﻿108 MURRAIN AMONG HORSES. June, 



pitch or red pines (Pmus resinosa) grow inter- 

 mixed with black spruces, one of them being a good- 

 sized tree. This is the most northerly situation in 

 which I saw this pine, and the voyagers believe that 

 it does not grow higher than the River Winipeg. 



An Indian, who has built a house at the mouth 

 of the river, keeps fifteen or twenty horses, which 

 he lets to the Company's men on Methy Portage, 

 the charge being " a skin," or four shillings, for 

 carrying over a piece of goods or furs weighing 

 ninety pounds. From him we received the very 

 unpleasant intelligence, that not only had his 

 horses died of murrain last autumn, but that all 

 the Company's stock employed on the portage had 

 likewise perished. This calamity foreboded a de- 

 tention of seven or eight days longer on the 

 portage than avc expected, and a consequent re- 

 duction of the limited time we had calculated upon 

 for our sea-voyage. I had used every exertion to 

 reach the sea-coast some days before the appointed 

 time, expecting to be able to examine WoUaston's 

 Land this season ; — this hope was now almost ex- 

 tinguished. Another stock of horses had been or- 

 dered from the Saskatchewan, but they were not 

 likely to arrive till the summer was well advanced. 

 Methy Kiver flows through a low, swampy coun- 

 try, of which a large portion is a peat moss. Some 

 sandy banks occur here and there, and boulders 



