MR. GOWLER'S VIEWS OF THE ASSINNIBOINE PRAIRIES. 15] 



Mr. Gowler insisted on my tasting his wife's cheese, and 

 smoking his tobacco, before I departed. The cheese was 

 tolerable ; the tobacco, which was grown in the neigh- 

 bourhood and highly prized by Mr. Gowler, was dread- 

 fully strong, and would involve long training in order to 

 acquire a taste for its qualities. Nevertheless, Mr. Gowler 

 preferred it to some excellent fig-leaf which I offered him ; 

 he remarked that he had grown and prepared it himself, 

 and knew what it was. 



I may here relate, with a view to show how long old 

 associations linger in the recollections of the European 

 portion of the population in this remote region, that 

 when I sat down to table Mr. Gowler turned inquiringly 

 to his wife, saying, u And where is my plate ? " " Oh, 

 John ! you would not think of sitting at table with gentle- 

 men ? " Mr. John seemed puzzled for a moment ; his 

 son-in-law and children were looking in silence from dif- 

 ferent corners of the room. He cast a hasty glance 

 around, and the true feelings of independence and manly 

 right showed themselves, as he exclaimed, " Give me a 

 chair and a plate ; am I not a gentleman, too ? Is not 

 this my house, my farm, and these my victuals ? Give 

 me a plate." 



As Mr. Gowler accompanied me to the gate, where my 

 horse was tied, he expressed, with much warmth of feeling 

 and manner, the following opinion of husbandry aiid its 

 prospects in Assinniboia : — 



"Look at that prairie; 10,000 head of cattle might 

 feed and fatten there for nothing. If I found it worth 

 my while, I could enclose 50, 100, or 500 acres, and from 

 every acre get 30 to 40 bushels of wheat, year after year. 

 I could grow Indian corn, barley, oats, flax, hemp, hops, 

 turnips, tobacco, anything you wish, and to any amount, 

 but what would be the use? There are no markets, 



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