Fort Garry--Origin of the Red River Settlement--The First
Settlers--Their Sufferings--The North-Westers--The
Grasshoppers--The Blackbirds--The Flood--The Colony in
1862--King Company--Farming at Red River--Fertility of the
Soil--Isolated Position of the Colony--Obstructive Policy of
the Company--Their Just Dealing and Kindness to the Indians--
Necessity for a proper Colonial Government--Value of the
Country--French Canadians and Half-breeds--Their Idleness and
Frivolity--Hunters and Voyageurs--Extraordinary Endurance--
The English and Scotch Settlers--The Spring and Fall Hunt--
Our Life at Fort Garry--Too late to cross the Mountains before
Winter--Our Plans--Men--Horses--Bucephalus--Our Equipment--
Leave Fort Garry--The “Noce”--La Ronde’s last Carouse--
Delightful Travelling--A Night Alarm--Vital Deserts--Fort
Ellice--Delays--Making Pemmican--Its Value to the Traveller--
Swarms of Wild-Fowl--Good Shooting--The Indian Summer--A Salt
Lake Country--Search for Water--A Horse’s Instinct--South
Saskatchewan--Arrive at Carlton.
Fort Garry--by which we mean the building itself, for the name of the
Fort is frequently used for the settlement generally--is situated on
the north bank of the Assiniboine river, a few hundred yards above its
junction with Red River. It consists of a square enclosure of high
stone walls, flanked at each angle by round towers. Within this are
several substantial wooden buildings--the Governor’s residence, the
gaol, and the storehouses for the Company’s furs and goods. The shop,
where articles of every description are sold, is thronged from morning
till night by a crowd of settlers and half-breeds, who meet there to
gossip and treat each other to rum and brandy, as well as to make their
purchases.
The Red River settlement extends beyond Fort Garry for about twenty
miles to the northward along the banks of Red River, and about fifty
to the westward along its tributary, the Assiniboine. The wealthier
inhabitants live in large, well-built wooden houses, and the poorer
half-breeds in rough log huts, or even Indian “lodges.” There are
several Protestant churches, a Romish cathedral and nunnery, and
schools of various denominations. The neighbouring country is
principally open, level prairie, the timber being confined, with a few
exceptions, to the banks of the streams. The settlement dates from
the year 1811, when the Earl of Selkirk purchased from the Hudson’s
Bay Company and the Cree and Sauteux Indians a large tract of land
stretching along both banks of the Red River and the Assiniboine. The
country was at that time inhabited only by wandering tribes of Indians,
and visited occasionally by the employés of the North-West and Hudson’s
Bay Companies, who had trading posts in the neighbourhood. Vast herds
of buffalo, now driven far to the west of Red River, then ranged over
its prairies, and frequented the rich feeding grounds of the present
State of Minnesota, as far as the Mississippi.
The first band of emigrants--Scotch families, sent out under the
auspices of Lord Selkirk--reached the colony in 1812, and were
reinforced by subsequent detachments until the year 1815. Never
did the pioneers of any new country suffer greater hardships and
discouragements than were experienced by these unfortunate people
during the first seven or eight years after their arrival. They
were attacked by the Canadians and half-breeds in the employ of the
North-West Fur Company, who looked on them with jealousy, as _protegés_
of their rivals of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and were compelled to
flee to Pembina. Here they spent the winter living on the charity of
the Indians and half-breeds, and suffering the greatest hardships from
the scarcity of provisions, and want of proper protection against the
severity of the climate. When they returned to the colony they were
again attacked by their persevering enemies, the North-Westers, many
of their number shot down, the rest driven a second time into exile,
and their homes pillaged or burnt. They went back a third time, but
their attempts to live by the cultivation of the soil were defeated
by various misfortunes. Crops promising to repay them a hundred-fold
were devoured by swarms of grasshoppers, which appeared two years in
succession, and all they were able to save was a small quantity of
seed collected by the women in their aprons. These insects came in
such armies that they lay in heaps on the ground; fires lighted out
of doors were speedily extinguished by them, the earth stank, and
the waters were polluted with the mass of decomposing bodies. The
grasshoppers disappeared, and have not since re-visited the colony;
but they were succeeded by myriads of blackbirds, which made terrible
havoc with the grain. It was not until the year 1821, nine years after
the first establishment of the colony, that these unfortunate settlers
succeeded in reaping to any extent the fruits of their labours. The
North-West Company was at that time amalgamated with the Hudson’s Bay
Company, when the colonists were left in peace, and have steadily,
though slowly, progressed up to the present time. The only misfortune
which has since occurred to them was a disastrous flood, which swept
away horses, cattle, and corn-stacks, as well as several of the
inhabitants.[2]
In 1862 we found them a very heterogeneous community of about eight
thousand souls--Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen, English Canadians,
French Canadians, Americans, English half-breeds, Canadian half-breeds,
and Indians. Nearly the whole population, with the exception of a few
storekeepers and free-traders, live by the Company, and the Company is
king. The Company makes the laws, buys the produce of the chase and of
the farm, supplying in return the other necessaries and the luxuries of
life.
