Suliewey has left the white man William Cormack in Nujioqollek, after guiding him during the fall, across the island in search of the last Beothuk. The Elders had cautioned Suliewey to instead guide Cormack away from the Beothuk camps which he willingly did. Cormack had wanted Suliewey to accompany him by schooner back to St. John's, as far as Bay d'Espoir and even onto Spain or Portugal. But Suliewey wanted to see how his Beothuk brothers and sisters were managing to stay safe, hoping to find their winter camps. His plan is to travel to his friend, Gabriel's camp, then to Miawpukek. However, as Suliewey is leaving Chief Gontgont's house, the chief comes out and asks Suliewey to stay over longer, until the snow hardens. Chief Gontgont tells him that he will be able to rest more and eat well and perhaps learn more about the Beothuk winter camps from returning Mi'kmaw trappers.
Suliewey agrees and stays with Chief Gontgont. He is given several gifts including "...a beautiful qalipu hide bag made by his wife..." that could be used as both a bundle or a bed. The Mi'kmaw trappers have no new information to offer to Suliewey regarding the Beothuk winter camp. They tell him "...it was as if the Beothuk were hibernating like the Mui'n do during the winter." This does give Suliewey a potential clue as to where and how he might find the Beothuk.
Eventually Suliewey begins his journey "...to find the winter camp of the last of the remaining Beothuk." Chief Gontgont walks a short ways with Suliewey who leaves with gifts of snowshoes, skin boots, qalipu skin coat and the sleeping bag. He tells Suliewey to stop by Gabriel's camp to rest before journeying to Miawpukek to see his family.
After five days, Suliewey reaches Gabriel's camp on Hatchet Pond where he finds a note from Gabriel that they are taking their ill daughter to St. George's Bay to see the medicine woman. They have left some food for him in their wikuom. Suliewey wonders how the Beothuk are doing as they have been driven from the coast which supplies their food of salmon, seal, eggs and shellfish. He decides to head northeast and not travel to Miawpukek. As he journeys, Suliewey continues to look for smoke rising, believing that will be a sign of a Beothuk camp.
At this time, a large grey wolf appears at Suliewey's camp. At first he throws sticks of wood from his fire to drive the wolf away. But later after snaring a kopit, Suliewey throws bits of meat to the hungry wolf. As the wolf continues to follow him on his travels, Suliewey names him Hungry and they soon grow to tolerate one another.
In his travels, Suliewey discovers a Beothuk summer campsite near a lake along with a birchbark gwitn. Back at his brook camp, Suliewey encounters a mysterious woman who has lu'skinikin cooking and has made tea. The woman tells Suliewey he must go back. He decides to return to the Beothuk summer camp to search for any clues as to where "...they spend their winters and how man of them are left, of the hundreds of Beothuk people who lived on this land before the arrival of the aqualasiew." He does find a circle of stones outside the wikuom with an arrowhead pointing south and believes that this might a hint as to where he should travel.
In his travels, Suliewey discovers a Beothuk summer campsite near a lake along with a birchbark gwitn. Back at his brook camp, Suliewey encounters a mysterious woman who has lu'skinikin cooking and has made tea. The woman tells Suliewey he must go back. He decides to return to the Beothuk summer camp to search for any clues as to where "...they spend their winters and how man of them are left, of the hundreds of Beothuk people who lived on this land before the arrival of the aqualasiew." He does find a circle of stones outside the wikuom with an arrowhead pointing south and believes that this might a hint as to where he should travel.
With Hungry sometimes following, sometimes leading, Suliewey travels along the lake and finds another wikuom, this time with more signs: an unfinished stone pipe and a qalipu leg bone scrapper. Because the stone may have come from Pipe Stone Pond, Suliewey decides to travel there. Near Pipe Stone Pond, Suliewey discovers an abandoned wkuom and a cave containing the remains of a young pregnant woman her unborn baby. The hole in her skeleton tells Suliewey that she died from being shot by a musket ball.
