Aboriginal Commerce
Vocabulary
intertribal / precursor / kaleidoscope / prestigemalevolent / phenomena / Equilibrium / manifestations
The bison hunt provided the basis for cultural patterns.46 ... Both drives and jumps were practiced, depending on the conformity of the land; the greatest number of jump sites have been found in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, whereas pounds were more commonly used on the Plains. ... where sites have been found at Oxbow and Long Creek in Saskatchewan. In Canada, most drive sites have been found in that province, as well as in Alberta.
These forms of hunting called for a high degree of co-operation and organization, not only within bands but also between them and sometimes intertribally. Impounding, or corralling, was the more complex method, and has been described by archeologist Thomas F. Kehoe as a form of food production rather than hunting - a precursor, if not an early form, of domestication.47
One of the earliest of the jump sites was Head-Smashed-In in southern Alberta, more than 5,000 years old; it would continue to be used until the 1870s. This was an enormous site, so big that its use was an intertribal affair. Recent archeology has revealed thirty different mazeways along which the buffalo were driven and up to 20,000 cairns that guided the direction of the stampeding herds.48 Whatever the type of communal hunting, strict regulation was involved; when several tribal nations congregated for such a hunt, regulations were enforced by organized camp police. Penalties could include the destruction of the offender’s dwelling and personal belongings. 49 In contrast, when herds were small and scattered, individuals could hunt as they pleased. In general, campsites were located on lookouts; some of them found in Alberta include several hundred tipi rings, indicating use over a considerable length of time. It has been estimated that there may be more than a million such rings scattered throughout Alberta. 50 Medicine wheels, important for hunting rites, ringed the bison’s northern summer range; some were in use for at least 5,000 years.51 At the time of European arrival on the east coast, the use of bison jumps and drives was, if anything, increasing.
It has been suggested that Head-Smashed-In was a trading centre, providing bison materials such as pemmican and hides in return for dried maize, artifacts, and possibly tobacco. 52
Trade and Gift Diplomacy
Uneven distribution of resources ensured that all of these people traded; indeed, the rich kaleidoscope of Amerindian cultures could hardly have been possible without such an integrative institution. Alliances and good relations were important in these exchanges, rather than just economic considerations. As Jesuit Paul Le Jeune (1591-1664) would observe in the St. Lawrence Valley: "Besides having some kind of Laws maintained among themselves, there is also a certain order established as regards foreign nations."...
While the value of goods was certainly appreciated, and Amerindians had a good eye for quality, as European traders would later find out, prestige was more important than the accumulation of wealth as such. Acquiring prestige called for generosity, among other virtues. Goods were accumulated to be given away on ceremonial occasions, such as the pot-latch on the west coast; trade was a principal means of acquiring the needed goods. Gift exchanges - "I give to you that you may give to me" 54 - were a social and diplomatic obligation; gifts were presented when people visited each other, on special occasions, such as marriage and name-giving, or for obtaining the return of prisoners of war. Above all gifts were essential for sealing agreements and alliances with other peoples. Without gifts, negotiations were not even possible; among other things they wiped away tears, appeased anger, aroused nations to war, concluded peace treaties, delivered prisoners, raised the dead.55 Gifts were metaphors for words; and treaties, once agreed on, were not regarded as self-sustaining. To be kept alive, they needed to be fed every once in a while by ceremonial exchanges. Later, during the colonial wars, periodic gift distributions would be essential in maintaining alliances that proved so useful to the colonizing powers; this would be the only pay the allies received for their services as guerrillas.
Worldviews
Although local conditions and subsistence bases ensured that the peoples spread across Canada led different lives within distinctive cultural frameworks at various levels of complexity, yet they all practiced severe self-discipline to stand alone in an uncertain world, along with the acquisition of as much personal power as possible. 64 Humour was highly valued, and they thoroughly approved of anything that provoked laughter... They also knew how to keep their spirits up in the face of starvation. As his Montagnais host told Le Jeune, "keep thy soul from being sad, otherwise thou wilt be sick; see how we do not cease to laugh, although we have little to eat."66
They all observed the law of hospitality, the violation of which was considered a crime; 67 and they all shared the concept of the unity of the universe, although filled with powers of various types and importance. Hospitality could be carried to the point of self-impoverishment, which did not strike Europeans as a virtue when they encountered it.
The unity of the universe meant that all living beings were related - indeed, were "people," some of whom were human - and had minds, as anthropologist Jay Miller put it. 69 So did some objects that the Western world considers to be inanimate; for instance, certain stones, under certain conditions, could be alive or inhabited by minds. 70 This belief in the unity of all living things is central to Amerindian and Inuit myths, despite a large and complicated cast of characters who experience an endless series of adventures.71 Of utmost importance was harmony, the maintenance of which was by no means automatic, as the demands of life could make it necessary to break the rules; hence the importance in Native legend and myth of trickster, who could be an individual but who could also be an aspect of the Creator or world force. As well, peaceful co-operation could be shattered by violent confrontations with malevolent, destructive powers.
