132 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



Eiver, where the medicine drum and rattle may be 

 heard more frequently in some parishes than the sound 

 of church bells. 



A conjuror celebrated for the potency of his charms 

 will often exercise a very injurious influence over an 

 entire band, consisting of ten or twelve families, in deter- 

 ring them from frequenting particular hunting or fishing- 

 grounds if they offend him. From numerous instances 

 of this dangerous influence, I select the following, which 

 occurred on the Little Saskatchewan, or as it is sometimes 

 called, Dauphin Eiver. When ascending that stream, we 



Medicine Eattle. 



came upon a large camp of Swampys, who were on their 

 way to the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fairford. 

 Their usual wintering-place was at the Pike's Head near 

 the mouth of Jack-fish Eiver, an excellent fishing station 

 on Lake Winnipeg, but they had abandoned the inten- 

 tion of wintering there, in consequence of a threat which 

 had been conveyed to them from a noted conjuror styled 

 " the Badger," of the Grand Eapid of the Saskatchewan, 

 to the effect that " if the band ventured to winter at 

 the Pike's Head, he would do something." This am- 

 biguous threat was quite sufficient to deter them from 



