This was everywhere on the ground in plenty.

Amongst these people they saw the paunch or stomach of a bison
employed as a kettle. This was hung in the smoke of a fire and filled
with snow. As the snow melted, more was added, till the paunch was
full of water. The lower orifice of the organ was used for drawing off
the water, and stopped with a plug and string.

Henry also noticed amongst the Assiniboins the celebrated lariat. This
is formed of a stone of about two pounds weight, which is sewed up in
leather and made fast to a wooden handle two feet long. In using it
the stone is whirled round the handle by a warrior sitting on
horseback and riding at full speed. Every stroke which takes effect
brings down a man, a horse, or a bison. To prevent the weapon from
slipping out of the hand, a string, which is tied to the handle, is
also passed round the wrist of the wearer.

Alexander Henry extended his travels in the north-west within four
hundred and fifty miles of Lake Athabaska. He met at this point some
Chipewayan slaves in the possession of the Assiniboins, and heard from
them (1) of the Peace River in the far west which led one through the
Rocky Mountains (he uses that name) to a region descending towards a
great sea (the Pacific Ocean); and (2) of the Slave River which, after
passing through several lakes, also reached a great sea on the north.
This, of course, was an allusion to the Mackenzie River. Here were
given and recorded the chief hints at possible lines of exploration
which afterwards sent Alexander Mackenzie and other explorers on the
journeys that carried British-Canadian enterprise and administration
to the shores of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.

After 1776 Alexander Henry ceased his notable explorations of the far
west. In that year he paid a visit to England and France, returning to
Canada in 1777. Whilst in France he was received at the French Court
and had the privilege of relating to Queen Marie Antoinette some of
his wonderful adventures and experiences. After two more visits to
England he settled down at Montreal as a merchant (autumn of 1780),
and in 1784 he joined with other great pioneers in founding, at
Montreal, The North-west Trading Company. Eventually he handed over
his share in this enterprise to his nephew, Alexander Henry the
Younger, and established himself completely in a life of ease and
quiet. He died at Montreal in 1824, aged eighty-five years.

CHAPTER X

Samuel Hea