Naskapi trade. A study in legal acculturation. - article ; n°1 ; vol.31, pg 129-195

Julius E.Lips

Description

Journal de la Société des Américanistes - Année 1939 - Volume 31 - Numéro 1 - Pages 129-195
67 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: JOURNAL_DE_LA_SOCIETE_DES_AMERICANISTES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1939
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Julius E. Lips
Naskapi trade. A study in legal acculturation.
In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 31, 1939. pp. 129-195.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Lips Julius E. Naskapi trade. A study in legal acculturation. In: Journal de la Société des Américanistes. Tome 31, 1939. pp.
129-195.
doi : 10.3406/jsa.1939.1986
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jsa_0037-9174_1939_num_31_1_1986NASKAPI TRADE
A STUDY IN LEGAL ACCULTURATION,
By Julius E. LIPS.
This study forms another part of my investigations of the customary
law and economic life of the Montagnais-Naskapi Indians of Labrador1.
It is based exclusively on field work in the summer of 1935 and on archive
studies in London in the years 1936 and 1937. This field trip was made
possible by a grant from the Social Science Research Council of Columbia
University, thanks to the support of Profs. Franz Boas and Karl N. Llewell
yn. The voyages to London and the archive studies there had to be finan
ced by my own means.
I want to express sincerest gratitude to my friends of Columbia Univ
ersity, to my Indian informants, and especially to the government and
the staff of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the first place I am indebted
to the Governor of the Company, Mr. Patrick Asley Cooper, and to the
Director of the Archives, Mr. Leveson Gower, who gave me permission
to work in the archives and to publish the material included in this article.
Also thanks must be extended to the staffs of the Hudson's Bay Compan
y's Posts in Pointe Bleue and Chibougamau, to Messrs. J. Allan Bur-
gesse, Sandy Ritchie, and also to Tommy Moar who gave most valuable
information.
A note may be added on the rich source material used in this study.
Doing field work in Labrador I made friends with managers of the Com
pany in the interior and found out that as a part of their duties a diary is
kept in which are recorded the daily events of the Post. Through the
courtesy of these friends I was allowed to read some of the diaries, and
found that they included what almost amounted to a legal history of Indian
life in Labrador : the number of individuals and families, births and deaths,
1 . See Lips (J. E.), Trap Systems among the Montagnais-Naskapi Indians of Labra
dor Peninsula. Stockholm, 1936. Lips (J. E.), Public Opinion and Mutual Assistance
among the Montagnais-Naskapi. In : American Anthropologist, June, 1937.
Société des Américanistes, 1939. 9 130 SOCIÉTÉ DES AMÉRICANISTES
marriages, numerous cases of dispute and settlement and statements
of their trade law. These diaries are kept for two or three years at
the different Posts. They are then sent to the Hudson's Bay Company's
office in Winnipeg1 where they are held for five to ten years, to be ship
ped finally to the central archive in London. These diaries have been kept
since the foundation of the Company in 4670.
This led me to London, where I found the central archives located in
Beaver House, headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, and found
them much richer in source material than had been expected. There were
literally tens of thousands of volumes, all handwritten, many in old
script, many of them the worse for old age and much faded. To preserve
these documents, the archive officials have necessarily made access to
them difficult ; special permission of the Governor of the Company
has to be obtained to inspect them.
The excerpts wich appear in the present study were selected after an
covering1 a period of two summers' examination of numerous diaries,
research .
I regret not having been able to undertake a second field trip to Labra
dor for the purpose of re-checking, comparing, and supplementing my ar
chive findings. My own means were exhausted and unfortunately, I was
unable to create enough interest, in the matter to secure funds for this
research from any Society or Association. May this study succeed in st
imulating more helpful interest in the field of comparative primitive law,
in the problem of the influence of the legal institutions of the white world
on primitive law, and in the phenomenon of acculturation.
The Indian trading and gathering places have remained almost unchan
ged since the advent of the Whites and the establishment of the Hudson's