Recent studies have emphasized the solid basis of these mythologies in natural phenomena. Amerindians and Inuit perceived the universe as an intricate meshing of personalized powers great and small, beneficial and dangerous, whose equilibrium was based on reciprocity. While humans could not control the system, they could influence particular manifestations through alliances with spiritual powers, combined with their knowledge of how these powers worked. Such alliances had to be approached judiciously, as some spirits were more powerful than others, just as some were beneficent and others malevolent; every force had a counterforce. Things were not always what they seemed at first sight; as with stones, even apparently inanimate objects could have unexpected hidden attributes. Keeping the cosmos in tune and staying in tune with the cosmos called for ceremonials, rituals, and taboos that had to be properly observed or performed if they were to be effective. Attention to detail could be so close that a missed step in a dance would result in chastisement. Even the construction of dwellings and layout of villages and encampments (not to mention the cities and temple complexes to the south) reflected this sense of spiritual order, with its emphasis on centres rather than boundaries.
Some (but not all) tribes recognized an all-powerful spirit, but the important ones to deal with were those who were directly connected with needs such as food, health, and fertility; also important were those connected with warfare. A person’s lot in life was determined by the spirits - or animal powers - who volunteered to be his helpers, which he acquired during a vision quest. This was undertaken at puberty, with attendant purification rites involving prayer and fasting, among other things. Purification to gain spirit power (but not actual helpers) could be undertaken at other times as well; it is thought that much of the rock art that is found across Canada is associated with these occasions. Not surprisingly, the most respected leaders were also shamans (medicine men, sometimes women), individuals who had special abilities for communicating with the non-material world and whose principal duties were to prevent and cure disease.
It was no accident that Canada’s stereotypical fur trade developed in the northern forests. Apart from the availability of the highest-quality furs, the generalized nature of the hunting demanded by boreal forest ecology was the most adaptable to the needs of the trade. More specialized hunters, such as those who harvested the bison herds of the Plains or the caribou herds of the Arctic, had much less incentive to participate because of the difference between their type of hunting and that required for furs. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the gun was of more use to the boreal forest hunter than it was to hunters of the Plains bison or the Barren Grounds caribou. Much depended on particular circumstances and the quality of guns and ammunition.13 Samuel Hearne (1745-92) found northern Amerindians using guns in combination with bows and arrows in communal deer hunts.14 Limitations of the gun curtailed its early acceptance: its uncertain performance in damp or cold weather, its noisiness when it did perform, its weight, insecure supply of ammunition, and the difficulties of maintenance and repair. Similarly, metal traps were not initially seen as particularly useful, as traditional hunting methods easily procured all that was needed - a situation that continued well into the twentieth century.15
Both guns and metal traps had added handicaps - cost and foreign production. Still, the restricted herding or solitary habits of boreal forest big game favoured the use of the gun, particularly as the weapon itself improved.
Guns were adopted faster than steel traps, which Natives at first tended to acquire for the metal, which they reshaped into useful objects such as chisels and blades of various types. 16
The HBC sought at first to keep contacts between company "servants" and Amerindians to a minimum, only to what was absolutely needed for trade. This, of course, turned out to be impossible; for one thing, women played a pivotal role in both trade and Amerindian society generally. This is illustrated by the story of Thanadelthur (d.1717), a remarkable Chipewyan woman who had been captured by the Cree, escaped with another woman, and survived a year in the bush searching for York Factory, which she had heard about but had only a vague idea as to its location. Her companion died, and shortly afterward Thanadelthur was found by a party from York Factory. Taken to the post, she soon became invaluable as an interpreter and in persuading her fellow tribesmen to come to the fort to trade, despite the presence of their traditional enemies, the Cree.32
An unexpected side effect of the Company’s minimum contact policy was the restriction of its access to the interior because its men were inexperienced in this type of travel. No European at that time could make such a journey without Amerindians acting as guides and hunters. 33 It was not until the HBC relaxed its rule, at least tacitly, that exploration of the interior became feasible. Thompson admired the skill of the Indians in this regard, "in being able to guide himself through the darkest pine forests to exactly the place he intended to go, his keen, constant attention on everything; the removal of the smallest stone, the bent or broken twig; a slight mark on the ground, all spoke plain language to him."34
Even in trade, the HBC did not enjoy the control it would have liked. The Natives were not slow in playing off the English against the French, and they were quite as adept as Europeans in recognizing a better deal, but the goods they accumulated were for redistribution to satisfy social obligations and to acquire prestige rather than for exclusive personal use. They were not business men in the same sense as the Europeans; for one thing, they were not guided to the same extent by supply and demand in setting their prices. 38 The English soon discovered, in the wake of the French, that such attitudes indicated neither lack of a sense of value nor of entrepreneurial enterprise; Indian traders were as eager as anyone to set themselves up in business. They were not deterred by distance, and thought nothing of undertaking long journeys to obtain better prices.39 Capitalizing on English/French rivalry, they would persuade hunters on their way to bayside posts to part with their best furs and then shop around for the best deal available.
Even though socially Amerindians and traders mixed "unexpectedly well,"45 they continued in their separate ways despite the close co-operation needed for the trade and the prosperity it brought to both sides. Trader Daniel Harmon (1778-1843) sadly observed that the only basis for friendship in the Northwest was the desire of Indians for European goods and the whites’ eagerness for the Natives’ furs.46 A particular area of difficulty was reciprocity and the obligations it entailed. Ignoring accepted standards of behaviour could cause resentment and lead to trouble.
(Dickason, Patricia Olive, 1992, pp. 76- 77, 79- 81, 139- 141, 143- 144, 145- 146. Reprinted with permission from Oxford University Press Canada.)