Men,
who snored a lively duet, we had many things to lay the blame to.
We were on the move again about 5.30, intending to breakfast at
half-past 6, and start on our travels directly after; but somehow,
what with one thing and the other, the various packing away of our
different packages and parcels into our three waggons, it was past
8 o'clock before we got off.
We were rather amused at the expression at breakfast of our
waiting-maid when asked to bring some more bread and then tea. She
wanted much to learn if we had any more "side orders."
Alcoholic spirits are quite forbidden in this territory; to bring
a small keg of whisky and some claret with us we had to get a
permit from the Governor. I am afraid the inhabitants will have
spirits. The first man we met last night was certainly much the
worse for liquor; and though in our hotel there was no visible
bar, an ominous door in the back premises was always on the swing,
and a very strong odour of spirits emanated therefrom.
Our cavalcade, A - - and the Manager in the democrat, we two in a
buggy, and the two labourers with a man to drive in another
carriage, produced quite an imposing effect. We had to cross the
Assiniboine on a ferry, and then rose nearly all the way to Rapid
City, twenty-two miles, going through pretty country much wooded
and with hundreds of small lakes, favourite resorts of wild duck.
The flowers were in great profusion; but we saw no animals
anywhere, excepting a few chipmunks and gophirs, which are sort of
half-rats, half-squirrels. The chipmunks are dear little things
about the size of a mouse, with long bushy tails and a dark stripe
running the whole length of the body.
Rapid City is a flourishing little town of some fifty houses, and
is growing quickly. It is prettily situated on the banks of the
Little Saskatchewan, and has a picturesque wooden bridge thrown
over the river. We had lunch, picnic style, and a rest of two
hours. There was a large Indian camp just outside the town, and as
we sat sketching several Indians passed us. Their style of dress
is grotesque, to say the least of it; one man passed us in a tall
beaver hat, swallow-tail coat, variegated-coloured trousers,
mocassins, and a scarlet blanket hanging from his shoulder. The
long hair, which both men and women wear, looks as if a comb never
had passed near it, and gives them a very dirty appearance. They
all seemed affable, and gave us broad grins in return for our
salutes.
The Indian tribes on Canadian territory are the Blackfeet and
Piegans. The former used to number over ten thousand, but now are
comparatively few. The small-pox, which raged among them in 1870,
decimated their numbers; also alcohol, first introduced by
Americans who established themselves on Belly River, about 1866,
and in which they drove a roaring trade, as the Indians sacrificed
everything for this "fire-water," as they called it, and hundreds
died in consequence of exposure and famine, having neither clothes
to cover them nor horses nor weapons wherewith to hunt. Luckily in
1874 the mounted police put an entire end to this abominable sale
of whisky.
The Indian is naturally idle - to eat, smoke, and sleep is the sole
end of his life; though he will travel immense distances to fish
or hunt, which is the only occupation of the men, the women doing
all the rest, their condition being but little better than beasts
of burden. The Indian of the Plain subsists in winter on buffalo
dried and smoked; but in spring, when they resort to the
neighbourhood of the small lakes and streams, where innumerable
wild fowl abound, they have grand feasting on the birds and eggs.
The tribes living near the large lakes of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and
Winnipegosis have only fish as food, which they dry and pack for
winter use, and eat it raw and without salt - which sounds very
palatable?
When the Dominion Government obtained possession of the North-west
Territories, by the extinction of the Hudson Bay Company's title
in 1869, it allotted to the tribes inhabiting the country, on
their resigning all their claims to the land, several reserves, or
parcels of ground, which were of sufficient area to allow of one
square mile to every family of five persons. On these lands the
Indians are being taught to cultivate corn and roots. Implements,
seeds for sowing, and bullocks are given them, besides cows and
rations of meat and flour, until they are self-sustaining. They
are also allowed five dollars a head per annum, so that several
wives (polygamy being allowed) and children are looked upon as an
insured income by a man.
This treatment by Government has been very successful, and many
tribes are abandoning their precarious life of hunting.
Horsestealing in former days was looked upon by the young men as
an essential part of their education; but now the settler need be
in no dread of them, as they are peaceably inclined and kept in
check by the mounted police, a corps of whose services and pluck
all who have had any dealings with them cannot speak two highly.
The officers are men of tact and experience, and the corps numbers
about 500 strong. They move their head-quarters from fort to fort,
according to the movements of the Indians and the advance of
emigration.
On leaving Rapid City, we took a shorter track than what is
generally taken, thereby saving ourselves at least forty miles to
Birtle. Our first night, distance about twenty miles after
luncheon, we spent alongside of a small store-house on the Oak
River; we had passed some very comfortable-looking settlements
that afternoon, one, where we got information about our road,
belonging to a man called Shank, who had been settled about four
years, and had quite a homely-looking shanty covered with
creepers, and garden fenced in.
