66 EXPEDITION TO THE 



A number of gentlemen, formerly oflTicers in the colony, 

 have remained and settled here ; some of them are repre- 

 sented as wealthy ; several of them expect their families 

 over. These, with the family of the governor, whose ar- 

 rival was daily looked to, will form a small society, cal- 

 culated to refine the manners of the colonists. It must he 

 admitted that the choice of the settlers was in some re- 

 spects unfortunate; instead of good agriculturists, a num- 

 ber of tradesmen and mechanics were brought over from 

 Switzerland ; some of them were watchmakers, unac- 

 quainted with the culture of the soil. We could not help 

 pitying a poor man, who had been an apothecary in 

 Switzerland ; he was possessed of that pharmaceutical and 

 chemical knowledge which the Swiss apothecaries gene- 

 rally have, and hearing of a settlement about to be formed 

 on a large scale, imagined that one of his profession would 

 be much wanted. He accordingly joined the party, stocked 

 with aniseed, Palma Christi seed, &c. all which he soon found 

 would be of no use to the colony or to himself. The place 

 was healthy, but destitute of grain ; his hopes of a botani- 

 cal garden dwindled away at the necessity of handling a 

 plough, and attending to the more important cultivation of 

 wheat, potatoes, &c. 



The history of Red river would, if correctly and im- 

 partially written, offer many useful lessons. The place 

 was first visited by the French, and their arrival there 

 is referred to the visit of the Chevalier de la Veranderie, 

 v.'ho is said to have been the first French officer that tra- 

 velled to the Rocky Mountains. He built a fort at the 

 mouth of the Assiniboin, called it the Fort de la Reine, 

 and garrisoned it with soldiers. The French continued to 

 trade there alone for many years, but about the year 1767, 

 the first English traders visited it ; and, it appears, that 



