They Were The Cheerful
Drudges Of The Party, Loading And Unloading The Horses, Pitching
The Tents, Making The Fires, Cooking; In Short, Performing All
Those Household And Menial Offices Which The Indians Usually
Assign To The Squaws; And, Like The Squaws, They Left All The
Hunting And Fighting To Others.
A Canadian has but little
affection for the exercise of the rifle.
The progress of the party was but slow for the first few days.
Some of the men were indisposed; Mr. Crooks, especially, was so
unwell that he could not keep on his horse. A rude kind of litter
was, therefore, prepared for him, consisting of two long poles,
fixed, one on each side of two horses, with a matting between
them, on which he reclined at full length, and was protected from
the sun by a canopy of boughs.
On the evening of the 23d (July) they encamped on the banks of
what they term Big River; and here we cannot but pause to lament
the stupid, commonplace, and often ribald names entailed upon the
rivers and other features of the great West, by traders and
settlers. As the aboriginal tribes of these magnificent regions
are yet in existence, the Indian names might easily be recovered;
which, besides being in general more sonorous and musical, would
remain mementoes of the primitive lords of the soil, of whom in a
little while scarce any traces will be left. Indeed, it is to be
wished that the whole of our country could be rescued, as much as
possible, from the wretched nomenclature inflicted upon it, by
ignorant and vulgar minds; and thismight be done, in a great
degree, by restoring the Indian names, wherever significant and
euphonious.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 262 of 615
Words from 70697 to 70983
of 165649
