The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 388, September 5, 1829 — John Shaqi
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 388, September 5, 1829Various
History
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 388, September 5, 1829
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
"One night we encamped on the foundation of an old Red Indian wigwam, on
the extremity of a point of land which juts out into the lake, and exposed
to the view of the whole country around. A large fire at night is the life
and soul of such a party as ours, and when it blazed up at times, I could
not help observing that two of my Indians evinced uneasiness and want of
confidence in things around, as if they thought themselves usurpers on the
Red Indian territory. From time immemorial none of the Indians of the other
tribes had ever encamped near this lake fearlessly, and, as we had now
done, in the very centre of such a country; the lake and territory adjacent
having been always considered to belong exclusively to the Red Indians, and
to have been occupied by them. It had been our invariable practice
hitherto, to encamp near the hills, and be on their summits by the dawn of
day, to try to discover the morning smoke ascending from the Red Indians'
camps; and to prevent the discovery of ourselves, we extinguished our own
fire always some length of time before daylight."
"Our only and frail hope now left of seeing the Red Indians, lay on the
banks of the River Exploits, on our return to the sea-coast."
"The Red Indians' Lake discharges itself about three or four miles from its
north-east end, and its waters form the River Exploits. From the lake to
the sea-coast is considered about seventy miles; and down this noble river
the steady perseverance and intrepidity of my Indians carried me on rafts
in four days, to accomplish which otherwise, would have required, probably,
two weeks. We landed at various places on both banks of the river on our
way down, but found no traces of the Red Indians so recent as those seen at
the portage at Badger Bay-Great Lake, towards the beginning of our
excursion. During our descent, we had to construct new rafts at the
different waterfalls. Sometimes we were carried down the rapids at the rate
of ten miles an hour, or more, with considerable risk of destruction to the
whole party, for we were always together on one raft."
"What arrests the attention most, while gliding down the stream, is the
extent of the Indian fences to entrap the deer. They extend from the lake
downwards, continuous, on the banks of the river, at least thirty miles.
There are openings left here and there in them, for the animals to go
through and swim across the river, and at these places the Indians are
stationed, and kill them in the water with spears, out of their canoes, as
at the lake. Here, then, connecting these fences with those on the
north-west side of the lake, is at least forty miles of country, easterly
and westerly, prepared to intercept all the deer that pass that way in
their periodical migrations. It was melancholy to contemplate the gigantic,
yet feeble, efforts of a whole primitive nation, in their anxiety to
provide subsistence, forsaken and going to decay."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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