The farmers of Red River are wealthy in flocks, and herds, and grain,
more than sufficient for their own wants, and live in comparative
comfort. The soil is so fertile, that wheat is raised year after year
on the same land, and yields fifty and sixty bushels to the acre,
without any manure being required. The pasturage is of the finest
quality, and unlimited in extent. The countless herds of buffalo which
the land has supported are sufficient evidence of this. But, shut
out in this distant corner of the earth from any communication with
the rest of the world--except an uncertain one with the young State
of Minnesota by steamer during the summer, and with England by the
Company’s ship which brings stores to York Factory, in Hudson’s Bay,
once a year--the farmers find no market for their produce.
It is the interest and policy of the Company to discourage emigration,
and keep the country as one vast preserve for fur-bearing animals.
The colony has therefore been recruited almost entirely from their
own servants, who settle at Fort Garry on their retirement from the
service. It is also their interest to prevent any trading except
through themselves. In 1849 they attempted to enforce their monopoly
of the fur trade, and four half-breeds were arrested for infringement
of the laws by buying furs from the Indians. The half-breeds rose in
arms, and a revolution was imminent. The trial was not proceeded with,
and since that time they have been content to put every obstacle in the
way of free-trade, by tabooing the offender, and refusing to furnish
him with anything out of their stores. This obstructive policy keeps
up a continual ill-feeling amongst the independent population of the
settlement, who naturally enough have little belief in the justice of
laws framed, as they imagine, for the protection of the Company rather
than for the general good. The members of the Legislative Council,
the magistrates, and all other public officers, are nominated by the
Governor.
The Hudson’s Bay Company have, we believe, exercised their almost
absolute power well and justly, in so far that they have administered
with impartiality the laws which they have made. They have gained
the affection and respect of the Indians by kindly intercourse and
just dealing. But the day of monopolies has gone by, and it seems
strange that the governing power of this colony should still be left
in the hands of a trading company, whose interests are opposed to its
development. It is time the anomaly should cease, and a proper colonial
government be established, whose efforts would be directed to the
opening out of a country so admirably adapted for settlement.
From Red River to the Rocky Mountains, along the banks of the
Assiniboine and the fertile belt of the Saskatchewan, at least sixty
millions of acres of the richest soil lie ready for the farmer when he
shall be allowed to enter in and possess it. This glorious country,
capable of sustaining an enormous population, lies utterly useless,
except for the support of a few Indians, and the enrichment of the
shareholders of the Last Great Monopoly.
Since the time of our visit the Company has passed into other hands.
The fact that the new directors sent out Dr. Rae to survey a route
for a telegraph line through their territories into British Columbia,
redounds greatly to their credit, and induces a hope that their policy
will be more liberal than that of their predecessors.
The stationary condition of the Red River colony is not, however, to be
entirely attributed to the despotic rule of the Hudson’s Bay Company,
but in some measure also to the incorrigible idleness and want of
thrift exhibited by the French Canadians, and their relatives, the
French half-breeds, who form the largest section of the inhabitants.
The latter, the most numerous of the two, are also the most unreliable
and unprofitable members of society. Desultory, fickle, mercurial, and
passionately fond of gaiety and finery, they have an utter distaste for
all useful labour, and rarely succeed in raising themselves into any
permanent position of comfort and independence.
