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We found a party of American Indians, belonging to the Cree tribe, encamped
on the shore a little way from the settlement. The main body had left only a
day or two before. They had come down from the interior to barter skins
for articles of English manufacture and food, such as blankets, cloth, hardware,
and biscuit. The value of all these is regulated by a taiiff with which they have
become familiar; for no money transactions are carried on. In like manner
there is a fixed value imposed on all kinds of skins.
I t is a curious fact that the Indians ’will, on no account, bring in the entire
body of the carabboo deer, or indeed any portion but the skin. There is a
superstition current amongst them, that whoever brings one of these to the
white man will meet with dire misfortune, and that his hunting-grounds will
be destroyed. Mr. Smith informed me that although lai-ge bribes have been
offered for specimens, they have proved unavailing, the Indians declining to
bring in even the head or horns. He added that he had no doubt that, were he
to order an Indian hunter to bring in a carabboo, the order would be obeyed;
but any subsequent mishap or loss would at once be referred to his agency, and
the trade might thereby be very seriously injured. The Indians subsist in a
great measure on the flesh of the carabboo ; but they leave the bones and other
remains on the spot where they cut it up, and invariably tan the skin before
bringing it to the settlement.
Hearing that a bed of marl and shells occurs some way up North-west River,
I proceeded to the spot in an Indian birch-bark canoe. About 200 yards above
the settlement the North-west River spreads out into a large nearly circular
sheet of water, about thi-ee miles in diameter. A narrow channel, similar to the
one opposite the settlement, but of greater length and fringed with the densest
pine-forest, succeeds this, and opens out into another large expanse of water,
called “ Grand Lake.” This is about three miles in-width, and is said to extend
westwards for forty miles, where it terminates in a small river amongst the
mountains. At each of the narrows there are rapids, but not of sufficient
velocity to prevent a boat being rowed up close along the shores. At the
spot indicated, I found a disintegrated calcareous marl, wholly made up of
minute friable portions of a Mytilus-shell. The underlying strata were not
visible, as the shore was densely wooded down to the water’s edge, and the
underwood had only been cleared away where the marl had been dug. The fragments
of shell have the fibrous aspect of asbestos, but crumble -with the slightest
touch. The deposit must have been derived from salt water at a period when
this portion of the inlet was considerably lower than it is at present, and thus
subject to the constant influx of salt water. There are no marine mollusca found
now within many miles of the head of the inlet. In the water immediately
adjoining the marl-bed, and down as far as the settlement, Limnæas occurred in
great abundance, adherent to stones. The water above the settlement is perfectly
fresh, as might be anticipated from the strength of the current. At our anchorage
the hydrometer indicated nearly pure fresh water. And yet the tide influences
the inlet at this distance from the sea, namely, 120 miles. In winter, I am
informed, the amount of saline admixture, iu the -vicinity of the anchorage,
becomes very perceptible. On inquiring whether freshwater springs occur
along the shores, my boatmen mentioned that a remarkable spring was to be
met with about half a mile higher up. On paddling to it, I was much
astonished to see one large and several smaller geyser-like orifices at the sandy
bottom of the river, where the depth was about a foot and a half. Their orifices
were well defined, and could readily be examined, from the perfect clearness of
the water. The orifice of the largest was 6 inches in diameter, quite circular,
and surrounded by a cone-shaped crater of sand. Through this the water spouted
with sufficient force to cause the je t to rise to a considerable elevation above
the surface of the stream. The temperature was at least ten degrees below that
of the river-water, and therefore leads to the inference that these springs take
thefr origin in some of the more distant and elevated mountain-ranges. There are
seven smaller springs, m th apertures varying in diameter from I to 3 inches. The
whole are distributed over an ai*ea of about 8 yards square,—the bottom of the
river in their -vicinity, and even the gravel-covered shore, which, to all appearance
is perfectly firm, affording a most treacherous and somewhat dangerous footing.
I t is currently believed here that some stupendous waterfalls occur at a
distance of about 200 miles up Hamilton’s River. The Indian hunters are weU
aware of the existence of these falls, but speak of them with such a degree of
superstitious awe as to account for their admission of never having approached
within sight of them. They concur in the statement that at twenty miles
distance the roar of the cataract is terrific, and that, on coming mthin three
miles, the vibration of the ground is so great as to give the impression of snb