Volume 1

276 FROM PEMBINA TO BAS DE LA RIVIERE.
.
This was the second affair of the kind at this place, two
years in succession ;
in each, an Indian intended to kill the
master, but the blow fell upon another man. Grand Noir
brought a paqueton [bundle] of beavers, to induce me
to show charity to his son-in-law. All the principal men
in camp came with him, but the murderer was not to be
found. I kicked the skins out of the house and would
Hsten to none of their speeches, telling them that if I could
see the murderer he would be a dead man, and that no
number of skins could pay for the blood of one of our
murdered servants.
This day I sent off my boats and canoes for the Forks,
so heavily loaded they could scarcely swim. 2gth, I
embarked, leaving William Henry, Mr. Langlois, and four
men at the fort. Dreadful numbers of mosquitoes.
Arrived at the Forks. Upper Red River brigade passed.
June 1st. Went to Portage la Prairie to settle that place ;
left there Mr. D. [L. Dorion] and T. [Toussaint Vaudry]
and two men. 3d. Returned to the Forks. 4.th. Played
with J.
McKenzie of the H. B. Co., with drum, fife, etc.,
and drank out a ten-gallon keg of brandy. 5th. H. B. Co.
off in three boats ;
in the afternoon we embarked also. 8th.
Arrived at Bas de la Riviere and camped at the Gallois above.
June gth. The Upper Red River canoes passed ;
H. B.
Co. boats also.
June loth. Sent off my canoes for Kamanistiquia ; 5 men
and 22 sacks per canoe; passengers: Messrs. Alexander
Wilkie, John Crebassa, Antoine Desjarlaix, Joseph St. Germain,
Augustin Cadotte, Toussaint Le Sueur, and Pierre
Bonza; Jean Baptiste Lambert, guide; four taureaux *'
per canoe, and one for the passengers.
'5
Raw-hide bags to hold about 80 pounds of pemmican ;
also, such a quantity
of pemmican.
The taureau or " bull " may have been so called, as made of buffalo
hide, or perhaps for the same reason that a certain mass of iron, or a
certain kind of steamboat, is called a " pig." " I cut off 20 sacks or taureaux
to put pemican in, and gave them to Minie to sew," says McDonnell, Jan.
14th, 1794, in Masson, I. p. 287. Compare note *«, p. I73-