To Trading Post

Episode 3

The mouths of some of the brooks were starting to open up by early May. Everyone wore ussishikukaunaFailure to protect the eyes in this way could lead to snow blindness which is very painful.¹ (snow goggles) to protect their eyes from the glaring spring sunshine which reflected off the surface of the snow. Shimiu’s father, Kanikuen, led the way across the short cut from Ashuapun-shipu* to Kautatikumit-shipu* where everyone stopped for a boil-up of tea and innu-pakueshikan (bannock).

Shortly thereafter they reached the trading post at Emish. The group set up their tshinashkueutshuap (tepees) on a flat, barren point just across from the post. Mishti UaitMishta Uait is the Innu name for Richard White, an independent trader originally from St. John’s. Born in 1878, he moved to Labrador in the early 1900s, where in 1920, he married Judy Pauline Hunter, an Inuk woman from Nain. They operated stores at Emish (Voisey’s Bay), Nain, and Kauk. He purchased many objects from Innu and Inuit in Northern Labrador and resold them to museums, and anthropologists, including Frank Speck, for whom he was an important source of information about the northern Innu.² (Richard White) and Emish lived here for much of the year, where they traded with the Innu, ran a small sawmill, and lived off the land like the Innu.

Almost immediately Mishti Uait came over to the camp to greet them. "Hello again my friends," he said. "Long time no see. I hope you were all healthy this last winter. It was a hard one, I know. Very cold in January, then lots of snow in March. You all look strong and fit, so you must have done well by the caribou." With that, he took out a large stemau kapitauakant (tobacco bag) and proceeded to hand out tshishtemau (tobacco) to all the men and women, starting with Grandpa and Grandma. "Come and see me when you’re ready," he concluded. "We’ll get down to business soon enough."

Atika and the other men spent several hours that evening trading with Mishti Uait. They haggled over how much the Kakeshau would give them for their fox furs, and caribou hides, and how much they still owed him from the previous summer when they had purchased tea, flour and ammunition from him.

Sunday was a day of rest. Mishti Uait paid them another visit, this time in search of Grandma, Anitshishkueu. Mishti Uait’s Innu-aimun was not the best; he sounded like a child when he spoke, but at least one could make sense of what he said. "Nituss (my aunt)," he started. "I know that you are the best maker of innussin (moccasins) in Northern Labrador. Would you make some for me? Look I’ve brought you some colourful beads to use in the design. I’ll pay you the same as last year."

Anitshishkueu had made many things for Mishti Uait – it seemed that he wanted to send them to someone far away. Last year she made him a pishakanakup (caribou hide coat) , and painted it with beautiful, double-curved designs. Mishti Uait often supplied the paints, but she always had her own supply of unamanUnaman is the Innu name for “ochre,” a reddish, soft rock that was good for making red paint when mixed with oily fish eggs.³ that she carried in a small bone pot. No one had worn one of these painted coats for years, not since UssinitshishuThis is the famous Innu utshimau (leader) whom William Brooks Cabot had met at Mushuau-nipi in 1910. Richard White believed that he died in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. He was buried overlooking Sango Bay, near the community of Natuashish.⁴ passed away before Shimiu was born. However, most Innu still wore caribou fur jackets during the winter.

"What’s that you have there, my son?" Mishti Uait asked Shimiu. Shimiu replied, "It’s a tapaikan (pin and boughs game). It’s a toy. Look, here’s how it works. Mishti Uait looked puzzled. "The boughs are going to dry up and only the sticks will remain." Shimiu told him, "I know that already. I’ll give it to you for a package of gum." "It’s a deal," retorted Mishti Uait, who took it and hung it up on his counter at the post. Eventually it did dry up, and the needles fell off. All that was left were the sticks.

Thereafter, Shimiu had a good laugh whenever he thought of the "fire starter" he traded to Mishti Uait in return for some gum.

Footnotes

¹ Failure to protect the eyes in this way could lead to snow blindness which is very painful.

² Mishta Uait is the Innu name for Richard White, an independent trader originally from St. John’s. Born in 1878, he moved to Labrador in the early 1900s, where in 1920, he married Judy Pauline Hunter, an Inuk woman from Nain. They operated stores at Emish (Voisey’s Bay), Nain, and Kauk. He purchased many objects from Innu and Inuit in Northern Labrador and resold them to museums, and anthropologists, including Frank Speck, for whom he was an important source of information about the northern Innu.

³ Unaman is the Innu name for “ochre,” a reddish, soft rock that was good for making red paint when mixed with oily fish eggs.

⁴ This is the famous Innu utshimau (leader) whom William Brooks Cabot had met at Mushuau-nipi in 1910. Richard White believed that he died in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. He was buried overlooking Sango Bay, near the community of Natuashish.

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