Volume 1

a;
VISITING Cameron's and cotton's posts. 233
my direction this year. I arrived at Mr. Cameron's
;
as he
was unwell, I wished him to hire me an Indian guide, but
he preferred to accompany me, having already been there.
Sunday, Christmas, Dec. 2^th. We remained. 26th. I
set out on horseback with Mr. Lambert and Lagass^. Mr.
Cameron used my cariole, being too much indisposed to
ride on horseback. At nine o'clock, as we found scarcely
any snow, Mr. Cameron was obliged to mount a horse and
ride. We camped at Bear island, on Riviere aux Marais,
where we put the cariole eji cache, there not being snow
sufificient. zjth. At dusk we arrived at Cotton's house—
good day's ride ; found him surrounded with his Indians,
all idle. X. Y. J. Stit" opposes him—the filthiest house
and wife I ever saw. Mr. Cameron's illness increased, and
on coming out of the house he vomited for some time
indeed I felt inclined to do the same myself. 28th.
Cotton's men arrived from derouines, each with a pack of
furs on his back and some fresh fallow deer meat. The
men use
neither horses nor dogs to perform their duty, all
being carried with slings on their backs; they have hard
work of it, but do not murmur or complain like our
meadow gentry. Settled with two men and Lallonde " to
pass the summer at Red lake and build a fort there. 2gth.
Mr. Cameron's illness prevented our departure, ^otli. My
affairs would not permit me to remain any longer, though
I was unwilling to leave Mr. Cameron behind us. There
was not enough snow for a train, and he was unable to ride
on horseback; he complained of a pain in the breast, with a
bad cough and want of appetite ; still he looked well in the
face, though lean in body. I certainly did not suppose
it seems to have been a branch of Red Lake r. ,
possibly the Clearwater itself,
though Henry uses the latter name.
'3 Copy elsewhere J. Stitt. This is no doubt John Still, who became a clerk
of the N. W. Co. after the fusion of 1804, and was in the Nepigon district.
'*
A surname which varies in MS. and print to Lalonde, La Londe, and La
Lande. One of this name, a middle-aged man in 1785, was a guide in the
service of Gregory, McLeod & Co. — Jean Baptiste Lalonde appears as voyageur
N. W. Co., Fort Dauphin, 1804.