£ OLIN S. \j> LIBRARY > ^ All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE ""WATT Tim* H |M .a ^00 w GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924079583575 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 924 079 583 575 CANADA DEPARTMENT OF MINES Hon. Loins Codekre, Minister; R. W. Brock, Deputy Minister. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MEMOIR 70 No. 8, Anthropological Series Family Hunting Territories and Social Life of Various Al- gonkian Bands of the Ottawa Valley BY F. G. Speck OTTAWA Government Printing Bttreau 1915 No. 1469 65977— \\ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Family hunting territories of the Timiskaming Indians 1 Introductory 1 The Algonquin bands 2 Hunting territories 3 Totems 7 CHAPTER II. Family hunting territories of the Dumoine River and Kipawa bands of Algonquins 9 CHAPTER III. Family hunting territories and social life of the Timagami band of Ojibwa 11 Introductory 11 Bands and hunting territories 12 Clans and totems 17 Wisana 18 Census of the Timagami band 19 Naming 20 Chieftainship 20 Marriage 23 Kinship terms 24 Burial 26 Hunter's taboos 26 Dances 27 Phonetic key 30 ILLUSTRATIONS. Map: Hunting territories of the Timagami, Timiskaming, Kipawa, and Dumoine bands in pocket Family Hunting Territories and Social Life of Various Algonkian Bands of the Ottawa Valley. CHAPTER I. FAMILY HUNTING TERRITORIES OF THE TIMISKAMING INDIANS. Introductory. Among the bands of Algonquins and Ojibwas in northern Ontario visited during the summer of 1913, chiefly in the interests of the Geological Survey of Canada, I spent some weeks with the Indians at the head of Lake Timiskaming, on the boundary between Ontario and the Province of Quebec. These people are officially known as the Timiskaming band of Algonquins, numbering 241 in 1911, and located at their old headquarters in a village, North Timiskaming, 3 miles above where the Riviere des Quinze empties into Lake Timis- kaming. The Timiskaming band has partially taken up farming through contact with French Canadians. Conse- quently the information obtained here is not of as high a grade as that secured from the Timagami band, which is of the same general type. The general results of my investigations up to this point warrant classifying the Timiskaming Indians as a branch of the Algonquin group, itself a subdivision of the Ojibwa. The Timiskaming people have, however, become greatly influenced by contact with the true Ojibwa only a few score miles to the west of them. This has resulted, through contact and intermarriage, in the modification of some fundamental Algonquin characteristics, both in social and material life. The characteristic traits of the Algonquin group appear more genuinely in the Lac des Quinze band, about 25 miles east of the Timiskaming people, and also in the bands at the southern end of Lake Timiskaming, the Mattawa and Kipawa bands. In a general introductory paper which I am trying to prepare on the complicated ethnic affinities of the Algonkian bands to the north, more specific information will be presented on the inter-relations and areas of culture distribution of the different groups. Although a collection of ethnological objects was made with accompanying data on material culture, especially decorative art, while visiting the Timiskaming people, this chapter will deal only with some phases of social organization. Timiskaming myths and folk-lore are published in another paper of this series. The chief object of my visit to this band was the investigation of the hunting territorial divisions which I have found to be so characteristic of all the northern tribes of the Algonkian stock so far visited. 1 I subsequently discovered that the Timiskaming Indians did not present so fruitful a field for these researches as the Timagami band of Ojibwa, where the family hunting territorial divisions and totemic clans exist side by side in the same group. For this reason I am referring the main discussion of this dual social classification to the third chapter of this paper, devoted to the Timagami band. The Algonquin Bands. The Timiskaming Indians may, I feel safe in saying, be definitely classified as a modified branch of the Algonquin group of the Ojibwa (Algonquin being a tribal designation distinct from, but included in, the term Algonkian, which refers to the whole linguistic stock). The modification men- tioned is due to a secondary influence of the Ojibwa neighbours on the west and northwest, namely the Timagami and Mata- chewan bands. Boulee i This statement oorers the Montagnaie, Naakapi, Cree, Ojibwa, Algonquin, Tete* de ea, Penobaoot, Miemac, and Wabanaki. The Timiskaming people call themselves 8agi-'wan-ic9na"bi' "Head-of-the-lake people," from their location and