334 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



little more " talk " that they wished to establish a sort of 

 toll of tobacco and tea for permission to pass through 

 their country, threatening that if it were not given they 

 would gather their friends in advance of us, and stop us 

 by force. We knew that we should have to pass through 

 about 100 tents, so there was some little meaning in the 

 threat. The old hunter, however, knowing Indian habits 

 and diplomacy well, at once remarked that we were 

 taking a large present to the chief of the Sandy Hills, and 

 we did not intend to distribute any tobacco or tea until 

 we had seen him, according to Indian custom. They 

 tried a few more threats, but I closed the parley by 

 unslinging a double-barrelled gun from the cart, and 

 instructing the men to show quietly that they had theirs 

 in readiness. Wishing the rascals good day, we rode on ; 

 they sat on the ground, silently watching us, but made 

 no sign. In the evening one of them passed near us at 

 full gallop, towards some tents which we saw in the dis- 

 tance as we ascended the hill at the Grand Forks. 



One rather significant statement they made proved to 

 be correct, namely, that the Plain Crees, in council as- 

 sembled, had last year " determined that in consequence 

 of promises often made and broken by the white men and 

 half-breeds, and the rapid destruction by them of the buf- 

 falo they fed on, they would not permit either white men 

 or half-breeds to hunt in their country or travel through 

 it, except for the purpose of trading for their dried meat, 

 pemmican, skins, and robes." 



We crossed to the north side of the Qu'appelle when 

 we arrived at the Grand Forks, and ascended the hill 

 bank to the prairie. The Grand Forks consist of the 

 junction of two deep and broad valleys bearing a great 

 resemblance to each other ; the south valley is that in 

 which the Qu'appelle river flows, the other is occupied 



