FORT CHIPEWYAN TO FORT M'MURRAY 105 



But old as the fort is, it has no relics — not even a vener- 

 able cabin. In the store were a couple of not very ancient 

 flint-locks, and, upstairs, rummaging through some dusty 

 shelves, I came across one volume of the Edinburgh, or 

 second, edition of Burns in gray paper boards — a terrible 

 temptation, which was nobly resisted. Though there was once 

 a valuable library here, with many books now rare and costly, 

 yet all had disappeared. 



East of the fort are shelving masses of red granite, com- 

 pletely covered by a dark orange lichen, which gives them 

 an added warmth and richness; and on the highest part 

 stood a square lead sun-dial, which, at first sight, I thought 

 had surely been set up by Franklin or Richardson, but 

 which I was told was very modern indeed, and put up, if 

 I am not mistaken, by Mr. Ogilvie, D.L.S. To the west 

 of the fort is the Church of England Mission, and, farther 

 up, the Roman Catholic establishment, the headquarters of 

 our esteemed fellow-voyager. Bishop Grouard.* In line 

 with the fort buildings, and facing the lake, stood a row of 

 whitewashed cottages, all giving the place, with its environs, 

 deeply indented shore and rugged spits of red granite, the 



*The first Roman Catholic Mission In Athabasca was formed by 

 Bishop Farrand the year after Bishop Tachfi's visit to Port Chipe- 

 wyan, about A.D. 1849, he being then a missionary priest. Bishop 

 Farrand established other missions on Peace River, and went as far 

 north as Fort Resolution, on Great Slave Lake. He died In 1890, and 

 was succeeded by our guest. Bishop Grouard, O.M.I. , Eveque d'ltora, 

 the present occupant of the See of Athabasca and Mackenzie River. 

 This prelate was born at Le Mans, in France, and was educated 

 there, but finished his education in Quebec. He was ordained by 

 Bishop Tachfi, near Montreal, in 1862, and was sent at once to Chipe- 

 wyan, where he learnt the difficult language of the natives in a year. 

 He has worked at many points, and perhaps no man in all the North, 

 with the exception of Archdeacon Macdonald, or the late Anglican 

 Bishop Bompas, has or had as accurate a knowledge of the great 

 D6n6 race, with its numerous subdivisions of Ghipewyans, Beavers, 

 Yellow Knives, Dog Ribs, Slaves, Nahanies, Rabbit Skins, Loucheaux, 

 or Squint Eyes (so named from the prevalence of strabismus 

 amongst them), and of other tribes. All these were at one tune not 

 only at war with the Crees, but with each other, with the exception 

 of the Slaves, who were always a tame and meek-spirited race, and 

 were often subjected to and treated like dogs by the others. Indeed 

 they were called by the Crees, Awughkanuk, meaning " cattle." 



