Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

108

PRODUCE OF GRAIN.

return of wheat has been from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre. Barley, may be stated at the same produce: but where sown in small quantities, and under particular cultivation, I have heard of thirty, forty, and fifty fold being reaped. Taking the average of the general crop, however, I think it may be fairly stated at the above increase, without the trouble of manuring. That useful article of food, the potatoe thrives well, and returns upon an average thirty bushels for one. Indian corn is grown; and every kind of garden vegetable, with water melons, and pumpkins, comes to great perfection, when spared by the locusts. Some have raised the tobacco plant, but it has not yet met with a fair trial, any more than the sowing of hemp and flax. I failed in the experiment of sowing some winter wheat, which I brought with me from England; but I attribute this failure, to its being sown in an exposed situation, and too early in the autumn, the plant having been of too luxuriant a growth, before the severe frosts came on.-If sown in sheltered spots, and later in the season, there is every probability of its surviving the winter, which would be of great advantage in agriculture, from the short period we have for preparing the land and sowing it in spring. We

FRUIT-TREES, ETC.

109

have no fruit trees, but if introduced, they would no doubt thrive at the Colony. We get a few raspberries in the woods, and strawberries from the plains in summer; and on the route to York Factory, we meet with black and red currants, gooseberries, and cranberries. There is a root which is found in large quantities, and generally called by the settlers, the Indian potatoe. It strongly resembles the Jerusalem artichoke, and is eaten by the natives in a raw state; but when boiled it is not badly flavoured. The characteristic improvidence of the Indians, and their precarious means of subsistence, will often reduce them to extreme want, and I have seen them collecting small roots in the swamps, and eating the inner rind of the poplar tree, and having recourse to a variety of berries, which are found in abundance in many parts of the country.

CHAPTER V.

CLIMATE OF RED

RIVER. THERMOMETER. PIGEWIS'S

NEPHEW.-WOLVES.--REMARKS

OF GENERAL WASH

INGTON.-INDIAN WOMAN SHOT BY HER SON.-SUF

FERINGS OF

INDIANS.

THEIR NOTIONS OF THE

DELUGE. - NO VISIBLE OBJECT OF ADORATION.-
ACKNOWLEDGE A FUTURE LIFE. LEFT THE COLONY
FOR BAS LA RIVIERE.-LOST

ON

RECOVER THE TRACK, AND MEET

WINIPEG LAKE.

AN INTOXICATED

INDIAN.-APPARENT FACILITIES FOR ESTABLISHING

SCHOOLS WEST OF ROCKY

MOUNTAINS.-RUSSIANS

AFFORDING RELIGIOUS INSRUCTION ON THE NORTH
WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. RUMOURS OF
WAR AMONG THE SURROUNDING TRIBES WITH THE
SIOUX INDIANS.

JANUARY 1, 1823.-Once more I have to record the goodness of God in preserving my life, and granting me the invaluable blessing of health throughout the past year.

"God of my life! to thee belong

The thankful heart, the grateful song."

May my days be spent with renewed ardour and watchfulness in my Christian profession;

A NEW YEAR.

111

never yielding to supineness and discouragements in my Ministerial labours, and toils in the wilderness. Of all men, the Missionary most needs strong faith, with a simple reliance upon the providence and promises of God in the trials that await him. His path is indeed an arduous one. Many unexpected circumstances will oppose his conscientious endeavours to fulfil his calling; and difficulties will surround him in every shape, so as to put his patience, his hopes of usefulness and steady perseverance severely to the test. He will often exclaim in the deep conviction of his mind, who is sufficient for the great undertaking-Experience in the Missionary field has convinced me, that there are indeed but few among a thousand qualified for the difficult and exalted work. If that eminent Missionary, St. Paul, abounding in zeal, and in all the graces of the Spirit, thought it needful to solicit the prayers of the Churches that " the word of the Lord might run, and have free course," how earnest ought our entreaties to be of all friends of missions to " pray for us," who, if we feel aright, must feel our own insignificance, in our labours among the heathen, and in our services to the Christian church, when compared with the labours of

112

CLIMATE OF RED RIVER.

the Apostles, or with those of a Swartz, a Brainerd, or a Martyn.

[ocr errors]

The climate of Red River is found to be remarkably healthy, and the state of the weather may be pretty accurately ascertained from the following table for the last two years. We know of no epidemic, nor is a cough scarcely ever heard amongst us. The only cry of affliction, in breathing a sharp pure air, that creates a keen appetite, has been, Je n'ai rien pour manger,' and death has rarely taken place amongst the inhabitants, except by accident and extreme old age. It is far otherwise, however with the natives of the country, who from the hardships and incessant toil they undergo in seeking provisions, look old at forty, and the women at a much earlier age: while numbers die, at an early stage of their suffering existence, of pulmonary consumptions. These are so common, that they may be considered as the unavoidable consequence of privations and immoderate fatigue, which they endure in hunting and in war; and of being continually exposed to the inclemency of the seasons.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »