FOET ELLICE. 



311 



provided with meat, they were permitted to pass us 

 unmolested. The country in the neighbourhood of Beaver 

 Creek is undulating and attractive, but the soil is sandy, 

 capable only of supporting a short stunted herbage. We 

 arrived at the Fort on the morning of the 10th, and took 

 up our camping-ground on the banks of Beaver Creek, 

 close to the broad and deep valley of the Assinniboine. 



Fort Ellice was at one period a post of considerable 

 importance, being the depot of supplies for the Swan 

 Eiver District, now removed to Fort Pelly. The buildings 

 are of wood, surrounded by a high picket enclosure. Mr. 

 McKay, one of the sub-officers, was in charge at the time 

 of our arrival. Some twenty years ago, before the small- 

 pox and constant wars had reduced the Plain Crees to 

 a sixth or eighth of their former numbers, this post was 

 often the scene of exciting Indian display. Formerly Fort 

 Ellice used to be visited by the Crees alone, now it num- 

 bers many Ojibways among the Indians trading with it. 

 The Ojibways have been driven from the woods by the 

 scarcity of game, the large animals, such as moose deer 

 and bear, having greatly diminished in numbers. Many 

 of the wood Indians now keep horses, and enjoy the 

 advantage of making the prairie and the forest tributary 

 to their wants. 



On the 11th July, a number of hunters attached to Fort 

 Ellice came in with provisions, such as pemmican and dried 

 buffalo meat, which they had prepared in the prairies a 

 few days before, about thirty miles from the post, where 

 the buffalo were numerous. Fort Ellice, the Qu'appelle 

 post, and the establishment on the Touchwood Hills being 

 situated on the borders of the great Buffalo Plains, are 

 provision trading posts. The Hudson's Bay Company 

 obtain from the Plain Crees, the Assinniboines, and the 

 Ojibways, pemmican and dried meat to supply the brigades 



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