They are so admirably delineated by Mr. Ross, in his “History of
the Red River Settlement,” that we shall be excused for quoting his
description. He says, “The Canadians and half-breeds are promiscuously
settled together, and live in much the same way. They are not, properly
speaking, farmers, hunters, or fishermen, but rather compound the
three occupations together, and follow them in turn, as whim and
circumstances may dictate. They farm to-day, hunt to-morrow, and fish
the next day, without anything like system, always at a nonplus,
but never disconcerted. They are great in adventuring, but small in
performing, and exceedingly plausible in their dealings. Still, they
are oftener useful to themselves than others, and get through the world
as best they can, without much forethought or reflection. Taking them
all in all, they are a happy people.” They spend much of their time
in singing, dancing, and gossiping from house to house, getting drunk
when the opportunity offers. They are a merry, light-hearted, obliging
race, recklessly generous, hospitable, and extravagant. Dancing goes
on nearly every night throughout the winter, and a wedding, or “noce”
as it is called, is celebrated by keeping open house, and relays of
fiddlers are busily employed playing for the dancers all through the
night, and often far on into the next day. By that time most of the
guests are incapacitated from saltatory exercise; for rum flows freely
on these occasions, and when a half-breed drinks he does it, as he
says, _comme il faut_--that is, until he obtains the desired happiness
of complete intoxication. Vanity is another of their besetting sins,
and they will leave themselves and their families without the common
necessaries of life to become the envied possessors of a handsome suit,
a gun, a horse, or a train of dogs, which may happen to attract their
fancy. Being intensely superstitious, and firm believers in dreams,
omens, and warnings, they are apt disciples of the Romish faith.
Completely under the influence of the priests in most respects, and
observing the outward forms of their religion with great regularity,
they are yet grossly immoral, often dishonest, and generally not
trustworthy.
But as hunters, guides, and voyageurs they are unequalled. Of more
powerful build, as a rule, than the pure Indian, they combine his
endurance and readiness of resource with the greater muscular strength
and perseverance of the white man. Day after day, with plenty of food,
or none at all, whether pack on back, trapping in the woods, treading
out a path with snow-shoes in the deep snow for the sleigh-dogs, or
running after them at a racing pace from morning to night, when there
is a well-beaten track, they will travel fifty or sixty miles a day
for a week together without showing any sign of fatigue.
The other division of the inhabitants of the Red River settlement,
the English and Scotch, with the better portion of their half-breed
relations, form a pleasing contrast to their French neighbours, being
thrifty, industrious, and many of them wealthy, in their way. Some of
the more Indian of the English half-breeds are, indeed, little better
than the Canadians, but these seem to be the exception, for we met but
few who equalled the French half-breeds in idleness and frivolity.
These different classes have each their own quarter in the settlement.
The English and Scotch inhabit the west bank of Red River, north of the
Assiniboine, while the French Canadians dwell on the east bank of Red
River, and along the south bank of the Assiniboine. The Indian tribes
who frequent Fort Garry are the Sauteux and other branches of the great
Chippeway nation, and occasionally a few Crees, or Assiniboines; the
Sioux, the natural enemies of all the former tribes, sometimes visit
the colony in time of peace.
The two great events of the year at Red River are the Spring and Fall
Hunt. The buffalo still forms one of the principal sources from which
provisions are obtained. Pemmican and dried meat, like bacon with us,
are staple articles of food in every establishment. At these seasons
the whole able-bodied half-breed population set out for the plains in a
body, with their horses and carts. Many of the farmers who do not go
themselves engage half-breeds to hunt for them. These expeditions now
assume very large proportions. The number of hunters frequently exceeds
500, and they are accompanied by the women and children, to prepare
the meat. The number of carts often reaches 1,500 or 1,600. When the
buffalo are found, the horsemen are formed into line, and ride up as
close as possible before the herd takes flight at full speed. Then the
captain gives the word, and all charge, as hard as horses can gallop,
into the middle of the herd. The fattest beasts are singled out and
shot down, and often more than 1,000 carcases strew the ground.
We spent three weeks at Fort Garry very pleasantly. The weather was
beautifully bright and fine, without a cloud in the sky, and although
intensely hot, we enjoyed our lazy life thoroughly for a time.
