Fishing at Utshashumeku-shipiss

Episode 3

The group stopped at the junction of Tshenuamiu-shipu and Utshashumeku-shipiss for three days. Once the camp was set up, the men took off into the woods to find a couple of tall, straight minaiku Minaiku is used for making canoes, while sheshekatiku (black spruce) is used for making fur stretching boards, and when dry, makes excellent firewood. Ushkuai (birch) is the preferred wood for snowshoe frames, while both ushkuai and uatshinakan (tamarack) are used for toboggans.1 (white spruce). Within a couple of hours, using only their axes and mukutakan (crooked knife), they had carved two uashuakanashku (leisters) that they would use to spear salmon that lingered in the pools along the river.

The evening was calm and clear, and with birch bark torches blazing, the men paddled out into the salmon pools to try their luck at fishing. Before much time had passed, they had several big salmon flapping about in the bottom of their canoes.

The next day, the women smoked and dried the salmon so that it could be eaten on the journey further inland, and so that the precious flourFlour was heavy and difficult to transport, and had to be obtained in trade for beaver, martin, mink, otter, lynx and other pelts. The more flour one used, the more one had to trap for furs. But fur trapping took time away from caribou hunting, and without caribou meat, a family risked starvation. 2 could be saved for times of greater need.

Throughout their stay at the camp, the children split firewood, and checked the rabbit snares. Pashin took Tshimitshikan (the dog) hunting, and together, they killed more than a dozen spruce grouse in an afternoon.




Footnotes

1 Minaiku is used for making canoes, while sheshekatiku (black spruce) is used for making fur stretching boards, and when dry, makes excellent firewood. Ushkuai (birch) is the preferred wood for snowshoe frames, while both ushkuai and uatshinakan (tamarack) are used for toboggans.

2 Flour was heavy and difficult to transport, and had to be obtained in trade for beaver, martin, mink, otter, lynx and other pelts. The more flour one used, the more one had to trap for furs. But fur trapping took time away from caribou hunting, and without caribou meat, a family risked starvation.

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