After this sad discovery, Suliewey decides it is time to return to his family in Maiwpukek. His whole village celebrates his return with a meal, and set up the sweat lodge to pray and give thanks for his safe return. He decides he will continue his search for the Beothuk people in the late fall and through the winter. He wants to help them and keep them safe. Suliewey's search will almost cost him his life, but it will also reveal the last remnants of the Beothuk and their desperate struggle to survive. As the Beothuk once saved Suliewey's grandfather, he will now return the favour.
Discussion
In the first book, My Indian, Suliewey recounts his journey with the white man, Cormack to find the remaining Beothuk. In this sequel, Suliewey recounts his own journey to find the last of the Beothuk and offer his help.
The Beothuk, in the pre-contact era, were an aboriginal coastal people who lived in small bands in Newfoundland. In the pre-contact era there were likely less than one thousand of these Algonkian hunter-gatherers who survived on seal, salmon, and sea birds and their eggs. These were preserved as food stores for the harsh winter months. The Beothuk painted their bodies, homes, canoes and weapons with red ochre. It was considered an integral part of their identity and newborns were painted to welcome them into the tribe.
With the coming of the Europeans, the Beothuk were forced out of their traditional coastal hunting grounds. This often led to conflict between the two with the Beothuk usually on the losing end. Unlike other Indigenous peoples, they avoided contact with Europeans. This meant moving further inland away from the seals, salmon and sea birds and forced the Beothuk to hunt caribou. This was not enough to sustain the Beothuk and they began to starve. It is likely that the loss of their traditional hunting grounds and food sources, exposure to the European diseases of smallpox and tuberculosis, and deadly encounters with English and French trappers and fisherman were the cause of their extinction.
The Mi'kmaw people have long maintained they are related to the Beothuk. Recent genetic research has shown that there are genetic descendants of the Beothuk people in Newfoundland and Labrador. The research used DNA harvested from the molars of Demasduit and her husband, Nonosabsut who were the aunt and uncle of Shanawduit, the last known member of the Beothuk. Demasduit was kidnapped by a European trapper, John Peyton Jr. in 1819. Nonosabsut was murdered attempting to rescue her. Demasduit was eventually taken to St. John's, living with her captor as a servant. She died in 1820 of tuberculosis. Demasduit and Nonosabsut were buried at Red Indian Lake but Newfoundland explorer, William Cormack took their skulls to Edinburgh. They were not repatriated until 2020.
While there are no direct descendants of Demasduit and Nonosabsut, their family tree does have living descendants according to Memorial University professor Steve Carr. His research suggests that the Beothuk had "friendly relationships" with other Indigenous peoples that resulted in family lines that continue today.
While there are no direct descendants of Demasduit and Nonosabsut, their family tree does have living descendants according to Memorial University professor Steve Carr. His research suggests that the Beothuk had "friendly relationships" with other Indigenous peoples that resulted in family lines that continue today.
It is these friendships between the Indigenous peoples of Newfoundland that becomes an important part of the narrative in Suliewey. In The Book Club Questions found at the back of the novel, the authors write that the settler narrative has been that these two peoples were enemies. This goes against Mi'kmaw oral history. In an attempt to reclaim this narrative, we see that Suliewey considers the Beothuk his brothers and sisters and wants to help them. His own grandfather was cared for by the Beothuk.
In Suliewey, the young Mi'kmaw Suliewey eventually does find a small remnant of Beothuk, including a young woman. Her husband has died and she is the only woman in the group that consists of her great-grandfather, her brother, and four Elders. At the request of her grandmother, Suliewey agrees to marry the beautiful, young woman and they have a daughter together. The Book Club Questions state, "... that the authors wanted to offer possible context to the recent Beothuk DNA studies conducted by Miawpukek First Nation in partnership with Terra Nova Genomics... which provides evidence of a possible survival of Beothuk genetic lineage in modern populations of Mi'kmaq."