The Bishop, Dr. Anderson, showed us great kindness and hospitality, and
the Governor of Red River, Mr. M‘Tavish, afforded us every assistance
in fitting out our expedition. The only drawback to our comfort was
the presence of armies of mosquitoes and sand-flies, which attacked
us every night. In order to get any sleep, we were compelled to smoke
out our tent before turning in. This we effected by cutting a hole
in the ground at one end, and lighting a small fire in the bottom,
which we covered up with sods and earth when it was well alight. The
fire generally continued to smoulder and smoke until morning, but it
frequently acted so effectually that we were awakened in the night by a
sense of suffocation, and were compelled to rush out of the tent, to
escape being stifled.
During our stay, Lord Dunmore, and a party of officers of the Guards
stationed at Montreal, arrived on their way to hunt buffalo on the
plains. Their preparations were soon completed, and they started before
us for Fort Ellice, on the Assiniboine.
We found, upon careful inquiry, that it was already too late in the
season to attempt crossing the mountains before winter. We therefore
decided to travel westward, to some convenient point on the river
Saskatchewan, and winter there, in readiness to go forward across the
mountains the following summer. We also learnt that several parties of
emigrants, about 200 in all, chiefly Canadians, had passed through in
the early part of the summer, on their way to British Columbia.
By the evening of the 22nd of August we had completed our arrangements,
ready to start on the morrow. We had engaged four men--Louis La
Ronde, our head man and guide, Jean Baptiste Vital, Toussaint Voudrie,
and Athanhaus Bruneau, all French half-breeds. La Ronde had a great
reputation as a hunter and trapper, and was very proud of having been
out with Dr. Rae on some of his extraordinary journeys. He was a
fine, tall, well-built fellow, with a handsome face and figure, and
was reported to be quite irresistible amongst the fair sex. Vital
was a sinister-looking dog, thick-set and bull-necked, surly and
ill-conditioned. He professed to have been out with Captain Palliser’s
expedition, and was eternally boasting of his skill and bravery in
encounters with Indians, and the extraordinary number of grisly bears
which he had slain. Voudrie was a little, dark-complexioned fellow,
very loquacious and plausible, but making no pretensions to any great
knowledge of hunting or travelling. Bruneau was the son of a Red River
magistrate--a tall, good-looking fellow, but very simple, and the
butt of all the others. Our conversation with the men was carried on
in Canadian French, for their knowledge of English was very imperfect.
Amongst themselves they used a mixed patois of French and Indian, for a
long time perfectly incomprehensible to us.
We succeeded in obtaining very good saddle horses. Treemiss bought the
champion runner of the settlement, and Milton had an old favourite of
his and La Ronde’s, the hero of a thousand runs. Cheadle’s horse was,
however, the most extraordinary-looking animal in the whole cavalcade.
Bucephalus stood about fifteen hands, was straight in the shoulder, one
of his legs was malformed and crooked, his head was very large, and
his tail very long. On the road he was continually stumbling; and when
Cheadle rode him about the settlement, he was at first nearly pitched
over every gate and fence he came to. When the horse caught sight of
one, he made for it, and suddenly stopping, stood stock-still, as a
hint for his rider to dismount and tie him up--an illustration of the
gossiping habits of his late owner. But he turned out the most useful
horse of the whole number, galloped over the roughest ground after
buffalo without ever making a mistake, or giving his rider a fall, and
eventually carried packs over the mountains into British Columbia.
Our supplies consisted of pemmican, dried meat, flour, tea, salt,
tobacco, rum, a large quantity of ammunition, blankets, and buffalo
robes, and knives and trinkets for presents or barter. These and a
canvass tent were carried in six of the small rough carts of the
country, which are made entirely of wood; and although they break more
readily than if iron were used, yet they are easily repaired when
travelling where iron and blacksmiths are not found.
We discarded boots and coats, adopting the costume of the country,
viz., moccasins, and hunting-shirts of the skin of the Cariboo deer.
Our weapons were a double-barrelled gun, hunting-knife, and a revolver
a-piece, which last we only carried when in dangerous localities.