ancient village at the head of Lake Timiskaming. Some forty years ago there was a Hudson's Bay post there, and archaeological finds on the point at the hamlet of North Timiskaming indicate an aboriginal headquarters at the same place. The term Timiskaming itself, according to native testimony, is a corrup- tion of Algonquin Temia'gamiri "deep lake". The name of the present headquarters of the band is Oba'djonastfgiT} "narrow current at mouth of river," which describes the topography of the village at North Timiskaming. Lake Timiskaming bears the name Oba'djiwoma"ri sagahv'gan "narrowed-current lake," referring chiefly to the topography at Ville Marie farther down the lake, where there was also an ancient native headquarters and later a Hudson's Bay post. The Timiskaming Indians regard as belonging to their own dialectic and cultural group: the Lake Abitibi Indians, Abi't-ibi' anicmatbi "Blue-water people"; the Grand Lake Victoria Indians, Katcisa'gii] ani'cancfbi "Big-outlet people"; the Quinze Lake Indians, Kvno"rjgani'c3na'bi "Long-sand-point people"; the River Desert and Maniwaki Indians, Tggqzi-bi'rj ani'cancfbi "Hungry-river people"; the Mattawa Indians, Matawasi-'bi ani'&ncfbi "Mouth-of -river people"; and the various bands along the Ottawa river, known as Ktdsv'bi ani'c9na"bi "Big-river people." This embraces practically the whole of the division classified as Algonquin. Most of these bands, it may be added, possess the same general distinctions in material culture, except that the more northerly bands, of whom the Timiskaming constitute one, had no agriculture, mat-covered wigwams, porcupine quill work, ash-splint basketry, and rush matting, as the necessary materials are absent in their latitude. Hunting Tebbitobies. The social units composing the band are the families, which consist of individuals related by descent and blood together with other women married to the men of the family. These See Phonetic Key at end of paper for meaning of characters used. families are patronymic, the family name providing a surname for the group. Individuals, of course, may have special nick- names derived from some personal characteristic, some deed, or an animal, but the classifying name of identity seems to be the family surname, the nickname being a sort of secondary modifier. The matter, however, which constitutes the main bond of union and interest in these groups is the family hunting territory, in which all the male members share the right of hunting and fishing. These hunting "lots" or territories (nok m i-'wak-v x "hunting ground") are more or less fixed tracts of country whose boundaries are determined by certain rivers, ridges, lakes, or other natural landmarks, such as swamps and clumps of cedars or pines. Hunting outside of one's inherited territory was punishable occasionally by death. More often, however, trespass was punished by conjuring against the offender's life or health. Each family, as a rule, had some shaman in its ranks who could be called upon to work malefic influence upon a member of another family who was known to have intruded. In this way we can see how, in the community of old, a much involved system of cross-conjuring must have grown up, often, as the Indians themselves state, causing more or less of rivalry and feuds between certain families. Sickness in general came to be attributed to these sources, it is claimed. Permission, however, could be obtained by a man to hunt in another's territory. This happened frequently as an exchange of cour- tesies between families when the game supply of one or the other had become impoverished. These privileges were, nevertheless, only temporary, except in a few cases where they were obtained through marriage. It was customary, for instance, in case a family had a poor season on its own domain, for it to obtain a temporary grant of a certain lake or stream from its neighbour, so as to tide over until a better season. When it was necessary in travelling to pass through another family territory, per- mission was generally sought at the owner's headquarters before passing on, and if by necessity game had been killed to sustain life, the pelts were carried to the owners or delivered to them by some friend. This gave the proprietors the right in the future to do the same in the territory of their trespassers. These arrangements were matters of tradition and were remem- bered in detail by the families concerned. The rights in the hunting territories were inherited paternally. Occasionally, to adjust matters, an old man would subdivide his district among several sons, thus creating new family groups, though, of course, these would recognize mutual privileges to a certain extent. For the most part, the territories were fairly rigid and permanent. Only