30 



Harmon's journal. 



the common labourers, much intoxicated. I repri- 

 manded Mr. P. with considerable severity, to day, 

 and told him, that if I should ever again find him 

 in the like shameful condition, I should be under 

 the disagreeable necessity of informing our em- 

 ployers of his conduct, as soon as we should reach 

 Head-quarters. He promised that he would not 

 again be guilty of such conduct ; but I should 

 place more reliance on his promise, had not his 

 mother been a squaw. There seems to be in the 

 blood of an Indian, a kind of predisposition to in- 

 temperance. — We barter with the natives, receiv- 

 ing sugar for buscuit, of which, as well as of pork, 

 beef and spirits, they appear to be uncommonly 

 fond. 



Tuesday, 13. We are encamped on a rocky 

 bank, where it is impossible to find a smooth 

 place, sufficiently large to pitch a tent ; we are 

 therefore obliged to make our bed between tw T o 

 large rocks, and sleep in the open air. On the 

 north side of the river are mountains, which ap- 

 pear almost destitute of timber, of any kind. 



Wednesday, 14. We shall again sleep where 

 we did last night, as the people have been employ- 

 ed, during the whole of the day, in repairing the 

 canoes, which had become leaky. 



Thursday, 15. Roche Capitaine Portage. This 

 Portage is so named from a large rock, that rises 



