Tatsea

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

In the 1700s, the Dogrib people lived near Great Slave Lake in what is
now the Northwest Territories. Theirs was a subsistence way of life,
hunting with bow and arrow and spears, making clothing and shelter from
animal hides, and bounded by ritual and tradition.

Tatsea and Ikotsali belong to a small group that is attacked by their
enemies, the Cree. While the other members of the group are killed,
Tatsea manages to hide her small daughter but is forced to go with the
Cree. Ikotsali, who was out of the camp, finds the baby and with her on
his back sets out to rescue his wife. He leads two canoes on a wild
chase to a waterfall and watches as his enemies are dashed to pieces on
the rocks below. Tatsea eventually escapes, but both she and Ikotsali
have to confront the bitter cold of a northern winter. There are
descriptions of how they use whatever is to be found in the snowbound
countryside, not only for food but to provide clothing, shelter, and
sleds. Later, when Tatsea makes her way to a Hudson Bay Company fort,
the fur traders and the implements they use are described from her point
of view. The traders themselves are called “fur-faces,” while a pipe
is described as “a drinking tube with a little bowl on the end.”

Much of the material is interesting, but there are drawbacks to the
story. Ikotsali is the only character who merits a physical description,
and that is of a small hunchbacked man with boils, running with pus, all
over his face. The plodding writing style does not do justice to the
material, but anyone who is intrigued about life in the North two
centuries ago will find Tatsea a worthwhile read.