a few changes are remembered to have taken place within the range of tradition. It is interesting to note that the large and attractive islands in Lake Timiskaming were common property, or more properly reserves, to be occupied and hunted on when the families came together in the spring for their social reunion. One of these, known as Chief island, is called Ogvma'mini"s , i "Chief island," and was the property of the Mazi'nigi^jik family, from which the band chief was most frequently chosen. Here the chief had a regular camp and many families would, upon occasion, camp around him, using the islands, which teemed with game, for their supplies while at the gathering. The hunts which took place at these times were communal, bands of hunters driving the game from the centre of the island to the shores, where hunters were posted waiting in canoes. Then the meat obtained would become common provender for the assembly. The chief, ogi-ma', was a man chosen for life, generally from the Mazi'nigi^jik family, on account of his strength and wisdom. Economically these family territories were regulated in a very wise and interesting manner. The game was kept account of very closely, so that the proprietors knew about how abundant each kind of animal was, and hence could regulate the killing so as not to deplete the stock. Beaver were made the object of the most careful "farming," the numbers of occupants, old and young, to each "cabin" being kept count of. In certain districts, moose, or caribou, were protected during one year, in other districts the next year. The killing of game was regulated by each family according to its own rules. Marriage was a matter determined entirely by the old people of the families. The wife went to her husband's family and lived there. The children then belonged definitely to the father's family, and inherited their hunting rights in the paternal territory. In cases of poor seasons at home it was, however, frequent for the husband to visit his wife's people and hunt, perhaps for several winters, on his father-in-law's grounds. When the male claimants to a territory became extinct, it was divided up among the relatives in other family groups. It would have been desirable to obtain some explanations or myths concerning the origins of these bands, but it is safe to state that none now exist, as I questioned the elders of each group and family. Furthermore, these family divisions are not primarily con- cerned with animal totemism, which exists here also, although, as will be seen further on, the totemic descent being paternal, there will be a more or less permanent association between the hunting territory bands and certain totems. The main point is, however, that the hunting territory groups have developed by inheritance through individuals, irrespective of totemic communalism, and that the hunting territory names or titles, as we might call them, have also grown out of what originally were personal nicknames. This will appear more clearly in my presentation of the Timagami material. No taboos of diet or killing are found concerning these family groups. They are purely social and economic. Again, as regards the names, it might be added that some can not be definitely translated because of their great antiquity. Moreover, some of them have originated in child's talk, for example Ogu'cen, which is thought to be a child's pronunciation for ogwu'si-s "son." Personal nicknames are very often derived from such expressions of children learning to talk. In the above brief resume" I have defined the most important facts that I learned regarding these hunting territories among the Timiskaming people. As the main object of this chapter is not to define or discuss the phenomenon in detail, but to present the data relating specifically to this band, I will add the actual facts secured from members of the different families themselves. It is my hope in the future to fill in the gaps as far as possible, listing geographically the hunting territories and families in the various bands through a large portion of northern Canada. In the accompanying table, the number in the first column refers to the correspondingly numbered area in the subjoined map of hunting territories; in the second column is given the family designation or title; in the third, its explanation; the fourth gives the totem, to be discussed later; while the fifth column gives the general bounds of the territory. In the first group, comprising seven families, are the original constituents of the Timiskaming band, so far as is now known. Some have about lost their identity through intermarriage with outsiders. In the second group of families are given those who have become more or less affiliated with the Timiskaming band, though not originally