Volume 1

242 DYSENTERY—DROWNED LYNX—WHITE BUFFALO.
We take from lo to 20 sturgeon per day ; one weighed 145
pounds. Indians all feasting and making their wabbano ;
drums and kettles beating day and night, keeping up a terrible
noise. i8th. Indians drinking, and very troublesome.
My people are all unwell ; as usual every spring, on the
sudden change of diet from flesh to fat sturgeon, they are
troubled with a dysentery that reduces them very much
;
they are extraordinary gormandizers, and sturgeon oil is
too much for them. We take large fat picaneau in our sturgeon
nets ;
to increase the disease.
they are excellent eating, but too oily, and tend
Indians preparing for their grand
medicine, having received their spring presents of clothing,
liquor, etc. 22d. Caught 15 sturgeons and a loup-cervier ;
how the latter came into the sturgeon net I cannot say.
We saw his track on the beach until he came opposite the
net, which completely crossed the river; he appeared to have
then taken to the water, for what reason I cannot tell.
However, he was found drowned, entangled in the net,
about 10 feet from shore. 2/j.th. I bought a beautiful
white buffalo skin from Le Cedre, who had killed the
young bull last January at Grandes Fourches ; the hair was
long, soft, and perfectly white, resembling a sheep's fleece.
The Saulteurs set no value on these skins. We began to
make up our pemmican and packs. 2§th. I took a mare
from an X. Y. Indian in payment of a debt. This affair
came near being attended with serious consequences, as the
fellow was a known villain and a chief of the X. Y. making.
I some time ago gave him a cruel beating, and bunged up
his eyes, so that he could not see for several days. He
has ever since been bent on revenge, although he richly
deserved the ill usage I gave him, having attempted to stab
me with my own knife. 26th. I began to sow potatoes,
21 bags ; corn, one pint ;
and
some cabbage seed.
April 28th. Working at our garden. Some of our horses
could not be found. I suspected the fellow from whom Ave
had taken the mare. I went to his tent with a couple of
men, determined to bring him prisoner to my house, and