PERE LACOxME. 185 



the projected bear-hunt. He welcomed us very 

 cordially, and informed us that no day had yet 

 been fixed, but that he intended to preach a crusade 

 against the marauders on the following Sunday, 

 when a time should be appointed for the half-breeds 

 to assemble for the hunt. 



Pere Lacome was an exceedingly intelligent 

 man, and we found his society very agreeable. 

 Although a French Canadian, he spoke English very 

 fluently, and his knowledge of the Cree language 

 was acknowledged by the half-breeds to be superior 

 to their own. Gladly accepting his invitation to 

 stay and dine, we followed him into his house, 

 which contained only a single room with a sleeping 

 loft above. The furniture consisted of a small table 

 and a couple of rough chairs, and, the walls were 

 adorned with several coloured prints, amongst which 

 were a portrait of his Holiness the Pope, another of 

 the Bishop of Red River, and a picture representing 

 some very substantial and stolid-looking angels, 

 lifting very jolly saints out of the flames of purgatory. 

 After a capital dinner on soup, fish, and dried meat, 

 with delicious vegetables, we strolled round the 

 settlement in company with our host. He showed 

 us several very respectable farms, with rich corn- 

 fields, large bands of horses, and herds of fat cattle. 

 He had devoted himself to the work of improving 

 the condition of his flock, had brought out at great 

 expense ploughs, and other farming implements for 

 their use, and was at present completing a corn 

 mill, to be worked by horse poAver. He had built a 