members of it. Such attachments, due to migration and intermarriage, are always going on in these communities and must be reckoned with in any social study. Some of these families, as is noted, came originally from the Matachewan band of Ojibwas, others have come from Abitibi stock, still others from the Timagami country. The pressure on the Timiskaming territory seems to have been constantly from the west, the result of the continuous northward and east- ward drift of Ojibwas from the Lake Huron and Lake Superior regions. This scheme provides us with a concrete and presum- ably fairly accurate illustration of how territorial encroachments occur among the natives. Totems. In the third column is given the totem. This represents the clan organization, which is of secondary importance in the social organization of these Indians. The family territorial groups form a much more active bond of kinship than the clan relationship. For this reason, considering the weakness of the clan institution among the other Algonquins eastward, it would seem natural to attribute the clan system here to the influence of neighbouring Ojibwas, with whom there has been considerable intermarriage. The clan here is a group with paternal descent and the exo- gamic regulation. The emblem of the clan is an animal, which is called nto'te-m "my kin," the familiar term employed by 8 ethnologists. The totem is simply regarded by these Indians as an emblem of a group of people, related through their fathers, who may be encountered even in different tribes. Thus, the Timiskaming and Timagami people of the same totem consider themselves as distant relatives. There are no religious taboos entertained in connexion with the totem, nor is descent traced from it. The idea underlying the totem here seems to be, in brief, the idea of relationship between individuals who have inherited, through their fathers, a certain secondary nationality in the tribe, the emblem of which is the particular animal or totem. As may be inferred from the paternal reckoning in both the totemic and. territorial groups, each hunting territory remains permanently in the same totemic group. In the Timiskaming band are three totems distributed through the families: the Kingfisher, ogi'fkvmd'nisi; the Caribou, at-i'k'; the Rattlesnake, cici-'kwe. The totems of some of the other families now extinct in the male line are not known. The same totems are found among the Timagami Indians. The fact that the families in both bands are related by marriage and descent, leads one to feel that the Timiskaming totems may have been derived directly from encroaching Ojibwa families in comparatively recent times. CHAPTER II. FAMILY HUNTING TERRITORIES OF THE DUMOINE RIVER AND KIPAWA BANDS OF ALGONQUINS. In this short chapter are given the family hunting territories of two bands of the Algonquin tribe, lying along the Ottawa river, eastward from the territories of the Algonquins of Timis- kaming. These data, which extend our knowledge of the family claims considerably to the eastward, were obtained from Benjamin McKenzie, of the Timiskaming band, who had been raised from childhood by Po'ni-s, the proprietor of Territory 14, of the Dumoine River band. McKenzie had hunted over the whole of this territory as far as the Coulonge and had been taught the territorial bounds by his guardian as a safeguard against trespassing. As the Dumoine band has disintegrated, we have no available means of checking these boundaries. Although coming from one informant, there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the information. The Dumoine River band of Algonquins called itself Kvwe'goma - nic9na*bi, "Turn-back-lake people", from the name of Lake Dumoine. They seem to have lost their separate identity. McKenzie says that they became mixed in with the Fort William Indians of the Coulonge river when he was but a young man. As to the Kipawa band, I had some difficulty in identifying the territories with precision, as the claims have become con- fused owing to removal, the encroachment of the whites, and intermarriage with other Indians and with whites. The name Ki'pgwe denotes a "narrows beyond which the river widens". These people are also of the Algonquin tribe and are now located near Mattawa. Socially and economically we find the same characteristics prevailing here as in the Timiskaming and Timagami bands which are respectively treated in the first and third chapters of 10 this paper. It is hardly necessary, therefore, to repeat the facts concerning paternal inheritance, trespass regulations, and the conservation of game in each of the family groups. Dumoine Band. No. Family Name. Translation. Hunting District. 