arden 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 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 WASHINGTON. INDIAN WOMAN SHOT BY HER SON. SUFFERINGS OF
INDIANS. THEIR NOTIONS OF THE DELUGE. NO VISIBLE OBJECT OF ADORATION.
ACKNOWLEDGE A FUTURE LIFE. LEFT THE COLONY FOR BAS LA RIVIREE. LOST
ON WINIPEG LAKE. RECOVER THE TRACK, AND MEET AN INTOXICATED INDIAN.
APPARENT FACILITIES FOR ESTABLISHING SCHOOLS WEST OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
RUSSIANS AFFORDING RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION 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 re