While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Cree (contracted from Kristinaux,
French form of Kenistenoag, given as one of their own names).
An important
Algonquian tribe of British America whose former habitat was in
Manitoba and Assiniboin, between Red and Saskatchewan rivers. They ranged
northeastward down Nelson river to the vicinity of Hudson Bay, and
northwestward almost to Athabasca lake. When they first became known to
the Jesuit missionaries a part of them resided in the region of James Bay,
as it is stated as early as 1640 that "they dwell on the rivers of the
north sea where Nipissing go to trade with them"; but the Jesuit
Relations of 1661 and 1667 indicate a region farther to the northwest as
the home of the larger part of the tribe. A portion of the Cree, as
appears from the tradition given by Lacombe (Diet. Lang. Cris), inhabited
for a time the region about Red river, intermingled with the
Chippewa and
Maskegon, but were
attracted to the plains by the buffalo, the Cree like the Chippewa being
essentially a forest people. Many bands of Cree were virtually nomads,
their movements being governed largely by the food supply. The Cree are
closely related, linguistically and of otherwise, to the Chippewa. Hayden
regarded them as an offshoot of the latter, and the Maskegon another
division of the same ethnic group.
At some comparatively recent time the Assiniboin, a
branch of the Sioux, in consequence of a quarrel, broke away from their
brethren and sought alliance with the Cree. The latter received them
cordially and granted them a home in their territory, thereby forming
friendly relations that have continued to the present day. The united
tribes attacked and drove southwestward the Siksika and allied tribes who
formerly dwelt along the Saskatchewan. The enmity between these tribes and
both the Siksika and the Sioux has ever since continued. After the Cree
obtained firearms they made raids into the Athapascan country, even to the
Rocky mountains. and as far north as Mackenzie river, but Churchill river
was accounted the extreme north limit of their territory, and in their
cessions of land to Canada they claimed nothing beyond this line.
Mackenzie, speaking of the region of Churchill river, says the original
people of this area, probably Slaves, were driven out by the Cree.
As the people of this tribe have been friendly from
their first intercourse with both the English and the French, and until
quite recently were left comparatively undisturbed in the enjoyment of
their territory, there has been but little recorded in regard to their
history. This consists almost wholly of their contests with neighboring
tribes and their relations with the Hudson Bay Co. In 1786, according to
Hind, these Indians, as well as those of surrounding tribes, were reduced
to less than half their former numbers by smallpox. The same disease again
swept off at least half the prairie tribes in 1838. They were thus
reduced, according to Hind, to one-sixth or one-eighth of their former
population. In more recent years, since game has become scarce, they have
lived chiefly in scattered bands, depending largely on trade with the
agents of the Hudson Bay Co. At present they are gathered chiefly in bands
on various reserves in Manitoba, mostly with the Chippewa.
Their dispersion into bands subject to different
conditions with regard to the supply and character of their food has
resulted in varying physical characteristics; hence the varying
descriptions given by explorers. Mackenzie, who describes the Cree
comprehensively, says they are of moderate stature, well proportioned, and
of great activity. Their complexion is copper-colored and their hair
black, as is common among Indians. Their eyes are black, keen, and
penetrating; their countenance open and agreeable. In regard to the women
he says: "Of all the nations which I have seen on this continent, the
Knisteneaux women are the most comely. Their figure is generally well
proportioned, and the regularity of their features would be acknowledged
by the inure civilized people of Europe. Their complexion has less of that
dark tinge which is common to those savages who have less cleanly
habits.'' Umfreville, from whom Mackenzie appears to have copied in part
what is here stated, says that they are more inclined to be lean of body
than otherwise, a corpulent Indian being "a much greater curiosity than a
sober one." Clark (Sign Language, 1885) describes the Cree seen by him as
wretchedly poor and mentally and physically inferior to the Plains
Indians; and Harmon says that those of the tribe who inhabit the plains
are fairer and more cleanly than the others.
Their hair was cut in various fashions, according to
the tribal divisions, and by some left in its natural state. Henry says
the young men shaved off the hair except a small spot on the crown of the
head. Their dress consisted of tight leggings, reaching nearly to the hip,
a strip of cloth or leather about 1 ft. wide and 5 ft. long passing
between the legs and under a belt around the waist, the ends being allowed
to hang down in front and behind; a vest or shirt reaching to the hips;
sometimes a cap for the head made of a piece of fur or a small skin, and
sometimes a robe thrown over the dress. These articles, with moccasins and
mittens, constituted their apparel. The dress of the women consisted of
the same materials, but the shirt extended to the knees, being fastened
over the shoulders with cords and at the waist with a belt, and having a
flap at the shoulders; the arms were covered to the wrist with detached
sleeves.
Umfreville says that in trading, fraud, cunning, Indian
finesse, and every concomitant vice was practiced by them from the boy of
12 years to the octogenarian, but where trade was not concerned they were
scrupulously honest. Mackenzie says that they were naturally mild and
affable, as well as just in their dealings among themselves and with
strangers; that any deviation from these traits is to be attributed to the
influence of the white traders. He also describes them as generous,
hospitable, and exceedingly good natured except when under the influence
of spirituous liquor. Chastity was not considered a virtue among them,
though infidelity of a wife was sometimes severely punished. Polygamy was
common; and when a man's wife died it was considered his duty to marry her
sister, if she had one. The arms and utensils used before trade articles
were introduced by the whites were pots of stone, arrow-points,
spearheads, hatchets, and other edged tools of flint, knives of buffalo
rib, fishhooks made out of sturgeon hones, and awls from bones of the
moose. The fibrous roots of the white pine were used as twine for sewing
their bark canoes, and a kind of thread from a weed for making nets.
Spoons and pans were fashioned front the horns of the moose (Hayden). They
sometimes made fishhooks by inserting a piece of bone obliquely into a
stick and sharpening the point. Their lines were either thongs fastened
together or braided willow bark. Their skin tipis, like those of the
northern Athapascan, were raised on poles set up in conical form, but
were usually more commodious. They occasionally erect a larger structure
of lattice work, covered with birch bark, in which 40 men or more can
assemble for council, feasting, or religious rites.
The dead were usually buried in shallow graves, the
body being covered with a pile of stones and earth to protect it from
beasts of prey. The grave was lined with branches, some of the articles
belonging to the deceased being placed in it, and in some sections a sort
of canopy was erected over it. Where the deceased had distinguished
himself in war his body was laid, according to Mackenzie, on a kind of
scaffolding; but at a later date Hayden says they did not practice tree or
scaffold burial. Tattooing was almost universal among the Cree before it
was abandoned through the influence of the whites. The women were content
with having a line or two drawn from the corners of the month toward the
angles of the lower jaw; but some of the men covered their bodies with
lines and figures. The Cree of the Woods are expert canoe men and the
women lighten considerably their labors by the use of the canoe,
especially where lakes and rivers abound. A double-head drum and a rattle
are used in all religious ceremonies except those which take place in the
sweat house. Their religious beliefs are generally similar to those of the
Chippewa.
In 1776, before smallpox had greatly reduced them, the
population of the Cree proper was estimated at about 15,000. Most of the
estimates during the last century give them from 2,500 to 3,000. There are
now about 10,000 in Manitoba (7,000 under agencies) and about 5,000 roving
in Northwest Territory; total,
15,000.