13 Ta'Ddakwe. "Changing oolour clouds" East arm of Grand Lac Dumoine east of Coulonge river, south of Height of Land. 11 Po'nis. "Light." South of preceding between Dumoine river and Coulonge river. 15 Ci-ma'gan (Simon). "Spear." Dumoine river east to Lake St. Patriok and south to Ottawa river. 16 Nak-we'gi-jik. "Middle of the sky." West of Dumoine river from Ottawa river north to Grassy lake. 17 Menwo-tmnwe. "Nice morning." West of Grand Lao Dumoine from pre- ceding district north to Height of Land. Kipawa Band. 18 Mi'akod'ma'gan (Antoine Simon). "Red soldier". 1 Ottawa river east and south from Lake Obashing (Beauohene) to Maganasibi river. 10 Ewakwa'ni (Basil). Dorived from "kwakwa", baby talk in calling for a drink of water. North of preceding to Kipawa river. 20 Ko'sta (Joseph). (T) Indefinite information gives this band a district east of Lake Kipawa. This is also "red spear" or "red-coated soldier." 11 CHAPTER III. FAMILY HUNTING TERRITORIES AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE TIMAGAMI BAND OF OJIBWA. Introductory. In my work among the Algonkin tribes of northern Ontario in the summer of 1913, one of my objects was to learn something of the conditions under which the characteristic family bands, with special hunting territories, exist in a region where the totemic clan organization also prevails. Consequently, from Lake Nipissing northward I followed the line of contact between the Algonquins, 1 Ojibwa, and Cree, obtaining data from the Ojibwa of the Nipissing band, the Algonquins of Timiskaming, Mattawa, and Dumoine river, and the Ojibwa of Timagami, as well as supplementary material from those of Mattagami, Matachewan post, and Lake Abitibi. The best opportunity for investigating this social-ecomonic organization was afforded by the Ojibwa of the Timagami band located, for their summer rendezvous, at the Hudson's Bay post on Bear island in Lake Timagami. The small size of this band (ninety-five souls in 1913) enabled me to make inquiries, so far as I could plan them, on a number of points concerning the life of the individual and the social group. As regards the history of the Timagami band itself, evidences seem to support the assumption that these people are part of a steady northward drift of Ojibwa-speaking tribes from the Great Lakes. The Timagami themselves say that their ancestors came from near Sault Ste. Marie (Pawatiri "at the rapids"). The vanguard of this migration seem to be the northerly extending bands at Matachewan post and Flying post, while the Timagami are more of a northeastern extension, iTheir territories lie north from Ottawa river to Grand Lake Victoria and from Lake Two Mountains westward to Lake Timiskamimg. 65977—2 12 having pushed their way into the boundary of the Algonquins of the luniskaming band. Intermarriage characterised the spread of the Ojibwa among other bands, while the assimilation of manufactures, customs, beliefs, and art has resulted, after a few generations, in producing intermediate types which are either fundamentally Ojibwa or superficially so. This northern and eastern pressure of the Ojibwa seems to correspond to their western and northwestern movement as recorded by Mr. Skinner. 1 The Timagami people are conscious of this tendency in their group, attributing it to the necessity of seeking new hunting grounds by crowding on the Cree and Algonquins in the more northern tracts in order to replace their own territory in the Great Lakes region now being despoiled by the white people. I hope to extend subsequently the region covered by my territorial survey, represented in part on the accompanying map, so that as many as possible of the contiguous territorial boundaries of all the northern and northeastern tribes may be marked down. Then we shall be able to give actual boundaries not only to tribal groups but to dialects and to the distribution of elements of culture. This material may. moreover, prove to have some value in the field of Indian administration, should it ever be possible to reconstruct the boundaries of the native family claims in Ontario and Quebec. Bands and Hunting Territories. As might be expected, the family band with its special hunting territory (nda'kvm "my land") is of primary importance here, as it is throughout the whole region occupied by the northern Algonkian hunting tribes. The general characteristics of this social grouping have been already dealt with in the preceding chapter on the Algonquins of the Timiskaming band. It seems hardly necessary to repeat the general details of proprietor- ship, trespass, conservation of animal resources, and ideas of inheritance and marriage prevailing among the Timagami people, as they are substantially the same as among their previously discussed neighbours. I was, however, told that the Timagami divided their districts into quarters, each year 1 A'aav