398 A JOURNEY TO THE 



is melted down, and preserved in bladders for Winter use,* 

 to mix with pounded [434] flesh ; but by keeping, it grows 

 very rank. The Pelicans in those parts are about the size of 

 a common goose ; their plumage is of a delicate white, except 

 the quill-feathers, which are black. The bill is near a foot 

 long ; and the bag, which reaches from the outer-end of the 

 under-mandible to the breast, is capable of containing up- 

 wards of three quarts. The skins of those birds are thick and 

 tough, and are frequently dressed by the Indians and converted 

 into bags, but are never made into clothing, though their 

 feathers are as hard, close, and durable, as those of a Loon. 

 Goosanders. GooSANDERS,^ Usually Called in Hudson's Bay, Shell- 



drakes. Those birds are very common on the sea-coast, but 

 in the interior parts fly in very large flocks. The bill is long 

 and narrow, and toothed like a saw ; and they have a tuft of 

 feathers at the back of the head, which they can erect at 

 pleasure. They are most excellent divers, and such great 

 destroyers of fish, that they are frequently obliged to vomit 

 some of them before they can take flight. Though not much 

 larger than the Mallard Duck, they frequently swallow fish 

 of six or seven inches [435] long and proportionably thick. 

 Those that frequent the interior parts of the country prey 

 much on crawfish, which are very numerous in some of the 

 shallow stony rivers. In the Fall of the year they are very 

 fat, and though they always feed on fish, yet their flesh at 



* In the Fall of 1774, when I first settled at Cumberland House, the Indians 

 imposed on me and my people very much, by selling us Pelican fat for the 

 fat of the black bear. Our knowledge of the delicacy of the latter induced us 

 to reserve this fat for particular purposes ; but when we came to open the 

 bladders, it was little superior to train oil, and was only eatable by a few of my 

 crew, which at that time consisted only of eight Englishmen and two of the 

 home Indians from York Fort. 



Cumberland House was the first inland settlement the Company made from 

 Hudson's Fort ; and though begun on so small a scale, yet upon it and Hud- 

 son's House, which is situated beyond it, upwards of seventy men were now 

 employed. 



[* Mergus serrator Linn. This species is still very abundant on the coast 

 of Hudson Bay, as well as in the interior.] 



