Volume 1

l66
IN COITU—EN DEROUINE.
We had a bitch in heat ; she was very troublesome, and
the dogs made a terrible noise on her account day and
night. I drove them all to the plains ; a band of wolves
got scent of the bitch, and a furious battle ensued, in which
one of our dogs was torn to pieces. This often happens at
this season, when the wolves are copulating and our dogs
get among them. The female wolves prefer our dogs to
their own species, and daily come near the fort to entice the
dogs. They often succeed, and if the dogs ever return,
they are in a miserable condition, lean and covered with
sores. Some of my men have amused themselves by
watching their motions in the act of copulating ; rushing
upon them with an ax or club, when the dog, apprehending
no danger, would remain quiet, and the wolf, unable to
run off,
could be dispatched.
My two men returned from Red lake, having got there in
eight days, with the horses, which were to be forwarded
immediately to Rainy lake, where Mr. Cadotte is starving.
Jan. 8th.
Langlois started with two of my men for Reed
river. On the 9th we had a terrible snowstorm. The buffalo
now keep at a distance. We are collecting our winter
stock very slowly, having no good bufTalo hunter. On the
13th my men returned from below
;
they informed me that
Hamel had been en derotivie^' to the Cree camp at Prairie
de la Tete de Boeuf, when the Sonnants and Crees had
pillaged him of all the property he had with him, among
" The phrase means that he had gone as a " commercial traveler " to the
Cree camp to drum up trade. En derouine was a technical term in the furtrade
: thus we read in Masson, I. p. 306, "No -(7«m^ to take place," etc.
The traders as a rule established themselves in certain places to which the Indians
were obliged to repair to dispose of their skins in exchange for goods, and
take their debts for the next hunt. But sometimes a trader would go about
among them to secure skins, with a few goods to exchange, or none ; and if he
procured skins for which the Indians were not paid, he gave them orders upon
the nearest establishment for the amount due. This was/i?« aller en derouine^ or
(ourir la derouine—go drumming ; and the whole transaction was une derouine,
which rival traders sometimes agreed not to allow. Coureur de derouine was a
drummer. The forms d/rouine and drouine also occur.