A JOURNEY TO THE RED RIVER 59 



men from the Cree hamlet, who were not yet married. 

 I thus interfered with no family arrangements in select- 

 ing my companions; and the remuneration agreed on, 

 consisting of powder, balls, and articles of particular use 

 to Indians, was looked forward to by my younger men 

 as a certain means of enabling them to settle in life on 

 their return. I thus became the leader of my first ex- 

 ploring party, if I may be permitted to dignify it with 

 such a term a hearty and willing party, who had to 

 sever no family ties to follow me. 



The journey was to be by water, and therefore our 

 preliminary task was to make a canoe suitable for such 

 an expedition ; that is, one large enough to contain five 

 persons and several hundredweight of stores, and yet 

 light enough to be portable overland on the shoulders of 

 two men. The task of constructing such a canoe I left 

 entirely in the hands of the four Indians who were to 

 accompany me, and they completed the work in less than 

 three days without exertion, using birch bark, sewn with 

 smew, and all seams paid with resin. 



During the month of April there were several slight 

 thaws, followed by sharp frosts, which made the surface 

 of the snow in may places as smooth as glass. Perhaps 

 from this cause, there seemed to be much suffering among 

 the animal inhabitants of the district, many deer, princi- 

 pally cariboo, coming to the vicinity of the Indian 

 lodges, followed by wolves and smaller beasts of prey. 

 The wolves carried away one child, and severely bit a 

 larger boy ; and committed many minor depredations 

 amongst the dogs and property of the Indians. Many 

 wolves, foxes, gluttons, and small fur-bearing mammals 

 were trapped or shot in this month. 



Early in May the thaw became general, and the ice 

 on the rivers and lakes broke up; and on the 13th we 

 made a start by carrying the canoe and stores to the 

 Ottawa River. This was a very easy stage, as there were 

 scores of willing hands to help us. My hut, and the 



