[Antoninus]

Darn right they were tough. All Northern AmerIndians were tough and smart. Those who weren't died during the winter. You die if you don't prepare a winter food store.

That's a bit of a generalization. The nomadic Algonquins tended not to prepare very much at all. Winter was considered prime hunting season, when they could catch moose and elk when the snow was deep. As a result, entire tribes often had to go days without eating anything. Then, when someone did bring in some game, it was time for the "eat-all" feast, which was exactly what it sounds like. When it was over, there was once again no food left at all.

They also had a habit of not tolerating anyone who was even in the least bit sick in the winter time. The custom before the real onset of disease from Europe was for members of the tribe to treat someone even the least bit sick as if he/she were already dead. Sometimes, they'd even pour cold water on the sick person in the middle of winter to "hasten the inevitable."

These folks lived in a harsh and brutal time.

[dennisw]

Sorry for cut and paste. Northern USA tribes at least had a winter store of corn if nothing else. I can't say about Northern Canada tribes. Corn may have been hard to grow there and not figure much in the diet.>

http://www.thezephyr.com/monson/corn.htm But a store of corn was also needed for winter, so the women parched large quantities for later boiling. In the fall, the women picked the mature hard ears, soaked the inedible kernels, and pounded them in a mortar to remove the tough skins. They served the soft insides boiled with salt or maple sugar. The Algonquin name for this dish was rockahominie, which Americans who survived on it during the winter shortened to ''hominy.''