128 A SOJOURN AMONG THE HALF-BREEDS. 



NOTES OF A SOJOLBX AMONG THE HALF-BREEDS, 

 HUDSON BAT COMPANY'S TERRITORY, BED BIYEB. 



RY PAUL KANE, TORONTO. 



Read before the Canadian Institute, Nov. ISth, 1S55. 

 I have already had an opportunity of submitting to the members 

 of the Canadian Institute some incidents of travel among the Indians 

 of the far "West, and especially of those occupying the north west 

 coast, in the vicinity of Vancouver's Island.* I shall now confine 

 myself to a tribe altogether peculiar, not only lying considerably 

 nearer the eastern seats of Anglo-Saxon civilization on this continent, 

 but deriving some of their most remarkable characteristics as the 

 result of the intercourse between the Anglo-Saxon and the Indian 

 occupants of the region referred to. In the month of June, 1846, I 

 reached the Bed River settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 situated on the river of that name which empties itself into the 

 Winipeg Lake. This settlement is the chief provision depot of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, and it is also here that large quantities of 

 Pimmi-kon are procured from the Half-breeds, a race, who, keeping 

 themselves distinct from both Indians and whites, form a tribe of 

 themselves; and although they have adopted some of the customs 

 and manners of the French voyageurs, are much more attached to 

 the wild and savage manners of the Bed man. Fort Garry, one of 

 the most important establishments of the Company, is erected 

 on the forks of the Bed River and the Assiniboine, in long. 97° w., 

 and in lat. 50° 6' 20" n. On the opposite side of the river is situated 

 the Boman Catholic Church, and two or three miles further down 

 there is a Protestant Church. The settlement is formed along the 

 banks of the river for about fifty miles, and extends back from the 

 water, according to the original grant from the Indian*, as far as a 

 person can distinguish a man from a horse on a clear day. Lord 

 Selkirk first attempted to form a settlement in 1811, but it was 

 speedily abandoned. A few years afterwards several Scotch families, 

 including some from the Orkney Islands, emigrated under the 

 auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, and now number about 

 2,000, who live as farmers in great plenty, so far as mere food and 

 clothing are concerned. As for the luxuries of life they are almost 

 unattainable as they have no market nearer than St. Paul's, on the 

 Mississippi River, a distance of nearly 700 miles over a trackless 

 prairy. The Half-breeds are more numerous than the whites, and 

 now amount to about 4,000. These are the descendants of the 



* Vide Canadian Journal, old series, vol. iii, p. 273. 



