INDIAN GARDENS. 97 



Under this sanguine expectation, I left the 

 colony, with the Director, on the 22d, on my 

 annual visit to York Factory, taking the route 

 of Manitobah Lake. As we passed this fine 

 and extensive sheet of water, we saw occasion- 

 ally some beautiful points, or bluffs of wood, 

 and the most striking and romantic scenery 

 that can be presented to the eye. The waters 

 abound with fish ; and the alluvial soil of some 

 parts, near the banks of the lake, promises 

 every encouragement to the active industry 

 of the agriculturist. A tribe of Indians, who 

 traverse this part of the country, have gardens, 

 in which they grow potatoes and pumpkins; 

 and were encouragement given them, by the 

 presence and superintendence of a Missionary, 

 in the cultivation of the soil, and the assistance 

 of a plough and seed corn, afforded them from 

 the Colony, with the view to establish them in 

 a village, there is little doubt, that they would 

 gradually, or indeed soon, become so far civil- 

 ized, as to promote the formation of a school 

 among them for the education of their chil- 

 dren. We proceeded on our way, through 

 the Dauphin River, into Lake Winipeg, and 

 arrived at Norway House, in about a week 

 after we left the Settlement. 



When within about fifty miles of York 



H 



