The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America | Page 8

I got a log-house
repaired about three miles below the Fort, among the Scotch population,
where the schoolmaster took up his abode, and began teaching from
twenty to twenty-five of the children.
Nov. the 8th.--The river was frozen over, and the winter set in with
severity. Many were harnessing and trying their dogs in sledges, with a
view to trip to Pembina, a distance of about seventy miles, or to the
Hunters' tents, on the plains, for buffaloe meat. The journey generally
takes them a fortnight, or sometimes more, before they return to the
settlement with provisions; and this rambling and uncertain mode of
obtaining subsistence in their necessity, (the locusts having then
destroyed their crops,) has given the settlers a fondness for tripping, to
the neglect of improving their dwellings and their farms. The dogs used
on these occasions, and for travelling in carioles over the snow,
strongly resemble the wolf in size, and frequently in colour. They have
pointed noses, small sharp ears, long bushy tails, and a savage aspect.
They never bark, but set up a fierce growl, and when numerous about a
Fort, their howling is truly melancholy. A doubt can no longer exist,
that the dogs brought to the interior of these wilds by Europeans,
engendered with the wolf, and produced these dogs in common use.
They have no attachment, and destroy all domestic animals. They are
lashed to a sledge, and are often brutally driven to travel thirty or forty
miles a day, dragging after them a load of three and four hundred
pounds weight. When fat, they are eaten by the Canadians as a great
delicacy; and are generally presented by the Indians at their feasts.
Many Indian families came frequently to the Fort, and as is common, I
believe, to all the aborigines were of a copper colour complexion, with
black coarse hair. Whenever they dressed for any particular occasion,
they anointed themselves all over with charcoal and grease, and painted
their eyebrows, lips and forehead, or cheeks, with vermillion. Some had
their noses perforated through the cartilage, in which was fixed part of
a goose quill, or a piece of tin, worn as an ornament, while others
strutted with the skin of a raven ingeniously folded as a head dress, to
present the beak over the forehead, and the tail spreading over the back
of the neck. Their clothing consisted principally of a blanket, a buffaloe

skin, and leggings, with a cap, which hung down their back, and was
fastened to a belt round the waist. Scoutaywaubo, or fire water, (rum)
was their principal request; to obtain which they appeared ready to
barter any thing, or every thing they possessed. The children ran about
almost naked, and were treated by their parents with all the instinctive
fondness of animals. They know of no restraint, and as they grow up
into life, they are left at full liberty to be absolute masters of their own
actions. They were very lively, and several of them had pleasing
countenances which indicated a capacity for much intellectual
improvement. Most of their ears were cut in large holes, to which were
suspended various ornaments, but principally those of beads. Their
mothers were in the practice of some disgusting habits towards them
particularly that of devouring the vermin which were engendered from
their dirty heads. They put into their mouths all that they happen to find,
and will sometimes reserve a quantity, and present the choice collection
as a bonne bouche to their husbands.
After a short stay at the settlement, they left us to roam through the
forests, like animals, without any fixed residence, in search of
provisions, till the rivers open in the following spring, when they return
to the Company's Post, and trade with the skins and furs which they
have taken in hunting.
December the 6th. My residence was now removed to the farm
belonging to the late Earl of Selkirk, about three miles from Fort
Douglas, and six from the school. Though more comfortable in my
quarters, than at the Fort, the distance put me to much inconvenience in
my professional duties. We continued, however, to have divine service
regularly on the Sabbath; and having frequently enforced the moral,
and social obligation of marriage upon those who were living with, and
had families by Indian, or half caste women, I had the happiness to
perform the ceremony for several of the most respectable of the settlers,
under the conviction, that the institution of marriage, and the security
of property, were the fundamental laws of society. I had also many
baptisms; and with infants, some adult half-breeds were brought to be
baptized. I endeavoured to explain to them simply and faithfully the
nature and object of that Divine ordinance; but found great difficulty in

conveying