being accorded to the adventurous brave. The prac- 

 tice was therefore difficult to suppress. 



Fire patrol in the danger season was a very impor- 

 tant part of the duties and during the spring and fall 

 took up a great deal of time as at these seasons the In- 

 dians of the Plains used to fire the grass to secure early 

 feed for the buffalo and for their horses. By burning 

 in the autumn the movements of the buffalo could be 

 controlled in a great measure. In the early days little 

 trouble was met with in bush fires there being little if 

 any settlement in the timbered country, while the In- 

 dians of those parts fully realizing the necessity of pre- 

 serving a timber cover as protection for game and fur 

 bearing animals, used ever precaution to prevent fires. 

 In this connection I may say that in my many years in 

 the country and intimate dealings with our Indians, I 

 have rarely met with instances where one has deliber- 

 ately set out fire in a bush district, and where fire 

 did occur through Indian agency it was due to some 

 mishap such as failure to completely extinguish a camp 

 fire ; again, as a rule their fires were always made in a 

 tepee unless when camping for only one meal when a 

 bare or rocky spot was always selected on which to 

 light one. 



The early self government of the country, known as 

 the North West Assembly, a semi-elective body, framed 

 stringent laws dealing with fires, and with your per- 

 mission I will quote some enacted in the year 1877, and 

 brought into force on July 1st, of that year : 



"An Ordinance for the Prevention of Prairie and 

 Forest Fires- 

 Passed 22nd March, 1877. 



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