men gave the finishing touches to the tucking-me-in process, one of them said :

" Not very long sleep here this time ! Ookemou will finish it in his cariole."

What a blessed thing sleep is ! And under what varied conditions it comes and soothes us away into its refreshing oblivion. Thus it was here. Out in the wintry forest, with the temperature not less than thirty or forty below zero, no roof above me, lying in a hole dug with snow-shoes out of the show, with dogs and Indians around me, yet I slept as well as though in a mansion.

In a few hours, I was aroused by the Indians. So soundly had I slept that I had not heard them until I was called. Yet they had arisen, built up the fire and had breakfast ready for us all. No time was lost. The promise of the new shirts was in their thoughts. When breakfast and prayers were over, the sled was soon loaded. In my cariole were placed my robes, so arranged that I could stretch out, and being well wrapped up could go to sleep if I so desired.

Voyageur was then in his prime. He had known since we had left the settlement that we were homeward bound, and so he scorned the guide ahead of him. Jack. and CufFy and Muff were behind him. It was a magnificent train, and the one that drew our provision sled was not much inferior. Thus equipped, the race for those flannel shirts began. On such a rapid trip I had not expected or intended to do much travelling on foot myself. To keep up with such men and trains, was an utter impossibility. If our two sleds had been as heavily loaded as were the others, and our rate of travelling had been only fifty or sixty miles a day, I would have travelled at least half the time on foot. But here on this rapid route I rode nearly all the time. Indeed, the only times I ran was when I became so cold that I needed some vigorous exercise to warm up the blood and send it tingling through my veins. Then when we stopped on some point to lunch, I would, as soon as the meal was over, hurry on ahead until overtaken.

The stars were shining brightly as we glided out on the trail that had been made by my other trains two days before. In that time the packed snow had hardened like ice. My dogs must have caught the lingering scent of their comrades, as they were so wild to follow up the trail. The Indian driving my cariole, in which I was snugly wrapped in my robes, had a good deal of difficulty in preventing an upset, ere we emerged from the forest on to the icy surface of the great lake. When once on the lake, however, he had but little work to do except to be on the alert for open cracks, which are one of the great dangers and most difficult to guard against, especially at night. But Voyageur was at the head, and my men were alert and watchful. So, dismissing all fears, I soon fell asleep to the lullaby music of the silvery dog bells.

When I was aroused by my driver, it was to be informed that a second breakfast was ready and that we were thirty miles from where we had slept. The sun was just flooding the beautiful landscape of lake and fir-clad rocky islands, with its glorious morning rays. A good breakfast of civilized food was speedily eaten and then while my men were taking their last cups of tea and eating everything that was left of the breakfast, I hurried on ahead as fast as I could run. But I had not been on the way very long before I was overtaken. Into my cariole and among the robes, they again speedily tucked me ; then on and on we sped. Before noon we found the pictographs telling us that the day's travel of our party ahead was nearly ended, and that this was their fourth day.

So we hurried on and found their camp ; and there we had our dinner, where they had slept two nights before. Thus by twelve o'clock we had travelled as far as they had in the whole day.

" I think we will wear those flannel shirts yet ! " the men chuckled, as they thought of their splendid progress. No fish had been left here on our down trip, as this was not the usual camping place. So we found nothing in the shape of pictography here.

With renewed zeal the journey was resumed. The sleds of our men ahead were getting lighter and so their progress would be more rapid. They had left no marked indicators for our guidance, telling how early they had left. My shrewd men said, "To judge by the way they had to wander about in the snow looking for some rascally dogs that would not come when called, it must have been long before sunrise."

My Indians, however, resolved if possible to reach their camp even if they only had the shorter half of the day in which to do it. They made a gallant attempt, but it could not be done. We found no sign. Their zeal cooled

The Race for the Sliirts 35

considerably when we struck the pictography (drawing II) in the snow, about five o'clock in the afternoon. This one told us that the party had reached that headland and there had had dinner. What galled my drivers was that in addition to the usual pictographic record of their trip, there were three men roughly pictured on the storm-swept side of a smooth granite rock, each holding in his hand a big shirt.

Those with me were wild to hurry on, for here was a direct challenge from the men ahead, who had now thrown to the winds all secrecy in reference to the shirts. I had to interfere and say : " We will sleep here. I cannot allow you to hurt yourselves, or my valuable dogs to be over-driven. We have travelled eighty miles since we left our last night's camp. So we stop here. There is just light enough to make a camp. Get supper and then to bed, and we will be off as early as you like in the morning."