MATE

8310 F. A. LAROOQUE

of the horses prevented my doing so to-day. Captain Clarke upon being informed that I had to take care of the horses myself, and that they were in danger of being thieved, desired I would send them down, and that he would have them taken care of with his own.

My landlord went down to the Americans to get his gun mended ; they have a very expert smith who is always employed making different things and working for the [udians, who are grown very fond of them, although they disliked thern at first...

30th Went down to the American Fort to get my compass putin order, the glass being broken and the needle not pointing due north, and to see how the horses were. Arrived there at 2 P. M. Fine weather.

Territorial The Captains are busy making charts of the country through

claims of

the U.S. Which they had passed, and delineating the Head of the Mis. souri according to the information they had from the Indians,

who described a river as being four days march west of the last navigable part of the Missouri, which river, they say, is very large ; and the Natives—whom they call ‘“ Snake Indians ” or & Flat Heads ”—who inhabit thereabout go, in a certain season of the year, to that river and live there entirely on fish. The course of that river, they say, is nearly south and has a placid current. The Captains make no doubt but that is a south branch of the Columbia or Ouragan River ; I think it is the route they will take,

Having nothing to do at the !odge, I remained here a couple of days, being pressed to do so by the Captains. They took observations of the longitude and latitude of the place whileI was with them and often since their arrival here.

They differ much from Mr. Thompson in the longitude of this place and say that Mr. Thompson has placed these villages and this part of the river a great deal too westerly, which they

think is They obs they say, a place, They in for, as it end of Lac itstrikes i Missouri a been done as those F country th west woul] territory.

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think is the case with all his observations for the longitude, They observed, sometime ago, an eclipse of the Moon, which, they say. is an infallible rule for finding the exact longitude of a place. But they do not differ from him in the latitude.

They include in their territory as for north as River Qui appelle, for, as it was impossible for a line drawn west from the west end of Lac des Boïs to strike the Mississipi, they make it run till it strikes its tributary waters, that is, the north branches of the Missouri and from thence to the Pacific, which could not have been done while Louisiana belonged to the French or Spanish, as those Powers would not have suffered England to give a country that did not belong to it, and, of course, a line drawn west would have stopped when it struck Spanish or French terntory. Capt. Lewis fixed my “ompass very well, which took him a whole day.

Preparing myself in snow shoes, &e., for going to the Fort, Fennuany. despairing of the people’s coming this winter, and being in ab- &tn. solute want of goods, not for these Indians, for the rascals do nothing, but for the Assiniboines who are upon this river and, to all appearànces, loaded with furs, and who are going to the Fort only in the Spring.

Took an inventory of my remaining goods amounting to 454 7. plues, and delivered them to Mr. McKenzie. Bought a dog to Fo carry our provisions on the voyage and paid him 20 rounds of ammunition, ! knife, 1 awl, 13 china beads and a little vermillon. Set of with Morrison at sunset ; walked five hours, and encamped in the plains.

“get off at half after six ; course, north 24 bout ue We gth. stopped on a hill from ere we could see two large ranges of

hills between which we had passed, one bearing S. E. and the other S. W.; River La Souris right before us, north ; a large hill, called “The Black hill” lying west of north of us. Crossed River La Souris at half after nine and proceeded due north ; leaving the Black Hill to our right ; camped at 5 o’clock in the plains without wood; we made some water with snow in a tin kettle on a fire of buffalo dung which we had trouble enough in gathering, the ground being covered with nine inches of snow.

Slept till 10 o’clock, but the wind and cold would not allow us to renain any longer, so we set off and walked till half past two in the morning when we laid down in a hollow to wait for day break, the moon being set and the weather cloudy.

Rose at day break and found ourselves buried in snow, it snowing very hard and blowing from the north west most violently, so that we could not see ten steps before us, on account of drifting snow. I frose the end of my finger, in belting my blanket round me in the morning. Luckily we had not untackled our dog over night, so that we were soon ready.

Walked as hard as we could all day, but the strength of the wind greatly impeded our progress and made us go about six miles east of our course, which was north. Crossed the deep ravine at 10 A. M. its course is south east. Atsunset, despairing of finding the wood before dark on the course we were going, ard the bad weather continuing, we struck for River La Souris, north by east, at which river we arrived at half past seven. There being no wood upon that part of the river, we again slept without fire, but found a greatquantity of reeds and bulrushes in which we buried ourselves, and passed the night. Bad weather continues.

Set off at 6 A.M. following the south side of the river, but at some distance ;—-our course north ;—arrived at the woods at 10 A.M. being the Elk Head, where we stopped to dry our shoes and refresh ourselves with a few ears of roasted corn, which

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(1) Mr. Laïr the Missouri :

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was all the provisions we ha‘. The weather clearing up, we set off at 3 P.M., course north, the river running nearly the same course ;—crossed the river and encamped in some Indian encampments.

Set off at 3 A.M. following an Indian road which led to the jap. Fort;—course west of north all day; River La Souris running parallel with us for about 14 miles, when it gradually turned to the east. Crossed Rivière aux Prunes at 4 P.M.; passed my wintering house of last year at 6, and arrived at Fort Assiniboine at 8 P.M. Mr. Chaboillez was absent, having gone to River Pain Binat. Heard the news of the death of Simon McTavish, Esq., and the joining of the two companies.

000000000000 000000000000 000000000000 000 Doom

(1) Mr. Larocque remained only a few days at Fort Assiniboine, then returned to the Missouri with the intention of extending his trading venture further to the west ; see, ‘The Mississouri Indians ”, by Charles MacKensie,

Mr CHARLES MACKENZIE