Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition of 1857: And of the Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition of 1858, Volume 1Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860 |
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altitude appearance arrived aspen Assinniboine banks beautiful birch boats boulders breadth buffalo camp canoe carts Church clay Creek Crees crossing depth direction distance Dog Lake drift Duck east Ellice expedition fall feet deep feet high Fishing Lakes flanks flows forest Forks Fort Ellice Fort Garry Garry Grand Coteau Grand Rapid grass half a mile half-breeds height of land horses Hudson's Bay Company inches Indian islands Kaministiquia Lake Superior Lake Winnipeg limestone Little Souris main Saskatchewan Manitobah marshes Mission missionary Moose morning Mountain mouth nearly north-west Ojibway passed Pembina pemmican pine Plain plateau poplar Prairie Portage Qu'appelle River Qu'appelle Valley Rainy Lake Rainy River Red River Settlement region ridge rock Rupert's Land Sand Hill sandy Saskatchewan seen side soil South Branch spruce stream summit swamps timber Touchwood Hills treeless trees voyageurs willows wind Woods yards
Popular passages
Page 135 - Winnipeg, which mark its former extension; when each willow bush is magnified into a grove, each far distant clump of aspens, not seen before, into wide forests, and the outline of wooded river banks, far beyond unassisted vision, rise into view. It must be seen at sunset, when, just as the huge ball of fire is dipping below the horizon, he throws a flood of red light, indescribably magnificent, upon the illimitable waving green, the colours blending and separating with the gentle roll of the long...
Page 269 - lying to the west of Lake Winnipeg and Red River, and embraced (or nearly so) between the rivers Saskatchewan and Assiniboine, as far west as South Branch House on the former river.
Page 358 - ... to two miles. When the skilled hunters are about to bring in a herd of buffalo from the prairie, they direct the course of the gallop of the alarmed animals by confederates stationed in hollows or small depressions, who, when the buffalo appear inclined to take a direction leading from the space marked out by the " dead men," show themselves for a moment and wave their robes, immediately hiding again.
Page 359 - A dreadful scene of confusion and slaughter then begins ; the oldest and strongest animals crush and toss the weaker; the shouts and screams of the excited Indians rise above the roaring of the bulls, the bellowing of the cows, and the piteous moaning of the calves. The dying struggles of so many huge and powerful animals crowded together create a revolting and terrible scene, dreadful from the excess of its cruelty and waste of life, but with occasional displays of wonderful brute strength and rage...
Page 101 - Nekaiomena of the Indians. Large flocks of passenger pigeons (columba migratoria) flew backwards and forwards over the island, occasionally alighting in dense masses in the small groves. The shores were covered to the depth of two or three inches with countless millions of grasshoppers, which had been washed there during the gale of the preceding night. The greater number of the grasshoppers were alive, and as the rising sun warmed and invigorated them, they spread with much regularity over the...
Page 358 - ... climb to the top of the fence, and, with the hunters who have followed closely in the rear of the buffalo, spear or shoot with bows and arrows or fire-arms at the bewildered animals, rapidly becoming frantic with rage and terror, within the narrow limits of the pound.
Page 4 - The primary object of the expedition is to make a thorough examination of the tract of country between Lake Superior and Red River. By which may be determined the best route for opening a facile communication through British territory, from that lake to the Red River Settlements, and ultimately to the great tracts of cultivable land beyond them.
Page 358 - ... endeavour to pass through them, Indians here and there stationed behind a "dead man," go through the same operation, and thus keep the animals within the narrowing limits of the converging lines. At the entrance to the pound there is a strong trunk of a tree placed about one foot from the ground, and on the inner side an excavation is made sufficiently deep to prevent the buffalo from leaping back when once in the pound. As soon as the animals have taken the fatal spring they begin to gallop...
Page 175 - 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 I got a log-house repaired about three miles below the Fort, among the Scotch population, where the school-master took up his abode, and began teaching from twenty to twenty-five of the children.