[GARRY ] DIARY OF NICHOLAS GARRY 113 
Latitude from 49 to 464 it would be 24 Degrees or 150 Miles in Breadth. 
We were dreadfully annoyed by the Musquitoes at Breakfast and as 
it rained in Torrents we were drenched with Rain. In this State with- 
out any means of changing our Clothes we were forced to enter our 
Canoe. It required a good deal of Philosophy to bear up against Rain, 
Fog and Musquitoes which are in travelling real Miseries. The Fog 
however cleared up. We Passed several Flocks of Swans and Wild 
Ducks. The Coast is barren; primitive Rock, singularly intermixed 
with Granite and Black Stone resembling Iron Ore. The Lands behind 
were mountainous and covered with Trees, Maple, Poplar and Black 
Pine. We heard at the Sault a melancholy History of the Death of an 
excellent Indian. A Friend of his had killed an Indian. The Family 
to revenge this Death appointed one of their Tribe not to kill the Mur- 
derer, but his dearest Friend considering he would suffer more in the 
Death of the Person he loved than in dying himself. This is a Refine- 
ment of savage Cruelty and Revenge which only the Devil could have 
put into their Heads. This is not a solitary Instance but it is their 
Custom. At 4 past 1 we passed an Island which a few Years before had 
been the Scene of a most melancholy Event. In the Year 18171 when 
Lord Selkirk took Fort William he sent two Canoes full of Prisoners, 
Mr. William McGillivray and other Partners of the North-West [Com- 
pany] to Montreal under the charge of an Officer of the Meuron Regi- 
ment. On leaving an Island it began to blow and the Officer enquired 
whether there was Danger. He was assured there was not; nor indeed 
was there had the Canoe, which upset, been properly managed. When 
one of the Canoes was about 300 Yards from the Island she unfortun- 
ately upset and a Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie Partner of the North West 
[Company], 4 Soldiers and 6 Illiquois were drowned. Dr. McLaughlin 
with the remaining part of the Crew were saved. The Doctor was taken 
lifeless to the Shore and it was long before he was restored. 
At four we landed to Dinner ona small Island. At five we again 
embarked and at 9 encamped, wet and uncomfortable, but an immense 
Fire soon dried our Clothes. After putting about a dozen of Trees on 
the Fire one of the Voyageurs a Man six Feet high and of herculean 
make, who was called in consequence “ La Petite Vierge,” fancying we 
had not Fire enough brought us another immense Tree which few men 
could have carried. Everything here is on a grand Scale and it is really 
not the Story of a Traveller that our Fires were made of whole Trees. 
In all the Forests a great Proportion of the Trees are withered Trunks 

1 Aug. 13th, 1816. 
