Paul Kane's Journal of his Western Travels, 1846-1848 - History and ...

derive from Kane' famou nighttime traverse of Lake Huron from
Mackinac to Sault Sainte Marie (see later) or from the fact that he
was frequently seen with pencil or brush in band. But bucMr also
~ refer to tumbering a bucMron beina a logger or lumbetjack.
Olven ~t the episode of me journal In which the name appears
deals With the ceremony of cutting a lobstick. pine in honor of Kane
there i a po ible connection to thi meaning. BoucMr a verb
mean either to plug up
if Kane were talkative, thi meaning
could apply ironically. A a. noun, it means butcher. In this Latter
sense, the name might derive from Kane's infamous exploits as a
hunter, me shooting of the bull at the buffalo hunt providing one
example that suggests that hunting was not his forte. Bouchie, the
past participle of boucher, means a mouthful or a morsel and
perhaps this would refer to Kane's short stature. In any c::se, it
would seem that the name descn'bes one or another rather strong
feature of Kane's personality. For another theory on the origin of
Kane's nickname, see note 5.
5. Paul. Kane' s Frontier including Wanderings of an. Artist among
the Indians of North America, ed., and with a biOi. introd. and a
catalogue raisonne by J. Russen Harper, published for the Amon
Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, and the National Gallery of
Canada, Ottawa (Austin, Texas, and London, 1971), p. I I. I wi h to
acknowledge my indebtedness to the late Professor Harper for hi
tine work, many details of which helped to furnish the present
introduction. lbat my view of Kane' journal diverge from Harper's
is more the consequence of a literary and art hi torian's
different perspectives, than any fundamental disagreement.
Another interpretation of Kane's nickname Bushway may weD
be the one offered by Harper (p. 129) which aligns the word with the
French bourgeois.
6. Maude Allan Cassens, "Paul Kane, ,. typescript dated March,
1932, Department of Ethnology, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto,
p.2.
7. Harper, p. 7.
S. Ibid., p. 23.
9. For a discussion of the bearing of this chronological factor on the
making of Kane's book, as weD as a full discussion of the bibliographical
aspects of it, see MacLaren, "Notes Toward a Reconsideration
of Paul Kane's An and Prose," CaNJdwn Lit~rature, nos.
113-114 (Summer I FaD, 1987), pp. 179- 205.
10. Harper, p. 13 .
II. Ibid., p. II.
12. Ibid., Appendjx 6, p. 322.
13. Ibid., Appendix 5, pp. 320-321.
14. Ibid., p. J5.
15. See Henry James Warre, Overland to Oregon in 1845; Impressions
of a Journey Across North Amen'ca by H. J . Warre, ed. and
introd. Madeleine Major-Fregeau (Ottawa, 1976); Sketches in
North America and th~ Oregon Territory, by Captain H . Wa"e.
A .D.C. to the lale Commander oj the Forces (London, 1848);
Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, by Captain
H . Wa"e, A.D.C. to the late Commander of the Forces, introd.
by Archibald Hannah Jr. (Barre, Massachusetts, 1970).
16. Harper, p. 17.
17. See MacLaren, "Creating Travel Literature," Papers oj the
Bibliographical Society of Canada , vol. 27 (1988), forthcoming.
IS. The book appeared in an American edition, titled Overla1Ul
Round the World during the Years J841 a.1UI 1842 (Philadelphia,
1847).
19. Harper, p. 39, n. 4.
20. Paul Kane, "Incidents of Travel on the North-West coast,
Vancouver's Island, Oregon, etc.: The Chinook Indians," Canadian
Journal, vol. III (1854-1855), pp. m-T79.
The American Art Journal/Volume XXI • Number 2
21. Cas U , p. 16.
22.0nOctober6 1847, Kane write of the bripdebrealtingcamp
at a "boan" (bon: good) • our' (hour), they paddJ up the
Columbia River to i Dorthernmo t point, which Kane refe to
both .'Boat incumpment" (Boat encampm nl) and •• umpm nt
de Barge."
23. ell , p. 16.
24. See amuel Black, A Journol of a Vuyag~from Rocky Mountain
Portage in Peace River to the Sources of Finlays Branch and
North We.!t Ward in summu 1824. ed. E . E. Rich and A. M .
Johnson, introd. R. M. Patterson, Publications of the Hudson'
Bay Record Society, vol. x.viii (London, 1955); Pel~r SUM Ogden's
Snau Country Journals /824- 25 and 1825- 26, ed' E. E.
Rich and A. M. John on, introd. Bun Brown Barker, Publications
of the Hudson' Bay Record Society, vol. xili(Lon on, 1950); To
the Arctic ITy Canoe 1819-1821: The Journal and Painting.! of
Robert Hood, MidJhipman with FranJdin , ed. C. stuart Houston
(Montreal and London, 1974); and With Pen and Pencil on the
Frontier in 1851: The Diary and Sketches of Frank Blackwell
Mayer, ed .• with an lotrod. and nole Bertha L. Heilbron, fwd.
Thomas O 'Sullivan (St. Paul, Minnesota, 1986).
25. Heather Dawkins, 'Paul Kane and the Eye of Power. Racim
in Canadian Art History." Vanguard, vol. 15, no. 4 (September,
1986), p. 27.
26. Paul Kane, Wanderings of an Artist Among the Indians of
North Americafrom CanadtJ to Vancouver's Island and Oregon
through The Hudson's Bay Company's Territory and Back Again
(1859), rev. ed., ed. John W. Garvio, introd.l..awrence W. Burpee
(Toronto, 1925); facs. rpt., introd. J. G. MacGregor (Edmonton.,
1968), p. I xii. All references to Wa1Ulerings of an Anist will
depend upon the facsimile reprint of the revised edition and appear
in parentheses in the text.
27. DavidC. Hunt, Legacy of the W~st(Omaha.ebraska , 1982),
p.S.
28. This woman i not named in Wanderings in the description of
Kane's meeting her in July. 1846. Her name first appears in the boo
on July 26, 1848. This problem is discussed in the 'Guide to
the People and P!aces in Kane's Journal; see entry for "the
constant sae. "
There appear to be two sketches of The Constant Sky, one a
watercolor and one an oil on paper, and two paintings, both oil on
canvas. Only three are mentioned by Harper (238) because the
St.ark Museum acquired its oil painting only after Harper's study
appeared. Further complicarions arise because the olk>n-paper
sketch ~ to have disappeared. although Harper evidently saw
it. Curiously. he gives its provenance as the coUection of Paul Kane
IV, the only such listing in his entire catalogue raj nne. However,
Mrs. Paul Kane m, the oldest living member of the Kane family. and
her daughter assure me that Harper never met Paul Kane IV, who
died in 1954, and who, furthermore? owned no paintings or sketches
by Kane. Harper does not mean Paul Kane ill, who was no longer
living When Paul KtmL's Frontier (1971) was published. Harper
identifies any paintings in the possession of the Ka& fumi)y at that
time as "coOn Mrs. Paul Kane m." Thus, where the sketch was
when Harper saw i4 and whaI has become of it. remain a mystery.
29. This trip occurred by York boat, rather than canoe, since
Governor Simpson had introduced the use of these large, unromantic
- because they were rowed rather than paddled - but
safe and efficient cargo carriers wherever stream and lake conditions
pennitted. TIle Alhabasca and Columbia rivers also allowed
for travel by York boat.
30. A mountain and a glacier along this route, the Athabasca Pass,
were named for Kane in 1921 by A. O. Wheeler, Founder of the
Alpine Club of Canada.
31. Harper, p. 22.
21