66 



Harmon's journal. 



tolerably well. I understand, also, that she can 

 both read and write it, which she learned to do at 

 Hudson's l^ay, where the Company have a school. 

 She speaks, likewise, the Cree and Sauteux lan- 

 guages. She appears to possess natural good 

 sense, and is far from being deficient, in acquired 

 knowledge. 



Friday, January 2, 1801. The weather, 

 for several days past, has been severely cold. 

 Yesterday, being the commencement of a new 

 year, our people, according to a Canadian custom, 

 which is to get drunk if possible, spent the day 

 in drinking, and danced in the evening ; but 

 there was neither scratching nor fighting, on this 

 occasion. 



Sunday, 4. In the morning, the greater part 

 of our people, consisting of men, women and chil- 

 dren, were sent away to pass the remainder of 

 the winter, about two days' march from this, in 

 the prairie. They will subsist on the flesh of the 

 buffaloe, which they will themselves kill in abund- 

 ance. During their stay there, they will reside 

 in tents or lodges, made of the skins of the buffa- 

 loes moose or elk. These skins, after having been 

 dressed, are sewed together ; and one tent will 

 contain from ten to twenty five of them. These 

 tents are erected on poles, and assume the form of 

 a sugar loaf. Ten or fifteen persons will reside in 



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