A great variety of willows occur on the
banks of the streams and the hazel is met with sparingly in the woods.
The sugar maple, elm, ash, and the arbor vitae,* termed by the Canadian
voyagers cedar, grow on various parts of the Saskatchewan but that river
seems to form their northern boundary. Two kinds of prunus also grow
here, one of which,** a handsome small tree, produces a black fruit
having a very astringent taste whence the term choke-cherry applied to
it. The Crees call it tawquoymeena, and esteemed it to be when dried and
bruised a good addition to pemmican. The other species*** is a less
elegant shrub but is said to bear a bright red cherry of a pleasant sweet
taste. Its Cree name is passeeaweymeenan, and it is known to occur as far
north as Great Slave Lake.
(*Footnote. Thuya occidentalis.)
(**Footnote. Prunus virginiana.)
(***Footnote. Prunus pensylvanica.)
The most esteemed fruit of the country however is the produce of the
Aronia ovalis. Under the name of meesasscootoomena it is a favourite dish
at most of the Indian feasts and, mixed with pemmican, it renders that
greasy food actually palatable. A great variety of currants and
gooseberries are also mentioned by the natives under the name of
sappoommeena but we only found three species in the neighbourhood of
Cumberland House.
