A History of Canada in Ten Maps by Adam Shoalts

Author:Adam Shoalts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Published: 2017-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

All the tools used by an Indian in making his canoe, as well as in making his snow-shoes, and every other kind of wood-work, consist of a hatchet, a knife, a file, and an awl; in the use of which they are so dextrous, that every thing they make is executed with a neatness not to be excelled by the most expert mechanic, assisted with every tool he could wish.10

The Dene’s canoes were smaller and lighter than ones made farther south—in part because birch trees in the subarctic were much smaller, but also because the Dene preferred to travel mainly on foot and use their canoes only to cross rivers and lakes. This meant canoes had to be small and light enough to be carried long distances.

While these canoe preparations were ongoing, Hearne’s group encountered another band of Dene hunters who were also preparing to follow the seasonal caribou migration onto the tundra. From this group Matonabbee purchased a new wife, who was to become his eighth. One of his other wives was heavily pregnant, and gave birth just as they were about to set off on foot across the tundra. Hearne was amazed that the woman—who’d been in labour for fifty-two hours—was able, almost immediately afterward, to keep up with the others, carrying her infant and everything else required of her.

They covered about twenty kilometres a day on foot. Gradually the black spruce, tamarack, and clumps of trembling aspens thinned out until they were walking on the vast, treeless plains of the Arctic tundra. Several fierce thunderstorms forced them to huddle up for a day at a time—and even in late May temperatures plunged below freezing. In severe weather, Matonabbee preferred that they remain inside their tents rather than expose themselves to the elements. Shortly after enduring one of these storms, he discovered that one of his wives, as well as the wife of another man in the party, had gone missing. Hearne recorded:

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