The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Qupperneq 41

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
131
strong, and vivacious people. They could
run with their dog teams all day long with-
out ever turning a hair. Heart diseases were
unknown among these people who in the
coldest of weather in midwinter did not
hesitate to lie down to sleep out in the open
beside their fires. This they did without
ever catching a touch of pneumonia or even
a cold. It also verges on the incredible that
they were never disturbed in their sleep, no
matter how cold the weather.
These Indians were truly honest peo-
ple in every respect, and even though they
often fell victim of the fraudulence of
unscrupulous traders, they never stole any-
thing from anybody.
Very few of the Indians knew any
English. They spoke the Cree language
which possess a peculiarly sweet and soft
rhythm.
Before further discussing the “root,” I
want to emphasize that the Indians did not
have any medicine men or magic healers
among them. If they wanted to consult a
physician, they had to go as far south as
Crossing (now Selkirk). This, of course,
applied to the Icelanders as well, even
though they had two self-educated home-
opaths in their midst.
In summer the chief diet was deer
meat which was dried in the sun, but never
smoked or salted. Other kinds of food
were fresh fowl and fresh fish. The Indians
always ate their meat so rare that it still
retained some of its reddish colour.
Among their beverages was the juice of
“Indiante” a now extinct plant which used
to grow among various types of moss in the
tamarack (larch) woods. Ordinary tea was
one of the daily beverages. On the other
hand, the Indians never drank coffee and
rarely milk (all babies were breast fed).
It is assumed that a great number of
Indians were wiped out by the epidemic of
smallpox which hit New Iceland in 1876,
and that the death-toll was even heavier
than among the Icelanders. Twelve Indians
were buried in one grave at Sandy Bar.
Many of them were buried on the banks of
the Icelandic River, and on my own prop-
erty there are quite a few graves dating
from the time of the epidemic. (The Cree
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