304 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



eminent. He still ruled most arbitrarily ; and al- 

 though he had permitted the Hudson Bay Company 

 to recommence business, he had forced its representa- 

 tive to pay a large sum for the privilege of doing so. 

 The chief of the Swampy Indians (who inhabit the 

 banks of the Eed Eiver for a distance of about fifteen 

 miles from where it falls into Lake Winnipeg) wrote 

 volunteering the service of his people in any way in 

 which they could be made useful. They had been 

 stanch and loyal throughout all the half-breed dis- 

 turbances, and had always been most anxious to take 

 up arms against the rebels. The dread of calling in 

 such a dangerous element as these Indians would 

 have been, had hitherto deterred those most anxious 

 for the re-establishment of order from making any 

 use of them. This Indian chief complained greatly 

 in his letter of the inconsistency of our conduct in 

 having made a practice of punishing Indians when 

 they robbed or committed any crime, whilst the gang 

 of robbers under Biel was allowed, he said, to over- 

 turn the lawful government of the country, to pillage 

 private property, to imprison loyal men, and even to 

 commit murder with impunity. A number of the 

 English-speaking people of the low Eed Eiver Settle- 

 ment had, under the sanction of the Protestant bishop, 

 started off up the Winnipeg Eiver to meet us with 

 some large Hudson Bay boats, having experienced 

 guides and crews, for the purpose of assisting us in 

 descending that river. Its navigation is generally 