And here we would offer a word of advice to any future traveller in the
Hudson’s Bay territories. If he intends merely to hunt buffalo on the
plains in the summer, when he can take carts along with him, and ample
supplies, let him take a rifle if he will; but if he wishes to see wild
life in every phase, and rough it through the winter, as we did, let
him be content with a double-barrelled smooth-bore, which will carry
ball well. Carts cannot travel in the deep snow, and everything has to
be carried on dog-sleighs. Every pound of weight is a consideration,
and a gun packed on a sleigh is almost certain to be bent or broken. In
the woods the hunter must carry all his baggage and provisions on his
back.
Two guns are, therefore, out of the question in both cases. The hunter
and trapper lives by the feathered game which he kills, rather than by
the larger animals, which are only occasionally met with; and although
he may be a crack shot, he cannot kill birds on the wing with a rifle,
or two or three at a time, as he must do if he would avoid starvation,
and economise his ammunition. A good smooth-bore shoots well enough, up
to sixty or eighty yards, for all practical purposes, and during our
experience we never met with an instance where we could not approach
within that distance of large game.
We left Fort Garry on the 23rd of August, in the highest spirits,
feeling free as air, riding alongside our train of carts, which carried
all we possessed on the continent. We had several spare horses, and
these trotted along after us as naturally as Rover. The road followed
the left bank of the Assiniboine pretty closely, passing through level
prairie land, with here and there patches of woodland and a few houses.
As we passed one of these hamlets, Voudrie informed us that a cousin
of his--the cousins of a half-breed are legion--had been married
that morning, and invited us to the wedding festivities, which were
then going on at the house of the bride’s father close by. As we had
some curiosity to see a “noce,” we agreed, and immediately camped, and
walked to the house, where we were duly introduced by Voudrie, and
warmly welcomed by the assembled company.
After we had discussed some meat, cakes, pasties, tea, and whisky
spread out on the ground outside, we adjourned to the ball-room,
the sitting-room of the little two-roomed house. It was crowded
with guests, dressed in full half-breed finery. At one end were two
fiddlers, who worked in relays, the music being in most rapid time, and
doubtless very fatiguing to the instrumentalists. The dance, in which
about half a dozen couples were engaged when we entered, appeared to
be a kind of cross between a Scotch reel and the “Lancers,” a number
of lively steps, including a double-shuffle and stamp, being executed
with great vigour. The dancing _was_ dancing, and no mistake, and both
the men and their fair partners were exceedingly hot and exhausted
when the “set” was finished. The figures appeared so intricate, and
the skill of the performers so admirable, that we were deterred by our
natural diffidence from yielding to the repeated solicitations of the
M.C. to select partners and foot it with the rest. At length, however,
Milton, with a courage equal to the occasion, and, it is suspected,
strongly attracted by the beauty of the bride--a delicate-featured,
pensive-looking girl of sixteen or seventeen, with a light and graceful
figure--boldly advanced, and led her out amid the applause of the
company. He succeeded in interpreting the spirit of the music, if not
with the energy, certainly with a greater dignity and infinitely less
exertion than his compeers. His performance was highly appreciated
by all--including Treemiss and Cheadle--who gazed with admiration,
mingled with envy, at a success they were unequal to achieve.
Weary at length of the hot room, and the incessant scraping of fiddles
and stamping of feet, we returned to camp and proposed to start again.
La Ronde, who had been in various stages of intoxication ever since
leaving Fort Garry, taking parting drinks with his friends at every
opportunity, had disappeared, and the others endeavoured to persuade
us that it was too late to go further that night. We overruled their
objections, however, and set out. La Ronde made his appearance before
we had gone very far, considerably sobered, and very penitent. He
assured us he had had his last drunk for many a long day, saying, “Je
boive pas souvent, messieurs, mais quand je boive, je boive comme il
faut, c’est ma façon voyez vous.” And so it turned out, for we never
had to complain of him again, and although we frequently offered him
rum, he always refused it, declaring he did not care for it unless he
could have a regular carouse. And thus it is with both half-breeds and
Indians; they do not drink from a liking for the taste of the liquor,
but simply to produce the happy state of intoxication.