Bav Company. Posts were almost invariably established in places where
the Indians had their traditional summer camps long before the arrival
of the white man. Only exceptionally were Posts established at locations
not already designated by tradition — and such Posts had indeed but
little influence on the yearly migrations of the Indians.
These summer camping places, existing long before the establishment
of the Hudson's Bay Company Posts, had to serve many purposes. The
entire social life of the tribe, or band, found its expression during the
short summer months. During the winter the members of the tribe
remained in the woods and on Iheir hunting grounds, where as a rule
only a single family or a few families hunted together. There was no
opportunity to take part in social, legal, or community activities. All
that was postponed until the summer when all the members of the NASKAPI TRADE 131
community met at a well-known and well-defined traditional place,
camping- together. closely
It was here that social life found its expression. Marriages were per
formed, quarrels were settled, religious feasts celebrated, and the people
participated in all kinds of amusements. Bartering- and trading- took place,
gossip both good and bad was exchanged. These gathering places were
always to be found near the water and could be easily reached by the birch
bark canoe which was their only means of transportation. Today, many
posts of the Hudson's Bay Company can be reached by railway. In coming
to Pointe Bleue, for instance, the Indians nowadays sometimes make use
ofthe railway, going from the station directly to the store of the Comp
any.
The trading season is always in the summer, from the end of May to
the middle of August. This is generally true, although there are such cases
as the Mistassini Indians, who coming to Pointe Bleue from the far North,
start back for their hunting grounds as early as the end of June. Those
Indians who hunt close to a Post bring their furs in for trade at all times
during the year, be it at New Year's Day, April, and even in October,
Thus, we learn from the " Journal of Occurrences of Lake St. John "
of the year of 1846 that the Indians returned on October 18th with their
Fall hunt. Other remarks in the same journal indicate inter-seasonal
Indian trade :
" Paulish's son arrived this afternoon with a December 6th :
few furs ".
" François Atiquapie arrived here this forenoon. 20th :
He traded a few skins and left immediately
afternoon ".
" Thursdav. Almost all the Indians belonging December 31st :
to this Post were now here " .
" Arrive two Indian women with a few skins. ' April 4 th, 1847 :
" Indians bring a few martins ". 28th, 1847
On May 4th three Indian women " trade some Maple Sugar for a few
goods and provisions" and on May 6th an Indian trades " a Moose
'" skin .
To get a more plastic picture of the actual goings-on in trading, let us
follow one of the Indians who just arrived by train or by canoe and makes
for the Pointe Bleue Post of the Hudson's B;\y Company. He carries his
fur package, since his trade consists of precious furs, sometimes also
Bear, Caribou, or Moose skins. In former times venison was traded fre- SOCIÉTÉ DES AMER ICA MSTES 132
quently, as well as birch bark for canoes, castorum, and maple sugar. The
package is packed in the traditional way and is about 9 inches to one
foot high, 18 inches to two feet long, and one foot to 18 inches wide. Its
average weight is 25 pounds. The hunter, well known at the Post, throws
his bundle into the salesroom and goes to help his family in setting up the
tent. As a rule, men alone do the trading business, but there are Indians
who do not go to the Company's store. Waiting rather in their tents
for the buyer, these men are often influenced by their wives in fixing the
price. The Indians of the Interior (trading at Obidjuan, Chibougamau,
Mistassini) are more shy than those at Pointa Bleue who live at the fron
tier of civilization. They bashfully open the door, throw down their
bundles, take off their hats, and wait until they are addressed by the
Manager.
An Indian, as a rule, does not stay long on his first visit to the store
when returning from the hunting grounds. He asks for a package of tea
or tobacco, for which he does not pay in cash as the small amount will
be charged on his fur account. In the meantime his family has moved
farther on and his wife is already busy in putting up the tent exactly at
the spot prescribed by tradition over years past. Sometimes the Indian
makes an appointment with the manager of the Company for his next
visit. It is entirely up to the Indian when he will trade his furs end
in many cases he waits until his friends have arrived too.