The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America | Page 7

the Red River, which
he intended to do after he had been on a visit to his relations. He has a
most interesting intelligent countenance, and expressed much delight at
my coming over to his country to teach the Indians. We saw but few of
them in our route along the courses of the river, and on the banks of the
Winipeg. These are called Muskeggouck, or Swamp Indians, and are
considered a distinct tribe, between the Nahathaway or Cree and
Saulteaux. They subsist on fish, and occasionally the moose deer or elk,
with the rein deer or caribou, vast numbers of which, as they swim the
river in spring and in the fall of the year, the Indians spear in their
canoes. In times of extremity they gather moss from the rocks, that is
called by the Canadians 'tripe de roche,' which boils into a clammy
substance, and has something of a nutritious quality. The general
appearance of these Indians is that of wretchedness and want, and
excited in my mind much sympathy towards them. I shook hands with
them, in the hope that ere the rising generation at least had passed away,
the light of Christianity, like the aurora borealis relieving the gloom of
their winter night, would shed around them its heavenly lustre, and
cheer their suffering existence with a scriptural hope of immortality.
In crossing the Winipeg, we saw almost daily large flocks of wild fowl,
geese, ducks, and swans, flying to the south; which was a sure
indication to us that winter was setting in with severity to the north. In
fact it had already visited us, and inflicted much suffering from cold;
and it was with no small delight that we entered the mouth of Red
River, soon after the sun rose in majestic splendour over the lake, on
the morning of the 13th of October. We proceeded to Netley Creek to
breakfast, where we met Pigewis the chief of a tribe of Saulteaux
Indians, who live principally along the banks of the river. This chief
breakfasted with the party, and shaking hands with me most cordially,
expressed a wish that "more of the stumps and brushwood were cleared
away for my feet, in coming to see his country." On our apprising him
of the Earl of Selkirk's death, he expressed much sorrow, and appeared
to feel deeply the loss which he and the colony had sustained in his
Lordship's decease. He shewed me the following high testimony of his

character, given him by the late Earl when at Red River.
"The bearer, Pigewis, one of the principal chiefs of the Chipewyans, or
Saulteaux of Red River, has been a steady friend of the settlement ever
since its first establishment, and has never deserted its cause in its
greatest reverses. He has often exerted his influence to restore peace;
and having rendered most essential services to the settlers in their
distress, deserves to be treated with favour and distinction by the
officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and by all the friends of peace
and good order."
(Signed.) SELKIRK.
Fort Douglas, July 17, 1820.
As we proceeded, the banks were covered with oak, elm, ash, poplar,
and maple, and rose gradually higher as we approached the Colony,
when the praries, or open grassy plains, presented to the eye an
agreeable contrast with the almost continued forest of pine we were
accustomed to in the route from York Factory. On the 14th of October
we reached the settlement, consisting of a number of huts widely
scattered along the margin of the river; in vain did I look for a cluster of
cottages, where the hum of a small population at least might be heard
as in a village. I saw but few marks of human industry in the cultivation
of the soil. Almost every inhabitant we passed bore a gun upon his
shoulder and all appeared in a wild and hunter-like state. The colonists
were a compound of individuals of various countries. They were
principally Canadians, and Germans of the Meuron regiment; who were
discharged in Canada at the conclusion of the American war, and were
mostly Catholics. There was a large population of Scotch emigrants
also, who with some retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company
were chiefly Protestants, and by far the most industrious in agricultural
pursuits. There was an unfinished building as a Catholic church, and a
small house adjoining, the residence of the Priest; but no Protestant
manse, church, or school house, which obliged me to take up my abode
at the Colony Fort, (Fort Douglas,) where the 'Chargè d'Affaires' of the
settlement resided; and who kindly afforded the accommodation of a
room for divine worship on the sabbath. My ministry was generally

well attended by the settlers; and soon after my arrival