River—a magnificent stream three hundred yards broad and a couple of hundred miles long, down whose tranquil bosom he floats to the Lake of the Woods, where he finds himself on a sheet of water which, though diminutive as compared with the inland seas he has left behind him, will probably be found sufficiently extensive to render him fearfully sea-sick during his passage across it.
For the last eighty miles of his voyage, however, he will be consoled by sailing through a succession of land-locked channels, the beauty of whose scenery, while it resembles, certainly excels, the far-famed Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence.
From this lacustrine paradise of sylvan beauty we are able at once to transfer our friend to the Winnipeg, a river whose existence in the very heart and centre of the continent is in itself one of Nature's most delightful miracles—so beautiful and varied are its rocky banks, its tufted islands; so broad, so deep, so fervid is the volume of its waters, the extent of their lake-like expansions, and the tremendous power of their rapids.
At last let us suppose we have landed our traveller at the town of Winnipeg, the half-way house of the continent, the capital of the Prairie Province.... Having had so much of water, having now reached the home of the buffalo, like the extenuated Falstaff he naturally "babbles of green fields" and careers in imagination over the green grasses of the prairie. Not at all.... We take him down to your quay and ask him which he will ascend first—the Red River or the Assiniboine—two streams, the one five hundred miles long, the other four hundred and eighty, which so happily mingle their waters within your city limits. After having given him a preliminary canter up these respective rivers, we take him off to Lake Winnipeg, an inland sea 300 miles long and upwards of 60 broad, during the navigation of which, for many a weary hour, he will find himself out of sight of land, and probably a good deal more indisposed than ever he was on the Lake of the Woods, or even the Atlantic.
At the north-west angle of Lake Winnipeg he hits upon the mouth of the Saskatchewan, the gateway of the North-West, and the starting-point to another 1500 miles of navigable water flowing nearly due East and West between its alluvial banks.
Having now reached the foot of the Rocky Mountains, our Ancient Mariner—for by this time he will be quite entitled to such an appellation—knowing that water cannot run uphill, feels certain his aquatic experiences are concluded.
He was never more mistaken. We immediately launch him upon the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers, and start him on a longer trip than he has yet undertaken—the navigation of the Mackenzie River alone exceeding 2500 miles. If he survives this last experience we wind up his peregrinations by a concluding voyage of 1400 miles down the Fraser River, or, if he prefers it, the Thompson River, to Victoria in Vancouver, whence, having previously provided him with a first class return ticket for that purpose, he will probably prefer getting home via the Canadian Pacific.
Now, in this enumeration, those who are acquainted with the country are aware that, for the sake of brevity, I have omitted thousands of miles of other lakes and rivers which water various regions of the North-West: the Qu'Appelle River, the Belly River, Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, Shoal Lake, and others, along whose interminable banks and shores I might have dragged, and finally exterminated, our way-worn guest.
2. JACQUES CARTIER'S VISIT TO HOCHELAGA IN OCTOBER (1535).
Source.—Lescarbot's History of New France, edited for the Champlain Society, by W. L. Grant and H. P. Biggar. Toronto, 1911.
Early next morning the captain donned his armour and ordered his men to be marshalled in order to visit the town and habitation of this tribe, and a mountain which lies close to the town, whither the captain went with the noblemen and twenty mariners, leaving the rest to guard the boats, and taking three men from the town of Hochelaga to be his guides and escort to the spot. And when on the road we found it as well beaten as could be, in a fair country like a park; with as fine oaks as in any forest in France, and the whole ground beneath them thick with acorns. When we had gone about a league and a half, we came upon one of the chiefest lords of the town of Hochelaga, with a large company, who made sign to us to rest there beside a fire which they had lighted in the roadway. And then this chief began to make a sermon and discourse, which, as we have already said, is their mode of showing joy and friendship, welcoming the captain and his company; and our captain gave him two hatchets and two knives, with a cross and a crucifix which he made him kiss, and then hung it around his neck, whereof the chief thanked our captain. This done, we went along, and about half a league further on began to come upon ploughed fields, and fair large meadows full of their manner of corn, which resembles the millet of Brazil, as large as a pea or larger, whereon they live as we do on wheat. And amid these fields is situated and placed the said town of Hochelaga, stretching up to a mountain which lies beside it, which is well cultivated and most fertile, and from whose top one can see to a great distance. This mountain we called Mount Royal. The town is built in a circle, and surrounded with a wooden palisade in three tiers, like a pyramid; the top row is crosswise, the centre row upright, and the bottom row is laid lengthwise; the whole compactly joined and lashed together after their manner, rising to about twice the height of a lance. The town has but one gate or entry, closed with bars; on it and at several points along the wall are galleries of a kind, with ladders ascending to them, provided with rocks and stones for its guard and defence. In the town are about fifty houses, each about fifty paces long or more, and twelve to fifteen broad, built all of wood, with roofs and sides made of strips of bark or of wood as broad as a table, well and cunningly knotted together after their fashion; within these are several rooms, large and small; in the midst of each house, on the ground, is a large hall where they light their fire and live in common, afterwards retiring, the men with their women and children, to their said chambers. They also have garners at the top of their houses, where they store their corn, which they call caraconi, whereof they make their bread in the following manner. They have wooden mortars, like those for beating hemp, and in these with wooden beetles they beat the corn to powder, then make paste of it and cakes of the paste, which they put on a hot stone and cover with hot pebbles, and thus they bake their bread, for want of an oven. They also make many stews of this corn, and also of beans and peas, of which they have good store; also of large cucumbers and other fruits. They have also in their houses large vats like tuns, wherein they store their eels and other fish, which they smoke during the summer and live upon in winter; of these they gather great plenty, as we by experience have seen. None of their viands have any touch of salt; and they sleep on strips of bark laid on the ground, covered with wretched skins, whereof they also make their garments, such as otters, beavers, martens, foxes, wild cats, roes, stags and other wild beasts, though indeed the greater part of them go practically stark naked.
3. THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN THE ISLAND OF ST. CROIX (1604).
Source.—Grant and Biggar's edition of Lescarbot's History.
During the above voyage M. de Monts worked away at his fort, which he had placed at the foot of the island, opposite the end on which, as we have said, he had lodged his cannon. This was well thought on, in order to control the whole river both up stream and down. But the trouble was that the said fort faced the north, and was without any shelter, save the trees along the shore of the island, which in the vicinity of the fort he had forbidden to be cut down. And outside the said fort was the barracks for the Swiss, large and spacious, and other small buildings like a suburb. Some had built log-huts on the mainland near the stream. But inside the fort was the dwelling of the said M. de Monts, built of fair sawn timber, with the banner of France overhead. Elsewhere within the fort was the magazine, wherein lay the safety and the life of each, built likewise of fair timber, and covered with shingles.