After leaving Portage La Prairie, fifty miles beyond Fort Garry, and
the western boundary of the settlement, we entered a fine, undulating
country, full of lakes and marshes thronged with wild-fowl, and
studded with pretty copses of aspen. As we rode along we continually
came across the skulls of buffalo, whitened by age and exposure. A
few years ago buffalo were plentiful along the road between Red River
and Carlton. The prairies were gay with the flowers of the dark blue
gentianella, which grew in great profusion.
Each day was like the one before, yet without a wearisome monotony.
Sometimes we jogged dreamily along beside the carts, or lay basking
in the bright sunshine. When tired of idleness, we cantered ahead,
with Rover in attendance, and shot geese and ducks at the lakes, or
prairie grouse in the copses. Feathered game was so plentiful that we
easily killed enough to feed the whole party, and rarely had occasion
to trench on our stock of pemmican. A little before sundown we camped
by wood and water, hobbled the horses, and then ate our suppers with
appetites such as we had never known before. At night, while smoking
our pipes round the camp fire, La Ronde amused us with stories of his
hunting adventures, of encounters with the Sioux, or of his journey
with Dr. Rae, after which we turned into our blankets and slept soundly
till daybreak.
About midnight, however, on one occasion, when all were sound asleep,
the men under the carts, and ourselves in the tent, Treemiss suddenly
jumped up with a great shout, and rushed, _sans culottes_, out of the
tent, crying, “Indians! Indians! Indians!” Awakened thus rudely, we
ran out after him, frightened and half asleep, and Milton, observing a
figure stealthily moving near one of the carts, dashed at it, seized it
by the throat, and half strangled--Voudrie, who, hearing the noise,
had jumped up also to see what was the matter. When we found there was
no real cause for alarm, we searched for Treemiss, and found him on
the top of a cart, busily engaged in unpacking one of his boxes. He was
still in a state of somnambulism, and tremendously puzzled, when we
awoke him, to find himself where he was, shivering in his shirt in the
cold night air. We had a hearty laugh over the affair next morning, and
concluded that a mushroom supper, and La Ronde’s wild stories together,
were the cause of the horrible nightmare. While we were talking it
over, the men told us Vital was missing. We had remonstrated with him
about his laziness the day before, and he had taken it in high dudgeon,
and decamped in the night.
During the day we met a train of carts returning to Red River, and
engaged one of the drivers, a loutish-looking youth, who rejoiced in
the name of Zear, in place of Vital. The man in charge was the bearer
of a note from Lord Dunmore, stating that he was lying ill at Fort
Ellice, and requesting Cheadle to come to his relief as quickly as
possible. The next morning, therefore, we tied our blankets behind
our saddles, hung a tin cup to our belts, and taking a couple of
“gallettes,” or unleavened cakes, a-piece, set out on a forced march to
the Fort, leaving the men to follow more slowly with the carts.
We rode hard, and reached our destination on the evening of the third
day, when we found that our exertions had been useless, as Lord Dunmore
had left the day before. When the carts arrived two days afterwards,
several of them required repairs, which delayed us two days longer. We
were very kindly entertained by Mr. Mackay, the officer in charge of
the Fort, and amused ourselves by visiting the half-breeds and Indians,
whose lodges were erected in considerable numbers round the Fort. From
one of them we purchased a “lodge” in place of our canvass tent, the
former being far more comfortable during the cold autumn nights, as it
admits of a fire being made in the centre.
The half-breed hunters had just been driven in by the Sioux, who had
killed four of their party, having surprised them while cutting wood
away from the camp. The remainder of the half-breeds came up, however,
and drove them off, killing one, whose bow and arrow they showed us.
The Indians who frequent the fort are Sauteux, Assiniboines, and Crees;
and the half-breeds, nearly all of whom are related to one or other of
these tribes, share their hostility to the Sioux and Blackfeet, and
occasionally join the war-parties of their kinsfolk. The women were
busily engaged in making pemmican, which is prepared in the following
manner:--The meat, having been dried in the sun, or over a fire in
thin flakes, is placed in a dressed buffalo skin, and pounded with a
flail until it is reduced to small fragments and powder. The fat of
the animal is at the same time melted down. The pounded meat is then
put into bags of buffalo hide, and the boiling grease poured on to it.
