Shadow warriors
Legend of the bushmen still strong in the North

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 07/98) - A group of people from Wha Ti load up their boat on a warm autumn afternoon in preparation for an afternoon of berry picking.

The sun is warm upon their face as they travel down Lac la Martre. They arrive at their destination and begin the pleasant task at hand.

Their laughter breaks the early evening silence when, suddenly, one in the group, a man of powerful medicine, becomes aware of another presence. The softly swaying trees and berry-laden bushes take on a sinister air of concealment.

Suddenly the man realizes what is happening -- bushmen!

With a wave of his arm, he signals everybody back to the boat. Berry pails spill to the ground and the group scrambles to the safety it provides. The engine fires and doesn't stop until they are safely back in their community.

According to the legend, the bushmen are a lost tribe that possesses special powers and roams the wilderness. Few have claimed to have seen the tribe, but many believe it exists.

"Stories have been passed down for generations of people being picked up or kidnapped from their villages at night, or getting lost on a hunting trip, and it's still believed by some the bushmen took them," says Wha Ti deputy mayor Nick Mantla.

Mantla says he does not believe such a tribe really exists -- "Nowadays, it's modern ways I know, but there are still medicine people who see things."

Medicine people, he says, are able to use their power to seek out those who go missing. They can also, on occasion, reach the bushmen spiritually and keep them from coming into their community.

"You could say it's a lot like the belief in praying to make the evil spirits go away," says Mantla.

"We had some medicine people here last week who took part when the little girl was lost. People with these visual powers somehow sense where the missing are and how they are doing."

Legend says the bushmen have special powers which enable them to live in the wild, keep from being seen, and walk on water. The bushmen's presence is most strongly felt in the fall.

"People have to dry things in their smoke house, a few things go missing, this type of thing, and people believe it's the bushmen taking this stuff," says Mantla.

"It scares the people this time of year. We have some who live on the outskirts of the village and, if their husbands are away to work or hunt, they move into the centre of the community to stay with family or friends, because of their fear of the bushmen," says Mantla.