Volume 1

212 ROUND TRIP TO PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE.
men's range of new buildings are finished. i6th. Sowing
carrot, onion, and other seeds. Lambert '" making his
gum, which he collected during the winter on Rat river.
i8th. Laverdure" making bellows for his shop. 20th.
Two men in a small canoe arrived from Portage la Prairie,
with two kegs of potatoes, and a cat for les souris [the
mice]. We take plenty of catfish with a night-line of 60
hooks, and 20 to 30 sturgeon a day. Turnips begin to
appear. 21st. Mr. Cameron arrived from Red lake with a
cargo of sugar, 10 days from that place ; he
could have
purchased a greater quantity, but had no means of
bringing
it down. 2jd. Indians making their grand medicine.
Langlois returned with a few packs of beavers and bears.
May 24.th. Set off with four men on horseback for Portage
la Prairie, to arrange that post for the summer. We
found much water in the plains ; swam
our horses over
Riviere aux Marais, Panbian river, and Riviere aux Gratias,
where we camped ; no wood ; mosquitoes by the millions,
and woodticks. 2Sth. Camped at Riviere aux Islets de
Bois; water up to our horses' bellies. Quiniss [No. 35, p. 54]
traded some skins. 26th. Hired an Assiniboine to guide
'"
There were at fewest five Lamberts of the N. W. Co. about this time.
—One Lambert, Fort Chipewyan, 1799.—Antoine Lambert, Lake Winnipeg,
1804.—Etienne Lambert, in the Athabasca Dept., 1804 quite likely the one
;
first said,— " Mr." Lambert was with Henry at Pembina, winter of 1803-04.
—^Joseph Lambert was with Henry at Pembina in 1807-08, — Jean Baptiste Lam-
1806, and was
bert guided Henry's brigade on the Kaministiquia route in June,
again his guide in 1807-08. The three last said are probably only two persons,
but which one is the Lambert of the above text does not appear. In Masson,
I. p. 401, " Lambert " appears as an alternative name of J. B, Robillard,
guide of the Lower Red River brigade, 1804. As this brigade was Henry's,
and " J.
B." almost invariably means Jean Baptiste, the identity seems unquestionable.—Pierre
Lambert was drowned in a small lake near Lake McLeod, in
the Rocky mts., May, 1812.
" Name in question, whether Laverdure, Laventure, or Lacouture, all of
which occur in N. W. Co. annals about this time.—One Laverdure was in
Athabasca, 1788-89.— Joseph Riquerin, dit Laverdure, is listed in 1804, Fort
des Prairies
and English r.—Louis L'Aventure is listed in 1804, Fort Dauphin.
—Paul Laventure is listed in 1804, Fond du Lac—One La Couture was on
Mouse r. in 1794.—Fran9ois Lacouture is listed in 1804, Upper Redr.