Page 28 - A Visit with Max Basque, Whycocomagh

ISSUE : Issue 51

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1989/2/1

So most of it, we gave it away. And of course. Mum had a couple of crockfuls. But the ones that didn't come out to the woods with us--well, they cut it all up and I was taking it around the reservation. Mum would say, "Well, you take this over to these people--basketful--take it over to these people." And divided it all up. 'Cause there were no deep freezes or any? thing. And like I said, they wouldn't salt very well. Located between Baddeck and Sydney on tlie Trans-Canada Higliway (Route 105) Overlooking tfie Bras d'Or Lakes Seal Island Motel and Dining Room (Licensed) Seafood Our Specialty 46 Modern Units Swimming Pool Air Conditioning 674-2418 TOUR BUSES WELCOME Country Living at the Seal Island Bridge Forajuu''' '' designed to neey .''.' contact: retraining P"*':* ...fcomP*"-'. ?''"'' ' • • • • , , • .. • ? And along in November, it got pretty cold. We still had quite a bit of that fried moosemeat. And it got cold, and Mum said, "Wouldn't it be nice if Max shot a moose now--we could hang it up in the barn. We'd have fresh meat all winter." So I took off with my gun and I hunted. I think it was about the second or third day. But I was a real hungry hunter! 'Cause I'd take a lunch with me, and ofttimes I'd bring it back. By dark, I wouldn't stop to have lunch. I wouldn't get hungry; I was on the hunt. 'Cause a fellow said, he said, "You're a real hungry hunter." "I never get hungry," I said, "after I get on a trail." Jim Glode made a canoe--it was provincial exhibition. Some Indian from down Liver? pool way or Yarmouth way, somewhere that way--his name was Labrador. I happened to read the other day where this Henry Labra? dor died.... But Jim Glode used to say, he made a canoe, and brought it to the exhi? bition. And this Labrador brought a canoe. But Jim Glode said he couldn't find a birchbark good enough. You know, one piece of birchbark for the whole length of the canoe. Well, that wasn't a whole lot of canoe. It'd be I suppose around...16 or 18 feet. But he said he made it real Indian fashion. Never used a rivet or a nail or anything--real Indian-made. But this Lab? rador, he brought a canoe in--the same ex? hibition. And the bottom--the main birch? bark- -it was just the one piece the whole length of the canoe. But he said, he had : riveted and Nauncallnsnt''' Strait Campus p q Box U'' ' To. BOX 2000 'p,rt Hawkesbury, '-S- PortHav'kesbury,'-'- ''' 2VO BOB 2V0 SydneyCamP-l 365 Prince Street Sydney, N- S- BIP 5L2 Adult Vocational Training Campus p o. Box 1042 , Sydney, '??' • B1P6P andJOD . • • ?? - Honourabe Jo? Minister he had it nailed in lots of plac? es . And of course the rest of it, a lot of it was bound with spruce root. It was al? most Indian- made, but not quite. The bottom, it was just like one piece of birchbark, there was no seam any? wheres. Maybe it would be faster. And Jim Glode was second prize. And both of them were there--Labrador and Jim. Jim Glode said. "Well, I won't make any more canoes. Because nobody here knows how to

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