BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

270
JOHN MCDONNELL
the barbue or cat-fish, poisson dare, pike, and lacaiche, a small
species of white fish, well known in the St. Lawrence about
:.\10ntreal, and so common here that I have seen them catch 30
or 40 per man while smoking their pipes.
Old trading All along the Assiniboil River may be seen the -vestiges of
Posts.
many commercial settlements, several of which claim an
Port.age Ia
Prairie.
Fort des
Trl!mble;;;.
ancient date. Blondishe's Fort is the first we come to. Next to it,
Fort la Reine, according to some, bnt others say Fort la Reine,
stood at the Portage La Prairie. AfLer coming to Adhemar's
Fort we got to the Portage La Prairie in a day,-that is the"
canoe-by land the distance does not exceed six miles.
Portage fa Prairie, so called by the Indians time out of mind,
is about eight days march by water from the mouth of the river.
Across this portage, which is about lweI ve miles over, the Fort
Dauphin goods used to be carried under the French commandants
to Lake Manitou-Ban and from thence to River Dauphine.
At this place, Mr. William McKay, on behalf of the North.
West Company, passed the winter of 1794-1795 and had Mr.
Reaume, Dejadon, for Laviolette and Mr. Linkwater for the
Hon. H. B. Company to cope with, and against a superior quan·
ti ty of merchandise he still made good returns.
Three leagues above Portage La·Prair·ie stood Le Fort des
Trembles, or Poplar Fort. In the year 1780 or 1781, the Indians
made an attempt to pillage the traders, Messrs. Bruce and Boyer,
and, in the scuffle that ensued, two Frenchmen and seven Indians
were killed upon the spot. Owing to this affair, the traders were
obliged, for fear of being cut off, to reembark their canoes and
return to winter at the Forks." The small pox seizing the Natives'
and sweeping off three fourths of them, compelled them to lay
aside their intention of cutting off all the white men in the
interior country.
Above Fort des Trembles is a wood, called La Grande Trembliere,
which stretches a considerable distance into the plains, so that