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|   Who were the Métis people? What happened to the great herds of buffalo? And how did people prevent food from spoiling if they didn't have refrigerators? The Métis People Beginning in the 1600s, and continuing for several hundred years, European fur trappers came to North America to take part in the fur trade. These men, who worked for the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, married Aboriginal women; their children were the first Métis. The Métis people soon developed a unique culture of their own that included elements of Aboriginal and European traditions. Perhaps the most famous Métis of all is Louis Riel, who attempted to establish an independent government for the Métis people. After the second of his two rebellions failed, he was put on trial by the Canadian government and convicted of treason. He was hanged in November, 1885. GO BACK TO THE TOP The Destruction of the Buffalo Herds  At the beginning of the 1800s, as many as 65 million buffalo lived in North America's Great Plains. The largest herds contained a million animals or more, and stretched for miles and miles. Aboriginal people had hunted them for thousands of years without affecting their population noticeably; it was only when white settlers moved west and began hunting them for their fur or for sport that the buffalo were nearly wiped out. By 1890, only a few thousand buffalo were left.Millions of buffalo were slaughtered only for their tongue (considered a delicacy) or for their hide; the rest of the animal was left to rot. Compare this to the way that Angelique's family treated the buffalo they killed: every single part of the animal was put to use. Its bones were carved into spoons, knives and even sewing needles; its horns were made into cups; its stomach was used as a water pouch; even its dung was used as fuel. Nothing was wasted. Today, small herds of buffalo live in parks and are protected from hunters. But they are still considered an endangered species and they are not free to roam the prairies as they once did. GO BACK TO THE TOP Food before fridges Today, anyone can go to a grocery store and buy fresh or frozen meat, then take it home and put it in the fridge for a day or two without worrying if it will be safe to eat. But what if you lived in a time before the refrigerator had been invented? And what if fresh meat was only available once a year, right after a hunt? Angelique and her family couldn't go to a store for food, and they didn't have anywhere cold to store it. Instead, they had to preserve their food, especially the meat, so it wouldn't go bad before they had a chance to eat it. In Buffalo Hunt, Angelique's mother preserved meat by turning it into pemmican. First, strips of fresh buffalo meat were hung on a rack over a fire. The smoke helped dry out the meat and kept flies away, too. When the meat was dry, it was pounded until it was very thin, then melted buffalo fat was poured on top. Buffalo meat that had been treated this way was safe to eat for a long time, and it didn't need to be kept cold. GO BACK TO THE TOP |
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