From Georgetown on the Red to Norway House on the Nelson--Old Fort
Garry--Governor MacTavish--York boats--Indian gamblers--Welcome by H.
B. Co. people.
I think it was the sixth day out from Georgetown that we again
entered Canada. Late in the evening of the eighth day we rounded the
point at the mouth of the Assiniboine, and landed at Fort Garry.
It was raining hard, and mud was plentiful.
I climbed the banks and saw the walls and bastions of the fort, and
looked out northward on the plains and saw one house.
Where that house stood, now stands the city of Winnipeg.
Fortunately for us a brigade of York boats was then loading to
descend the rivers and lakes, and cross the many portages to York
Factory on Hudson's Bay.
Father lost no time in securing a passage in one of these, which was
to start the next morning. In the meantime, Governor MacTavish
invited father and mother and sisters to quarters in his own home for
the night.
My work was to transfer our luggage to the York boat, and then stay
and look after it, for it was evident that our new crew were pretty
well drunk.
Near dark we heard a strange noise up the Red, and one of the boatmen
said, "Indians coming!" And sure enough a regular fleet of wild Red
Lake Ojibways hove in sight, and, singing and paddling in time, came
ashore right beside us. Painted and feathered, and strangely
costumed, these were real specimens of North American Indians.
As was customary, the Hudson's Bay Company served them out a "regale"
of rum, and very soon the night was made hideous with the noise of
their drunken bout.
I had a big time keeping them out of our boat, but here my
acquaintance with their language served me in good turn.
[Illustration: I HAD A BIG TIME KEEPING THEM OUT OF OUR BOAT]
Until near morning I kept my vigil in the bow of our boat, and then
our steersman woke up, and was sufficiently sobered to relieve me,
and I took his blanket and slept a short time.
Early in the day we made our start for Norway House. This we trusted
was our last transfer.
Our craft was an agreeable change to the clumsy barge. This was more
like a bateau built and used on our eastern lakes, but lighter and
stronger, capable of standing a good sea, and making good time under
sail. The boat was manned with eight men and a steersman. One of
the eight was the bowman.
With our eight big oars keeping stroke, we swept around the point and
again took the Red for Lake Winnipeg and beyond. Our quarters in the
open boat were small, and, for our party, crowded, but we hoped to
reach our destination in a few days.
We had but four hundred miles more to make to what was to be our new
home.
We were now passing through the old Red River settlement, St. John's,
St. Boniface, Kildonan, the homes of the people on either bank, many
of these making one think that these folk literally believed in the
old saw, "Man wants but little here below, nor wants that little
long." Here, as everywhere in the North-West, the influence of the
great herds of buffalo on the plain, and big shoals of fish in the
lakes and rivers, was detrimental to the permanent prosperity of a
people. You cannot really civilize a hunter or a fisherman until you
wean him from these modes of making a livelihood.
We passed Stone Fort and Archdeacon Cowley's Mission, where for a
lifetime this venerable servant of God labored for the good of men;
then on to the mouth of the Red, which we camped at the second day.
We had many delays coming through the settlements, but now were
fairly off.
Up to this time father and I had not let our crew know that we
understood the Ojibway, or, as it was termed here, the Salteaux.
Often had we been much amused at the remarks some of these men had
made about us, but seeing a muskrat near the boat, I forgot all
caution and shouted in Indian to a man with a gun to shoot it. The
man let the muskrat go because of his wonder at my use of the
language. "_Te wa_," said he, "this fellow speaks as ourselves;" and
then we became great friends.
Here for the first time in my life I found myself amongst Indian
gamblers.
Whenever we were wind-bound, some of the various crews (for there
were a number of boats) would form gambling circles, and with drum
and song play "odd or even," or something similar.
Here the man most gifted with mind-reading power would invariably
come off the winner.
Our men seemed passionately fond of this kind of gambling, and it was
one of the habits the missionary had to contend against, for to the
Indian there was associated with this the supernatural and
heathenish, and often these gambling circles would break up for the
time with a stabbing or shooting scrape.
Sometimes wind-bound, sometimes sailing, sometimes pulling, merely
calling at Berens River post, where some ten or twelve years later
Rev. E. R. Young began a mission, and presently we had gone the
greater part of the length of Lake Winnipeg, had entered one of the
outward and sea-bound branches of the Nelson, had crossed the
island-dotted and picturesque Play-green Lake, had come down the Jack
River, and on the tenth day from Fort Garry, pulled up at Norway
House, and met a very kind welcome from the Hudson's Bay Factor and
his lady, and indeed from everybody.
We were still two miles from Rossville. Our new friends manned a
boat and took us over. Here we found the Rev. Robt. Brooking and
family; and as no news had preceded us, we brought them word of their
being relieved. Great was their joy, and ours was not a little, for
we had now reached our objective point for the present. Here was our
home, and here were we to work and labor, each according to his
ability.