BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

Fort Esperance.
274
JOHN MCDONNELL
caberie (?) and fowls of all kinds which abound in this country,
and at the same time keep up with the canoes. The country is
so plentiful that the canoes have always either fresh meat or
fowls for their kettles.
The country here is, as below, one large plain, interspersed
with small islands of wood here and there, but the low points
of land near the water are frequently shaded with groves of
venerable oal,s and elms. The soil of the plains is a mixture of
sand, clay, gravel and stones in many places, but the gleIt
wherein the river runs is a mixture of clay and black mould.
The Mountain a la Bosse, the nearest post to the North-West
Company's set.tlement at River La Souris, and distant from it six
days voyage for the canoes and two days for the foot men
through the plains, has been frequently established and as often
abandoned, owing to the oppositions that come into that quarter,
as these gentlemen, when by themselves, establish as few posts
as they conveniently can, in order to save property. On thecontrary,
when incommoded by new comers, they subdivide
and divert the trade into as many little channels as they have
men and clerks to occupy, well knowing that their opponents,.
who have but few goods generally: cannot oppose them at every
place.
This post turned out about sixty packs, at an average, for the
North-West Company, exclusive of opposition trade, but the
returns from it are mostly wolves and buffalo robes.
Six days' march from Montagne a la Bosse, the River qui appelle­
('l) enters the Assiniboil River, and on it, about two short days'
march in canoes further up, is Fort Esperance which has been
settled these ten years past and was chiefly Mr. Robert Grant's
residence while he superintended the Red River affair and has
(1) In olden times, the shores of this river were hannted by a spirit, whose voice,
resembling that of a human being, was often heard wailing during the night. Sosaid
the Natives, and the Voyageurs called it Riviere qui Appelle.