184 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



standing wood, and then a deplorable waste of timber 

 takes place, hundreds of square miles being devastated. 



There was plenty of whisky and rum in the camp at 

 the time of my arrival, which was all private property. 

 It, and the provisions for the season, had been brought up 

 by the Indians, and others hired for the purpose ; and 

 from time to time more was brought hither by the same 

 means ; for all through the winter there Avas occasional 

 communication with St. Catherine's port. Had I been in 

 command I should have insisted on the spirits being put 

 under control at least. As it was, it was no unusual 

 thing for all hands to be drunk. Even Finnock did not 

 put that curb on himself which it is particularly desirable 

 that a leader should. 



Some of the men were very quarrelsome when tipsy. 

 This was particularly the case Avith M'Cullough — 

 " Fighting Jeamy M'Cullough," as he called himself. 

 Down to this time I had thought that Scots, however 

 stubborn and self-assertive some of them are, were all 

 too cautious to give way to unreasoning temper. Now I 

 discovered my mistake. I have never met with a more 

 quarrelsome man than Fighting Jeamy. He was the 

 author of the black eyes and broken noses before men- 

 tioned; and before a fortnight elapsed he had fought 

 with, and beaten, every man in the camp who had the 

 courage to stand up to him; and in consequence he 

 became tyrant over all. 



He drank immense quantities of whisky while the 

 spirit lasted, and was seldom sober at night, though it 

 was only by his excessive quarrelsomeness that his in- 

 toxication could be discovered. " I'm a mon o' tre- 

 mendous pheesical powers, Mr. Founteen," he said to me 

 on one occasion ; and, by way of giving an illustration of 

 his endurance, he sprang up with the suddenness of a 

 madman, and beat his breast with appalling force. He 

 must indeed have been possessed with Herculean strength. 

 It was not long before his relations with Finnock, the 



