136 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Breed and are very large. At a Point below the Grand Rapid the Birds’ 
man met them with Horses. At nine I encamped and found that about 
20 Dogs had followed our Canoe hoping to find a good Supper being, 
poor things, half starved. We suffered dreadfully from the Musquitoes, 
a certain Forerunner of Rain. 
1 Lord Selkirk had the Custom of taking down in Shorthand on his 
Nails the Conversations he had with People, which he did unobserved. 
His Nails were very large. 
The Pamina is a small River which runs into the Red River about 
70 Miles from the Colony. It is an Indian Name and so called from a 
small Shrub producing a red Berry not unlike Cranberries.” (A Bag of 
Pemican weighs 80 pound. The Price at Red River is 5 Pence to 6 
Pence). The Colonists pay for Goods at York 75 per Cent. on Invoice 
Price. Ifthe Company conveys them to Red River then 25 per Cent. is 
added which about covers the Expense, but the Colonists may, if they 
prefer it, transfer the Goods themselves. The Price of Labour at Red 
River is one Dollar per Day, 4s. 6 with Food. A Tradesman, Carpenter, 
&e., two Dollars. A Man can live on Fish at a Shilling a Day. Food 
at present plenty, but as the Colonists encrease in Number it will become 
Scarce, but the Transport by Water is easy and the Woods in the Neigh- 
bourhood in great Plenty. Cutting and Transport [Timber] Oak, Elm, 
Ash, Aspen, Poplar.® 
Fifty half Breeds with their Families, averaging four Persons, live 
by hunting Buffaloe. For each Buffaloe they receive four Dollars or 18 
shillings on the Spot. The Trees from Lac La Pluie are sent by Rainy 
Lake River, Lake of the Woods, the Winnipic River, its Continuation, 
the Lac de Bonnet and White River, Lake Winnipic and Norway House. 
Saturday the 4th of August. At one in the morning we had the 
most tremendous Thunderstorm I ever witnessed. My Tent was 
drenched in a Moment not giving me Time to dress. At 4 o’clock I 
embarked and at half-past eight arrived at the Hudson’s Bay House. 
About six Miles before, the Houses commence on each Side of the River, 
small wooden Houses. The Grasshoppers have again visited the Colony, 
but in fewer Numbers, and their Devastations were not general, the 

1 Note on the Colony of Pembina. The diary continues under date of Aug. 4 
below. 
2 Pembina. The Indian word is anepeminan, or nipi-mina. So the b in Pem- 
bina is intrusive, and the spelling in the text is nearer the Indian form. “The 
berry is that of Vibernum Opulus, the high-bush cranberry, according to Henry 
(Coues), vol. 1, p. 82, note. Macoun in “Canada and the great N. W.” (Guelph, 1882) 
speaks of V. Lentago as Pembina berries. 
3 Quercus macrocarpa, var. Ulmus Americana, Fraxinus Pubescens, Populus 
tremuloides, and P. balsamifera. Cf. Macoun, “Canada and the Great N. W.” 
(Guelph, 1882), c. xix. 