Suliewey is filled with many interesting descriptions of Mi'kmaq knowledge in living off the land, particularly in the frigid winter months. There are descriptions of building a healing lodge and making medicine to heal consumption, as well as spiritual rituals such has leaving offerings to the spirits and praying to the Creator for safety. Mi'sel Joe uses Suliewey to inform readers about many different types of Indigenous knowledge including making various types of camps in caves and in the forest, making a narrow type of snowshoes, tanning a kopit pelt, smoking meat, and fashioning a bow and arrows along with a quiver, a spear and other tools. Suliewey describes how most parts of the kopit and the qalipu are used by the Mi'kmaq. Through the main character of Suliewey, readers come to know the deep connection between the Mi'kmaq and the land and the animals. After Suliewey sets a trap for a mui'n he sees that the animal is old and changes his mind, out of respect and also because he takes only what he needs.
As a result of the detailed descriptions of Indigenous knowledge, the first half of the novel may seem slow and uninteresting to some readers. However, there is foreshadowing in the novel, especially at the beginning when Suliewey dreams of "a beautiful young woman with long black hair and red skin." This foreshadows his meeting of the beautiful Beothuk woman who he names Wtatapn, and who helps Suliewey heal from the injuries of his fall and whom he marries.
Suliewey's fall off a cliff is an unexpected plot twist that forces the meeting between himself and the remaining Beothuk who have hidden inside a long cave. There his broken leg is set and he is cared for. From an Elder and Great-Grandfather, Suliewey learns of the Beothuk's struggle to survive with the coming of the Europeans. The cave they are wintering in has drawings that portray their history and their struggles. Great-grandfather tells how the Beothuk were cheated in trades with the white men, how their women were captured and enslaved, how the long guns allowed the white men to kill them easily, and how their food was taken leaving them will little food to hunt and store. When Suliewey learns their story he is heartbroken for them and promises to tell their story so it doesn't fade into history.
Suliewey's fall off a cliff is an unexpected plot twist that forces the meeting between himself and the remaining Beothuk who have hidden inside a long cave. There his broken leg is set and he is cared for. From an Elder and Great-Grandfather, Suliewey learns of the Beothuk's struggle to survive with the coming of the Europeans. The cave they are wintering in has drawings that portray their history and their struggles. Great-grandfather tells how the Beothuk were cheated in trades with the white men, how their women were captured and enslaved, how the long guns allowed the white men to kill them easily, and how their food was taken leaving them will little food to hunt and store. When Suliewey learns their story he is heartbroken for them and promises to tell their story so it doesn't fade into history.
Suliewey comes to help the Beothuk in a way he least suspects: the young woman's great-grandfather asks him to marry her and take her in the Mi'kmaq tribe as a way of protecting her and continuing the Beothuk line. Suliewey agrees to do this and they are married. To protect Wtatapn, Suliewey tells her she must remove the red ochre and dress like the Mi'kmaq, otherwise the white men will know she is a Beothuk. For Wtatapn, this means giving up her identity as a Beothuk, in order to survive. This final act highlights the price Wtatapn must pay to survive and it also reminds readers of the loss of identity and culture that many Indigenous peoples paid as a result of European contact.
While Suliewey is a tragic story about the last remnants of the Beothuk, it is also one of hope. Although culturally the Beothuk did not survive, it would seem that, as Mi'kmaq oral history and modern DNA analysis indicate, there were some Beothuk who integrated into other Indigenous peoples, producing descendants. Suliewey is highly recommended for those readers who wish to know the Beothuk story from an Indigenous perspective.
Book Details:
Suliewey by Mi'sel Joe and Sheila O'Neill
St. John's, NL: Breakwater Books 2023
202 pp.
Suliewey by Mi'sel Joe and Sheila O'Neill
St. John's, NL: Breakwater Books 2023
202 pp.
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