286 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



able clearance; and a large extent covered with bushes 

 bore evidence to there having been here at one time a 

 good-sized farm. There was a garden close to the 

 dwelling-house, where there were peas, potatoes, and 

 onions growing, and apparently going to waste, until 

 we arrived to partake of them. 



A mill for grinding corn had once existed here, 

 there being water-power enough on the spot to drive 

 every mill in America, but it had disappeared. There 

 was an air of decay and neglect about the whole place 

 that bespoke either poverty or want of energy on the 

 part of those in charge. The half-breed race to which 

 the officers of the Hudson Bay Company at such posts 

 generally belong now is extremely apathetic there 

 is no go-aheadness about it ; and in these out-of-the- 

 way localities the half-breeds quickly go back to the 

 manners, customs, and mode of living of their Indian 

 mothers. They live upon fish as their Indian an- 

 cestors did, and, like them, have no appreciation of 

 the value of cleanliness or order. 



By the rules of the Company it is compulsory to 

 have at each post an ice-house, a garden, and a few 

 cows ; so they have them, but they seem to care for 

 none of these things. 



The fertile belt of land along the north bank of 

 Eainy Eiver is only about a mile in width, great 

 swamps existing between it and the chain of lakes 

 which lies to the northward. There had been a large 

 Indian encampment here' during the early part of 



