Codex Battleford
Transcription: 4
Transcription:
{p-3 [written in the top right corner of the page]
the buffalo disappeared, immigrants took possession of the land. To the joys of a wandering life succeeded privations, dangers, vexatious disappointments of all sorts, so that, little by little, the least robust, and the least tenacious separated from the rest of the band, to join one or the [crossed out] other of the [crossed out] groups of Crees esta[crossed out] already [added in margin] es-blished [sic] on their reserves.
When Little-Pine and Lucky-Man, the two most faithful attendants of Big-Bear, had tardily decided to sign treaty No. 6, at the great assembly at Sounding Lake on August 30th, 1879, Big-Bear’s band was left alone among the Crees to persist in his stubbornness. It was nothing more than an [added] bitter, turbulent, gang, without religion or law [crossed out and replaced by “embittered and lawless gang”], living by crime and plunder, distrusted by the Whites and considered dishonoured [crossed out and replaced by “despised”] by their own kinsmen. Their chief was in the sixties, and his fiery spirit of yesterday was dulled under the weight of years. Besides this his authority, formerly supreme, declined from day to day. xxx [crossed out] The mantle of power did not drop from the shoulders of the old man but to be seized in the fall, by his eldest son Ayimesis, “The Awkward” a true evil genius, who used his father’s name only to advance his ambition, and to hatch his own own [added] plots. He was, besides, admirably seconded by a clique of outlaws [written over another word] of the same character, at the head of which figured Wandering-Spirit, xxx [crossed out] his [added] war xxx [crossed out] chief.
Nobody could call into question the old man’s love for his race, their ancestral traditions, and an ardent desire to oppose all that might harm his people.
However, seeing that his stubbornness served only to deprive him and his people of favours from the Government, without procuring the least advantage, he decided, against his will it is true [crossed out] to accept the conditions offered to the Indians of his tribe [crossed out] at Carlton and at Pitt. On December 8, 1882, after spending a whole afternoon discussing point by point the articles of the treaty, he apposed [sic], at Fort Walsh, his signature to the official document which marked his submission to the Canadian Government [crossed out] queen [added] in the presence of Colonel Irvine, of the agent Allen Mc Donald, of the chief Pie-a-Pot and other witnesses. He announced that his intention was to settle in the environs [crossed out] neighbourhood [added] of Fort Pitt when Spring opened [crossed out] the following spring [added].
Nevertheless, he did nothing of the kind; his band with its retinue continued its life of plundering to such a point that the settlers requested the police to rid them of those troublesome neighbours. Consequently, during the summer of 1883 [written in between lines] Big-Bear and his desperados were conducted [crossed out] driven by the Mounted Police [added] to their reserve, north of Fort Pitt. They spent the winter cutting wood in the Moose hills that they might earn a living. But they soon tired of this slave xx [crossed out] work [added]. In the spring of 1884, Big-Bear sent to Poundmaker a messenger carrying a little package of tobacco wrapped in a piece of white skin, and asking a conference. The gift was accepted, and in return Big-Bear received an invitation to come and organize the ritual dance of Thirst. At the end of the month of May, Big-Bear’s Indians set out for the south to meet the Crees of Battle River.
One fine day in spring, Father Bigonesse, Father Cochin and Brother Gerente who were taking their dinner in their new}
the buffalo disappeared, immigrants took possession of the land. To the joys of a wandering life succeeded privations, dangers, vexatious disappointments of all sorts, so that, little by little, the least robust, and the least tenacious separated from the rest of the band, to join one or the [crossed out] other of the [crossed out] groups of Crees esta[crossed out] already [added in margin] es-blished [sic] on their reserves.
When Little-Pine and Lucky-Man, the two most faithful attendants of Big-Bear, had tardily decided to sign treaty No. 6, at the great assembly at Sounding Lake on August 30th, 1879, Big-Bear’s band was left alone among the Crees to persist in his stubbornness. It was nothing more than an [added] bitter, turbulent, gang, without religion or law [crossed out and replaced by “embittered and lawless gang”], living by crime and plunder, distrusted by the Whites and considered dishonoured [crossed out and replaced by “despised”] by their own kinsmen. Their chief was in the sixties, and his fiery spirit of yesterday was dulled under the weight of years. Besides this his authority, formerly supreme, declined from day to day. xxx [crossed out] The mantle of power did not drop from the shoulders of the old man but to be seized in the fall, by his eldest son Ayimesis, “The Awkward” a true evil genius, who used his father’s name only to advance his ambition, and to hatch his own own [added] plots. He was, besides, admirably seconded by a clique of outlaws [written over another word] of the same character, at the head of which figured Wandering-Spirit, xxx [crossed out] his [added] war xxx [crossed out] chief.
Nobody could call into question the old man’s love for his race, their ancestral traditions, and an ardent desire to oppose all that might harm his people.
However, seeing that his stubbornness served only to deprive him and his people of favours from the Government, without procuring the least advantage, he decided, against his will it is true [crossed out] to accept the conditions offered to the Indians of his tribe [crossed out] at Carlton and at Pitt. On December 8, 1882, after spending a whole afternoon discussing point by point the articles of the treaty, he apposed [sic], at Fort Walsh, his signature to the official document which marked his submission to the Canadian Government [crossed out] queen [added] in the presence of Colonel Irvine, of the agent Allen Mc Donald, of the chief Pie-a-Pot and other witnesses. He announced that his intention was to settle in the environs [crossed out] neighbourhood [added] of Fort Pitt when Spring opened [crossed out] the following spring [added].
Nevertheless, he did nothing of the kind; his band with its retinue continued its life of plundering to such a point that the settlers requested the police to rid them of those troublesome neighbours. Consequently, during the summer of 1883 [written in between lines] Big-Bear and his desperados were conducted [crossed out] driven by the Mounted Police [added] to their reserve, north of Fort Pitt. They spent the winter cutting wood in the Moose hills that they might earn a living. But they soon tired of this slave xx [crossed out] work [added]. In the spring of 1884, Big-Bear sent to Poundmaker a messenger carrying a little package of tobacco wrapped in a piece of white skin, and asking a conference. The gift was accepted, and in return Big-Bear received an invitation to come and organize the ritual dance of Thirst. At the end of the month of May, Big-Bear’s Indians set out for the south to meet the Crees of Battle River.
One fine day in spring, Father Bigonesse, Father Cochin and Brother Gerente who were taking their dinner in their new}
