Hunting Duck Eggs in the Marshes of Lake Manitoba. 355


liquor is their great weakness. The Assistant at one time went

over to a Sunday-school picnic to which they drove from near and

far. There was a series of athletic events, and he was persuaded

rather reluctantly, to enter a number of them. To his surprise, he

won every event. At the close he was rather scandalized to find

that a lot of them had taken to betting on him and had won con¬

siderable money !


Close to camp was an interesting historical relic in the shape

of a circular trench with a series of separate pits inside it. After

the Minnesota Indian massacre in the sixties the Sioux fled up here,

pursued by U. S. troops. Our Government offered bounties for

their scalps, and the chase was taken up by the Red Lake Indian

warriors. Near a timber bluff in sight of our lodge the latter

surprised the Sioux, and massacred their women and children. The

bucks fled, and, digging' the trench and rifle pits mentioned above,

made their stand. Again the Red Lakes surprised them when,

after quite a siege, they had fallen asleep, exhausted. More slaughter

ensued, and the surviving bucks finally took to the marsh and

escaped. There is a local tradition that one of them, whose arm was

broken by a shot, held his thumb in his teeth to keep the arm from

swaying, and ran fourteen miles to safety. He settled in the region,

and was said to be still alive.


Early on our first morning we launched forth on the mazes of

the reedy labyrinth, taking the guide along to show us the lay of the

region. After this, for the most part, we managed to find our own

way in the marsh. Occasionally we got puzzled, but always managed

to find the way out. As we paddled through the tall canes away up

over'our heads from one channel to another, each one almost

precisely similar, it was easy to realize what care must be exercised

by the stranger who ventures out alone.


Soon also I realized the great possibilities of the place. At

this season one does not, as in fall, see clouds of ducks. They are

scattered out in pairs to breed, but are frequently in evidence.


Turning corners, we would come upon a pair of ducks, or a

single one, unexpectedly. Others were frequently passing overhead,

especially parties of males. Blue-winged teal were often seen, and

also pintails, gadwells, mallards, redheads, occasionally the lordly



