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Page 46
I took my departure from Athabasca on the 24th of August, accompanied
by Mr. Charles Boss, who had passed the summer there as _locum
tenens_, and was now proceeding to assume the charge of his own post,
Fort Vermillion, where we arrived on the 1st of September.
This post is agreeably situated on the right bank of Peace River,
having the river in front, and boundless prairies in the rear. The
Indians attached to it are designated Beaver Indians, and their
language is said to have some affinity to the Chippeweyan. This is,
however, the only point of resemblance between them. The Beavers are a
more diminutive race than the Chippeweyans, and their features bear a
greater resemblance to those of the Crees. They are allowed to be
generous, hospitable and brave; and are distinguished for their strict
adherence to truth.
Most Indians boast of the murder of white men as a glorious exploit;
these, on the contrary, glory in never having shed the blood of one,
although they often imbrue their hands in the blood of their kindred;
being very apt to quarrel among themselves, chiefly on account of
their gallantry. When an illicit amour is detected, the consequence is
frequently fatal to one of the parties; but the unmarried youth, of
both sexes, are generally under no restraint whatever.
I bade adieu to Mr. Ross, a warm-hearted Gael, on the 3d, and arrived
at Fort Dunvegan on the 10th of September, then under the charge of
Mr. McIntosh, chief factor, where I met with a Highland welcome, and
passed the time most agreeably in the company of a well educated
gentleman. The Indians here are of the same tribe as those of Fort
Vermillion, but are not guiltless of the blood of the whites. This
post is also surrounded by prairies. A large farm is cultivated,
yielding in favourable seasons a variety of vegetables and grain: but
the crops are subject to injury from frost; sometimes are altogether
destroyed. When the wind blows for some time from the west, it cools
in its passage across the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains, to such a
degree, that the change of temperature caused by it is not only
severely felt in the vicinity of the mountains, but at a great
distance from them, as far even as Red River.
From the great age attained by many of the retired servants of the
Company, who pass their lives in this country, the salubrity of the
climate may fairly be inferred. Meeting a brigade of small canoes
between Fort Vermillion and this place, and observing an old man with
a white head and wrinkled face, sitting in the centre of one of them,
I made up to him, and after saluting him _� la Fran�aise_, presented
him with a piece of tobacco--the Indian letter of introduction. I
inquired of him how long it was since he had left home.
"Sixty-two years, Monsieur," was the reply; and as the canoes
assembled around us, he pointed out to me his sons, and his sons'
sons, to the third and fourth generation.
I heard of no malady which the white inhabitants are liable to, except
the go�tres; caused, it is presumed, in part by the use of snow-water,
and in part by the use of the river-water, which is strongly
impregnated with clay, so much so, as sometimes to resemble a solution
of the earth itself.
CHAPTER XVII.
ARRIVAL OF MR. F. FROM CALEDONIA--SCENERY--LAND-SLIP--MASSACRE AT FORT
ST. JOHN'S--ROCKY MOUNTAIN PORTAGE--ROCKY MOUNTAINS--MAGNIFICENT
SCENERY--M'LEOD'S LAKE--RECEPTION OF ITS COMMANDER BY THE INDIANS.
Mr. Paul Fraser, a senior clerk, arrived from Caledonia with three
canoes, on the 26th of September, and on the 28th we took our
departure. Above Fort Dunvegan the current becomes so strong that the
canoes are propelled by long poles, in using which the men had
acquired such dexterity that we made much better progress than I could
have expected. As we ascended the river, the scenery became
beautifully diversified with hill and dale and wooded valleys, through
which there generally flowed streams of limpid water. I observed at
one place a tremendous land-slip, caused by the water undermining the
soil. Trees were seen in an inverted position, the branches sunk in
the ground and the roots uppermost; others with only the branches
appearing above ground; the earth rent and intersected by chasms
extending in every direction; while piles of earth and stones
intermixed with shattered limbs and trunks of trees, contributed to
increase the dreadful confusion of the scene. The half of a huge hill
had tumbled into the river, and dammed it across, so that no water
escaped for some time. The people of Dunvegan, seeing the river
suddenly dry up, were terrified by the phenomenon, but they had not
much time to investigate the cause: the river as suddenly reappeared,
presenting a front of nearly twenty feet in height, and foaming and
rushing down with the noise of thunder.
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