Angus Mayappo Vc29 Tape 1
76) people usually tell stories, but I could not say that about my father - what I heard from my father was
probably not a story , what his father saw in the past when he was growing up the difficulties people had,
that is what made a person who they are, and he in turn passed it on to this children and his siblings and he
didn’t tell us right away, but only did it when he knew that we would understand
77) Angus tells story about his great uncle, his grandfathers brother
starts at 2 mins describes the scenario and where they used to stay – three different lakes – three areas
would people would stop then go from there to the other directions (three) – a rest point and then go from
there – waapanischiiskaw (352); minanishtuk (moving river), wichigaobukishduk (moving river);
kaakaadchiiuchiistkw (356)(moving river) – 3 rivers very close together, people would go in groups and
hten part their ways at those rivers that would take them to their hunting grounds
when his grandfather was the tallyman, he wanting his brother to help him manage the hunting area but this
brother had said that he was not prepared yet he wanted to see more of what the land is like to know it
better, then he would give him more work, that was when he wanted to see the areas like this lake
kukamaas gash 0- related to 373- when I am ready I will come here to help you look after the land, I will
come to this place – his brother tells him where he is going to go be, he goes on – he invited him to come,
but he has to let him venture out and learn the ways – his father is telling the story they must have settled in
the area that would be the fall camp –
- there wasn’t a permanent dwelling, they knew exactly where to go they might have camped in the
same area but not the same spot, people always knew what they needed to gather to prepare for the
shelter if they are going to stay there long
- because they were looking after the land, you did not see visible signs of where a dwelling was –
they left no mark
- when they knew they had to travel to a winter camp, when it was safe to travel across when it was
frozen, they had to prepare
- it reached the time, when his brother said he was going to be at the lake
- Chadawt – the name of his great uncle
- In generalization, they always say someones town|: Issac’s town, is where Chadawt is used to hunt
- Chadawt had expected to be there ahead of them
- They leave beacuase they think that hes there
- He didn’t say how often they stopped to get there where they were going, chunchow, sturgeon lake
was one place where they stopped
- Describes the route they take
- They arrived and they could see tracks, there was a lot of snowbirds, saw many signs of
snowbirds, rabbits, ptarmigan
- They don’t see his tracks,
- They put a net under the ice
- Porcupine
- They get ready to get food supply
- Check the nets – then the next day after that they had taken, the grandfather says to angus’ father: I
could not sleep very much last nite thinking about your uncle, worried – see if he has killed
anything if he has food wherever he is
- Should go and check and find him, his trackings
- They leave but they don’t take much with them in case they find him he might need help and so
they are not so worried that he couldn’t find osmething to eat but that he had a difficulty of some
kind
- Things were plentiful but not everywhere one could hunt and get something for food
- They know where the lake is where is going to be, they enter the area of where he says he is going
to hunt
- They also see a dwelling that had to been set up since the fall
- No signs of him – no paths
- They walk along the lake no sign no nothing
- Then they see path appear that he would have used to hunt they knew, it seemeed to appear hten
disappear – good clear path, fresh – but it hadnt been used for some time, parts of the path were
covered
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Area still looked plentiful for a good hunter
The grandfather recognizes that the path meant that someone was having difficulty and his
concern is that he might not be well as they think he is
He believes that the path is Choctaws
They get to where he said the was going to be and they see where they used to get water
And again the snow is drifting off and on the path (indicating that it hadnt been used)
The grandfather is worried
They see he had come to fetch water once
Struggling when went to fetch water
They see the tipi and the path is disappearing the whole way
As they were approaching they could tell that nobody touched the tipi for long time, partially
snow-covered path and snow was on top of the tipi
Looked not maintained
The grandfather went in the tipi
And saw, and the people that went with him and could hear him inside the tipi starting to whail in
agony
The brother comes out but struggling and he said we are not able to do much, and we were just
able to stay there & they were just lying there and trying to conserve the energy (he had someone
with him)
o They had children and one son was already married (george Mayappo’s son Joseph
Mayappo), but it was lack of food that put them in that state
& because they were visitors they were not able to give them any food
the only thing they were able to give them was boiled water
His father and grandfather had brought a little bit of food, so he tells them to go get his supplies
They want to share and give it to them, but then the families want to share it back with them
because it is the custom – when a visitor comes they must nourish them
When they boiled water they were able to give them the tea, and they drank the hot water
Because the family there needed it more
We are going to stay but we are not going to head back right away
They didn’t want them to move
We are going to come back and bring some more things for you
Then they go back and load up wahtever they need and they head back
They return but they are still okay, but they are all weaker
They shared, they give them what they brought in terms of food etc.
