The letter-journal of a Hudson's Bay clerk who spent time among the Indians in the early 1800s. Contents include: Part 1: Introduction (George Nelson; Background, Career, & Writings; Family & Childhood; The Wisconsin Years; The Lake Winnipeg Period; A Decade Of Changes; The Lac La Ronge Phase; Interpreting The Indians: Nelson's Frameworks & Dilemmas; Editorial Procedures) --- Part 2: George Nelson's Letter-Journal (Conjuring At Lac La Ronge, December 1819; Dreaming To Conjure & Predict; The Spirits, Their Shapes, & Their Songs; The Supreme Being; Old Nick (Key-jick-oh-kay); Other Beings; The Sun: Nelson's Dream; Roots & Herbs; The Manner Of Conjuring; The Spirits Enter: Their Names & Natures; The Conjurors' Power; A Cree Myth, 1823: The Birth Of Wee-suck-a-jock & Mi-shaw-bose; The Battle Of Weesuckajock & The Water Lynxes; The Making Of The Land; The Making Of Human Beings; The Son Of Weesuckajock; Sickness In Spirit Form: A Lac La Ronge Cree Account; The Spirits' Gifts & Demands; Encounters With Pah-kack (Skeleton); Sacrifices & Feasts For Pah-kack; Pah-kack Feasts At Lac La Ronge; Medicines & The Abode Of "Esculapius"; Songs: Their Transmission & Uses; Conjuring Against Starvation, Wisconsin, 1804; The Soul; Soul-Darting; Sorcery For Protection & Revenge; Sexual Sorcery; Hunting Medicine; Love Medicine; Hunters Bewitched & Restored; An Iroquois Hunter Bewitched; Stories Of Nay-han-nee-mis; Man In His Natural State; Skepticism, Belief, & Innovation; Conjuring For A North West Company Gentleman; The Lost Traveller & The Wolf Spirit; Pursuit By A Pah-kack; The Windigo; Baiting A Windigo; Sources & Forms Of Windigo; Windigo Dreams; Windigo Possession, Lake Winnipeg; A Windigo Execution; Windigo Cures & Precautions; Malignant Spirits; Affinities & Origins; Deviance, Confession, & Expiation; Feasts; Conjuring At Lac La Ronge, June 1823; Dramatis Personae; Key-shay-mani-to; Kee-jick-oh-kay; Wee-suck-a-jock; Michi-Pichoux; Sea Serpent; O-may-me-thay-day-ace-cae-wuck; Mermaid & Sea Man; Mee-key-nock; Bull Or Buffaloe; Pah-kack (Skeleton); North Wind/North; Thunder; Crazy Woman/Foolish, Mad, Jealous Woman/Folly/Jealousy; Nay-han-nee-mis; Mee-shaw-bose/Mi-shaw-bose; Sun; Moon; Esculapius; Sickness/Plague; Strong Neck/Hercules; Pike/Jackfish; Loon; Wolverine; Flying Squirrel; Bear; Dog; Snow; Kingfisher; Horse; Ice; Stone) --- Part 3: Northern Algonquin Religious & Mythic Themes & Personages: Contexts & Comparisons (Cosmogonic Myths & Beings From Lac La Ronge; The Trickster-Transformer, Wisahkecahk; Nelson's Version Of The Wisahkecahk Cycle; Nehanimis, North Wind, & The Hairy Breasts; Dream Guardians & The Vision Fast; The Vision Fast; The Human-Pawakan Relationship; The Shaking Lodge; Purposes Of Conjuring; The Practice Of Conjuring; The Languages Of Conjuring; Nelson's Explanations Of Conjuring; The Windigo Complex; Human & Nonhuman Windigos In Historical Context; Windigo Disorders; Origins Of Windigo Behavior; Pragmatics Of Windigo; The Symbolic Structure Of The Windigo Complex; Medicine: Healing & Sorcery; Disease Theory & Healing Techniques; Medicine Dreams & Visions; Sorcery; Medicine For Hunting & Love; Confession; A Final Note) --- Part 4 (On Nelson's Text; On The Ethics Of Publishing Historical Documents).

Getting a firsthand look at what life was like for a fur company clerk among the Indian tribes in the early 1800s. Nelson's work is different from most such accounts in that it's written in letter format, in a casual manner which wasn't polished for publication (though comments made throughout the journal make it clear that Nelson had plans of publishing his work in more polished form someday). The book reads like letters sent to a friend or relative, giving the reader an intimate look at how life was back then.

The appendix of "dramatis personae," a sort of encyclopedia of the different mythical characters mentioned throughout the work--seeing as it's the mythology which intrigues me the most.

The book's innovative format is exactly the thing which makes it a bit harder to follow than most books. Despite the table of contents given above, the book isn't laid out in a clearcut manner, like a textbook or encyclopedia; one section merges into the next and the writing tends to meander around from topic to topic--just like personal letters tend to do. This also makes it hard to find a decent spot to leave off reading. As well, Nelson's inability to decide on standard names and spellings of various mythical figures was kind of confusing at times--he even resorts to using names from classical mythology now and then.

Read more such works from a firsthand perspective...too bad this is the only one of its kind that I'm aware of. There are plenty of other eyewitness accounts, but Nelson's is the only one I've seen to focus so heavily on the mythology and belief systems of the Indians he lived among, and seeing as the letters were apparently never prepared by him for publication, the book has a more "cozy," personal feel to it which most published accounts lack. The editors mention that Nelson has other writings, but they have not been published and apparently don't focus on the same subject.

Like I had a much better perspective on exactly how whites and Indians lived and interacted together in a century altogether different from our own. It also gave me a "you are there" feeling regarding certain native rituals and ceremonies.

Is George Nelson, who was a clerk with the Hudson's Bay Company in the early 1800s. He kept this letter-journal as a means of communicating with his father. The editors are Jennifer S. H. Brown, associate professor of history at the University of Winnipeg, and Robert Brightman, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Additional material is provided by Stan Cuthand and Emma LaRocque, both of whom have taught at the University of Manitoba.

It's probably the best way to get an indepth and intimate look at what life was like among Indians during the fur trade era, particularly in regards to their spiritual beliefs and customs.

See "I didn't like..." above. If you're looking for a quick, clear reference on a particlar topic, this book isn't for you, because you would have to dig through paragraphs of personal observations in order to find it. Think of having to read a relative's letters, including all their opinions, offhand comments, personal interpretations, etc., in order to dig out the facts of an historic incident they witnessed--that's exactly what it's like. There's very little sense of order to most of the letters as Nelson just writes about whatever comes to mind, and sometimes even cuts himself off in the middle of things.

As I've already mentioned, it's the "meandering" aspect of the book that IMO makes it all the more interesting. Nelson didn't set out to write this like a scholarly text, although it looks as if he had plans to put it all in order someday. In fact, these letters were originally intended only for his father's eyes. He writes using plenty of abbreviations, odd spellings, and irregular capitalizations (some of which are clarified/corrected in the text for ease of reading), and tends to wander from one incident or subject to another, and his observations aren't in any particular chronological order; at any moment he might start writing about an incident that took place years ago, then start writing about one that happened only recently; likewise he'll leave off right in the middle of a discussion and then take it up again later. He even makes reference to borderline adult subjects at times, which is kind of surprising to read considering this letter-journal dates to the early 1800s. It's the non-scholarly tone of the work that makes it sound so authentic, and it's just like the reader stepped out to their mailbox and happened to open a letter from nearly two centuries ago. Specifically because of the informal manner in which it was written, this book is a refreshing alternative or supplement to other texts on the same subject.

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Created Aug 18, 2006 at 7:30am • Submit your own review...