MUSKEGGOUCK INDIANS. 19 



teach the Indians. We saw but few of them in 

 our route along the courses of the river, and 

 on the banks of the Winipeg. These are 

 called Muskeggouck, or Swamp Indians, and 

 are considered a distinct tribe, between the Na- 

 hathaway or Cree and Saulteaux. They subsist 

 on fish, and occasionally the moose deer or elk, 

 with the rein deer or caribou, vast numbers of 

 which, as they swim the river in spring and in 

 the fall of the year, the Indians spear in their 

 canoes. In times of extremity they gather 

 moss from the rocks, that is called by the 

 Canadians e tripe de roche,' which boils into a 

 clammy substance, and has something of a 

 nutritious quality. The general appearance of 

 these Indians is that of wretchedness and 

 want, and excited in my mind much sympathy 

 towards them. I shook hands with them, in 

 the hope that ere the rising generation at least 

 had passed away, the light of Christianity, like 

 the aurora borealis relieving the gloom of their 

 winter night, would shed around them its 

 heavenly lustre, and cheer their suffering ex- 

 istence with a scriptural hope of immortality. 



In crossing the Winipeg, we saw almost 

 daily large flocks of wild fowl, geese, ducks, 

 and swans, flying to the south ; which was a 

 sure indication to us that winter was setting in 



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