Book review: Samuel Hearne - A Journey to the Northern Ocean

[Toadflax]

The recent Ray Mears program prompted a Christmas present of this book, which I have just about finished.

It's certainly an interesting insight into a European's view of 18th Century Canada and a very readable book, with lots of examples of what we would now regard as bushcraft (e.g. fire by friction was apparently well known to the author, but not to some of the tribes with whom he travelled).

He finishes off with a review of the local flora and fauna and a fascinating insight into the edibility of every animal, bird and fish species that he encounters, together with a catalogue of how many of these could be killed for food (e.g. barrels of salted plovers).

One interesting thing I do find is that he counters what may be a modern illusion (perhaps falsely portrayed by people like Ray Mears) that native peoples are true conservationists, taking only what they need from the land and making full use of everything and Hearne abhors some of the waste that he sees. Of course, this is a view from over 200 years ago, when non-Europeans were viewed as savages, and attitudes may have changed as the modern world encroaches on homelands. However it does bring into question what seems to be the oft-held view that all 'Western' attitudes are bad and all native ones are good.

And then today I had a very exciting experience, as I was able to visit the library at Rhodes House in Oxford and get in my hands one of the original copies of the book from 1795, complete with large maps and illustrations that were shrunk dramaticaly for the paperback copy that I have.

Amazon do the book, though it may take a few weeks to arrive, as I think they have to get it from the USA or Canada.


Geoff

 

[JonathanD]

Nice review, interesting observations on the needless waste. Everytime I go to order it, it's out of stock.

 

[Tengu]

It certainly ties in with accounts of cliff drives and the fact that game was often scarce in areas populated, even if only by a few people.

I dont subscribe to the prehistoric overkill theory though, except in limited areas (such as islands, the Hawaiians certainly devasteted their islands even though we regard them as a natural bountiful paradise)

Another area of shocking waste practiced by the native americans (and possibly other societies) was the practice of burning luxury goods at the potlatch, to show how wealthy you really were.

 

[Toadflax]

Everytime I go to order it, it's out of stock.

My wife ordered it well in time for Christmas, but it took until about the end of January to arrive, so you may be best just ordering it and waiting.


Geoff

 

[andythecelt]

I've always found the attitude that native people used every inch of every animal they killed for food a bit unlikely. While every part had the potential to be used, aside from hide and meat would a community really have used every inch of bone? Or had the time to process every hide for that matter? It's a lovely romantic thought but what are the odds of a large animal like a buffalo providing exactly what was needed in exactly the right proportions every time? If a group didn't need hides and they'd just hunted successfully I doubt they'd bother with carrying unneccesary weight back to camp. Remember they didn't have horses until Europeans introduced them, carrying large amounts of gear between camps just wouldn't have been possible. If memory serves, there were small horses in North America at one time but they had been hunted into exctinction in prehistory. Of course that wouldn't make a nice caption on a poster of a noble looking indian gazing into the distance though. I suspect that humans are more likely to use every scrap of an animal now than then. Between meat, leather, glue and pet food there's not a lot that gets wasted today. Of course it's not fair to compare nomadic hunter gatherers and modern commercial farming but I think it's an interesting point.

 

[BOD]

It's a great book.

It's also the origin of the story about an Inuit woman trapped for days in a blizzard who walks in in perfect health while white men would have perished.

I can't say anything about First Nation people and waste except that waste is often a function of abundance or in economic terms supply.

Among the older indigenes of SEAsia there is a sense of conservation I have observed. Trees are not ringbarked. Traps are not set every day if supplies are good.

Among younger people who have gone to school and have an "education" or live in big villages supplied by air or the road from the coast there often is a diminished sense of conservation.