The mass is well stirred and mixed together, and on cooling becomes as
solid as linseed cake. Although we found pemmican decidedly unpalatable
at first, tasting remarkably like a mixture of chips and tallow, we
became very partial to it after a time. A finer kind of pemmican is
made by using only marrow and soft fat, leaving out the tallow, and
sometimes adding berries of different kinds and some sugar. The berry
pemmican is much prized, and very difficult to get hold of, and is
really capital eating.[3]
In a country where food is scarce, and the means of transport very
limited, pemmican is invaluable to the traveller, as it contains a
large amount of nourishment in very small weight and compass. It is
uncommonly satisfying, and the most hungry mortal is able to devour
but a very small portion. Many a time have we sat down half-famished,
despising as insignificant the dish of pemmican set before us, and
yet been obliged to leave the mess unfinished. The voyageurs of the
Hudson’s Bay Company, whose power of enduring fatigue is probably
unequalled, subsist almost entirely upon this kind of food. It has,
however, one drawback: it is very difficult of digestion, and a
full meal of it is certain to cause considerable suffering to an
unaccustomed stomach. There are few half-breeds who do not suffer
habitually from dyspepsia.
Having crossed the Assiniboine river above the Fort, we now left it
to the right, travelling for several days through rich, park-like
country, similar to that we had previously traversed. Innumerable
lakes and pools, swarming with wild-fowl, supplied us with constant
shooting, and Rover with abundance of work. Canada geese, white
geese, mallards, canvass-backs, large-billed ducks, various kinds of
pochards, blue-winged teal, and common teal, were the most common of
the different species which thronged the waters. Occasionally the
appearance of a new species of duck, or a flock of white swans, gave
fresh zest to the sport. The ducks at this season are most delicious,
possessing much of the ordinary flavour of the wild bird, with all the
fatness and delicacy of the tame one. The broods of prairie grouse were
already full grown, and very plentiful. When driven into the little
round copses of aspen which are such a prominent feature of the “park
country,” they afforded capital sport.
We were now enjoying all the glory of the Indian summer. The days were
of that clear, unclouded brightness almost peculiar to the country;
the temperature of a delightful warmth, except at night, when it was
slightly frosty, the water sometimes showing a thin incrustation of
ice by morning. The mosquitoes and sand-flies had disappeared with the
first cool evening, and we slept in peace.
After passing the deserted old Fort at Touchwood Hills, we came, in
the course of a day or two, to a long stretch of bare rolling prairie,
destitute of tree or shrub, and its hollows occupied by nothing
but salt lakes, where we were obliged to carry with us a supply of
fire-wood and fresh water. When we were coming to the old park country
again, one evening at dark, Cheadle and La Ronde, who were out shooting
ahead of the train, came to a little skirt of wood on the shores of a
small lake, where they awaited the arrival of the carts, in order to
camp. These soon came up, the horses were taken out and hobbled, and
whilst the camp was being prepared, La Ronde walked down to the lake
to try and get a shot at what he supposed were ducks on the water.
He crept cautiously up, but when he peeped through the bushes which
fringed the shore, he found to his astonishment that what he took for
ducks were prairie hens. The lake was dry, and the saline incrustation
in its bed had in the twilight, at a little distance, the most complete
appearance of water. Although it was nearly dark, we had no choice but
to harness up again, and go forward until we did find water somewhere.
La Ronde and Cheadle were considerably chaffed for the mistake they
had made, and Milton galloped off in search of a suitable camping
ground. After riding two or three miles, principally through thick
wood, without meeting with a sign of water, his horse suddenly neighed
and turned abruptly out of the track into the bushes. The quacking of
ducks at a little distance induced his rider to dismount and search,
and there, sure enough, hidden amongst the trees, was a fine sheet of
water. The instinct of the horse saved us many miles’ journey in the
dark, for we travelled far next morning before we found another lake or
stream.
On the 25th of September we reached the south branch of the
Saskatchewan, here a stream of about eighty yards wide, flowing in a
valley cut deep in the plain level, the sides of which are steep and
wooded. The two branches of the river are only eighteen miles apart at
this point, and after crossing the south branch on the morning of the
26th, we reached Carlton the same day, having now accomplished about
500 out of the 1,200 or 1,300 miles from Red River to the foot of the
Rocky Mountains.