On the south-west side were two forts
belonging to the Companies and near them a solitary hill seven or eight
hundred feet high. At eight P.M. we encamped in the Methye River at the
confluence of the river Pembina. A route has been explored by it to the
Red Willow River across the height of land, but the difficulties of it
were so great that the ordinary route is preferred.
On the 3rd we passed through the Methye River and encamped on the borders
of the Methye Lake. The soil from Isle a la Crosse to this place is sandy
with some portion of clay and the trees numerous; but the Methye River is
stony and so shallow that, to lighten the canoes, we made two portages of
five and two miles. The paths were overflowed with cold spring water and
barricaded by fallen trees; we should have been contented to immerse
ourselves wholly had the puddle been sufficiently deep for the mosquitoes
devoured every part that was exposed to them.
On the 4th we crossed the Methye Lake and landed at the portage on the
north-west side in one of the sources of the Missinippi. The lake is
seventeen miles in length with a large island in the middle. We proceeded
to the north side of the portage with two men carrying a tent and some
instruments, leaving the canoes and cargoes to be transported by daily
journeys of two or three miles. The distance is fourteen statute miles
and there are two small lakes about five miles from the north side.
Several species of fish were found in them though they have no known
communication with any other body of water, being situated on the
elevation of the height. The road was a gentle ascent, miry from the late
rainy weather and shaded by pines, poplars, birches, and cypresses, which
terminated our view. On the north side we discovered through an opening
in the trees that we were on a hill eight or nine hundred feet high and
at the edge of a steep descent. We were prepared to expect an extensive
prospect, but the magnificent scene before us was so superior to what the
nature of the country had promised that it banished even our sense of
suffering from the mosquitoes which hovered in clouds about our heads.
Two parallel chains of hills extended towards the setting sun, their
various projecting outlines exhibiting the several gradations of distance
and the opposite bases closing at the horizon. On the nearest eminence
the objects were clearly defined by their dark shadows; the yellow rays
blended their softening hues with brilliant green on the next, and beyond
it all distinction melted into gray and purple. In the long valley
between, the smooth and colourless Clear Water River wound its spiral
course, broken and shattered by encroaching woods. An exuberance of rich
herbage covered the soil and lofty trees climbed the precipice at our
feet, hiding its brink with their summits. Impatient as we were and
blinded with pain we paid a tribute of admiration, which this beautiful
landscape is capable of exciting unaided by the borrowed charms of a calm
atmosphere, glowing with the vivid tints of evening.
We descended to the banks of the Clear Water River and, having encamped,
the two men returned to assist their companions. We had sometimes before
procured a little rest by closing the tent and burning wood or flashing
gunpowder within, the smoke driving the mosquitoes into the crannies of
the ground. But this remedy was now ineffectual though we employed it so
perseveringly as to hazard suffocation: they swarmed under our blankets,
goring us with their envenomed trunks and steeping our clothes in blood.
We rose at daylight in a fever and our misery was unmitigated during our
whole stay.
The mosquitoes of America resemble in shape those of Africa and Europe
but differ essentially in size and other particulars. There are two
distinct species, the largest of which is brown and the smallest black.
Where they are bred cannot easily be determined for they are numerous in
every soil. They make their first appearance in May and the cold destroys
them in September; in July they are most voracious and, fortunately for
the traders, the journeys from the trading posts to the factories are
generally concluded at that period. The food of the mosquito is blood
which it can extract by penetrating the hide of a buffalo; and if it is
not disturbed it gorges itself so as to swell its body into a transparent
globe. The wound does not swell like that of the African mosquito, but it
is infinitely more painful; and when multiplied a hundredfold and
continued for so many successive days it becomes an evil of such
magnitude that cold, famine, and every other concomitant of an
inhospitable climate must yield the pre-eminence to it. It chases the
buffalo to the plains, irritating him to madness; and the reindeer to the
seashore, from which they do not return till the scourge has ceased.
On the 6th the thermometer was 106 degrees in the sun and on the 7th 110
degrees. The mosquitoes sought the shade in the heat of the day. It was
some satisfaction to us to see the havoc made among them by a large and
beautiful species of dragonfly called the mosquito hawk, which wheeled
through their retreats swallowing their prey without a momentary
diminution of speed. But the temporary relief that we had hoped for was
only an exchange of tormentors: our new assailant, the horsefly, or
bulldog, ranged in the hottest glare of the sun and carried off a portion
of flesh at each attack. Another noxious insect, the smallest but not the
least formidable, was the sandfly known in Canada by the name of the
brulot.
