19 



off when the missionaries would penetrate into this country 

 bringing the benefits of true civilization with them. 



M. Lajimoniere's intention was to settle permanently in 

 the colony as soon as that place offered a means of subsist- 

 ence to its inhabitants. 



Very late in the summer they arrived at the site of the 

 present City of Winnipeg, but they did not stop long at this 

 post. The colonists had left Scotland but could not reach 

 Red River that year. The vessel which brought them to York 

 arrived so late that the settlers were obliged to pass the 

 winter on the shores of the Hudson Bay. They did not leave 

 there until June in 1812, and after enduring much misery 

 and excessive fatigue, from the effects of which many of them 

 died, they arrived at length in Red River about the beginning 

 of September. 



M. Lajimoniere spent the winter of 1811-12 at Pembina 

 where he had wintered with his wife in 1807. His family 

 had been increased by two children during his stay in the 

 Saskatchewan district. The eldest child, named Reine, it will 

 be remembered, was born at Pembina in 1807, the two others, 

 a boy and a girl were born on the prairies, Jean Baptiste to- 

 wards the middle of August, 1808, and Josette in the course 

 of the summer of 18 10. 



Madame Lajimoniere had a fourth child at Pembina in 

 the winter of 1811-12, who was christened Benjamin. This 

 son was not born in the midst of adventures ; unlike Jean 

 Baptiste no attempt was made either to steal or buy him and 

 his mother was allowed to rest in peace. The winter passed 

 without any event of importance to mark it. M. Lajimoniere 

 was only there waiting for the arrival of the colonists upon 

 which it was his intention to repair at once to Fort Douglas. 

 When the river was open in the spring he went down with 

 his wife to Fort Gibraltar, situated at the mouth of the As- 

 siniboine, and ascended this river for about twelve miles stop- 

 ping at a place which is now called St. Charles. 



Up to the present time Madame Lajimoniere had not had 

 a very agreeable life, as one will easily understand, but at 

 least during the winters she had dwelt in the Company's forts 

 and there she had not felt herself completely isolated. For 

 three years from 1812 to 181 5 she was alone with her children 

 lodged in a little hut a dozen miles from any habitation. M. 

 Lajimoniere had built this little hut of rough boards without 

 floors or windows and installed himself and family in it. 



