The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Síða 42

132
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #2
erected a birchbark shelter over the graves.
Under the shelter were placed the red sash-
es which the dead had worn.)
With the exception of some potatoes
the Indians did not live on vegetables, and
they never used a recognized brand of
flour, known as “Strong Baker.” Even
though poverty sometimes compelled them
to buy it, the Icelanders called the bread
which was made from this cheap brand of
flour hundamatur (dog food). Instead, they
used XXXX or “Super Fine.”
When I was a young boy, I never met
an Indian who suffered from either con-
sumption (T.B. of the lungs) or even a com-
mon cold. When typhoid fever, scarlet
fever, and diphtheria struck in the Iceland
district, the Indians headed for the woods
with great haste.
Besides the berries which I have
already mentioned, the Indians, particular-
ly the younger people, ate nuts especially
hazelnuts, but strangely enough they only
ate the shell of the nut which had a very
sour taste to it. The nut itself, they threw
away.
In the spring or the early summer the
Indian families went into the woods to
gather the bark of the poplar tree which
they used the inner layer for food. At this
time of the year, the poplar is full of sweet
juice and the bark has a sweet taste to it.
When the outer layers had been peeled off
the tree, the inner layer was scraped off
into containers from which the Indians ate
it with the greatest of relish.
Would it, perhaps, be logical to assume
that it was the vitamins of the bark that
protected the Indians against scurvy and
other diseases? Unfortunately, this gift of
nature is offered but for a short period of
time each year, since the juice of the poplar
bark, of which there is such abundance in
young trees, gradually dries up as the sum-
mer wears on.
The Icelanders used extremely potent
brands of tobacco which they either
chewed or smoked. The Indians never
chewed tobacco and when they smoked,
they used dried dogwood bark mixed with
ordinary leaves. This mixture contains
deadly poison and has the same effect on
those who smoke it as tobacco. Two
Icelandic children met their death after eat-
ing berries which grow on the dogwood.
(Mr. Guttormsson said that the moose eat
dogwood berries with impunity.)
I can still remember the times when the
Indians came sailing in their bright
coloured bark canoes into the mouth of the
Icelandic River where they used to go
ashore, pitch a number of white tents, and
hang their famous Hudson’s Bay blankets
on clothes lines.
I remember well one particular
instance when the Indians, during one of
their journeys up the Icelandic River,
selected the river bank across from our
house as a suitable camping area. This time
they had brought with them great quanti-
ties of various goods which immediately
aroused our curiosity. No sooner had the
Indians unloaded their bark canoes than
my parents decided to row across the river
for a visit. I and my elder brother Fusi were
allowed to go with them. Such visits were
customary in those days both for the sake
of pleasure and for the purpose of doing
some business with the Indians.
Arrived at the camp, we were greatly
impressed with the many beautiful things
which the Indians had brought with them.
Everything bore witness to happiness and
prosperity. All kinds of ornate and colour-
ful garments were hanging on the clothes
lines, and a group of women and young-
sters were at work scraping and washing
roots of plants, a huge pile of which had
been placed on one of the Hudson’s Bay
blankets.
My mother, who had worked for more
than a year at Gravenhurst in Ontario, and
learnt English to the extent that she could
easily converse in it, found out that one of
the men, a big and handsome gentleman,
knew English well enough to get by in it.
This gentleman told us that the roots had
been dug up out in the marshes and that
they were now in the process of being
cleaned and dried for the market at
Crossing (Selkirk). Otherwise, the
Hudson’s Bay store at Stone Fort (Lower
Fort Garry) was the main trading place of
these Indians, and there they used to sell
their furs in winter. Moreover, we were
told that the root was the best known med-