RETURN JOURNEY TO OTTAWA RIVER 137 



here and there by small savannahs or openings. Along 

 the river banks we saw places where much timber had 

 been felled, more than I should have expected in such 

 an out-of-the-way place. As we approached the higher, 

 rocky ground, there were spots from which a fine view 

 of the surrounding country could be obtained. It was 

 studded with small lakes and ponds, embosomed in the 

 forest. 



Very little small game was to be found on the banks 

 of the river ; and as game was absolutely necessary for 

 our subsistence we were compelled to stop to seek it in 

 the adjacent country. There was large game about, but 

 it was exceedingly shy ; the result of persecution. For, 

 as already stated, this district was much frequented by 

 the trappers. We met a party of Indians, one of whom 

 had suffered a bad accident through the bursting of his 

 common Birmingham gun. Two or three of his fingers 

 were blown off; but he took the deprivation very coolly. 

 At this time I had not the knowledge of surgery which is 

 an essential to a wanderer in the wilderness, and which 

 I afterwards acquired ; but I had a few bandages, &c., 

 with me, and these I gave to the injured man. In 

 return they offered us half of a cariboo deer, which was 

 the first meat that we obtained. Afterwards we shot a 

 wipiti, but it led us a long chase, quite ten miles from 

 the river ; and, consequently, we could save but a small 

 portion of the meat, the ground not being now in a fit 

 condition to admit of a hand-sledge being drawn over it. 



By-the-bye, it is always called a hand-" sleigh " in 

 the States, and also in British America ; and I was often 

 rebuked for persisting in saying sledye. I, however, am 

 rather obstinate when I know that I am in the right ; 

 and I have always declined in both speaking and writing 

 to substitute a Dutch word for an English one, in spite 

 of the pompous assertion of Fenimore Cooper that the 

 millions of America are a people who may coin a word if 

 they see fit. I decline to admit that the conglomeration 



