NORWAY HOUSE--ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR--INDIAN FEAST--THE PORTAGE BRIGADE--
THE CLERKS' HOUSE--CATCHING A BUFFALO--GOLDEYE FISHING--RASPING A ROCK.
Norway House, as we have before mentioned, is built upon the shores of
Playgreen Lake, close to Jack River, and distant about twenty miles from
Lake Winnipeg. At its right-hand corner rises a huge abrupt rock, from
whose summit, where stands a flagstaff, a fine view of Playgreen Lake
and the surrounding country is obtained. On this rock a number of
people were assembled to witness our arrival, and among them Mr Russ,
who sauntered down to the wharf to meet us as we stepped ashore.
A few days after my arrival, the Council "resolved" that I should winter
at Norway House; so next day, in accordance with the resolution of that
august assembly, I took up my quarters in the clerks' room, and took
possession of the books and papers.
It is an author's privilege, I believe, to jump from place to place and
annihilate time at pleasure. I avail myself of it to pass over the
autumn--during which I hunted, fished, and paddled in canoes to the
Indian village at Rossville a hundred times--and jump at once into the
middle of winter.
Norway House no longer boasts the bustle and excitement of the summer
season. No boats arrive, no groups of ladies and gentlemen assemble on
the rocks to gaze at the sparkling waters. A placid stillness reigns
around, except in the immediate vicinity of the fort, where a few
axe-men chop the winter firewood, or start with trains of dog-sledges
for the lakes, to bring home loads of white-fish and venison. Mr Russ
is reading the "Penny Cyclopaedia" in the Hall (as the winter mess-room
is called), and I am writing in the dingy little office in the shade,
which looks pigstyish in appearance without, but is warm and snug
within. Alongside of me sits Mr Cumming, a tall, bald-headed,
sweet-tempered man of forty-five, who has spent the greater part of his
life among the bears and Indians of Hudson Bay, and is now on a
Christmas visit at Norway House. He has just arrived from his post a
few hundred miles off, whence he walked on snowshoes, and is now engaged
in taking off his moccasins and blanket socks, which he spreads out
carefully below the stove to dry.
We do not continue long, however, at our different occupations. Mr
Evans, the Wesleyan missionary, is to give a feast to the Indians at
Rossville, and afterwards to examine the little children who attend the
village school. To this feast we are invited; so in the afternoon Mr
Cumming and I put on our moose-skin coats and snow-shoes, and set off
for the village, about two miles distant from the fort.
By the way Mr Cumming related an adventure he had had while travelling
through the country; and as it may serve to show the dangers sometimes
encountered by those who wander through the wilds of North America, I
will give it here in his own words.