They had flour with them the families still
And they had plenty of supplies with them themselves, they didn’t worry about running out of
supplies
His grandfather was very highly regarded by the tallymen at the time
He must have know a lot, very wise
They had to stay overnight again
When they stayed they had also to go back to the camp, he tells his brother to keep an eye on your
family as they get better, try to move twds our amp as they get better, even if it means pulling the
younger ones on a sled – try to come to our camp
And they are going to fix the trail as they go back and they will clear it when they go back so they
will see it all the way
Start early enoguh in the day so that you don’t reach where you plan to stay too alte when its dusk
Not tomoorw but the day after we are going to come back and we are going to bring you some
more things you might need for the jounry
We will be back then
& the old guy takes care of his family and keeps an eyes on them to prepare them for the possible
jounry so they can get their strength back
in one whole day they can see their gradual strenght back, then one day later some of the older
ones ahd some more strength
they got going the day after then his older son had more strengtth than he thought, we have to get
going but we have to leave earlier enough, then going to stop earlier enough in the day that we are
able to ste up dweelinng
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then they wne to bed early to get up early to get going – because of the distance they had to stop
halfway/energy
his brother also said as they head back they might connect
and he rememebered we might meet you ther eon the second day
still weak to complete the whole trip
the next morning, they take off and then they decide to take a break and then they do meet them
when the helperes are coming back twds them
they have a break together
he takes their sleds and their stuff, belongings so they can coserve their energy – gf, and f take the
load from them because they are more fresh stronger
two of the kids had already had been taken to the camp to help them
so they helped with belongingsd
he tells them that they are going to move back, go on, when get tired to stop and set up dwelling in
daylight
but the helpers have to move back to their camp and bring the stuff so they can go back to ehelep
them again
they take another overnite camp
the next day at the other camp, the gf, f tells everyvody to help gather resources to make another
big dwelling for his brothers family to come
they were almost finishes, still putting the coverings on the dweeling and they could see them
coming so they hirred to get it done faster bc they knew they would need a nice warm place for
them to come to
gf makes a big fire
and they make a big feast to share with them
had all kinds of food
beaver dried, and its called gowan the grandmother was cutting it up to serve them – get it
chewing bc they havent had food – much better to digest
they had plentiful winter food supply that they were glad to share with them, bc they had set it
aside for them if they had met them, now they were =the visitors they were glad to share it with
them
they sit and talk and eat – feast
gf brings up the opportunity he had offered to share the caring of the land
and believed me when I said – if you had taken my offer and we had stayed together, maybe the
difficulty days that you and your family have entered could have been avoided
younger one giving the advice: its almost like you don’t want to take some of the advice I am
offereing you but it is not out of anger that I am offereng this to you
they stayed there as a ahilw as neighbouring familes and put nets under the ice and gathered plenty
of food, fish harvesting
and he could see that his brother and his family were getting better and regaining their strength
bavck
they wanted to go to follow their winter trail to raven hill kakawudji
from where they were, that had been the pplan that they were going to move their winter camps to
kakawudji in the spring time –
bc there were lots of fish there and then they could put down their nets and they would always get
something the lake by this hill
always plenty of fish there
he tells his older brother this is where we are going to go!
As he kept an eye on his older brothte, as they got their energy back, they broke camp to move to
this new spot on the hill – they could help each other, they diddnt have much to move – they
didn’t have a lot of stuff that made it a difficult journy
They leave
As they are going and they are walking on the lake and then they go to the edge of the shore and
they had forgotten their traps
Often when people are going to trap they set their traps they always have them hanging on the
trees nearby, they are easier to grab ast hey leave, pick them as they go
I have seen my father do it
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On way stop and gather traps
The traps for posts in the ice for beaver, they lef them like that
& those poles they would collect them specially, certain size, length
and have htem on hand and ready for trapping
bc they didn’t have all kinds of tools so they had to be resourceful
they arrive to where they are going and they were the frists ones there
and and one of the sons had not arrived yet
so then somebody says they should go and check on them bc they wre still concerned about their
health and position to travel
I remember albert and his brother, he wasn’t born yet
And then another one named jimmy
They go check and they are halfway of the distnace that they had come and they meet htem
They sees that they are still very weak
He suspects that he is not feeling any better
He couldn’t take another step
He carries and pulls him on the sled bc he doesn’t have enough strength to walk
And they arrive and as he got there he could hardly walk from the sled to the tipi
Almost dragging himself to get in
They delayesd what they were going to do bcx they were going to wait and see if he got any better
His father sent back to go and get the traps they had forgotten in the meantime
His father arrives there with the traps and they are not hanging, they are all over the plcae,
everything was scattered or the food, like an animal had gotten into it, dried fish that htye had,
everything was gone! They were just thrown all over the place the traps differeent sizes, not very
big and he could see things everywhere
Like someone got mad and threw them around
In the meantime he was told, if he comes back to do a little small game hunting, to see if he could
get whatever
And then they reach the cmap, the spot where they were going to hunt
Looks around the spot where the camp will be exactly
And then the next mornign they set out early
They cant stay there because there is no lake near by and they need to go to where there is fish at
least
The weaker nephew he is pulled on the sled the whole time bc he still doesn’t have enough energy
They prepare a net to put under the ice for fishing, very easily done, but its also hard work so they
prepare because even the woman they just find a spot and then they are going to pull it through
two holes make little holes to pass it through
They reach the place, they start fixing the dweeelings gonna be and then they are going to get
ready to put the net down too
He checked the first net (his grandfather) and as night was falling, the nephew who was pulled
seemed to get weaker as the night was coming on
It wasn’t morning yet and he died, they think that it was food poisoning – but they didn’t know
what he had eaten, they didn’t know what he ate then everyone else
The name: of the place where he died is given