reception of these vegetables, about the middle of April, and when
Dr. Richardson visited this place on *May 10th, the blade of wheat
looked strong and healthy. There were only five acres in cultivation
at the period of my visit. The prospect from the fort must be
pretty in summer, owing to the luxuriant verdure of this fertile soil ;
but in the uniform and cheerless garb of winter, it has little to
gratify the eye.
Beyond the steep bank behind the house, commences the vast
plain, whose boundaries are but imperfectly known ; it extends
along the south branch of the Saskatchawan, and towards the
sources of the Missouri, and Asseenaboine Rivers, being scarcely
interrupted through the whole of this great space by hills, or even
rising grounds. The, excellent pasturage furnishes food in abundance,
to a variety of grazing animals, of which the buffalo, red-
deer, and a species of antelope, are the most important. Their
presence naturally attracts great hordes of wolves, which are of two
kinds, the large, and the small. Many bears prowl about the
banks of this river in summer ; of these the grizzly bear is the most
ferocious, and is held in dread both by Indians and Europeans.
The traveller, in crossing these plains, not only suffers from the
want of food and water, but is also exposed to hazard from his
horse stumbling in the numerous badger-holes. In many large
districts, the only fuel is the dried dung of the buffalo ; and when a
thirsty traveller reaches a spring, he has not unfrequently the mortification
to find the water salt.
Carlton House, and La Montée, are provision-posts, only an
inconsiderable quantity of furs being obtained at either of them.
The provisions are procured in the winter season from the Indians,
in the form of dried meat and fat, and when converted by mixture
into pemmican, furnish the principal support of the voyagers, in
their passages to and from the dépôts in summer. A considerable
quantity of it is also kept for winter use, at most of the fur-posts,
as the least bulky article that can be taken on a winter journey.
The mode of making pemmican is very simple, the meat is dried by
the Indians in the sun, or over a fire, and pounded by beating it
with stones when spread on a skin. In this state it is brought to
the forts, where the admixture of hair is partially sifted out, and a
third part of melted fat incorporated with it, partly by turning the
two over with a wooden shovel, partly by kneading them together
with the hands. The pemmican is then firmly pressed into leathern
bags, each capable of containing eighty-five pounds, and being
placed in an airy place to cool, is fit for use. It keeps in this
state, if not allowed to get wet, very well for one year, and with
great care it may be preserved good for two. Between three and
four hundred bags were made here by each of the Companies this
year.
There were eight men, besides Mr. Prudens and his clerk, belonging
to Carlton House. At La Montée there were seventy
Canadians and half-breeds, and sixty women and children, who
consumed upwards of seven hundred pounds of buffalo meat daily,
the allowance per diem for each man being eight pounds : a portion
not so extravagant as may at first appear, when allowance is made
for bone, and the entire want of farinaceous food or vegetables.
There are other provision posts, Fort Augustus and Edmonton
farther up the river, from whence some furs are also procured.
The Stone Indians have threatened to cut off the supplies in going
up to these establishments, to prevent their enemies from obtaining
ammunition, and other European articles ; but as these menaces
have been frequently made without being put in execution, the
traders now hear them without any great alarm, though they take
every precaution to prevent being surprised. Mr. Back and I were
present when an old Cree communicated to Mr. Prudens, that the
Indians spoke of killing all the white people in that vicinity this
year which information he received with perfect composure, and